UXO clearance and survey in Xieng Khouang set to continue with certainty thanks to strong support to the Government of Lao PDR from New Zealand and the UNDP. A much needed boost to mine risk education and the clearance of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Lao PDR’s heavily contaminated northern province of Xieng Khouang was announced today by the Prime Minister of New Zealand at the UXO Lao Training Centre in Ban Elay, Vientiane.

As a side event to the ASEAN Summits, Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon inaugurated Lao PDR’s own national Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on unexploded ordnance (UXO) today.

“Lives safe from UXO; Remove the UXO obstacle to national development” is the title of SDG 18. The logo shows, on red background, a person with disability, walking away from cluster munitions on a crutch, towards an empowered, self-reliant future.

SDG 18 is the newest addition to a set of 17 globally agreed goals which form the core of a new sustainable development agenda that came into effect at the beginning of the year. Lao PDR, together with all other 192 UN Member States, endorsed the SDGs at the General Assembly in New York in September 2015 and has since made inroads in incorporating them into national plans and policies. The SDGs aim to end poverty, fight injustice and inequality and tackle climate change by 2030, thus advancing the globe onto a sustainable development path.

Lao PDR decided to further address its legacy from the Indochina War (1964-1973) by creating an own SDG on UXO, whose targets aim to reduce casualties, address the needs of victims and clear the country in a way that most benefits the poorest parts of the population. Lao PDR has also been a leading advocate for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, an international agreement which entered into force in 2010, obliging State Parties to clear contaminated areas, destroy stockpiles and provide assistance to victims of cluster munitions accidents.

At today’s SDG 18 launch, which was also attended by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Labour and Social Welfare, and Natural Resources and Environment, the Vice Minister of Investment and Planning and the UN Resident Coordinator, as well as high-ranking officials of Lao PDR, Representatives of UN Agencies and donor representatives, a renewed commitment was expressed for a future safe from UXO in Lao PDR, and for dignified lives for all UXO survivors, many of whom have life-long needs.

“More than half of the casualties caused by UXO in Lao PDR in recent years have been children, most often young boys”, said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “With SDG 18, we aim to put an end to this horrible trend, once and for all. The socio-economic impact of UXO contamination means that people lack confidence in the safety of their land, which in turn has negative impacts on the income of rural farmers and their families and inhibits the development of the whole country. I welcome the Government’s commitment to free its people from UXO, with a powerful tool like a national SDG which will make sure efforts are coordinated for full impact.”

Ban Ki-moon added that with the implementation of the SDGs, the United Nations is delivering on its promise to leave no one behind. He acknowledged the support of national institutions, development partners and civil society organisations, who are all crucial for the implementation of the SDGs in Lao PDR.

Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith stressed the ambitious targets that come with SDG18: “Our Government, through SDG 18, will make sure that UXO are cleared to the extent possible by 2030, in high-risk areas, which are often the poorest areas of our country. We will also focus on ensuring that all survivors receive the support they need to lead dignified lives. For us to be successful we rely on a joint effort.”

As a first step of implementing SDG 18, the Government is planning to carry out a comprehensive national survey of UXO contamination, which will help to target clearance work on high-risk areas and reduce the number of casualties.

1 August 2016 marks the sixth anniversary of the Entry Into Force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The Convention is an international treaty that prohibits the use, production, transfer and storage of these explosive weapons. For Lao PDR, one of the most bombed countries in the world, this is a significant date.

Clearance of unexploded ordnance (UXO) has taken place ever since the end of the Second Indochina War in 1975, initially by affected farmers and communities themselves, at great risk, later with the support of international charities and specialised international NGOs.

In 1996, the Government of Lao PDR, with UNDP’s support, established a national operator to address the problem of remaining UXO: UXO Lao. This year marks 20 years of collaboration in support of UXO Lao, during which it has become the backbone of the country’s efforts to rid itself of these remnants of war.

In these past 20 years, UXO Lao has cleared more than 300 square kilometres of land for safe use, destroyed more than 1.3 million UXO and made more than 11,000 visits to villages to teach communities about the risks of unexploded bombs.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions, to which Lao PDR was the second signatory after Norway, has made a vast contribution to supporting the country and UXO Lao in its efforts. The Convention provided a framework for Lao PDR to collaborate with other countries and partners to understand and address its land contamination issue, and recent years have shown the fruits of this cooperation.

Since 2014, UXO Lao has implemented a technical survey methodology to make its location and destruction of bombs more efficient, resulting in a huge increase in the number of cluster munitions found per square metre. This approach allows Lao PDR to work towards a full national survey, covering the whole of the country to account for the entirety of known cluster munition contamination. Gaining a full understanding of the extent of the problem is a requirement to which Lao PDR country obliged itself under the Convention.

Understanding the problem is also an opportunity to move forward on a more ambitious agenda for the UXO sector:  Maximising the contribution of UXO activities to reduce poverty and allow for better incomes will be at the heart of a local Sustainable Development Goal number 18. This goal is the Lao addition to the 17 global goals that all UN Member States adopted in 2015 as a follow-up to the expired Millennium Development Goals. These goals are set to move the globe onto a sustainable development path, with 2030 as a target date.

Currently, UNDP and the Government of Lao PDR are in the advanced stages of designing their joint actions in the UXO sector for the next five years, with a strengthened focus on better ways of gaining income for all people. UNDP will continue to be the key partner of the Government in order to ensure that UXO action fully contributes to the development of the country. 

The Sustainable Development Goals and the newly established People’s Provincial Assemblies were discussed at a Governance Sector Working Group thematic workshop in Vientiane today.  

Sector Working Groups link local progress to national plans and policies within the national Round Table Process, Lao PDR’s development cooperation forum. The Governance Sector Working Group is co-chaired by the Ministries of Home Affairs and Justice, with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) acting as co-chair. Today’s workshop convened Government and development partners and was co-chaired by Vice-Minister of Home Affairs Dr. Khammoune Viphongxay, Vice-Minister of Justice Prof. Ket Kiettisak and UNDP’s Resident Representative a.i. Mr. Charles Chauvel.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are 17 ambitious global objectives adopted by all United Nations Member States in late 2015, with the aim to shift the world onto a sustainable development path by 2030. Mrs. Phonevanh Outhavong, Deputy Director General of the Planning Department of the Ministry of Planning and Investment explained how the SDGs are being adapted to the realities of Lao PDR through integrating them into the 8th National Socio-economic Development Plan. SDG number 16 on peace, justice and strong institutions was highlighted as the ‘good governance SDG’ by Mr. Charles Chauvel from UNDP, who also provided further insight into how SDG 16 can support the Lao PDR’s targets in developing its institutions and thus advancing social inclusion.  Participants agreed that the achievement of the SDGs and the goals of the 8^th Plan with its prime target of graduation from Least Developed Country status require balanced progress in the three areas of economic growth, environmental sustainability and social inclusion. 

People’s Provincial Assemblies were elected for the first time in the general elections in March this year. The role of this new tool for people’s participation and local representation was presented by Mr. Viengkeo Vannachak, Director General of the National Assembly’s Members Affairs Department. People’s Provincial Assemblies are mandated to represent the rights and interests of Lao PDR’s multi-ethnic population. They will play a role in considering and endorsing local legislation and in overseeing the constitutional enforcement of laws on local administrative organisations. They will also be the approving body of provincial Socio-Economic Development Plans.

Vice Minister of Home Affairs Dr. Khammoune emphasised that good governance plays a vital role in economic development and sustainable poverty reduction. “The Government is committed to strengthen governance and public administration reform initiatives to improve its country-wide administration in order to build trust with its constituents and the international community. Regional and global integration of Lao PDR is also a challenge for our governance system. For these reasons governance and public administration reform is prioritised in the government’s programmes and initiatives.”

Governance for Equitable Development, the Government’s new governance and public administration reform project for the period of 2017-2020 is an outcome of this prioritisation process. Dr. Khammoune urged existing and new development partners within the Governance Sector Working Group to support this reform project.

About 20,000 villagers from 27 ethnic communities in the district can now tune in to FM98.8 MHz, the frequency of Khop Community Radio. The station was launched today in the presence of senior officials from the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Sayabouly provincial government, officials from Khop District, development partners, radio volunteers and community representatives.

Khop Community Radio piloted its broadcast in July last year and has been receiving positive feedback from local listeners since the beginning. Radio shows on education, agriculture, local trade, health, culture, legal awareness and security, adaptation to a changing climate, human trafficking and migration, amongst others, have been provoking engagement from local communities.

The radio station is managed by the local community under the leadership of the Sayabouly provincial government with support from 44 radio volunteers. “I want to help develop our community by giving them information and knowledge through my radio programme promoting the welfare of women and children,” said Ms. Souphin Sounanthavong, a radio volunteer.

The audience includes six different ethnic groups in the district. Radio coverage reaches as far as nearby districts in Bokeo Province. 

Speaking at the launch event, H.E. Savankhone Razmountry, Vice Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, urged all involved local actors, provincial and district authorities and the Khop community to work closely together, provide guidance and contribution, and support the radio station in order to fulfill its potential as a tool for community development. “Through community radio, local communities are able to access information that will guide them in decision making, share their opinion, exchange knowledge and experience, and demonstrate their traditional practices and cultures,” the Vice Minister added.

Since 2006, a total of eight community radio stations has been established under the Community Participation and Communication Support Programme, a partnership of the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, UNDP, Oxfam, and the provincial governments of Xieng Khouang, Sekong, Oudomxay, Saravan, and Sayabouly. These radio stations serve rural areas in Laos and reach 288,000 people, many of whom belong to different ethnic groups.

“Aligned with the country’s development strategy, our common objective is to let everyone’s voices be heard. Community radio empowers the sharing of many perspectives, including those of women and members of the different ethnic groups that make up Lao society,” said UNDP Resident Representative Ms. Kaarina Immonen at the launch event. 

The Government of Lao PDR has just signed a new UNDP programme funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which is set to conserve and manage forests in five districts of Savannakhet Province, over the next six years. 

Sustainable Forest and Land Management in the Dry Dipterocarp Ecosystems of Southern Lao PDR is the resolute title of the project just approved to be launched this year, with a financial envelope of USD 10.8 million from the GEF as well as USD 1.2 million from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). UNDP will implement the project in partnership with the Department of Forest Resources Management in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Dipterocarps are a tree species prevalent in South East Asia, valuable for their resin and timber. Dry dipterocarp forests are under pressure as large areas have been converted into farmland to plant cash crops, and other activities such as logging, hunting and harvesting of non-timber forest products all contribute to the degradation of this environment. Savannakhet Province, however, has managed to retain large areas of this forest type. Dry dipterocarp forests in the Lower Mekong region are of global priority for biodiversity conservation, because they contain an exceptional wide variety of animals and plants and are representative of this ecosystem type. In Lao PDR this habitat is home to globally significant species such as the Eld’s Deer, which is threatened and currently numbers only 30-40 individuals in Laos.

These forests also regulate groundwater supplies through absorbing rainwater in tree roots and leaves, reduce greenhouse gases and store valuable carbon as well as stabilise slopes by binding soil into the ground. Additionally, the forests are important for local communities as they provide for a diversified diet with non-timber forest products such as fruits, mushrooms and insects.  

Recognising the global and national importance of these forests, the Government of Lao PDR has prioritised their conservation and sustainable management. The project will seek to ensure that partnerships are built to coordinate the management of protected areas, enhance community forestry and livelihoods, as well as promote the development of eco-tourism activities. Protected areas in Lao PDR are profitable assets due to their development potential and the value of their natural resources which can contribute to economic growth. Creating incentives to conserve and sustainably manage these forests is central to the project.

To support the Government in its endeavour to effectively manage the county’s unique natural resources, improve livelihoods and develop new opportunities for income generation, UNDP has partnered with other development entities to ensure synergies with on-going projects in Savannakhet Province. These include the Asian Development Bank, WWF-Laos and the UNDP-UNEP Poverty Environment Initiative, all providing complimentary financing. The Government of Lao PDR will also contribute in-kind through national, provincial and district offices that will work directly within the project areas.

Kaarina Immonen, UNDP Resident Representative and UN Resident Coordinator in Lao PDR emphasised the project’s contribution towards achieving Lao PDR’s national objectives: “The overall goal of the country, as outlined in the National Socio-Economic Development Plan, is to graduate from Least Developed Country status. The development of the protected area network can support this goal through enhanced livelihoods, income generation, environmental sustainability and disaster risk reduction. The project also helps to reach Lao PDR’s forest cover target of 70% by 2020”.

Vientiane Province, 27 April, 2016 - Like many developing countries in Southeast Asia, Lao PDR’s economic growth is being driven by private investments, bringing the promise of greater opportunities and well-being to the people as well as challenges to environmental and rural livelihoods protection.

