In May and June, the Veterinary Department of Kyaing Tong township with the support from the MYA/002 project, conducted two 3-day training sessions for veterinarian workers in the target villages of the 5 Tract area.
A total of 24 participants from 12 villages were successfully trained on how to identify the most common diseases in cattle, buffalos, pigs and poultry. Each trainee received a bag with a medical kit comprised of tools, generic medicine, and vitamin complexes to treat the livestock in their respective villages for free. The trainees were also invited to support the veterinary department in completing the livestock census as well as contact the department in case they notice an unusually high number of common diseases which could be an underlying cause for a more serious outbreak.
Each trainee was tested before and after the course on their knowledge and understanding of animal health care and treatment. They all worked very hard during the training and passed their tests with flying colours.
The project was particularly proud that Mrs Daw Na Maw became the first female certified animal health care worker. Mrs Daw Na Maw was very pleased with the training and the knowledge that she gained. At first she was not sure if she would be allowed to bring her toddler but it turned out he quickly made friends in the hosting village.
The organization and translation from Burmese into La Hu language was ensured by MYA/002 Cluster Field Coordinators, Mr Da Ye La and Mr Ha Ma.
On Monday 18 June 2018, Hue City celebrated the closing of the 5-year ODA-funded ‘Climate Adapted Local Development and Innovation Project’ (VIE/033), and in the same event launched the very first two projects funded by the Luxembourg Climate and Energy Fund to be implemented by LuxDev. These two new interventions are the ‘Energy Efficient Lighting NAMA pilot in Hue City’ (VIE/401) and the project ‘Climate Adaptation and Resilience in TT Hue Province’ (VIE/433).
The event brought together high-level delegates from the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Thua Thien Hue (TT Hue) Provincial People’s Committee (PPC) and relevant departments, the Luxembourg Embassy in Laos, LuxDev HQ and regional office in Vientiane, VIE/033 project partners and staff from the project’s target districts, some community representatives and beneficiaries, as well as some old ‘Friends of the Project’.
Group photo
Mr Nguyen Van Phuong, Vice-Chairman of TT Hue PPC, and Mr Claude Jentgen, Chargé d’Affaires at the Luxembourg Embassy in Laos, both highlighted and appreciated the long-standing and strong diplomatic relations between the two countries, with the 45th anniversary of these relations having been celebrated in Hanoi just days ago. Mr Jentgen remarked that Luxembourg is the fifth biggest European Union investor in Vietnam, and further reiterated that whereas its Official Development Assistance (ODA) is phasing out with Vietnam having reached middle-income status, new opportunities arise to transform the long-standing partnership into climate cooperation.
Dr Alain Jacquemin, VIE/033 Chief Technical Coordinator, presented the overall results of the project, measured through a set of 27 quantitative indicators. Out of these, 23 met or exceeded their End of Project (EOP) target – including six exceeding that target by 20-50%, and five by more than 50%. Four indicators did not meet their target. Further, data from a Randomised Control Trial in communes outside of the project target area and collected through baseline and endline surveys, gave more evidence and valuable insights on the real impact of project interventions in target areas versus non-project areas, reflecting major differences on household incomes and poverty reduction rates, as well as on the coping capacity of communities and households to respond to climate impacts.
Dr Adam McCarty, Team Leader of the project final evaluation and earlier also the Mid Term Review, called VIE/033 “an extraordinary success” referring to its key results, both quantitative and qualitative, as observed first-hand in the field and measured through the project’s elaborate monitoring system. He highlighted and appreciated the fact that the project did not just focus on its many successes, but also took the initiative to study and investigate activities that didn’t go as planned, rather than ignoring them, thus turning them into ‘lessons learned’ for future interventions.
Subsequently, the audience listened to a brief account by one of the district leaders, and to three testimonials from project beneficiaries. This was followed by the formal launch of the Project Compendium, a document that gives a fairly detailed account of overall project results achieved, and WHAT was done, WHY and HOW to come to those results.
