The review was chaired by H.E Dr. Kikeo Chanthaboury, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), and Ms. Franziska Freiburghaus, Head of the SDC East-Asia Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bern. In attendance were Mr. Tim Enderlin, SDC Mekong Region and Lao PDR Country Director, and representatives of all Line Ministries who are partners in SDC’s development activities.
The objective of the meeting was to discuss the overall strategy for inclusive development of the Swiss cooperation program in Lao PDR, its alignment with the 8th National Social Economic Development Plan (NSEDP), and the current status of implementation of the supported projects. SDC engages in activities in the three thematic domains (i) agriculture and food security, (ii) local governance and citizen participation, and (iii) employment and vocational education and training.
Mr. Tim Enderlin, stated, “Switzerland is convinced that its development support contributes to some of the main development challenges Laos is facing on its path to graduate from the Least Developed Country status and its integration into the ASEAN economic community.”
In the Local Governance and Citizen Participation (LGCP) domain, SDC focuses its program towards supporting the Lao Government to deliver more effective and efficient public services to the poor and vulnerable while promoting citizen participation in the development process. Partnerships are diversified towards directly supporting emerging civil society actors and strengthening decentralized public authorities.
In the Agriculture and Food Security (AFS) domain, SDC provides support to sustainably improve the livelihood conditions of smallholder farmers, particularly women farmers in remote ethnic villages; and contribute to a conducive policy environment. A new focus will be on the contribution of the agriculture sector to the reduction of chronic malnutrition in the country, aligned with the multi-sectorial nutrition strategy of the Lao PDR.
In the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) domain, SDC supports improvement of vocational training and education, helping workers find and keep jobs in preparation for increased competition of the integration into the ASEAN
Community and to increase income and employment of young rural women and men through improved vocational and life skills. SDC also engages in ensuring that governments and employers know and respect migrant workers’ rights.
The Lao-Swiss bilateral program review was an opportunity for both sides to discuss progress and direction of the overall program and on selected key projects, and to address specific challenges in the development context.