The wealth of Lao PDR’s natural resources has attracted huge investment inflows in recent years, with hydropower facilities, mineral exploitation and large-scale agricultural investments leading economic growth since 1985. In 2013-2014 alone, foreign direct investment in Lao PDR accounted for almost 3.4 billion US dollars. With this rate of investment and an annual Gross Domestic Product growth rate of 8 percent, Lao PDR is on track to meet one of the three key criteria for graduating from Least Developed Country status by the mid-2020s.

Managing the influx of investments so that benefits are spread equally among communities to alleviate poverty, while protecting the natural wealth of Lao PDR’s environment, is a major development challenge. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) are working closely with the Government of Lao PDR to improve the quality of planning, promotion and management of investments in extractive industries through the Poverty Environment Initiative.

Since 2009, the Initiative has been working towards strengthening Lao PDR’s development plan and institutional framework to ensure that investments lead to sustainable development.  Poverty and environment concerns are now integrated into the 8th National Social Economic Development Plan including in the Plan’s monitoring and evaluation framework. 

Tools to regulate investment quality have been adopted by central and provincial authorities to more effectively regulate the quality of concessionary land investments, a type of long-term lease of government land by private investors. Working closely with the National Economic Research Institute, the Poverty Environment Initiative has built research capacity to deliver quality data to inform investment management decisions.  The Initiative has also been working with the Department of Environment and Social Impact Assessment and the National Assembly, to improve Environmental Impact Assessments, Initial Environmental Examinations and Public Involvement processes of proposed investments.

At the provincial level, knowledge of poverty and environment issues related to investments has increased and institutional strategies and investment tools are being introduced to better regulate the quality of concessionary investments.

This week the Ministry of Planning and Investment hosted a delegation of global donors of the Poverty Environment Initiative along with environmental management experts in Vientiane Province. The visiting donors and experts met with the Vice Provincial Governor of Vientiane Province, Ms. Singkham Khoungsavanh to gain insight into the Poverty Environment Initiative’s support to the province as well as some of the socio-economic and environmental issues related to hydro power, mining and agricultural land concessions. 

The United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Ms. Kaarina Immonen joined Ms. Singkham and donors on a visit to a rubber plantation owned by foreign investors to see first-hand the impacts on local communities as well as the challenges and countermeasures taken by investors. The visit involved a meeting with community members to discuss the benefits and impacts of the investment on their lives and communities. Community members were also updated on how they can be involved in the investment approval process.  

Long-term planning now can bring unprecedented growth and tackle poverty, conflict and migration

Demographic change in Asia and the Pacific is happening at a rate the world has never seen. An explosion in the working age population and a fall in birth rates that took a century in Europe are happening here in just 30 years.

If countries do not start planning for this demographic change, they will miss out on a unique opportunity to boost growth and investments for the future, says the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its latest Regional Human Development Report. They also risk a surge in youth frustration, exacerbating instability and conflict.

The report, entitled “Shaping the Future: How Changing Demographics Can Power Human Development”, notes that Asia-Pacific countries now have more working-aged people and fewer dependents than at any point in history, providing a springboard for growth. Region-wide, 68 percent of people are of working age and only 32 percent are dependents.

“When countries have a greater share of people who can work, save and pay taxes, they have the potential to transform their economies and power investments in healthcare, education and other building blocks of future prosperity,” said Thangavel Palanivel, lead author of the report.

The report calls for immediate responses and outlines “9 Actions for Sustainable Development”. These are concrete policies tailored to the demographic profile of individual countries.

For states with a large working-aged population, UNDP is calling for the creation of decent jobs to match the growing workforce, equal employment for women, and ways to turn savings into investments inside the region.

For countries with young populations, there is a need to invest in education and healthcare, smooth the transition from school to work and encourage youth participation in public life.

In older countries, governments have to design fair, sustainable pension systems, support active ageing and promote appreciation for the value of older citizens. This includes making sure that older people who want to work can bring their skills and experience to the market.

“The window of opportunity to increase productivity, invest in growth and save for the future is between now and 2050,” said Haoliang Xu, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Director for Asia and the Pacific. “If countries in Asia-Pacific do not create optimal employment conditions, the regional economy will begin to slow down by 2050 as the current working-aged population begins to retire.”

With 58 percent of all the working people on earth, what happens in Asia-Pacific will affect countries far beyond the region.

“Growth, employment and migration in the west are inextricably linked to what happens in the east,” said Haoliang Xu. “The sun rises here, but its effects are soon felt on the other side of the world.”

There is no one solution for every country, but the region’s diversity provides room for south-south cooperation. Governments need to share experiences on long-term fiscal planning, including the sustainable use of tax revenue. Cooperation can also encourage safe migration from younger to older countries within the region and reduce the desperate flight of migrants to Europe.

“With 50 years of expertise and offices in 24 countries in Asia-Pacific, UNDP is ideally placed to help implement the ‘9 Actions for Sustainable Development’,” said Haoliang Xu. “We can facilitate partnerships combining domestic, international, public and private funding and expertise on youth, ageing, migration, social protection, climate change and disaster risk management, governance, urbanization and technology transfer.

Luang Prabang, 22 April, 2016 – The health and diversity of Lao PDR’s natural resources and environment is critical to food security and nutrition for over 80 percent of the population who depend on the natural wealth of the environment to live.

Farmers in Lao PDR depend on agro-biodiversity, the combination of traditional plants, animals and other organisms, for food and income. However, environmental degradation and climate change poses significant risk to agro-biodiversity when natural resources are not well managed, thus increasing vulnerability of farmers to poverty as well as threatening the broader socio-economic development of Lao PDR.

The Government of Lao PDR and United Nations Agencies are working together to address these threats to agro-biodiversity by strengthening institutional capacity to identify and provide incentives and capacity building programmes for farmers, through the Agro-Biodiversity Project.

“This Ago-Biodiversity project aims to ensure that biodiversity, including agro-biodiversity, is maintained, protected and sustainably used, as a key to poverty alleviation and adaptation to climate change,” said Mr. Charles Chauvel, Resident Representative a.i., of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Lao PDR, at the project annual review and steering committee meeting today in Luang Prabang.

The Agro-Biodiversity Project was launched in 2011 and is supported by the Global Environment Facility and executed by UNDP with technical expertise from the Food and Agriculture Organization..  The project is implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and has focused much of its work in two the northern districts, Phonexay District of Luang Prabang Province and Phoukout District of Xieng Kouang Province.

The benefits of the training delivered through the project to more than 1,000 farmers and their families in these districts has not only resulted in increased incomes, but also provided a better understanding of the value of rich agro-biodiversity and ecosystems.  Graduate farmers from the project’s Farmer Field Schools have also expressed an increase in confidence in their work skills and appreciation for their local environment, promoted by in-country study tours, on-the-job training and farmer-to-farmer exchange of experiences.

Farmers, including a large number of female farmers, are now selling their increased production from diversified farming, such as Melienta leaves and oyster mushrooms in Phonexay District and certified organic rice and wild tea in Phoukhout District to local markets, contributing to economic empowerment and poverty alleviation as well as environmental protection in these areas.

The participation and leadership of local farmers, community leaders and Government officials has been crucial to the successes of the project, which is set to close at the end of 2016. Speaking at today’s meeting, Mr. Chauvel stressed the importance of community participation in ensuring long-term benefits to the environment and farming communities.

“To all participants, your active participation in this meeting will help us to ensure meaningful stakeholder participation and proper collaboration in the project planning and implementation process for better agrobiodiversity conservation, sustainable growth and food security in Lao PDR,” said Mr. Chauvel.

Project stakeholders including the UNDP, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Food and Agriculture Organization, community members, farmers and development partners met in Luang Prabang today to review the progress of project implementation and identify ways to address key challenges. 

New Regional Human Development Report offers innovative policies for maximizing the potential of population change

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) announced today that it will launch its new human development report “Shaping the Future: How Changing Demographics Can Power Human Development,” on April 26 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The report analyzes population trends in Asia and the Pacific and puts forward a set of long-term strategies for sustainable development.

“Asia and the Pacific will have nearly five billion people by 2050. How countries manage that population will have an impact on their growth,” said Haoliang Xu, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Director for Asia and the Pacific. “Over the past 65 years, the population in the region has tripled. Some countries have rapidly aged while others have seen a jump in the numbers of working-age people and youth. Our new report suggests how countries can turn these population trends into opportunities for sustainable development.”

The report is a practical guide for development planners and decision makers in governments across Asia and the Pacific. It recommends switching from short-term election cycle priorities to long-term development strategies, and offers a set of “Nine Actions for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific,” tailored to the demographic makeup of each country.

“Given the population challenges in Asia-Pacific, we have to be ambitious, innovative, and deliver at scale if we want to end poverty by 2030,” added Haoliang Xu. “With 58 percent of the world’s people, our region is key to unlocking a sustainable future.”

The report will be launched in partnership with the Government of Bangladesh. 

Bangkok, 8 April 2016 - Corrupt judicial systems undermine reforms and are a major impediment to ensuring access to justice and human rights for ordinary citizens across the world, says a new report published by the United Nations Development Programme and U4 Anti-corruption Resource Centre on Friday.

Titled, A Transparent and Accountable Judiciary to Deliver Justice for All, the global report cites survey data suggesting that the public perceive the judiciary as the second most corrupt public institution, after the police.

Globally one in four people said they paid a bribe to court officials, according to a 2013 survey by the NGO Transparency International that covered 95 countries[1]. By 2015, TI found that 28% of citizens across Sub-Saharan Africa who had contact with a judge or court official paid a bribe – more than police and any other public sector service[2].

“Judicial corruption disproportionately affects the poorest and most marginalised citizens of a community because they are far less likely to be able to pay a bribe or have access to influential networks,” said Patrick Keuleers, Director, Governance and Peacebuilding at UNDP headquarters. 

In Bangladesh, for example, the average bribe of US$108 that a court user has to pay accounts for roughly a quarter of the GDP per capita or average annual income in that country, says the report. 

“The UN system and its partners support numerous initiatives to strengthen judicial systems around the world, and corruption remains a major stumbling block to the success of these efforts,” Keuleers said.

The UNDP report concludes, however, that opening up judicial systems to scrutiny can strengthen integrity and increase public trust without impeding independence of the judiciary.  

“We are advocating the judiciary to open itself to peer learning by engaging with counterparts in other countries and allowing meaningful capacity assessments that will lead to increased judicial integrity” said Phil Matsheza, Regional Practice Leader in UNDP’s Bangkok Regional Hub. 

The report highlights successful experiences from Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Indonesia, Kenya, Kosovo[3], Nepal, Nigeria, Paraguay, Philippines, and Somalia, in promoting transparency and accountability within the judiciary.  

It discusses internal oversight within the judiciary such as judicial councils, and explains the mechanisms used in Somaliland to enforce sanctions against judicial officers in cases of misconduct.

It also looks at how stakeholders such as associations of judges and court users can become allies in reforming judicial systems. For example, the report cites the use of surveys and consultations with court users that have led to more responsive services and reduced demands for bribes in countries such as Kenya and Nigeria.

“Corruption undermines justice in many parts of the world with the poor and vulnerable suffering most,” said Cobus de Swardt, Managing Director of the International Secretariat of Transparency International.  “This new report gives critical first-hand answers about promoting integrity in the courts by building citizen and other stakeholders’ support for reforms and by using technology can increase judicial transparency.”

Even in post-conflict environments such as Afghanistan, where change is difficult, NGOs working with citizens to monitor trials in selected provinces have contributed to improving the administration of justice.

While technology is not offered as a panacea to corruption within justice systems, modernisation and automation of judicial services can be key enablers for judicial transparency and accountability, the report adds.   For example, in Indonesia digitising court documents and statistics has helped increase transparency for people who can access judgments online, reduce bureaucracy, and achieve efficiency.

The report stresses that the success of these reforms efforts are predicated on strong political will and national ownership.

The recently adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes key targets for providing access to justice, and tackling corruption. The report provides a fresh perspective on ways to develop integrity plans as part of broader judicial reforms, by illustrating inspirational experiences that countries can adopt to deliver justice for all.

[1] Perception survey Global Corruption Barometer, Transparency International, 2013 http://www.transparency.org/gcb2013/report.

[2] http://www.transparency.org/whatwedo/publication/people_and_corruption_africa_survey_2015

[3] All references to Kosovo in the report shall be understood to be in the context of Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999).

4 April marks the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action. This day was declared by the United Nations in 2005 with the aim to raise public awareness on the danger of unexploded ordnance and mines and mobilise necessary resources for addressing the problem worldwide, particularly in affected countries.

In 2016, we celebrate the 6th anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, an international treaty that prohibits the use and stockpiling of these explosive remnants of war. Lao PDR hosted the First Meeting of State Parties in 2010, concluding with the signing of the Vientiane Action Plan. This plan - succeeded in 2015 by the Dubrovnik Action Plan - set out actions and timeframes for measurable progress in the global effort to clear the world of contamination by cluster munitions and prevent their future use.

Lao PDR is the most affected nation in the world as a result of heavy bombing during the Vietnam war. Large amounts of unexploded ordnance (UXO) continue to cause casualties and hinder the use of land for agriculture and development.  The worst affected areas in Laos are typically remote and poor communities.