Mr Nguyễn Lương Trí from Quang Tho II Agriculture Cooperative, Quang Dien district
In the second half of the meeting, with focus on the two new climate interventions in TT Hue, Dr Phong Tran of the Institute for Social and Environmental Transition–International (ISET-Viet Nam) sketched the context of climate change in Vietnam and Hue. He highlighted that Vietnam is one of the most vulnerable countries to the threats of climate change, mainly due to its densely populated and long coastline that is highly exposed to typhoons and sea level rise. “The sea level in Thua Thien Hue could rise by up to 94cm by 2 100 and this would continue to seriously affect the lives, incomes and health of local people, as well as the ecosystems and infrastructure systems of Hue City as they have done in the past”, he said.
The new chapter in the cooperation between Luxembourg and Vietnam was opened up by Mrs Dieschbourg, Luxembourg’s Minister for the Environment, who, through a 15-minute video message, pointed out that “this first bilateral climate cooperation can be instrumental for Vietnam to enhance its climate-finance readiness and be first-mover in terms of accounting, monitoring, reporting and verification of climate finance. In this sense, this little step will help to build international climate cooperation trust and practice. Luxembourg is at your side fighting climate change“.
Extract of the video speech by Mrs Dieschbourg, Luxembourg Minister for the Environment
Subsequently, Mr Nguyen Quang Cuong, Vice-Director of the provincial Department of Planning and Investment and Director of the Luxembourg Projects Management Board, briefly introduced the two new projects to the audience, and confirmed that both are in a position to bank upon the effective institutional structure, operational systems and implementation mechanisms that were put in place by VIE/033.
In his closing remarks, Mr Gaston Schwartz, Managing Director of LuxDev, once again highlighted the importance of monitoring and stated that “the methodology and the way that monitoring has been done in project VIE/033 should be an inspiration for LuxDev colleagues in other countries”.
The new Bolikhamxay provincial hospital has been welcoming its first newborns. This hospital, supported by Lao-Luxembourg Health Sector Support Program Phase II (LAO/027), will help to improve health care services in Bolikhamxay and contribute to reducing provincial maternal, neonatal and child mortality rates.
His Excellency, Mr. Jean Asselborn, Minister for Foreign and European Affairs of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, arrived at the campus of the National University of Laos on June 13, 2018, amidst an enthusiastic and cheering crowd of students of the FLP.
Prof. Dr. Somsy Gnophanxay, President of the National University of Laos, and Associate Prof. Viengvilay Thiengchanhxay, Dean of the university’s Faculty of Law and Political Science (FLP), led the welcoming committee in warmly receiving the Luxembourg Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Dr. Gnophanxay, in his introductory remarks, announced that Minister Asselborn’s visit was serendipitous as it came at a time “when the entire Lao people are joyfully celebrating many special occasions, namely: the 43rd anniversary of the proclamation of the Lao Peoples’ Democratic Republic and the 21st anniversary of diplomatic relations between Laos and Luxembourg”. He also acknowledged that Luxembourg has provided more than 50 million Euros to support the health, rural development, vocational education and governance sectors of Lao PDR.
He stated that Luxembourg has been working on increasing cooperation with the Lao people, as evidenced by the official launch of the Luxembourg Embassy and the LuxDev regional office in Vientiane in 2016 and the establishment of a project office for LAO/031 at the Faculty of Law and Political Science – “The Luxembourg funded project LAO/031 which will run from 2017 to 2022 has been designed to support legal training and teaching and promote the rule of law in the Lao PDR. This project continues and expands on LAO/023 which was implemented between 2010 and 2015”
It’s important to note that in order to achieve the overall objective of promoting the rule of law in the Lao PDR, the project will focus on developing legal institutions, upgrading standards and improving the enabling legal environment. The project is currently developing the legal research capacity of teachers and supporting the development of an adapted law curriculum.
During an open forum with the students of the FLP, Minister Asselborn was asked by students of varied questions involving foreign policy issues, such as the future of the LAO PDR-Luxembourg relations, the problem of international terrorism and rule of law, and the lessons learned in EU integration vis-à-vis ASEAN Economic Community. To their delight, the Luxembourg Foreign Minister always answered the issues raised within the context of what he said were sound foreign policies of Luxembourg. On one question, the Foreign Minister said that there is a need to promote the rule of law and respect for the human rights in order that Lao PDR can sustain peace and promote more prosperity.
