Rick Reece, Director
Village Focus International (VFI) protects, educates and empowers. These three powerful words define our mission. We focus on three programs: anti trafficking & child protection, integrated village development (education, health & food security), and land & natural resource rights. VFI is committed to working with and serving the poorest, most vulnerable people of Laos and Cambodia. To achieve this mission, VFI invests in local leaders, especially motivated, dynamic female leaders within our organization and at the community level. These women are uniquely committed to the long-term wellbeing of their own communities, know the village's own needs and priorities, and understand the most effective strategies to achieve them. The Women's Empowerment Program is compatible with these goals. VFI feels fortunate to play a small role in introducing leading Lao women to a new opportunity and to give US leaders a chance to learn more about Laos as well.
Village Focus International is registered as a 501(c)(3) organization in the United States, as a charitable organization in Hong Kong, and as a local NGO in Cambodia (withpending registration for our local partner – Our Village Association– in Laos). In 2000, we became the first international organization to be founded in Laos, and began working in Cambodia in 2003. During this period, we have worked in more than 200 remote and vulnerable villages and focusing on local leadership development in an effort to bring about positive and fundamental social change. In 2011, our 75 staff members served approximately 50,000 people in a direct, village-focused way, and worked on national level policy issues in the areas of human trafficking and land and natural resource rights, affecting the lives of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people.
Despite our growth, we have remained true to our founding spirit: emphasis and support of local leadership, decision-making and ownership, in both Laos and Cambodia.
The Mansfield Center
Level 4, Mansfield Library
University of Montana
Missoula, MT 59812
(406) 243-2988
(406) 243-2181 fax
E-mail us your comments