Significant progress has been made in addressing this predicament.

First, casualties, from as many as 300 in 2008, are now consistently under 50 per year -  although this figure does not account for the effect on families and dependents.

Secondly, Lao PDR has expanded its direct cooperation with several regional and ASEAN neighbours, including Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, China and Japan. This has included training, knowledge-sharing exchanges, provisions of vehicles and large equipment, and significant financial support.

Thirdly, huge areas of land have been cleared of UXO for safe use in agriculture and development. More than 1,500,000 UXO have been destroyed. And the whole effort, led by the Government of Lao PDR, is becoming more efficient under a new evidence-based methodology that focuses resources on areas of highest risk and contamination. This replaces an earlier approach where land clearance was based on requests from village communities. The new process sees operators scrutinise all information relating to UXO contamination on a village-by-village basis, before investigating each “evidence point” with detection equipment to establish the full extent of the Confirmed Hazardous Area. These areas are logged as tasks for clearance and will be prioritised according to development criteria. With the new approach, the number of cluster munitions found per hectare cleared has increased from 5 in 2014 to more than 22 in 2015.

However, the burden of managing such a massive problem remains heavy in Lao PDR, and the country faces many challenges common to states affected by explosive remnants of war. The country is one of many that needs support from the international community to address its huge UXO problem and to accelerate its UXO/mine action effort. With funding declining globally, a strategic approach is required.

The Government of Lao PDR and the United Nations will continue their partnership in the UXO sector to address these challenges, with a new programme starting in 2017. This is particularly important in the context of the new global agenda for development - the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These global Goals continue where the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) left off, but are far more comprehensive, with all countries, regardless of development stage and wealth status, responsible and accountable for their implementation.

The work of the UXO sector contributes to several of the Goals. Lao PDR, however, has taken the SDGs a step further by creating its own localised Goal number 18: Reduced impact of UXO. Let us all hope that, with this renewed sign of commitment and a global push to achieve all SDGs, Lao PDR will be able to end this suffering that resulted from the war legacy and move to safer ground. Because, as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently stated, mine action is “an investment in humanity”.

_________________________________

This article was co-authored by the Minister to the Government Office, H.E. Bounheuang Douangphachanh, chairman of the NRA and Kaarina Immonen, United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative and United Nations Resident Coordinator in Lao PDR.

Vientiane, 24 March, 2016 - Climate change is a real threat to the development of Lao PDR, which is already experiencing increasing incidence of extreme weather events like flooding and drought.

In a country where approximately 80 per cent of the population rely on some form of agricultural activity for the livlihoods, climate change has the potential to negatively affect a large portion of the population.

Last week the UNDP in Lao PDR and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment formally launched the ‘Lao PDR Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (Lao PDR INDC) Project’.

At last year’s Paris climate change conference, Lao PDR joined over 190 countries from around the world in agreeing to an ambitious climate change action plan by submitting Lao PDR's INDC.

This was accomplished in partnership with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment with robust, cross-sectoral stakeholder consultations and supported by the UNDP, the European Commission and the British Embassy.

Through the INDC project, the UNDP is now working with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to implement Lao PDR’s climate action plan and strengthen engagement in the global dialogue for climate action, in-line with the Paris Agreement on Climate Action.

The project is supported by the Global Environment Facility. 

As a next step in implementation of the Paris Agreement, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will convene a high level signing ceremony on 22 April 2016 in New York, USA, and the agreement can only enter into force once it has been ratified by 55 countries, representing at least 55 per cent of gloabl emissions.

2015 was a year of significant progress and innovation for Lao PDR’s UXO sector, thanks to a new evidence-based survey method.

Vientiane, 15 May 2015 - The UXO Sector, supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), adopted a new, evidence-based UXO survey approach in 2015, which has resulted in a considerable increase in the number of cluster munitions cleared per hectare of land; from fewer than 7 cluster munitions per hectare in 2014 to more than 22 cluster munitions per hectare in 2015.

The new survey approach entails consultation with communities to identify all known UXO in and around villages, followed by technical survey to establish the extent of each Confirmed Hazardous Area, which is then entered into the national database and prioritised for clearance. The approach will help the Government of Lao PDR to establish a national baseline of contamination, which in turn will enable better planning for UXO clearance nationally. Clearing the whole country of cluster munitions is one of the obligations of the international Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Despite much progress in 2015, millions of UXO are still thought to litter Lao PDR’s rural and remote communities. The hazards caused by UXO link to poverty levels, with the most contaminated districts in the country often also being among the poorest. The number of casualties resulting from UXO accidents reported by the National Regulatory Authority for the UXO/ Mine Action Sector (NRA) in 2015 was 42, well below the Millennium Development Goal 9 target of 75 casualties annually.

An evaluation of the UNDP’s support to Mine Action in Lao PDR in 2015 revealed remaining areas for support, including a need to improve task prioritisation and planning for the sector, better communicate results and progress to stakeholders, and increase the institutional capacity of the relevant government bodies, including in managing new types and larger quantities of data on UXO contamination.

These recent successes and challenges were reported today at the Annual Review Meeting/Project Board of UNDP’s programme of support to the UXO sector, chaired by H.E. Mr. Bounheuang Douangphachanh, Minister to the Prime Minister’s Office and Ms. Kaarina Immonen, United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Lao PDR.  At the meeting, the new Five Year Sector Work Plan was presented by the NRA along with a recently-developed plan for completing a national cluster munitions survey by 2021. The meeting also served as a platform to gauge support and capture feedback from UNDP’s partners on the next phase of support to the UXO sector, as well as from the Government of Lao PDR on the prospect of increased national ownership of the sector.

“We hope that a strong coordinated sectoral approach to programme and technical support will help to address some of the remaining challenges in the sector and allow funding to align better with changing needs,” said Ms. Immonen.

The current UNDP UXO programme (2013-2016) has been supported by Australia, Belgium, Canada, the European Union, France, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Norway, the Republic of Ireland, the Republic of Korea, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

UNDP is working with partners to ensure the full implementation of the NRA and UXO Lao’s Annual Work Plans for 2016, for which approximately USD 2,200,000 still needs to be committed.

Field mission scouts new ways of raising awareness on rights and laws in pilot province

With the opening of an Information Kiosk at the Provincial Court in the Lao province of Xiengkhouang and a fully functional Legal Aid Center at the Department of Justice in the province’s capital Phonsavanh, citizens now have more access to information regarding their rights, laws and court cases.

During a field mission led by the United Nations Development Project (UNDP), donors and partners had the opportunity to visit activities implemented by UNDP’s Support Project to the Legal Sector Master Plan. The project, funded by the European Union, the United States and France, works with the Lao justice sector to help the country become a state fully governed by rule of law. Amongst other challenges, the country of almost 6.8 million inhabitants has only less than 200 lawyers, making it challenging for citizens to file a case. The project is currently piloting legal service provision in Xiengkhouang Province to create a model that can later be used across the country.

The Phonesavanh Legal Aid Center, featuring an office where material on citizen rights and obligations is available, as well as a telephone hotline, opened in December 2015. Since then, the Center has already supported and provided advice to seven clients seeking legal aid, most commonly centered around family issues, domestic violence, human trafficking and illicit drugs. The staff members of the Center regularly visit villages to inform communities about the existence of the Center and distribute information leaflets related to these most common problems. “When talking to inhabitants of small villages without access to the road network, we often have to resort to speaking ethnic languages like Hmong or Khmou, the most common minority groups in this part of the country. Fortunately, the Head of this Legal Aid Office in Phonsavanh is a member of the Hmong community himself, and he has the ability to not only address the people in their own language, but also to simplify the legal language in a way that is understood by all”, said Mr. Khamboum, a junior officer working at the Legal Aid Center.

The mission’s highlight was the official launch of an Information Kiosk at the Provincial Court. The Kiosk is essentially the front door of a system of recorded court cases, where citizens can not only find all documents related to the case they filed, but also hear more about the next steps and get an update of the status and timing in their court case. In addition, people can gain an overview of how the system works through diagrams explaining court procedures. Clerks help people by pointing them to right forms, and - should they decide to file a case - help them complete them. The Provincial Court collaborates with the Department of Justice in visiting local communities to inform them about the Kiosk and the information it provides.

The Legal Aid Center refers citizens to the court, police, village mediation units and other services, while the Information Kiosk is a formal inlet into the justice system. Article 6 of the latest amendment of the Constitution of Lao PDR obliges authorities to raise awareness on laws and available remedies to the population, making Xiengkhouang’s efforts in disseminating legal information a timely response to this requirement. The Department of Justice is currently also working on a mobile court model, which will see judges travelling to villages to solve cases directly in the communities.

The delegation travelled to Khoun District to experience another channel of disseminating legal information: Community Radio. Community Radio, supported by UNDP, is successfully giving local communities a voice – in five provinces and eight languages, reaching around 285,000 people across Laos. Community Radio is often the only channel of information for local communities and has become very successful in developing local communities, not only through conveying messages related to health, citizen rights, gender and agriculture, but also through a network of radio volunteers who essentially run the radio stations and act as agents of change in their communities.

Khoun Community Radio broadcasts legal matters 2 hours weekly in both Hmong and Lao language, collaborating with the Department of Justice. Young radio volunteers, often girls from the Hmong community, are proactively going out to interview villagers about disputes and awareness on civic rights, but on several occasions, the radio volunteers have recorded legal dramas based on scripts provided by the Department of Justice or the Lao Bar Association. The delegation participated in a radio programme recording, answering questions about child rights and dissemination of legal information.

“It was interesting to see how different legal services feed into each other to start adding up to a coherent system that provides access to justice“, Kimberley Bulkley, Director of the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Section of the US Embassy in Vientiane stated. “Through the project, access to information has improved on the provincial level noticeably, which is a stepping stone towards disseminating legal information in villages“, Audrey Maillot, Cooperation Attaché from the EU Delegation in Laos added. 

The Government of Lao PDR and the United Nations share an update on the implementation of the outcomes of the country’s main development forum

Vientiane, 26 February 2016 – Three months after the 12^th High Level Round Table Meeting, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) – co-chairs of the Meeting – briefed journalists on the way forward in the country’s development cooperation.

High Level Round Table Meetings organized every five years from now on provide inclusive and participatory forums to support the design and implementation of the country’s national development plans. The 12^th edition, organized on 27^th November 2015, brought together more than 300 delegates from the Lao Government, donors and south-south partners, UN agencies, private sector and civil society organizations. Participants discussed the overall national development agenda and alignment and harmonization of resources and other development inputs around the priorities of the Government’s 8^th National Socio-Economic Development Plan for the period of 2016 to 2020 and its implications for the graduation from Least Developed Country status.

Speaking to Lao media convened at the Lao Journalists Association, H.E. Dr. Kikeo Chanthaboury, Vice-Minister of Planning and Investment revealed that among other things, the High Level Meeting identified key policy areas, clustered around macro-economics and inclusive growth, social and human development, environmental sustainability, as well as a range of cross-cutting areas like governance, civil society, illicit drugs and UXO.

Dr. Kikeo said: “More stringent and comprehensive concentration on priority areas is essential for the development of Lao PDR. These areas include increased investments to priority sectors like health and education as well as enhancing rural infrastructure and modernization of the agriculture sector, but also food and nutrition security and access to quality education and health.”

For maximal impact, these policy areas have to be supported with a strong synergetic approach through greater partnerships, as stipulated in the Vientiane Declaration on Partnership for Effective Cooperation or Vientiane Declaration II, presented at the Meeting and endorsed by 28 partners so far. The Declaration also foresees a shift from official development assistance towards greater partnership and new ways of development financing – including domestic resource mobilization. Indeed, nationally, the private sector is identified as a new partner in development cooperation, whereas on the international arena emerging donors from the Global South are seen as allies.

Another signpost for the future of the country is the post-2015 global development agenda, with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at its core, as discussed during the 12^th High Level Round Table Meeting.  These 17 ambitious goals have been agreed on by all United Nations Member States to move the globe on a sustainable development path, with 2030 as a target date. In Lao PDR, the 8^th Plan will be the framework of SDG implementation, and progress is being made in integrating them into the Plan.

Answering questions from journalists, Ms. Kaarina Immonen, UNDP Resident Representative and UN Resident Coordinator emphasized the link between graduation from Least Developed Country status and SDG implementation: “The SDGs provide tools to address persisting development challenges. In order to graduate from Least Developed Country status, Laos needs to focus on rising inequalities, child nutrition and environmental sustainability. The UN works with the Government in finding ways to do this, using the SDGs and the new partnership approach we endorsed in the Vientiane Declaration.”

The Government has currently issued an instruction to all Ministries for the implementation of the outcomes of the 12^th High Level Round Table Meeting through an inclusive and participatory process. In particular, the 10 Sector Working Groups, key coordination platforms for each thematic area will continue to play a pivotal role in translating the Round Table Meeting’s outcomes into action. Throughout 2016, the Government will raise awareness across the country on development discussions on national and sectoral fora. In November this year, a Round Table Implementation Meeting will be organized in a province to report back on progress and identify further steps of action.  

