I like working with COPE: it gives me an opportunity to enrich my professional experience while helping people with disabilities have a better life. I really enjoy meeting people from different nationalities at COPE Visitor Centre, and speaking English with them. I am glad to see how interested they are in the story of UXO in Laos, how moved they are by what they learn, and how many of them want to help. Baosavanh joined COPE in August 2013 as an Orthopedic Assistant, working as a translator between COPE’s foreign mentors and the Center for Medical Rehabilitation Lao staff. In February 2014, Baosavanh was transferred to work as a logistic and Procurement Assistant, a position which involved a lot of administrative task, including managing the inventory of the store room and organizing the orders of prosthetic and orthotic material for the Provincial Rehabilitation Centre. In September 2014 she was promoted to work as a public Relation Assistant in COPE Visitor Centre, a position she still holds today. She supports COPE Visitor Centre Operations Manager by managing the diary of the Visitor Centre for visits and group bookings, maintaining a record of the number of visitors, cash donations, shop and café sales for monthly statistics, guiding individuals and groups throughout the exhibit upon request, serving guests at the Cafe and the gift shop and managing the point of sell system.

COPE is a very unique local, not-for profit organization here in Laos, and the only one focusing on prosthetic and orthotic devices. I have been COPE’s CEO for almost ten years. I enjoy working with both local and International partners, and I feel inspired when I see clients who receive the services looking forward to a brighter future where they can fulfill their potential.

My main roles and responsibilities at COPE are to provide technical training and support to prosthetics and orthotics (P&O) staff from the Center for Medical Rehabilitation and Provincial Rehabilitation Centers. Together, we aim to improve the quality and functionality of prosthetic and orthotic devices and related services provided by the rehabilitation sector of the Lao Ministry of Health. I joined COPE in February 2015. Originally from Cambodia, I received a scholarship to study at TATCOT International School of Prosthetics and Orthotics in Tanzania. I was there for three years, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science (P&O CAT 1). After graduating, I worked in Cambodia for one and a half year as a P&O Clinical Mentor in two Regional Physical Rehabilitation Centers under the Ministry of Social Welfare. I like working at COPE because I want to serve people with disabilities. As a person living with disability – I wear an orthotic device as a result of polio – growing up in a developing country, I had to face a lot of barriers to get where I am: there was always this feeling, in my community, that “as a disabled, I was not….able”. Yet, I did not let this limit me, and I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to study abroad. I want to do everything I can to enable people with disabilities to enjoy the same rights and opportunities. Accessing the right orthotic or prosthetic device is the first, and probably most important, step.

As COPE Project Coordinator, I often travel to the Provincial Rehabilitation Centers to support COPE Rehabilitation Manager and COPE Prosthetist & Orthotist Advisor when they deliver training sessions, or when they conduct Quality Clinical Audits. This gives me a unique opportunity to appreciate the efforts made by many people to improve the quality of services and devices delivered, and, hence, the satisfaction of the people with disabilities we are serving. I believe that people with disabilities have the right to lead full lives in their home, school, communities, and must be given the same opportunities for education, social interactions and meaningful employment. And, even if the link may seem remote, I am proud and happy that my job contributes to this. Ladmany joined COPE in January 2015 as Logistic & Procurement Assistant. In June 2015 he was promoted to the position of Project Coordinator. Ladmany is responsible for coordinating the organization of all the training and workshops organized by COPE, in particular for liaising with the Lao government staff from the Center for Medical Rehabilitation and Provincial Rehabilitation Centers.

I am very happy to work with COPE. I joined COPE in March 2008 as Cleaner. I clean the Visitor Center and COPE’s office, both located in the compound of the Center for Medical Rehabilitation, and prepare coffee and tea for our guests when COPE organizes trainings or workshops. I also help COPE Visitor Center staff prepare our delicious homemade ice cream, and assist them serve customers in our Karma Café.

As a member of COPE Team, I am happy that my work is contributing to helping people with disabilities. I know first-hand what difference such help can make in someone’s life, because I am living with a physical disability myself. I had polio when I was a child, and without the crutches and wheelchair I was given, without the support and encouragement I received from my family, and rehabilitation staff at Center for Medical Rehabilitation, I would never have been able to go to school, then university, find such an interesting job, get married and have two wonderful daughters. Whether I work on setting administrative procedures, finalizing COPE’s monthly accounts, dealing with auditors or ensuring COPE’s compliance to donors’ regulations, I know that what I am doing is contributing to helping people like me move one. It is such an incredible motivation to work. Metta joined COPE in April 2014 as Finance Manager. In November 2014, she was promoted to Finance and Admin Manager. Metta supervises a team of two: Ms. Vilayvone Sivongxay (Vone), Finance Assistant, and Soukpaseuth Phomphakdy (Souk), Office Coordinator.