The visit was witnessed by the Vice-Presidents of NUOL, the Dean of the Faculty of Law and Political Science, the Head of International Relations Department, representatives from Ministry of Education and Sports, representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vice-Deans, Heads of Department, Divisions, university members, members of the diplomatic corps, Olivier Hecquet, Resident Representative of LuxDev - Luxembourg Development Cooperation Agency, representatives from the Institute of Legal Studies and Technical Assistance (ILSTA), the team members of LuxDev Project LAO/031, headed by its Chief Technical Adviser, Reginald M. Pastrana, students and other guests.
One of the important intervention areas of the Luxembourg-funded Climate-adapted Local Development and Innovation VIE/033 project consisted of reinforcing and developing climate-adaptive and resilient physical infrastructure in target communes, through improving and/or protecting people’s livelihoods against various impacts of climate change such as floods, storms, the salinisation of land and lagoon water, dune and river erosion, etc.
Around 45% of the project budget was dedicated for small-scale infrastructure (INFRA) sub-projects and these are split into the following 8 categories: river dykes and embankments (e.g. to protect productive land), bridges and sluices (e.g. to prevent further salinisation of paddy fields), pump stations, irrigation and drainage canals, kindergarten classrooms with shelter function (e.g. to enable women to engage in productive activities), boat shelters (e.g. to protect fishing folk from damage to their main economic asset during typhoons), access roads to productive areas (usually with dyke or evacuation function), and water tanks.
School children
The interventions were proposed jointly by the community and local authority during annual project planning workshops, and were based on 5-year Socio-Economic Development Plans (SEDP) that resulted from the Local Participatory Planning Process (LPPP) and Community Vulnerability Capacity Assessment (CVCA) reports that had been developed at the start of the project.
Each district put forward a pre-selection of sub-projects to project management, which were then reviewed and evaluated against a set of social and economic criteria, in order to find out which proposal would add most value to the project’s mission of effectively improving and/or protecting people’s livelihoods.
Le Binh boat shelter
In order to assess the practical situation and technical aspects as well as their feasibility, project management, including the project’s Technical Adviser for Infrastructure, carried out field observations and assessments for each suggested sub-project, with the participation of commune authorities and community leaders. The proposed interventions were then ranked based on their scoring in field assessment reports that were prepared for each one of them, providing a clear picture of the cost-benefit analysis. Highest priority was contributed to poorest and most vulnerable villages, and resettlement areas were included in the list by default, due to their special nature and preferential focus in the project. Subsequently, field assessment reports were presented, assessed and discussed in detail in a meeting with relevant partners, and the final list selected based on available budgets. Selected INFRA sub-projects were then included in project annual work plans, and 78 such projects have been selected and implemented over the project’s four-year timeframe.
In line with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness aimed at increased government ownership and donor harmonisation and alignment, and its national translation in the Hanoi Core Statement, these sub-projects were, from the start of the project, carried out through delegation, whereby the district partner agencies were in charge of the budget, procurement and technical management, with support and supervision from the VIE/033 project team.
Nho bridge
As for outcomes, the 78 completed infrastructure interventions have had significant impact on the lives and livelihoods of people in target areas, especially those households suffering significant damage and loss caused by disasters. Over 30 000 households have had their livelihoods and resilience improved, and 5 653 hectares of productive land are now better protected against the impacts of climate change. Project M&E data indicate that 84% of the interventions were completed on time and were found to be resilient. Only three facilities required minor maintenance and two were in need of more serious repair following last November’s major flood. These findings are testimony of the high quality, praised by both technicians and beneficiaries, as well as of effective Operation, Maintenance and Management (OM&M) systems that were put in place, as consistently reported throughout project duration. As of end 2017, 98.6% of all sub-projects had sufficient OM&M measures in place, thus exceeding the initial target of 90%.
Local beneficiaries demonstrated a strong commitment and ownership toward the project’s infrastructure interventions. They were actively involved in the whole process -- from the initial needs identification and proposal of infrastructure sub-projects, to planning and financial contributions (usually a standard 2% of the total cost), to supervision during the construction phase and maintenance tasks after handover. Thua Thien Hue province is now considering wider application of this participatory approach in planning and implementing infrastructure projects.