She is younger than 25 – as are 60 percent of the population. She lives below the national poverty line – similar to one-third of her fellow upland inhabitants. She was already married at the age of 15 – like ten percent of the women in her country.

Her village lies in an area rife with unexploded bombs, she belongs to one of the 49 official ethnic groups, and eats less than she would need to – similar to one-fifth of her countrymen. On her shoulders rests caring for a typical family of six, including laborious rice farming on upland slopes and foraging for additional food in the forest.

It is people like her we want to reach through our work. If her life becomes a little easier, the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) 40 years of work in Laos will have been successful. 

The UNDP Country Office in Vientiane opened its doors in 1976, soon after Laos shifted from monarchy to a one-party-system and was renamed Lao People’s Democratic Republic.

Our aim, from the beginning, has been to reduce the rampant poverty levels and maintain the precarious newly-won stability in this mountainous, ethnically diverse and sparsely populated nation, after decades of ravaging internal unrest and involvement in international conflicts.

Making policies work for people

Some of our most significant work happens at the policy level. UNDP has helped the government to identify the needs of its people in the poorest regions of the country, and address them in national strategies and plans.

We have been working for the past 15 years to strengthen the government’s capacity to deliver improved public services – including one door service centres across provinces, helping villagers gain access to services and information. With the help of volunteers, we run community radio stations, broadcasting in eight languages and reaching 300,000 people across the country. The programmes spread helpful messages on farming, health, childcare, education, and mine risk awareness.

To free Laos from the unexploded remnants of the 2^nd Indochina War, we have engaged with the government in creating two national institutions, the national clearance operator UXO Lao and the National Regulatory Authority, and have provided training and know-how that led to the clearance of contaminated areas in a safe, coordinated and cost-effective manner. This has contributed to more than 1.3 million items of unexploded ordnance being destroyed – freeing the lives of hundreds of thousands of villagers from persistent fear.

Sustainable green growth and integration

80 percent of Lao people are involved in some form of agriculture, or agriculture-related activity.  Thus, seasonal shortfalls induced by extreme weather and climate-related events affect the population immensely. UNDP is helping Laos to adapt to the changing climate - on the one hand  at the grass-roots level, by teaching farmers how to cultivate more resilient species with improved yields, and on the other hand through policy and regulatory improvements. Indeed, Lao PDR has successfully submitted its own climate action plan to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at the global conference COP21, which was held in Paris last year. Lao PDR is steadily working to integrate climate change adaptation and mitigation into national development plans.

Laos’ economic trump cards lie in its natural resources and today, extractive and energy industries are amongst the country’s priority sectors for investment and industrialisation. UNDP is collaborating with the mining and hydropower sectors, as well as with forestry and agriculture operations to ensure sustainable practices by enhancing law enforcement. This in turn will not only help to manage impacts on the environment, but also to protect villagers from unsustainable resettlement and compensation practices, as well as labour exploitation.

UNDP helps Laos to prosper in a sustainable way, spreading gains to all its people, especially the most vulnerable. One way of doing this is by land-linking this landlocked country to international and regional organisations – which will help transform the labour market and reduce urban-rural inequalities. With UNDP’s support, Lao PDR became a member of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Countries) in 1997 and of the World Trade Organization in 2013. Now efforts are focused on supporting Lao PDR in graduating from Least Developed Country status.

This year, as we celebrate the 40^th anniversary of UNDP Laos, the country has just become part of the ASEAN Economic Community and assumed ASEAN Chairmanship.  Through the presence of world leaders at the ASEAN Summit in September this year, for a window of time that will close all too quickly, the world’s eye will be directed towards this peaceful and small country that usually does not attract international news attention. But, as we well know at UNDP, Laos is a country of many untold stories – stories of struggle for a brighter future, which has slowly started to dawn.

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This article was co-authored by Ms. Kaarina Immonen, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Laos and Ms. Ildiko Hamos-Sohlo, Communications Specialist, Head of Public Information Unit, UNDP. 

Recently published UN reports allow for insight into global trends of work and challenges in rural development across the world, which are of relevance to existing and emerging national strategies and policies.

Fast technological progress, deepening globalisation, aging societies and environmental challenges are rapidly transforming what work means today and how it is performed. This new world of work presents great opportunities for some, but also profound challenges for others. The United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Global 2015 Human Development Reporturges governments to act now to ensure no one is left behind in the fast-changing world of work. The report, subtitled Work for Human Development argues that policies should embrace all types of work, including care, creative and voluntary work and that they should pay particular attention to sustainability.

The UNDP’s flagship report argues that the Asia-Pacific region may have been experiencing fast growth and rapid human development, but not necessarily fast job creation. The human development approach, adopted by the UNDP since 1990 and measured with the Human Development Index (HDI), emphasises improving lives rather than using economic growth as an end in itself. The Lao PDR ranked 141^st out of 188 countries on the HDI in 2014, below the average in the region.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development´s (UNCTAD) 2015 Least Developed Countries Report, subtitled Transforming Rural Economies, presents a road map to address rural poverty in the 48 least developed countries of the world. It highlights lack of progress in rural transformation and notes the root causes of migration within and from the least developed countries.

Poverty-driven rural–urban migration fuels excessive rates of urbanisation in many poor countries. Many international migrants come from rural areas – either directly or after first migrating to towns and cities in their own countries. The report’s recommendations aspire to slow this process by focusing on rural development, which seeks to “create the conditions for a rural–urban migration process driven primarily by choice rather than necessity”. 

Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals – the 17 global goals world leaders signed up to in 2015, with the target date for goal achievement by 2030 - in rural areas of least developed countries will require a “quantum leap” in the rate of infrastructure investment: more than twice as many people would have to gain access to water each year than was the case in 2011–2012, four times as many to electricity, and six times as many to sanitation.

Poverty can only be eradicated if there are employment and economic opportunities for all, with incomes above the poverty line matched by productivity. In order to achieve this in rural areas of poor countries, the report proposes a new approach, articulated around a three-phase increase in infrastructure investment, and the combination of increasing agricultural productivity and promoting non-farm activities. 

These two reports were launched in Vientiane today in presence of H.E. Dr. Bounthavy Sisouphanthong, Vice Minister of Planning and Investment and Ms. Kaarina Immonen, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Lao PDR. The national context was provided by the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s National Economic Research Institute. These global reports provide informed policy choices for Lao PDR, which can promote policy dialogue and enable the country to adapt to quickly changing global trends. The UN continues to support the country in its development objectives, by - amongst others - helping to adjust strategies and policies according to the newest emerging knowledge and data.

Speech from Georgetown University on February 3, 2016 in Washington DC.

I am delighted to be at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University as a speaker at this important discussion on implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific. 

I thank Professor Irfan Nooruddin for the warm welcome and introduction. I appreciate that the Masters of Science in Foreign Service and Asian Studies Program organized this event.  

I recognize and thank Mr. Tony Pipa from USAID for his presence and for the leadership he contributed to the intergovernmental negotiations as the US Special Coordinator for the Post-2015 Development Agenda. 

Later this month, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will celebrate its 50^thanniversary.

As the leading and coordinating agency of the United Nations (UN) development system, everything we have accomplished, we have done so in partnership with national and international stakeholders. 

In Asia and the Pacific, UNDP is known primarily for building capacity of national institutions that manage the region’s remarkable growth. 

While in the year 2000 the region accounted for less than 30 percent of world’s GDP, by 2014 this contribution had risen to almost 40 percent, according to the IMF. Consequently, the number of people living in poverty in the region fell sharply from 1.1 billion in 2000 to an estimated 314 million today. 

This impressive result was accelerated by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) framework in place between 2000 and 2015.

MDGs demonstrated what is possible when governments, the UN, multilateral banks, civil society, private sector and academia work together.

Last year, world leaders renewed this global partnership when they adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – a universal, integrated and transformative vision for a better world.

The 2030 Agenda – a result of unprecedented participatory consultations – is composed of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets to wipe out poverty, fight inequality and tackle climate change over the next 15 years.

What counts now is translating promises on paper into change on the ground. 

In order to achieve the SDGs, we have to make sure we deliver on its main features:

• Leave no one behind;
• Universality; and 
• Ambition.

Today, I will speak about how we can make this bold, ambitious and transformational agenda work, and UNDP’s contribution to this effort.

Leave no one behind

Above all, the 2030 Agenda pledges to leave no one behind.

The 2030 Agenda calls for ending poverty in all its forms.

The consensus is that no target should be considered met until it is met for everyone.

Every woman and every man, every girl and every boy. 

This has far-reaching implications for project design and implementation.

Under the 2030 Agenda, we committed to deliver the last – and the hardest – mile on development targets.

We promised to extend public services to all politically, geographically, culturally or otherwise marginalized groups.

We have to think big, scale up development initiatives.

For example, in Vietnam, the proportion of poor decreased from 60 percent of population in the early 1990’s to around 7 percent today.

As in many other countries, the rising tide of prosperity did not lift every boat.

Ethnic minorities make up around 14 percent of the population but they account for more than half of those living in poverty.

Almost all of these marginalized communities live in remote, hard to access areas, where geography hampers both livelihoods and provision of public services.

However, the Government of Vietnam has prepared, with our support, a plan and has allocated resources to address the public service gaps and promote economic opportunities for  marginalized ethnic minorities.

We need this kind of bold, large scale and targeted initiatives- implemented under government’s leadership and budget- across the region to achieve the SDGs.

Universality

While the MDGs had to be met by developing countries, the SDGs apply to all countries, poor, rich and middle-income.

US President Barack Obama stated in his remarks at the ceremony adopting the 2030 Agenda that: “Poverty, growing inequality exists in all of our nations, and all of our nations have work to do.”

Implementing the 2030 Agenda requires action from everyone, everywhere.

But not every country has the capacity to advance simultaneously17 goals in 169 targets.

There is a need to support capacity of implementing institutions.

UNDP is a specialist in building institutions. Take, for example, Bangladesh, one of the most disaster prone countries in the world.

In 1991, around 140,000 people died after a category four storm, Cyclone Gorky, struck Bangladesh.

Following this catastrophe, the government and its international partners, including UNDP, set up disaster management institutions with early warning systems, evacuation plans and drills, and education and awareness raising programs.

When a comparable category four storm, Cyclone Sidr, hit in 2007, it caused 3,400 casualties.

While every loss of life is tragic, this example shows the difference proper institutions can make.

To implement the SDGs, there will be a need for capacity building, technical assistance and knowledge exchange through bilateral, multilateral and South-South cooperation mechanisms, including in areas, such as migration, urbanization, job creation and youth.

Ambition 

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon summarized the 2030 Agenda’s ambition when he said: “Now we must use the goals to transform the world.”

The 2030 Agenda aims at tackling key systemic barriers to sustainable development such as inequality, unsustainable consumption and production patterns, inadequate infrastructure and lack of decent jobs.

The SDG implementation will require a departure from “business as usual.”

We cannot afford to work in silos or be driven only by priorities that reflect short-term election cycle interests.

We have to address economic, social, and environmental challenges at once. 

We are taking on big issues and our solutions must be bold and large --yet simple and clear. 

Many domestic and international entities have been involved in supporting the governments in designing integrated interventions. UNDP worked with China, Lao PDR, Vietnam, and other countries on developing holistic reform solutions for their five-year or longer-term plans.

In addition to pursuing integrated development programming, the scope of SDG implementation will require emphasis on innovation, data collection, open participation and multi-stakeholder engagement. 

For example, in partnership with Baidu in China, we created an award winning app which helps consumers recycle electronic products by connecting them to waste recycling and dismantling agencies across major cities.

The project integrates the informal electronic waste recycling sector into the legitimate electronic waste processing industry, transforming an informal economy into a network of formal jobs. It allows proper disposal and processing of electronic waste instead of illegal, toxic dump sites.

It changes the lives of people while protecting the environment. It engages local authorities and businesses. It creates a new market.

We have to nurture this kind of a ‘whole of agenda’ and ‘whole of society’ innovative thinking and infuse it into SDG implementation.

One such new idea will transform the development sector just as iTunes changed the music business.

UNDP’s role in the changing development landscape

Over the past 50 years, we designed, implemented and evaluated thousands of projects that improved the lives of millions of people through integrated economic, social and environmental interventions.

UNDP is the “facilitator” and “connector” that mashes up public and private, domestic and international sources of development finance and expertise into effective programmes that accelerate progress.

Our US$ 2 billion global portfolio of environmental projects funded mainly by the Global Environment Facility attracts new US$ 8.35 billion co-financing investments.

We produced more than 140 MDG reports in Asia and the Pacific, tracking progress and recommending improved anti-poverty strategies.

The demand for UNDP’s services by governments from Asia and the Pacific with their own funding – the so called government co-financing – nearly doubled over the past five years.

When it comes to SDG implementation, UNDP is playing a role within the broader UN Development Group’s initiative on mainstreaming, acceleration and policy support.

