VIA Programs in the News
November 2017
Vietnam Alum in The New York Times
Indonesia Staff Member Highlighted on NPR.org
...on a recent reporting trip to Indonesia, we asked young people about how they view their identity, what role religion plays in their lives, what they hope for their futures, and what they believe unifies this sprawling, pluralistic democracy.
New VIA Partner Helps Myanmar Update its Tax Structure
VIA recently formalized a partnership with Koe Koe Tech, a Yangon-based technology social enterprise. Previously, we had collaborated while partnering with Population Services International whose VIA fellow worked closely with Koe Koe Tech to launch a maternal health app. Now we'll have a fellow placed directly with the Koe Koe Tech as they expand to other sectors.
It does not help that the system for collecting taxes is hopelessly antiquated. Assessments for property taxes are based on poor proxies for value such as the number of storeys in a building and the materials from which it is built. There is no effort to account for inflation. All the relevant information is kept on paper, with almost no digital records. According to Michael Lwin of Koe Koe Tech, a firm that has launched a pilot scheme to allow local governments to offer services online, this system puts the average annual rental value of the 23,516 recorded properties in the relatively affluent city of Taunggyi at $21, when in practice buildings are let out for much more. Even if tax collectors really intended to raise money for the government, it would be hard to collect much.
Read more on the Economist.com
Vietnam Countertrafficking Partner Featured in The Economist
Huong—a pseudonym, to protect her identity—is now 20 years old. She lives in a large bungalow in Lao Cai, which she shares with a dozen women aged between 15 and 24 (an occupant is pictured). They are all survivors of trafficking networks that smuggle girls across the Vietnam-China border, sometimes to be sold as prostitutes but more often as brides. Their house, with its enormous teddy bears and fleet of fuchsia-pink bicycles, is a shelter run by Pacific Links Foundation, an American charity, which helps victims finish their education and cope with their trauma.
Read more on the Economist.com
Indonesia Community Partner Featured in The Guardian
VIA's programs in Indonesia often visit Pondok Pesantren Waria al-Fatah, the world’s only Islamic boarding school for transgender people.
Social Innovation Programs Alum Wins Award in Hong Kong
Herman is a graduate of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). HKUST will also host a VIA fellow in 2018-2019.
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