As new laws are being adopted by the Lao National Assembly and the various People’s Provincial Assemblies, including administrative decrees, the need to study, interpret and apply these new laws to effectively protect the rights of citizens and promote the rule of law, has never been greater. Thus, project LAO/031 was launched to improve the quality of legal education, strengthen the capacity of legal sector stakeholders and raise awareness on access to justice.
Delivering the basic legal research training certificates for FLA faculty members
Project LAO/031 emphasizes the improvement of legal research skills among teachers of the Faculty of Law and Political Science (FLP) of the National University of Laos (NUoL), the teachers of the Faculty of Law and Administration (FLA) of the Champassak University and legal practitioners as a first step in strengthening the capacity of legal sector stakeholders. The project has conducted a series of seminars/workshops on basic legal research with teachers of the FLP and FLA.
The CTA of Project LAO/031, Reginald M. Pastrana, conducting a lecture on basic legal research with various faculty members of the FLA, National University of Laos in Vang Vieng district
The basic legal research seminar workshops have further increased legal sector knowledge of NUoL and Champassak University faculty members and have played an important role in fine tuning their teaching skills as well as supporting them in course development and academic research.
More specifically, faculty members were better able to take advantage of the various research methodologies to develop research proposals. These improved research skills paved the way for a clearer understanding of the inner workings of the law, notably in terms of enabling faculty members to carry out the necessary readings on how laws are made and imparting this knowledge to their students. As aptly stated by Champassak University faculty member – “It is the first time we have had a legal research training programme in our university and for this I’m very thankful. With this new skill, I now have the capacity to search out many laws and determine which are the most appropriate to the needs of our students”.
The Dean of the FLA of Champassak University, faculty members and the CTA of LuxDev LAO/031, Reginald M. Pastrana, posing for a souvenir photo at Moung Khong, Champassak during their seminar workshop on basic legal research
A month ago, project MYA/002 launched its very first activity in 5 villages of the mountainous 5 Tract area in the township of Keng Tung, Eastern Shan State, Myanmar. These 5 villages were selected for their priority needs with regard to water. Under the project’s Result 1, the outcome is to provide the villages in the target area with access to safe and affordable water. This will be achieved by constructing a 5 000 gallon (approx. 20 000 liters) water tank as per the standards of the Department of Rural Development under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation. From this main tank, the water will be distributed to secondary water tanks and from those a door-to-door system will ensure that each household has a water tap at their doorstep.
Preparing the ground for the foundation
The village of Che Nar Dea, the most remote and difficult to access of the five selected villages, does not have a water tank and the villagers have to walk downhill for at least 20 minutes to the nearest small spring to fill their cans and carry them back uphill again. As one can imagine, a lot of energy has to be put in to cover the daily water needs for drinking, cooking, washing, watering the vegetable garden and maintaining livestock.
Fetching one's water for the day
The joy was great when the villagers were informed that they would be the beneficiaries of a water tank and a door-to-door water distribution system through project MYA/002. However, it was made clear that this activity would also require support from the village as well. It was agreed that the villagers would collect sand from the river (and this time they had to walk for 30 minutes one way), provide big rocks for the foundation, gather a daily crew of at least 5 villagers to work hand in hand with the masonry team during the construction period, including the digging of a 4-mile-long ditch in which the water pipes from the water source to the water tank will be buried. The village also provides accommodation and cooked rice to the masonry team of three skilled workers. All of this was also agreed upon in the other selected villages.
Sand and rocks collected by villagers
Collecting water for the construction
The project provided all of the construction material. A total of 49 truck loads carrying between 3 and 5 tons of materials were used to deliver the construction material to the different locations. To build a single 5 000-gallon water tank, one needs up to 8 000 bricks, 3 tons of gravel, 150 bags of cement, 60 iron reinforcement bars, 30 metal roofing sheets and so on. In the specific case of Che Nar Dea and because of the deplorable condition of the track, the initial 5-ton truck loads had to be dropped off and reloaded on to a 2-ton truck which made the journey 10 times, breaking down twice.