As the UN’s lead development organization, UNDP will continue to serve as the coordinating agency of the UN development system which ensures the coherence of UN’s work on the ground.

In terms of our own SDG offer, we are preparing a package of services called “CLEAR” which stands for Coherence and Linkages, Expertise, Access and Reporting.

We are already supporting SDG agenda at the request of the governments.

We are mainstreaming SDGs into national development plans and budgets in Bhutan, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Philippines and Tonga.

As we gear up to implement SDGs, financing for development is changing.

The Official Development Assistance (ODA) stood at a record US$ 137.2 billion in 2014.

However, developing countries have become less ODA dependent.

While aid represented 13.5 percent of the total financial inflows in Asia and the Pacific in 1990, it fell to 3.4 percent in 2012.

In 2001, aid made up 5.5 percent of the national budget in the Philippines. In 2013, the national budget almost quadrupled and the portion of aid reduced to 0.45 percent.

The changing role and significance of ODA has an impact on the development sector.

For UNDP, to continue to provide support over the next 15 years, we need political and financial stability.

These are the two main discussions that will shape UNDP’s future role in the SDG implementation:

1. While the developing countries expect from UNDP technical assistance in managing economic growth, industrialization and job creation, the donor countries that fund UNDP ask us to concentrate on peace, governance and conflict resolution. The two views will need to be reconciled.
2. Contributions to UNDP's organizational and administrative funding have been declining which affects our ability to operate strategically. The UN Member States will have to help us solve the following dilemma: Should UNDP remain an agency funded by voluntary contributions from OECD donors, or, should UNDP transform into an agency funded by all its Member States?

The long-term role of UNDP in SDG implementation will depend on the future form of its governance structure and funding mechanism. 

Closing

As UNDP Administrator Helen Clark said, “Ours is the last generation which can head off the worst effects of climate change, and the first generation with the wealth and knowledge to eradicate poverty.”

With decades of experience in providing development support to 36 countries through 24 offices in Asia and the Pacific, we are ready to provide strategic policy and project delivery support to the 2030 Agenda across the region.

Working together, we can achieve the SDGs and ensure that no one is left behind. What is needed is a clear long-term political and financial commitment of the Member States. 

Thank you.

Two climate change projects aim to encourage climate change adaptation in water resources and small scale rural infrastructure and disaster risk management.

More than 100 Government officials and development partners working in the field of climate change and disaster risk management gathered today at the National Convention Center to review the performance and identify the next steps for two projects implemented by the Department of Disaster Management and Climate Change and supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP): “Effective Governance for Small Scale Rural Infrastructure and Disaster Preparedness in a Changing Climate” and “Integrated Disaster Climate Risk Management”.

Both projects prepare the Lao PDR to address the impacts of climate change on the country and build resilience to climate-related events.

“Effective Governance for Small Scale Rural Infrastructure and Disaster Preparedness in a Changing Climate” (GIDCC) started in June 2013, aiming at building capacity among provincial, district and local authorities in Sekong and Saravane Districts to integrate climate risks into their existing development planning and budgeting. The project also supported authorities in their ability to execute priority infrastructure and ecosystem management projects that increase local resilience to climate change.

With the help of GIDCC, District Development Fund Guidelines have been revised to include climate resilience criteria.  GIDCC is about to complete a Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessment and pilots Ecosystem-based adaptation in Sekong and Saravan, linking it increasingly to infrastructure resilience. Infrastructure resilience means making rural construction standards stronger and focusing on managing the surrounding ecosystem.  

The second project, “Integrated Disaster Climate Risk Management” (IDCRM), started in May 2013 and has substantially moved forward the drafting of the Disaster and Climate Change Law.  One of the project’s key achievements is the successful completion of the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) which was prepared together with the support of the British Embassy in Lao PDR and submitted to the United Nations Framework Conventions on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on Sept 30, 2015. The INDC outlines Lao PDR’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change through particular actions.

The Joint Annual Review Meeting was chaired by H.E Mme. Monemany Ngoybouakong, Vice Minister of MONRE, and Ms. Azusa Kubota, Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP Lao PDR. H.E. Mme. Monemany mentioned: “Both projects have been contributing signicantly to disaster and climate change management in Lao PDR, particularly the preparation of the Disaster and Climate Change Law and effective management of rural infrastructure against climate impact.” Ms. Kubota said: “The impact of climate risk is increasing globally, however, the solutions can be made locally. (…) Building resilience against risks and set-backs is critical for accelerating the efforts on poverty reduction.”

This Joint Annual Review Meeting for 2015 presented an opportunity to identify areas for collaboration and identify any gaps that need to be addressed before the finalization and approval of the project annual work plans for 2016.

Globally, 2015 has been a very important year in the field of climate change and disaster management as we are approaching the end of the Millennium Development Goals, eight ambitious targets that aimed to halve poverty, end hunger, boost education and gender equality, amongst others, on a global scale. In 2016 the post-2015 development era starts with the Sustainable Development Goals at its core. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will promote peaceful and inclusive societies, create better jobs, and tackle key environmental challenges. They should help shift the world onto a sustainable development path, with 2030 as the target date. Unlike the MDGs, the new development agenda applies to all countries, rich or poor.

2015 also represents the transition from the Hyogo Framework for Action to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. The new framework emphasizes risk reduction and climate resilience.  In addition, at the end of 2015 at Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris, we have just witnessed a new historic climate agreement that is legally binding in the aim to reduce the global emissions. The impact of climate risk is increasing globally, however, the solutions can be made locally. Both projects mentioned here are contributing significantly to climate risk management in Lao PDR and have been strengthening community resilience to changing weather patterns.  

In conjunction with the Human Rights Day celebrated annually on December 10, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with the Support Project for Implementation of the Legal Sector Master Plan organised a two-day seminar on December 7-8 to raise awareness of international and regional human rights systems and also to share good practices from other countries on national human rights mechanisms. The objective of the seminar was to take stock of existing human rights mechanisms in Laos and find concrete ways to strengthen them in the coming months and years.

Chaired by H.E. Mr. Alounkeo Kittikhoun, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the seminar served as the first of its kind held in Vientiane at this high level discussing the important topic of human rights mechanisms. H.E. Mr. Alounkeo emphasised that “civil and political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Lao multi-ethnic people are enshrined in the national Constitution, laws and other legal documents, which are in conformity with the obligations and commitments of the country at the international and regional level.”

The Seminar welcomed human rights experts (Directors/Representatives of Human Rights Commissions) from Australia, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, and Thailand who provided valuable inputs regarding their experiences with national and regional human rights institutions as well as their views on the way forward for Lao PDR. The seminar, was well attended with over 100 participants from government agencies, representatives from academia, civil society and development agencies.

Facilitated by Ms. Sudha Gooty, Assistant Representative and Governance Unit Chief of UNDP Lao PDR, the seminar also organised a panel discussion with representatives from local NGOs, the European Union Delegation, National Assembly, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Justice exchanging views on how Lao PDR can move forward with better protection and promotion of human rights in the country.

Main points derived from the 2-day seminar include but are not limited to:

• the need for further improvement of the current National Steering Committee on Human Rights (including the consideration for composition and mandate of the Committee as well as capacity strengthening for focal points from different ministries),
• continued use of existing human rights facilities such as the Universal Periodic Review (continuing inclusive and participatory process),
• clearer procedures for handling complaints from the general public, and
• use of local assemblies for effective dissemination of human rights-related information.

Recognising the value of all inputs and suggestions received throughout the event for further improvement of the existing mechanism, Mr. Phoukhong Sisoulath, Director General of the Department of Treaties and Law at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, concluded the second day session by stating that “this is not the end in our efforts to further improve the human rights situation. Rather, this is the beginning of such efforts.” 

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator and Chair of the United Nations (UN) Development Group Helen Clark speaks out on sustainable and inclusive growth for Lao PDR.

Vientiane – 29 November 2015 – The occasion of UNDP Administrator Helen Clark’s official visit to Lao PDR was the 12^th High Level Round Table Meeting. Helen Clark made a keynote speech to the plenary session, emphasising Lao PDR’s commitment to the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in its 8^th National Socio-Economic Development Plan.

“The national consultation on the post-2015 agenda in Lao PDR helped not only to obtain the views of government, but also those of civil society, the private sector, and citizens across the country”, Helen Clark said.

World leaders, including Lao PDR President, H.E. Choummaly Sayasone, adopted the seventeen SDGs at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York in September. The SDGs aim, among other things, to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change worldwide by 2030.

The SDGs and their implications for Lao PDR were discussed at the 12^th High Level Round Table Meeting, Lao PDR’s foremost development forum, attended in Vientiane by more than 300 delegates from the Government, development partners, international organisations, civil society, and the private sector.

Helen Clark commended Lao PDR on its successes in meeting many of the Millennium Development Goal targets. She highlighted the importance of inclusive growth for human development, and stressed the need to address persisting challenges under the new agenda: “Rising inequalities, child nutrition and environmental sustainability are areas in need of continued focus in Lao PDR”, she said.

At the Round Table Meeting, Helen Clark witnessed the endorsement of the Vientiane Partnership Declaration, a ten-year framework for development co-operation which aims to ensure the maximum impact for human and sustainable development in Lao PDR through to 2025. The 12^th High Level Round Table Meeting broke new ground in its inclusion of civil society and the private sector in the discussion. Consultations with both sectors were held in the run-up to the Round Table Meeting. The Vientiane Declaration foresees close public and private partnerships for development.

During her visit to Laos, Helen Clark met with H.E. Choummaly Sayasone, President of Lao PDR, and H.E Thongsing Thammavong, Prime Minister, amongst other senior government representatives. “We discussed ways to strengthen the co-operation between the UN and the Government, especially in the light of the 8th National Social and Economic Development Plan and the new global sustainable development agenda. We also addressed how the unfinished MDG targets on nutrition and environmental sustainability can be taken forward through the SDGs,” said Helen Clark. 

The Administrator met with women leaders from government, civil society, and the private sector to discuss how the UN can support the empowerment of Lao women. While in Vientiane, Helen Clark also promoted the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s campaign to Unite to End Violence Against Women.

During her visit, Helen Clark travelled to the UNESCO World Heritage-listed city of Luang Prabang. There she visited development initiatives in Luang Prabang Province on livelihoods and UXO (unexploded ordinance) clearance.

In Huayman Village, Phonxay District, Helen Clark met with members of the village’s Mushroom Cultivation Group, one of five community-driven groups established to help villagers sustainably grow mushrooms to improve their family’s nutrition and income, and reduce pressure on wild forest species from foraging. These groups were established within the UNDP Agro-Biodiversity Project supported by the Global Environment Facility and FAO, aiming at improving livelihoods whilst conserving the rich biodiversity of Laos.

In Siao Village, Pak Ou District, the Administrator visited an unexploded ordinance (UXO) clearance and mine risk education site. Luang Prabang Province is one of the most highly UXO-contaminated provinces of Lao PDR. With the support of UNDP and other partners, UXO Lao, the national clearance operator, has removed huge numbers of UXO items since starting its work in 1998, improving the security of people living in the many impacted communities, and releasing cleared land for agriculture and development.

In her speech to the Round Table, Helen Clark said: “The national designation of an MDG 9 [Reducing the impact of UXO] was an important Lao national innovation. It highlighted an additional formidable challenge which the country faces - that of an estimated 8.7 million hectares of land contaminated by UXOs”.

Helen Clark’s visit also highlighted 60 years of UN-Lao co-operation and the 70^th anniversary of the United Nations. The national landmark Patuxay in Vientiane was lit in “UN Blue” during the days around the High Level Round Table Meeting. 

At the occasion of the Development Cooperation Exhibition, a side event for the High Level Round Table Meeting, H.E. Dr. Seumsouk Simphavong, Vice Minister of Justice, launched the Ministry’s first-ever website and law-making baseline report together with Mr. Haoliang Xu, UN Assistant Secretary-General, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Regional Director of the Bureau for Asia and the Pacific.

The Ministry of Justice website will serve as a one-stop website that provides all relevant legal information for a wide range of stakeholders from legal practitioners to the general public. Examples of the information that one can obtain from this website include information on legal aid, all Lao laws, international treaties that Lao PDR is party to, and information related to accessing justice delivery institutions.

The baseline study is one of the very first in the field of law-making and provides a detailed status quo of law-making practices in Lao PDR. The findings of the study will be used to fine-tune the law-making process and explore options to further improve inclusive participation and help in making more pragmatic laws.

Vientiane 27 November 2015 – The Government and its development partners endorsing a new ten-year framework for development co-operation in Lao PDR today.

The ‘Vientiane Partnership Declaration’ will help ensure that all funds, efforts and knowledge for development bring about the maximum possible impact, to 2025 and beyond.

In his opening remarks to the 12th High Level Round Table Meeting today, H.E. Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong said:

“Lao PDR has made considerable efforts to reduce poverty. We’ve laid strong foundations to graduate from Least Developed Country status by 2020. In the years to come, we’ll focus all our efforts on the implementation of the 8th five-year National Socio-Economic Development Plan to 2020. We’ll determine clear measures, in a clear action plan, to achieve development in the economic, socio-cultural and environmental spheres.”