I am happy to be a part of COPE to help people with disabilities have a better life. I have working in the sector supporting people living with disabilities for eight years, as I was with Handicap International before joining COPE in August 2015. As Logistic & Procurement Assistant, my responsibilities include identifying service or product providers and obtain quotes from them. I then prepare comparison the Quote Analysis form for COPE Procurement Selection Panel. I am also responsible for coordinating the maintenance of the mobile clinic vehicles, and supporting COPE Connect Outreach Coordinator to ensure that they are loaded with the equipment and material necessary for the smooth-running of outreach camps. COPE is like a family. There are only seventeen of us, and for some reason I seem to have been informally designated as the one in charge of ordering lunch for the team. Maybe because I like cooking a lot…

I am happy to contribute to COPE’s development by raising awareness and funds through the Visitor Centre and social media. Working for COPE gives me an opportunity to help people with disabilities have a better life, while gaining a lot of experience by meeting visitors. I was privileged to give a tour of COPE Visitor Centre to the President of the United States Mr. Barack Obama on the 7 th of September 2016. Soksai joined COPE in December 2008 as Marketing Assistant. In August 2009, he was promoted to Public Relation Officer. From June 2011 to April 2012, Soksai worked as an Orthotist Assistant, which gave him a chance to experience technical work and work closely with the Lao government staff from the Center for Medical Rehabilitation, especially coordinating the administrative, logistical and financial procedures for training courses. Since April 2012, Soksai is COPE Visitor Centre Operations Manager, overseeing daily operations at the COPE Visitor Centre exhibition, shop and café and supporting COPE’s communication through social media. Soksai supervises a team of two: Mr Kamchan Phetshouphan (Jack), Marketing Assistant, and Ms Baosavanh Vetsaboun (Mee), Public Relations Assistant.

Working with COPE has helped me realize how important it is that people with disabilities have access to the treatment they need. I am glad I am part of the efforts aiming to improve the services to people with disabilities in Laos. I joined COPE office in December 2014 as Office Coordinator. My responsibilities include Admin and Human Resource tasks. I support the management and technical teams in the hiring process, both for full-time positions and for consultants, manage the office meeting schedule, maintain COPE’s relations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to obtain visa for our international staff, and other HR related tasks.

COPE is working in partnership with the Center for Medical Rehabilitation under the Ministry of Health to ensure that the estimated 25,000 persons living with disabilities in Laos have access to rehabilitation services. I hope that my 22 year of professional experience can contribute to improving the satisfaction of clients of physical rehabilitation centers. For the past year, I have worked with physiotherapists, orthotists and prosthetists from CMR to help them develop and monitor Quality Standards for rehabilitation services in Laos. Originally from India, I specialized in Orthopedic Physical therapy. I spent the first decade of my carrier working as physiotherapist and lecturer of Physiotherapy for reputed institutes in India. I have trained many undergraduate physiotherapy professionals. Since 2003, I have been working as a humanitarian worker for non-profitable international organizations. Before joining COPE, I worked in Physical rehabilitation projects in emergency relief and developmental projects of ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), Handicap International, and Motivation in various countries like Srilanka, Ethiopia, Yemen, Lebanon and Jordan.

My job is to collect patient data from the Center for Medical Rehabilitation (CMR) and the four Provincial Rehabilitation Centers (PRC) as well as from COPE Connect Outreach Coordinator. I then control the data, contact the CMR and PRC staff to correct any possible mistakes, and enter it into COPE’s database. I produce reporting tables on a monthly, quarterly and yearly basis for COPE Senior Management. My job is important to produce reports for our donors and show them how many people their funding has helped. It also enables COPE and the CMR to understand who our clients are, and how their needs evolve: how many men, women, UXO survivors, people injured in traffic accidents, etc. This way, we can plan for the future. I have been working with COPE since February 2013 as procurement assistant. I was promoted to my current position in December 2013. Before COPE, I worked for five years as coordinator for a women empowerment project implemented by the Gender and Development Association, a local organization. I also worked for the INGOs Helvetas and Care in income generation projects.

Part of my job consists in checking the receipts submitted by the Provincial Rehabilitation Centers to cover the food and transportation costs for patients accessing rehabilitation services. I can tell you that the help is really going to the people who need it. Every day, I get to see how much a difference this financial support makes in the life of people with disabilities, many of whom are so poor that they could never afford to travel to the centers to receive treatment if it weren’t for the support from institutional donors, like for instance the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), but also from the many private individuals who come to COPE Visitor Center in Vientiane, or send their donations through the Global Development Group. Vilayvone joined COPE in January 2015 as Finance Assistant. She works with the admin staff from the Center for Medical Rehabilitation and the four Provincial Rehabilitation Centers to ensure that support documents are properly filled in and filed, and that COPE is compliant with its institutional donors, as well as general good governance requirements.