Slowly making their way up the hill
Rough riding makes for tough luck
The MYA/002 project team knew that only with an exemplary participation from each village was the water tank activity going to be a successful.
Everyone lent a hand or two
Although the projected suggested to have only 5 helping workers a day, the villagers were eager to participate
Each of the 5 villages lived up to the task: sand, rocks and water were provided, wood was cut from the community forest, villagers organized turns in cooking for the masonry crews, they showed up every day to help with the construction and learned some basic masonry skills – all of this whilst also having to plough their fields. Even when the tracks had to be improved and trucks pulled out of ditches or up the hill, the villagers were there to help. They truly showed ownership and willingness to provide whatever support they could give.
Now, one month later and nearing the finalization of the construction of the 5 tanks, the team is very impressed with the outcome and is looking forward to the installation of the door-to-door water distribution system.
With the support of VIE/034 project, on 16th to 21st April 2018, two representatives of Bac Kan Vocational College (BKVC) attended a course organized by the International Training Center of the International Labour Organization (ITC ILO) in Turin, Italy. The “Skills needs anticipation and matching” course is designed to provide basic knowledge to identify current and future skills needs and labour market imbalances within a broad policy framework.
Specialists and managers from various countries and international organizations participated in this course. Mr. Long Tien Trinh and Mr. Hung Duy Pham, two Vietnamese representatives from BKVC, said this was an invaluable experience since it enabled them to engage in a multicultural environment and learn from international participants.
Organising the working groups
Lecturers were experts from ILO, European Training Foundation (ETF) and the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop). There were four ninety-minute sessions every day. ITC ILO used the “Turin Learning Approach” for the course which facilitated discussions, explorations and knowledge exchange with experts and fellow participants.
Listening to other groups' presentations
During these activities, all participants were free to talk and find out more about the prevailing cultures, policies and labour markets in other countries. Furthermore, according to Mr. Hung, the course also presented the opportunity to widen their networks and connections which could potentially last well beyond the course and lead to new partnerships and collaborations.
Mr Hung’s presentation on anticipating the skills needed in Bac Kan
The representatives from BKVC, Vietnam participated in the course with great enthusiasm and commitment to change. Their presentation at the endof the course was well received and very much appreciated. The training materials (see the above photo) provided by the course are now available at the BKVC library for sharing and consultation by BKVC management, faculty, and staff.
Livelihood options for poor and vulnerable women and men in lagoon and coastal areas of TT Hue province are by and large restricted to fishing, aquaculture and agriculture, and heavily dependent on natural resources. As the pressures on these resources are increasing inter alia due to changing climate conditions, and as rural employment opportunities are becoming increasingly scarce, local households face ever more risks, vulnerabilities and uncertainties.
On the other hand, TT Hue province is today home to six industrial zones and the demand for labour in various industries is relatively high. Therefore, aiming for increased economic diversification through off-farm salaried employment and self-employment opportunities, VIE/033 identified the need to support the provision of various vocational trainings to unemployed labourers in three target districts, allowing them to get access to up-to-date knowledge and develop the professional skills required by the local industries.
Disadvantaged women attending their last cooking class before final examination, Phu Loc district
Consequently, from 2014 to 2017, the project supported over 800 unemployed rural labourers in the project’s three target districts of Quang Dien, Phu Vang and Phu Loc, with trainings of various vocations that responded to the region’s labour demand, such as industrial sewing, cooking and food pairing, welding, engine mechanics, and electricity. These capacity building interventions aimed specifically at young people as well as disadvantaged women, the latter whom due to their more limited access to information and financial resources, tend to be more acutely affected by the various manifestations of climate change.