“I wish to reaffirm that the Government is a reliable partner in managing the implementation of Official Development Assistance in an effective, transparent way, that helps bring about sustainable development, and of course reaches the people – who are the real beneficiaries.”

Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, said:

“I’m delighted to see that the Sustainable Development Goals are being included in Lao PDR’s 8th National Socio-Economic Development Plan. The 17 global goals aim to tackle problems that affect us all; poverty, inequality and injustice and climate change by 2030.”

“These goals are part of the broadest, most ambitious agenda for people, planet and prosperity in history, and that is exactly why partnerships are so important. Without new partnerships, new sources of funds and new technology, we won’t meet these vital targets. In this way, the implementation of the Vientiane Partnership Declaration will be key for Lao PDR.”

At today’s Round Table Meeting, UNDP Chief Helen Clark said that the UN is committed to supporting Lao PDR to lead in translating the goals to country-level realities in Asia. World leaders, including Lao PDR’s President Choummaly Sayasone, adopted the goals at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in New York on 25th of September.

Official Development Assistance makes up less than 7 per cent of Lao PDR’s Gross National Income. The aim in the Vientiane Declaration is to maximize its use and to align it fully with the Government’s development priorities, while also boosting domestic income for development.

The Declaration includes commitments to enhance local development planning, build an inclusive financial sector and develop knowledge sharing networks, including the transfer of new, clean and green technologies.

At today’s Round Table Meeting, 300 delegates from the Lao government, donor and developing countries, UN agencies, business and civil society organisations are working to lay the foundations for action in implementing the 8th Plan, which aims to boost economic, human and environmental benefits simultaneously.

Lao PDR benefits from the Round Table Process, an inclusive national development forum, where the government and partners engage in regular, direct dialogue on policy priorities and programmes.

More information

• 12th High Level Round Table Meeting
• The Vientiane Partnership Declaration
• Key documents for the 12th High Level Round Table Meeting
• The Sustainable Development Goals

Within the Governance Sector Working Group as part of the Round Table Process, the Legal and Institutional Sub-Sector Working Group organises annual thematic workshops with the primary objectives of bringing together all key stakeholders and discussing overarching topics relevant for the legal sector in Lao PDR. On 20 November 2015, the third thematic workshop this year was organised by the Legal and Institutional Sub-Sector Working Group, co-chaired by H.E. Prof. Ket Kiettisack, Vice Minister of Justice, Ms. Audrey Maillot, EU Cooperation Attaché, and Ms. Sudha Gooty, UNDP Assistant Resident Representative.

This workshop took stock of the progress made in developing the penal code since the last thematic workshop on the same subject exactly a year ago. Amongst others, main changes in the latest draft include increased fines, expanded definitions, and new offences against life, health, and honour of a person.

Participants thanked the Government for making this drafting process so inclusive and participatory from the beginning. In order to continue with this trend, Mr. Inthapanya Khieovongpachanh, a resource person for this workshop and a lead member of the drafting committee, mentioned that after further revision, the latest draft will be uploaded to the official gazette website again for comments from the general public.

The draft penal code is expected to be adopted in 2016.

As the first ray of sun hits the foliage, Kongsy walks up to a small area, fenced off with blue mesh screen at the end of his garden, containing a small puddle. Gentle cooing sounds lure a group of the smallest dwellers in his household garden right into Kongsy’s hands, which are holding a treasure: a bag filled with small pellets, bought at the local market to feed his population of about 100 frogs.

The East Asian bullfrog, known by the scientific name of Hoplobatrachus rugulosus, with its brown rubbery skin freckled with black dots, is small in size but large in benefit. Fresh markets in Laos are teeming with them, as frog meat is an important protein constituent of the rural Lao diet, stewed into large pots or deep-fried in oil. One kilogram of frog meet sells for about USD 3 right in the village and can fetch even higher prices in nearby cities.

“I received three bags of 100 frogs each from the project and have been trained in how to raise and cultivate them”, says Kongsy, emptying his bag, as his toads clumsily splash in and out of the water to leash out their sticky tongues on the objects of their desire.

“The project” is the recently closed Improving the Resilience of the Agricultural Sector to Climate Change, implemented by the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute of the Lao Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and funded by the United Nations Development Programme and the Global Environment Facility. IRAS, as the project was fondly abbreviated by its eager implementers at the Provincial and District Agriculture and Forestry Offices of its two target provinces Xayaboury and Savannakhet in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, has raised awareness for climate change adaptation and resilience and provided related training and equipment in 35 villages of the poorest country of Southeast Asia.

Climate change is not a common concept for subsistence farmers in Laos, a country where 80% of the population relies on the yields of both cultivated and untilled land. The country has just submitted its climate action plan to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, as an important background document to the international Climate Change Conference known as COP 21 in Paris at the end of this year. The agreement hoped for is a new global deal to tackle climate change and reduce emissions to keep the temperature from rising above a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius. Laos has its own strategy to contribute to this end, and IRAS has had a tangible share in it.

“We have tried to make sure that climate change is included in the new five-year National Socio-Economic Development Plan, which directs the activities of the government and determines the course of the country between 2016 and 2020”, says Manfred Staab, UNDP’s former Technical Advisor leading IRAS’ activities at the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute. “Before our efforts, a keyword search with the term “climate change” yielded 4-5 hits with only generic referral to the problem.” The project has raised awareness on climate change and its impacts, influencing policy makers through capacity building activities and indirect lobbying.

In order to persuade decision makers, one needs hard data. IRAS has applied technology to make this link, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to forecast land use until 2070 in target provinces – selected by their vulnerability and the number of drought and flood events caused by changes in weather patterns. This data entered village disaster and land use plans, where - amongst other parameters - areas prone to flood, drought and erosion were included as a novelty introduced by IRAS, making the data sets useful for land planning and disaster preparedness purposes.

On the village level, the project has introduced crop diversification as a key element of resilience to climate change. Resistant rice species were proliferated in order to improve the production of this main food crop. Villagers were taught how to grow Napier grass, a versatile species suitable for animal fodder, and how to apply simple fish and frog breeding techniques.

Kongsy and fellow farmers of Phin Neua, his village in the Southern Lao province of Savannakhet, have learnt these methods not directly from the project implementers, but through their sons and daughters, who participated in a series of trainings organised at the village school. Instructed by IRAS project implementers, 20 teachers and all 670 students of Phin Primary and Secondary School constructed a pond and nursery garden to field training activities. Students and teachers were taught how to plant vegetables and herbs aside from the ubiquitous rice. Onion, mint, several types of cabbage, leek, chili, green peas and cucumbers are now happily growing in home gardens across the village – because students are the best teachers. The children have not only learnt how to plant and care for the new crops, but are instrumental in conveying their new knowledge on sustainable techniques such as using herbs as insecticides, bio-composting and rainwater storage. “We can sell our vegetables and the surplus rice on the local market now”, says Ms. Nouban, a teacher at Phin School. “With this money, we are now able to support the studies of all our four children.”

IRAS has produced 6 training modules for climate change adaptation with 70 technical activities (examples include planting broad beans and dill, or raising fish and frogs), complete with printed booklets and training methodology. Government officials and village farmers selected suitable activities from this range to implement in their village during the project’s implementation phase between 2011 and 2015. Now, after the project’s successful closure, local officials are eager to bring the project results to other Lao provinces. Above mentioned adaptation activities as well as trainings on disaster risk preparedness and gender and climate change adaptation developed and piloted by the project are scheduled for implementation in other parts of the country. Instrumental in disseminating the results of the project and implementing its tried, tested and proven activities is the new Research Center on Climate Resilience in the Agriculture Sector, to be inaugurated in a few weeks by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.   

The Phin School pond is one of the 15 small reservoirs and 12 ponds created during the project. It is teeming with fish, generating enough income to re-invest into needed fodder and seedlings for the school’s garden and livestock raising activities.  The pond is also functioning as a valuable asset in those days of unexpected drought, as rainy seasons are more frequently interrupted by bouts of dry spells now – which destroys already planted seedlings. Irrigation from the pond takes care of this problem.

Alternating floods and droughts have in the past caused the villagers of Phin to fear for their rice harvests and, on occasion, go hungry. Now, they are looking into a brighter future. “Villagers now know not only how they can make sure they can feed their families, but they also understand the reasons for the changes in weather conditions”, smiles Ms. Bounsuay, Head of the District Agriculture and Forestry Office’s Agriculture Unit. “This type of knowledge helps them use both old practices and new techniques that do not contribute to the reasons for climate change.” For Kongsy, raising bullfrogs was a new activity that started with a leap of faith. Now, it’s business as usual – and it has allowed him to take his family into a financially and environmentally sustainable future.

Article adapted from Vientiane Times

The National Regulatory Authority (NRA) for the UXO/Mine Action sector in Lao PDR has set a target to reduce the number of UXO casualties to less than 40 per year and provide assistance to at least 1,500 UXO victims in the period from 2016-2020, while also conducting non-technical survey to identify cluster munitions in more than five thousand villages.  

The targets was set out at the UXO Sector Working Group meeting held in Vientiane on 16 November 2015, and chaired by the Minister to the Prime Minister's Office and Chairman of the Board of the NRA Mr. Bounheuang Duangphachanh, and his co-chairs US Ambassador to Lao PDR, Mr. Daniel Clune, and United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative to Lao PDR, Ms. Kaarina Immonen.

The chair and co-chairs all hailed significant progress in the sector over the past year, with the turn towards the evidence-based survey methodology already showing results; the number of cluster munitions found per hectare has more than doubled since 2014. Ambassador Clune and Ms. Immonen also praised the inclusion of more ambitious targets in the draft eighth National Socio-Economic Development Plan. 

The issue of exactly how clearance operations are to be prioritized was raised by Mr. Clune, as well as by representatives of the European Union and the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation, both of whom announced new commitments to supporting the UXO sector. Ms. Immonen said: “We now benefit from priorities in the form of Confirmed Hazardous Areas (CHA) and Focal Development Areas (FDA), but with the number of CHAs in the thousands, and the number of FDAs more than a hundred, the question of prioritizing among them remains pertinent.”

The participants heard that in June 2012, the government approved a revised UXO Sector Strategy entitled “The Safe Path Forward II (SPF II)” that will guide work in the UXO sector through to 2020. 

The SPF II was aligned with the 7th 5-year National Socio-economic Development Plan and was designed to bring together humanitarian and national development priorities for the UXO sector to a far greater extent than in the past.

The government has directed the UXO sector to give priority to survey and clearance, if required, in development focus areas throughout the country.

During the implementation of the SFP II (2011-2015) some 33,358 hectares of land have been cleared and 242,056 cluster munitions have been destroyed in addition to 2,158 big bombs, 1,141 mines, and 314,407 other items of UXO.

Medical and rehabilitation assistance has been provided to UXO survivors, among them more than 600 people have been economically and socially reintegrated.

Risk education activities have been conducted in 12,591 villages in nine provinces across the country. As a result, the number of the UXO casualties has been steadily reduced from 119 in 2010 to 45 people in 2014.

NRA Director General Mr Phoukhieo Chanthasomboun reported that “We already have 3,000 confirmed hazardous areas , amounting to 14,000 hectares.”

“This is already three or four years of work. This will c hange but we use what we already have today for planning, we have these areas identified and they need to be cleared. We were not able to do this in the past.”

The key target is to enable survey and data collection on UXO contamination in 5,238 villages in the nine most affected provinces of the country.

This will be achieved via technical surveys (using an evidence based approach) to identify confirmed hazardous areas  in 124 government focal development areas and all villages w here people are still living in fear of UXO.

In addition, UXO risk education will be included in the education curriculum, especially for primary and secondary schools, aiming at reducing the number of casualties to be lower than 40 people by 2020.

Medical rehabilitation and work opportunities will be provided to the UXO survivors, targeting 1,500 people by 2020.

Mr Phoukhieo said for the funding of UXO operations, the sector will continue to mobilise funds from the private sector and research the budget funding required for UXO operations.

“Meanwhile the budget allocated to victim assistance is very limited, and this means we cannot pursue the strategic plan's goals for 2020.” Ms. Immonen echoed the views of several participants when she said that “The integration of UXO victim assistance into a broader disability policy for the country is an increasingly important question too.”

An article by Kaarina Immonen, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative

We may well be about to see a far more inclusive way of working together for development in Laos.

After six months of consultations with donors, civil society organizations and businesses, the government has finalized a declaration that will guide development cooperation in the country until 2025.

The government and around 30-40 partner countries will sign the Vientiane Declaration on Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation on Nov. 27, during the country’s main national development forum.

Laos has racked up some commendable successes: gross domestic product has grown by an average of 7 percent year-on-year over the past decade; poverty was halved by 2015 — in line with the Millennium Development Goals; and hunger is down and people are living longer, healthier lives.

