Inthana Bouphasavanh is one of the founders of Association for Development of Women and Legal Education (ADWLE) which was officially established in 2012 as a Non-Profit Association (NPA) in Lao PDR. She has been working as the Director of ADWLE since 2011. Her goal is to promote gender equality and women’s rights in an effort to encourage Lao women and girls to become agents for change to uphold and exercise their rights individually and within their family and community.
Inthana has always been passionate about women’s rights, even from a very young age. She has worked for over 20 years in the field of gender in a variety of professional roles. Her work at ADWLE builds upon her previous professional experience conducting research into the status of women in urban areas. She strongly believes in working with educational institutions and the community in order to promote behavioral change and encourage respect for the dignity of women. As the Director, she writes proposals and reports to donors and stakeholders, conducts trainings on gender, GBV and laws related to women, especially CEDAW, and represents ADWLE in meetings and conferences with national and international organizations and NGOs and government members. In addition, she was a Vice-President of Lao CSO network (LCN) elected by 36 NPA members operating across Laos in 2017.
Inthana graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in English from the National University of Laos, Vientiane, in 1992. In 1996, she graduated with a Master’s degree in Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages from the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. She attended several trainings on International Human Rights Training Program in Norway 2019, Canada in 2014 and in Thailand in 2015 and CEDAW in Switzerland in 2018 and in Vietnam in 2010 and she got a Women Leadership Award in Australia in 2017.