An Independent Living Centre will be set up soon in Vietnam following an agreement reached early this month between Ho Chi Minh City authorities and an international organisation for assistance to disabled people.

Vietnam and the Disabled People International in Asia-Pacific has agreed to set up the Independent Living Centre in Vietnam to help local needy people

The city’s People’s Committee vice chairman Hua Ngoc Thuan and Nakanishi Shoji, chairman of the Disabled People International (DPI) in Asia Pacific region, said during their meeting on April 1 that the centre will help improve the quality of life of disabled people.

The facility is also designed to act as an umbrella unit to establish many other local branches in other provinces and cities to facilitate support to the underprivileged.

The missions of the centre include launching training workshops for capacity building of disabled persons, promotion of accessibility as well as income generation.

The independent living movement was started in 1986 by the Human Care Association of Japan, to promote living skills among the needy to help them independently in communities.

It also provides persons with disabilities with independent living leadership-training courses so that they can run those centres in the future.