On 5th June 2025, COPE is proud and deeply honored to announce the official launch of Cooperative Orthotic Prosthetic Association (COPA), our Professional Association and a powerful new chapter in our ongoing mission to serve people with physical disabilities in Lao PDR.
Chaired by H.E. PhD Dr. Bounfeng Phommalaysith, Minister of Health, and co-chaired by Mr. Khamphone Phoutthavong a chair of COPA, COPA marks a meaningful transformation in COPE’s journey not a new organization, but a new chapter. COPA is COPE’s reimagined and just registered as an association. Our heart, our mission, and our commitment remain unchanged.
For years, COPE has walked alongside with thousands of people with physical disabilities across Lao PDR including survivors of unexploded ordnance (UXO) accidents listening to their stories, learning from their courage, and working tirelessly to ensure access to the rehabilitation they deserve. Today, that journey takes a bold step forward.
This milestone marks a strategic transformation, allowing COPE to expand its impact as a national association. It strengthens our foundation, opens new opportunities for collaboration, and positions us to better respond to the needs of people with disabilities, including survivors of UXO accidents, who deserve dignity, independence, and full participation in society.
COPA represents more than just a professional body. It is a united effort that brings together voices from across the country from public and private sectors, rehabilitation providers, community leaders, and development partners. It serves as a platform to expand choices of fundraising to ensuring that no one is left behind when it comes to mobility and rehabilitation.
At the launch event, Metta Thippawong, Director at COPE, reflected on the organization’s path built not just with programs and services, but with the hands and hopes of real people shared the organization’s journey supporting thousands of people with physical disabilities and UXO survivors across the country. She spoke of how these experiences, stories, and lessons inspired the establishment of COPA, and how the association will carry forward the vision of equal access to quality rehabilitation for all.
It is a celebration of what we can achieve when we listen when we care and when we come together.
From all of us at COPE, thank you to every partner, every champion, every person who believed in this vision. COPA belongs to all of us. Together, we rise. Together, we help people move on forward not just physically, but in life.