Yet the country faces serious challenges: An estimated 44 percent of children under 5 are stunted, and 27 percent are severely underweight. Despite a significant reduction, the number of maternal deaths remains high. Inequality is on the rise, and there are significant challenges surrounding environmental sustainability and ridding the country of unexploded ordnance that still kills, maims and presents an impediment to development.

Assistance from all sources — and in all forms — remains vital for Laos to tackle these challenges, and to meet its main aim of graduating from least developed country status by 2020.

In this context the Vientiane partnership declaration is a crucial tool to ensure all assistance is coordinated, in line with national development plans, and deployed in the smartest possible way for the maximum possible impact.

In line with global principles of effective development cooperation, the declaration highlights that official development assistance, or traditional aid, must be used wisely to accelerate broader, systemic change. This means that all development cooperation should be nationally owned and aligned with country’s development priorities in ways that link economic, human and environmental benefits simultaneously.

Efforts to achieve this could include more support to decision makers in key ministries on management and leadership. It could also include more regular policy dialogue to share ideas on what works best, as well as further engagement with local communities to help them raise questions about the services they need.

The declaration also places a strong emphasis on boosting domestic revenues, increasing cooperation with other developing countries and regional partners, upping knowledge and technology transfer, and closer work with business and civil society.

It includes clear, concrete commitments to boost local development planning, fight corruption, build an inclusive financial sector and build on knowledge sharing networks, which could include a mechanism to bring about the development, transfer and dissemination of clean and environmentally sound technologies.

Around 30 to 40 OECD member countries and developing countries are set to sign up, alongside a range of international organizations. Signatories should work together on a fully resourced implementation plan by September 2016.

The partnership declaration is a solid, effective framework to bring about the maximum impact from all development support in Laos for the next 10 years. If inclusive partnerships are built and kept for the long term, it could just mark a “step change” in development cooperation for the country.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and its partner, the Lao Women’s Union (LWU) signed a letter of agreement for partnership through a new project for local development as part of 6 project countries of the global Sae-ma-ul Initiative. Together with 10 selected villages, UNDP and LWU will work to improve the livelihood of the people in Saravan.

Years of partnership between Lao Women’s Union and UNDP are once again strengthened by signing a letter of agreement for partnership today at the Lao Women’s Union Headquarters in Vientiane with co-chairmanship of H. E. Madam Bundith Prathoumvanh, Vice President of the Lao Women’s Union and Ms. Kaarina Immonen, Resident Representative of UNDP Lao PDR. The Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, H.E. Mr. Kim Soo-Gwon joined the ceremony to congratulate the successful partnership and inception of the project in Lao PDR.  The “Sae-ma-ul Initiative Towards Sustainable and Inclusive New Communities” (ISNC) is a programme which is directly implemented by UNDP.

The project aims to localise the Sustainable Development Goals and translate them in the village level by supporting over 5000 men and women in the villages of Saravan to improve their livelihood until 2017. The platform of the project is inspired by an initiative with the same name, Sae-ma-ul Initiative of the Republic of Korea which helped to bridge the urban-rural gap during Korea’s industrialisation period in the 1970s and 80s. During the 2.5 years of project duration, UNDP will help villagers to take ownership of the development agenda and self-mobilise to build a better future for their village while closely working with the local government and aligning the results with relevant national development policies.

The Lao Women’s Union is the main responsible partner of the project, and will be in charge of village level capacity building and promoting quality results by providing close communication, facilitation and training workshops using their years of experience in championing gender equality and women’s empowerment policy, through many related village empowerment development projects.

At the signing ceremony on 12^th November 2015, Madam Bundith Prathoumvanh, Vice President of the Lao Women’s Union opened the event by thanking UNDP and Republic of Korea for the partnership and welcomed the partnership for improving the livelihood of the villagers in the province of Saravan. She continued by introducing the long-standing partnership between UNDP and the Lao Women’s Union and shared the Union’s experience in implementing the Socio-Economic Development Plan of the Lao PDR government, including the Millennium Development Goals. She emphasised that “having focus on multi-layered challenges that women face in everyday life, and also for genuine rural development results to happen, it is important to improve women’s access to health services, education system and income generation modalities.”

UNDP Resident Representative, Ms. Kaarina Immonen echoed the importance of focusing on women’s livelihood in the village as it directly impacts the quality and livelihood of the whole family and the village. She explained that the uniqueness of the ISNC project is the focus on people – which is also at the heart of the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals, the new global development agenda. Ms. Immonen provided important messages on “utilising various development cooperation modalities including South-South and Triangular Cooperation, domestic resource mobilisation and community in-kind contributions to deliver development results at the local level to benefit communities.”

H.E. Ambassador Kim Soo-Gwon shared his journey of promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment for development results during his career in diplomacy, especially during his time in New York working at the United Nations representing the Republic of Korea. He was congratulating on UNDP’s partnership with the Lao Women’s Union.“The worst mistake that human beings can make is gender inequality, especially discrimination. Everyone needs to fix this problem now, together, both men and women. It’s that simple – Act now”, Mr. Kim Soo-Gwon concluded.  

The ISNC project will look closely into the Lao government’s experience in sam sang policy (three builds, aiming at decentralisation), take stock of the lessons learned, and benchmark the key important messages when implementing village projects. The project will also try to link with the national nutrition policy and programs to improve people’s quality of life in the village. Most importantly, the project will try to align with the national priorities extensively covered in the 8^th National Socio-Economic Development Plan.

The project will continue until the end of 2017 with allocated resources of USD 1 million through the UNDP-Republic of Korea trust fund, targeting Saravan Province. The high-level event, "A New Rural Development Paradigm and the Inclusive and Sustainable New Communities Model inspired by the Saemaul Undong", marking the global initiative of Sae-ma-ul was held during the United Nations General Assembly in September where H.E., Choummaly Sayasone, the President of Lao PDR gave a keynote speech and officially endorsed the UNDP’s Sae-ma-ul project. 

As another preparation event for the High Level Round Table Meeting on 27 November, the Natural Resources and Environment Sector Working Group met this week. Amongst others, they discussed the Laos PDR's strategy on climate change, the "Intended Nationally Determined Contribution" that was recently submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for COP 21, the International Climate Change Summit in Paris in December this year. 

The below article is featured courtesy of the Vientiane Times. 

The Natural Resources and Environment Sector Working Group convened on Tuesday for their annual meeting to summarise their work over the past year and plan for the year ahead. 

The meeting took place at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and was led by Minister Sommad Pholsena, German Ambassador to Laos Michael Grau, World Bank Country Manager to the Lao PDR Sally Burningham, and other officials. 

Participants discussed the finalisation of the 8th National Socio-Economic Development Plan for 2016-2020 and the contribution of the natural resources and environment sector to its outcomes. 

Addressing the meeting, Mr Sommad said: “Our meeting today will discuss these preparations and especially the desired outcome No. 3: reduced effects of natural shocks as required for Least Developed Country graduation and sustainable management of natural resources. This will be a good opportunity to review the contribution of the natural resources and environment sector to the said outcome.” 

Also on the agenda was the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution as a part of preparations for the 21st United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties. 

Prior to the meeting, the Climate Change Response Technical Forum was held on November 4. Representatives from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, line ministries and development partners actively participated in the workshop and participants were briefed on the introduction of monitoring and evaluation regulations within the ministry, as well as preparations for the 12th High Level Round Table Meeting. 

The five year action plan for 2016-2020 sets the direction for implementing the ministry's first National Resource and Environment Strategy for 2016-2025. The strategy has the overall goal of “making the Lao PDR green, clean and beautiful, based on green economic growth, to ensure sustainable resilient development and climate change”. 

To achieve the targets set in the five year action plan, the ministry has compiled seven priority programmes in the fields of land management, forest resources and biodiversity management, geology and mineral resources management, water resources, meteorology and hydrology management, environmental protection and climate change, regional and international integration, and cooperation and institutional capacity development. 

Mr Sommad said “Fiscal year 2014-15 is the final year for the implementation of the 7th National Socio-Economic Development Plan 2011-2015 and the final year for the preparation of the 8th National Socio-Economic Development Plan 2016-2020.” 

“The government has assigned all sectors and provinces to develop a long term vision, strategy and action plan. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has initiated the process to develop its long term direction in parallel with the preparation of the 8th National Socio-Economic Development Plan.”

As a preparation to the High level Round Table Meeting in a few weeks, government ministries, development partners and civil society organizations came together to take stock of key achievements and challenges in the governance sector in Laos. This was organized under the umbrella of the Governance Sector Working Group chaired by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Justice and UNDP. The Sector Working Group Annual Meeting also focused on the joint messages that will be presented at the High Level Round Table Meeting. Please read Ms. Kaarina Immonen, UNDP Resident Representative's opening speech below. 

Your Excellency Dr. Khammoune Viphongsay, Vice Minister of Home Affairs,

Your Excellency Prof Ket Kettisak, Vice Minister of Justice,

Lao Government Officials,

Development Partners,

Representatives from Civil Society,

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen

It is my honor to co-chair this important Governance Sector Working Group Annual Meeting today. I am encouraged by the presence of all of you today which reflects our common interest, shared commitment to promote good governance and prepare for the upcoming High Level Round Table meeting on 27^th November. Today’s meeting provides an important opportunity to take stock of progress made in Governance areas and engage collectively on the way forward.

Given the important juncture at which we are at, please allow me to share some key elements from UNDP’s perspective:

• 2015 has been an important year for Laos. I am pleased to note that the Governance Sector Working Group has been extremely active in providing policy inputs to emerging development issues in the country. The work plan for the sector working group was developed in an inclusive manner and implemented effectively in the course of the year. Several innovative practices were introduced such as a multi-stakeholder panel discussion that helped to catalyze different perspectives including that of civil society. A number of important debates were organized influencing policy such as on constitution amendment, Governance inputs to 8^th NESDP, law making process amongst others.

• The legal sector has witnessed several developments in 2015. Lao PDR went through the second cycle of Universal Periodic Review and accepted 116 out of 196 recommendations. UNDP stands ready to support the process including in the development of action plan and a monitoring mechanism for implementation of these accepted recommendations. 2015 also witnessed important changes such as amendment of the constitution to reflect changes in several areas including in the establishment of local councils, drafting of the penal code amongst others. With respect to human resources development in the legal sector, establishment of the National Institute of Justice presents an important milestone in furthering the capacity of legal professional in provision of justice services. We also understand that serval important policies on Village Mediation Units and legal aid are being planned to be rolled out during coming months. We see the direct link of these interventions in enhancing access to justice and are happy to be part of the preparation process. We look forward to witness the benefits, these initiatives will bring to the Lao population.

• Enhancing space for people’s participation including civil society continues to be an important area. I am pleased to hear about the recent subsector working group discussion on people participation, which was the first time that such a dialogue has been conducted. We also note that NPAs and INGOs representatives have been identified through a self-selection process to participate at the High level round table meeting this year. We look forward to furthering this agenda in achieving development goals.

• With respect to public sector reform and improved access to services, this year witnessed the transition of the Samsang from pilot to scale up phase. I look forward to hearing about the implementation achievements and challenges and how we can support this important endeavor. The next thrust of our implementation must penetrate the rural and less accessible areas with improvements in public services in order to support unfinished MDG delivery and localize SDGs.

• Last but not the least, as all of you are aware, the agenda of Sustainable Development Goals was adopted by UN member states, including Lao PDR, at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in late September this year and all of the 17 Goals will come into effect from 1 January 2016. In this regard, I would like to encourage Governance Sector Working Group to lead this transformational agenda particularly in relation to Goal 16 that advocates for building peaceful societies, ensuring access to Justice for all and developing effective, transparent and accountable institutions. We stand ready to support Laos in the localization of this agenda. 

Under the guidance of the Chair and Co-Chairs of the GSWG, we hope such positive developments will continue and expand the partnership base with wide range of stakeholders including private sector.  Once again, I would like to congratulate the Ministry of home Affairs and Ministry of Justice for demonstrating good leadership in this important sector.

I am very much looking forward to the presentations and discussions today.

Finally I wish the meeting and all of you great success.

Thank you.

The Government and United Nations in Lao PDR commemorate the 70^th year of existence of the United Nations and the 60th anniversary of the country’s partnership with the UN with a series of events.

“Towards sustainable development” reads the banner across Kaysone Phomvihane Road, highlighting 70 years of UN and 60 years of Lao PDR membership in the UN. The banner points to Patuxay, which on the three days surrounding UN Day – annually celebrated on 24 October to commemorate the signing of the UN Charter and thus the inception date of the United Nations – will be bathed in blue light.

Patuxay is a national landmark opened to the public in 1968. It represents not only the Lao people’s struggle for sovereignty, but its five towers also symbolise the country’s belief in peaceful coexistence among nations. Similar values are cherished by the UN, founded to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, promote social progress and better living standards, and encourage respect for each other’s rights and freedoms.