Young men supervised during welding vocational training, Quang Dien district
Results of a comprehensive job and income survey, recently conducted as part of the project regular monitoring and evaluation among a 65% sample (520 randomly selected beneficiaries), showed that 71% of all graduates are now fulltime employed, with an average monthly income of 3,611,843 Vietnam Dong (VND) (about US$160). Interestingly, 8.1% of those newly employed came from resettlement areas, at present still considered major pockets of poverty, and 7.6% were registered as ‘poor’ or ‘near poor’ as per the Government of Vietnam’s official poverty classification. Over 88% of newly employed graduates now earn more than the minimum monthly income of 2,100,000 VND/month as per governmental Decree No. 182/2013 that was in vogue at the start of the project, and more than half of all graduates earn more than the minimum wage as revised and applied from January 2018 (3,090,000 VND as per Decree No.141/2017).
Supervisor demonstrating industrial sewing exercise to female trainees, Phu Vang district
Graduates from the industrial sewing (80.3%) and cooking classes (62.7%) accounted for the highest contribution to this result, with the large majority of their graduates now having fulltime contracts in the garment industry and tourism sector, both growth industries of regional and national significance.
These outcomes demonstrate that expanding the scope for off-farm income generating activities allows rural households to decrease their dependency on natural resources and diversify their economic opportunities, and contributes to people’s increased resilience to the effects of climate change.
Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) is a sovereign country which adopted its first Constitution in 1991. Several constitutional amendments were introduced thereafter which fostered big improvements in the LAO PDR’s fledgling legal system, particularly in the rule of law, prominent of which is the crafting of the Legal Sector Master Plan (LSMP), the framework for developing effective institutions in the legal sector of the Lao PDR as a foundation for rule of law.
The new Constitution also gave birth to the Lao PDR National Assembly (NA), which has evolved into a great institution of government in shaping laws. To comply with the mandates provided in the LSMP, the NA played a critical role in introducing legislations to promote the rule of law. Notwithstanding significant institutional structures set up by the NA, numerous areas on legal development for the promotion of rule of law must still take the centre stage.
According to the 2015 UNDP Public Justice Survey Report, implementation of law is still seen as being weak. Different stakeholders observed that the lack of budget for enforcement, apathy in non-enforcement and a lack of knowledge on laws, contribute to the weak implementation of laws. Moreover, customary law rather than the formal law is still followed in many cases.
Indeed, among the legal profession, the necessary expertise for laws, legal concepts and judicial processes need to be consolidated and strengthened from the base. There is insufficient number of law professions with adequate expertise. Training opportunities are rare, mostly conceived on an ad hoc basis and not adapted for law professionals. They also tend to focus on specific technical areas identified by donors according to a global thematic agenda. The lack of tailored projects has prevented until now the badly needed implementation of general basic legal training.
It is in this light that LAO/031, a Laos-Luxembourg cooperation project under the auspices of the Luxembourg Development Cooperation Agency (LuxDev), and a follow up to its predecessor LAO/023, was initiated. Its purpose: “The Support Project to Legal Teaching and Training and to the Promotion of the Rule of Law Concept in Lao PDR”.
To attain this, LAO/031 gives priority attention to the improvement of the curriculum in legal education in Lao PDR to come up with the current global trends and ASEAN standards.
Thus in March 2018, the project formally kicked off to formulate various strategies and processes that would pave the way for the improvement of the law curriculum in the two law schools in Laos: the Faculty of Law and Political Science (FLP) of the National University of Laos (NUoL); and the Faculty of Law and Administration (FLA) of Champassak University.
In the Faculty of Law and Political Science, LAO/031 launched its curriculum development through a three-day seminar-workshop, from March 15-17, 2018. LuxDev Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) Reginald Pastrana delivered significant lectures on the various core subjects in law among ASEAN universities. He also conducted important discourses on several procedural steps, procedures and strategic initiatives for taking the various ways on curriculum development in legal education.
In addition, project LAO/031 was even extended to the southern part of Laos: to the Champassak University. During the courtesy visit of the Dean of the FLP of NUoL and the CTA of LAO/031 in March 2018, the Acting President and the Dean of the FLA of Champassak University were very delighted for this support. Indeed, the Champassak University was willing to receive such support and to lend their hands for the success of project LAO/031.
It must be pointed out that promoting the rule of law through legal education should not be underrated, for the need to support legal education is always a highly relevant rule-of-law project. Project LAO/031, through its vital component of improving the legal curriculum in Lao PDR, is a significant step towards realising the promotion of rule of law in this country.