Ms. Kaarina Immonen, UN Resident Coordinator, said: “Blue, the colour of the United Nations, also represents stability and trust. These are the characteristics we value in our cooperation with the Lao PDR. A blue Patuxay symbolises our partnership, but more importantly, it will be a reminder of the commitment to sustainable development by the Government and Development Partners.”

H.E. Mr. Thongloun Sisoulith, Deputy Prime Minister of Lao PDR highlighted the milestones in the cooperation between the United Nations and Lao PDR in his televised addresses to the public on National TV on the occasion of UN Day: “The presence of the United Nations in our country has helped us bring about a range of achievements. In 2014, 98.5 percent of our children were enrolled in primary schools and our public expenditure on education has grown significantly. We have reached the target of halving the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day by 2013, and estimates show that the poverty rate has declined even further than the 23% of 2013.”

Such development gains are showcased in a roving photo exhibition titled “Working together for Lao PDR”, also launched on this occasion. The photographs on display illustrate how United Nations agencies support the Government in its various development efforts. The exhibition is open to the public at Vientiane Center in November, and will subsequently tour different locations in the capital and provinces.

The UN is calling for submissions to “#Namkan2030”, a youth mobile photo competition picturing the vision of a Lao future by 2030. The competition will culminate in the announcement of winning entries in two categories after UN Day. The photo competition also ties in to a social media campaign, organised by the UN to create awareness among the Lao public on the work of the United Nations in Lao PDR.

UN Day activities in Laos tie into a global event. On 24 October, more than 150 iconic monuments, buildings, museums, bridges and other landmarks in more than 45 countries around the world will be lit up blue.

“I am grateful our Member States are showing such strong enthusiasm in marking 70 years of UN support for peace, development and human rights,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “By turning the world UN Blue for a day, we can light the way to a better tomorrow.”

In Laos, celebrations will continue after UN Day, when the Government of Lao PDR hosts the 12th High Level Round Table Meeting, a forum to discuss the country’s strategic development policies. On this occasion, Patuxay will again be lit in blue as a sign of commitment to sustainable development and to inspire engagement among the general public to achieve the new global Sustainable Development Goals.

The Government of Lao PDR, together with 192 other member states, has endorsed the 17 new global Sustainable Development Goals at the UN General Assembly in September this year. These new global goals will promote peaceful and inclusive societies, create better employment, and tackle key environmental challenges. They should help shift the world onto a sustainable development path, with 2030 as the target date. 

UN Blue Patuxay by UN in Lao PDR on Exposure

Business is playing a bigger role in Lao PDR’s development planning. On the 27^th of November, Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong will host a major conference to chart how the international community can best support the country’s next five-year development plan. In preparation, business is being consulted like never before.

“This is first time the business community has been fully consulted in the planning process” [for Lao PDR’s main development cooperation forum] said Sengdavone Bangonesendet, Secretary General of the Lao PDR Chamber of Commerce and Industry, at a preparatory consultation between 20 Laotian business leaders and the Government on Friday 16^th October.

“Business wants to be a core partner in economic development, and this consultation gives us a chance to share our ideas with government,“ said Bangonesendet “A big part of that is improving the environment for business. If businesses grow, we create more jobs.”

The ‘High Level Round Table Meeting’ on development cooperation set for the 27^th November will bring together 300 delegates from the government, donor governments, the United Nations, non-profit organisations and the private sector.

Delegates will endorse a new Partnership Declaration at the meeting. ‘The Vientiane Declaration on Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation’ aims to expand and deepen cooperation with business, civil society, ‘emerging’ donor countries, ASEAN members and ‘traditional’ partners from the West, Japan and Australia.

H.E. Mr Somdy Douangdy, Minister of Planning and Investment said: “The 2015 Vientiane Declaration will mark a step-change in the way we work together for development in Lao PDR. Under government leadership, each partner, based on their respective strengths, will play a role in supporting our efforts to graduate from Least Economically Developed status by 2020.”

The Declaration builds on an agreement reached in 2006 on the effective use of aid.  It places more emphasis on boosting taxes and other domestic revenues, increasing cooperation with other developing countries, boosting knowledge and technology transfer and closer work with business and civil society.  

The Ministry of Planning and Investment has led a range of consultations with development partners and other key stakeholders, including business, international non-governmental organisations and non-profit associations. Consultations are also taking place across key sectors like health, infrastructure, education and rural development, to ensure all have been able to contribute to the Declaration.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) consolidated views from the donor community.

“The Declaration ties tried and tested global principles that make development cooperation more effective to the unique strengths and needs of Lao PDR,” said Kaarina Immonen, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Lao PDR.

“These principles include ownership of development cooperation by the host government, a strong focus on results, inclusive development partnerships, and transparency and accountability to one another.”

UNDP’s 2015 Human Development Report ‘Work for Human Development’ will be launched on 14 December in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Simultaneously, Lao PDR is currently preparing its 5th National Human Development Report.

The luster of rapid economic expansion as the ultimate goal and measure of development has dulled considerably over recent decades: as developing economies have expanded, people have been left behind, leading to a growing universal understanding that the richness of an economy cannot guarantee the richness of human life. 

Recognizing the need for a new approach to development that placed advancing human wellbeing above advancing economic growth margins, the United Nations Development Programme in 1990 adopted the human development approach. Known simply as human development, this human-centered approach to development rests on three key principles: people, their opportunities and choices.

With the United Nations and the international community recently adopting a new global development agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals, focusing on a much broader spectrum of development goals than ever before, human development remains an essential and fitting tool to articulate the objectives of development and improve people’s well-being by ensuring an equitable, sustainable and stable planet.

2015 marks 25 years of the UNDP’s application of the theories of human development to reflect on policies which contribute to the improvement of people’s livelihoods while increasing a country’s economic growth in the form of Human Development Reports.

Since the first report was released in 1990, the UNDP’s annual Human Development Reports have had an extensive influence on development debate worldwide. The reports have also inspired national and regional analyses which, by their nature, seek to address regional or country specific development issues. Accordingly, National Human Development Reports aim to provide a platform for a national dialogue to widen development choices and promote sustainable and inclusive growth.

Since 1998, the Government of Lao PDR has used its National Human Development Report as a tool to inform national policy-making which embodies the key principals of human development, though the five-year National Socio-Economic Development Plan.

Lao PDR’s upcoming 5^th Human Development Report will concentrate on the link between Least Developed Country graduation and Human Development, focusing on education, health and social protection. The Government of Lao PDR aims to graduate from Least Developed Country status by 2025 and has set its graduation as the overall objective of the 8^th National Socio-Economic Development Plan, currently being finalized, using graduation criteria and targets to monitor and assess achievements. Thus, the 5^th National Human Development Report will serve as a policy advocacy paper to inform the implementation of the 8^th National Socio-Economic Development Plan, specifically in terms of identifying vulnerabilities to be addressed for graduation.

Stakeholders gathered in Lakhonepheng District on Tuesday 13 October to celebrate the launch of the newest Community Radio Station in the country and the first for Saravane Province.

The first Community Radio for Development station in Lao PDR was established in 2006. Community Radio coverage in Lao PDR has significantly increased in the past year with seven stations now broadcasting to more than 220,000 people in Saravane, Xiengkhuang, Sekong and Oudomxay provinces. In Lakhonepheng District, Saravane Province, more than 45,000 people can now access the Community Radio broadcast.

The launch ceremony was attended by H.E. Savankhone Razmountry, Deputy Minister Information, Culture and Tourism, H.E. Mr. Phouthong Khammanivong, the Vice Governor of Salavan Province, Mr. Antonino Faibene of Oxfam Novib and Mr. Gerry O Driscoll of the United Nations Development Programme Lao PDR, with participants from central and local levels of government, development partners, community radio volunteers as well as local community representatives.

Speaking at the event, Mr. Razmoutry acknowledged the achievements of the initiative and its, “significant contribution to the development in the country,” through reaching remote and rural populations with informative messages.

He also stressed the importance of community engagement for sustainability of the Community Radio stations, “It is important for the people to have a voice so the community must build a foundation of good management and financial support to ensure the future of this community radio station… we must ensure the station is sustained as a tool for information sharing for development and also for preserving the rich culture of the region.”

Mr. Gerry O’Driscoll of United Nations Development Programme applauded the commitment of the government, under leadership of Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, local authorities, and community volunteers in making the initiative successful. Currently the radio stations broadcast informative programmes on localised topics such as education, maternal and child health, UXO awareness and climate resilient and sustainable agricultural practices amongst others.

The Community Radio for Development programme in Lao PDR is jointly supported by Oxfam Novib. Mr. Antonino Faibene, Oxfam Associate Country Director, spoke at the launch and stressed the need for community and government partnership to ensure the success of the radio stations.  

 “As Oxfam we strongly believe that the success of this community radio lies not only in its infrastructure and technology, but in the ability of the community and authorities to work side by side towards a common goal for the benefit of the people of Lakhonepheng.”

H.E. Mr. Khammanyvong, Vice Governor of Salavan Province, thanked United Nations Development Programme and Oxfam for the contribution to community development in the area and assured that the community radio stations would be used as an effective tool for socio-economic development, education and to celebrate and preserve local culture in the province. The Lakonepheng radio will broadcast in Lao language and the local ethnic Khteng language.

The Community Radio stations are driven by local volunteers who volunteer their time as broadcasters, technicians, editors and for community mobilisation. Speaking at the launch, Mr. Thongmy Keothongdam, Vangkhaed Village Chief and volunteer broadcaster, spoke of his experience as a volunteer and his hopes for the future of his community.

“My experience as a Community Radio for Development volunteer has been very good as I have learned many news skills to help my people, the Khteng ethic group, as well as the wider community.”

“We must all use this opportunity for sharing information to help each other develop our region and our nation together.”

The overall objective of the Community Radio for Development programme is to ensure people in rural areas have increased access to information on aspects that will help in improving their quality of life. The programme’s final Community Radio station will be launched by the end of 2015, bringing the total number in Lao PDR to eight, therefore increasing access to information to over 220,000 people in rural areas, including marginalised groups such as women and ethnic monitories.  

Washington DC: Monday, October 5

Haoliang Xu – UN Assistant Secretary-General, and UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific – addressed approximately 60 people at Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He spoke about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, and its significance in Asia and the Pacific.

On September 25, the world welcomed the new Global Goals – a roadmap for achieving global sustainable development. As the development landscape continues to change within the region and around the world – and as new finance, technology, partnership, and agendas are introduced – Xu stressed that the new development era should “leave no one behind”.  

Although the region witnessed major achievements in development over the past 15 years (e.g. nearly all primary-aged children now complete school, and students at all levels of education benefit from gender parity), it is still faced with critical development issues. Economy sizes and rapid growth abound in some countries, but many Asia-Pacific countries are still far behind in per capita income. And two-thirds of the world’s deprived people live within the region – a region that is home to approximately 60 percent of the global development issues.

Xu highlighted these and other issues with a clear message in going forward: Economic growth and development must be inclusive, sustainable, and resilient. To achieve the new Global Goals, Xu reflected upon ways in which UNDP has worked with local and national governments on sustainable development, and outlined ways the Organization will continue to do so in the future within the region.

Regionally, UNDP has worked closely with local and national governments toward the achievement of – among other things – inclusive growth, environmental protection, resilience, and strengthened governance. For example, UNDP has supported elections in the region through voter registration of 173 million people since 2004. And since the India Ocean Tsunami, UNDP has worked closely with local and national governments on disaster risk management policies and practices in the Asia-Pacific region that include the development of early warning systems, creation of evacuation routes and the building of proper shelters.

Xu noted that UNDP strives to continue to help Asia and the Pacific to achieve as many of the Global Goals as possible in the next fifteen years by outlining the following priorities:

Mainstreaming and Policy Support
Integration of the Global Goals into national and local plans for development, and into budget allocations, will be crucial. UN agencies – including UNDP – will need to continue to export its skills and experience to support policy design and implementation.

Driving Innovation
Innovation is indispensable in development. New technology and platforms that UNDP provides and supports will accelerate development and growth. UNDP will continue to expand this initiative to drive growth and achieve sustainable development within the region.

Encouraging Co-Financing
The landscape of ‘traditional’ development financing is changing, with an increasing amount of domestic funding from host countries playing a key role in stimulating the development process. Within the region, UNDP will continue to partner with national and local governments to mobilize funds and implement sustainable development projects.

South-South Cooperation
South-South cooperation – collaboration among countries of the South in political, economic, social, cultural, environmental and technical areas – is a driving force of development in Asia and the Pacific. While aiming to achieve the Global Goals, UNDP will continue encouraging partnerships among Asia-Pacific countries and others.

Coordination
Coordination is key among the UN agencies, local and national governments working on the development agenda. For UNDP in Asia and the Pacific, coordination among these actors is a priority in order to advance the progress of the SDGs.

Though the achievement of all 17 Global Goals will be challenging, it will not be impossible. By UNDP continuing to work together with the local and national governments, and in conjunction with other development actors in the countries, together we can be the first generation to see a world without extreme levels of poverty.