Welcome to Laos!

Laos is one of East Asia's poorest countries.  The Government of the Lao PDR is partnering with the international community to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and ending its status as “Least Developed Country” (LDC) by 2020.

CRWRC has been involved in Laos since 1997 and received official registration in 2003. Through this relatively new venture, CRWRC is strengthening communities and helping community members improve their lives through programs in agriculture, community development, health, clean water, education, and literacy. CRWRC in Laos is somewhat unique as they are directly involved in implementing projects rather than working in an advisory or capacity building role among a variety of local partners as in most other countries where CRWRC works. The reason for this is that the government in Laos does not yet permit the formation of local non-government organizations (NGO's) and thus there are no potential partners who encompass the CRWRC vision and mission.

Fast Facts

Population: 6,834,942 (July 2009 est.)
Area Comparative: slightly larger than Utah
Literacy Rate:  72.7% (reported rate not tested rate)
Life Expectancy: 64.6 years (UNDP Human Development Report)
Population below the poverty line: 30.7% (2005 est.)
Gross Domestic Product per capita: $2,100 (2008 est.)
Religions: Buddhist 65%, animist 32.9%, Christian 1.3%, other and unspecified 0.8% (1995 census)
Languages: Lao (official), French, English, and various ethnic languages
Ethnic Minorities: Officially 47 ethnic groups, but estimated to be over 138 unique minority groups.  Major groups include the Lao (55%), Khmu (11%), Hmong (8%), and others (26%) (CIA World Factbook, 2005 Census)
Infant Mortality Rate (national average): 70 deaths/1,000 live births
Populations without access to safe water: 47%
Children under weight (at age 5): 40% (UN MDG Progress Report 2008)

(From the World Factbook 2005, Global Human Development Report 2003, and Millennium Development Goals Progress Report Lao PDR 2004. For more information on Laos, click here.)

CRWRC Partners in Laos

Concern and Unity For Development (HHP)

HHP is the acronym from the Lao name for CRWRC which the Project Management staff agreed upon. CRWRC is hopeful that as the context in Laos changes that HHP can become its own local NGO. Currently HHP is implementing two projects in northern Laos:

• Xieng Khouang Community Development Project (XKH-CDP)
  Through the XKH-CDP, CRWRC works with 31 Hmong, Pong and Khmu communities in Khoun, Kham and Nong Het districts of Xieng Khouang Province (site of the famous Plain of Jars) in northern Laos.
• Phongsaly Community Development Project (PSL-CDP)
  Through the PSL-CDP, CRWRC works with 13 ethnic minority communities (Iko, Laobit, Taidam, Lao Saeng, etc,  in Mai District of Phongsaly Province in the far northeastern part of Laos.

Both projects have a similar integrated and transformational development approach which strives to improve lives and communities through activities in:

• Agriculture
  Farmers are trained on improved techniques to produce, store and market cash crops. Key inputs such as improved varieties of seeds, tree seedlings, materials to improve drying and storage are provided. Small scale irrigation systems and small village access roads are designed and built together with the community.  Training is provided for farmers to improve crop and animal production systems as they learn how to conduct experiments to identify for themselves how to improve their farming and animal raising systems.  Recently the projects have started to focus more on sustainability aspects of agriculture production systems.
• Community Development
  Members of communities form Village Development Committees (VDCs). VDCs develop a vision for their community based on community identified needs. Project staff then provide the VDC’s with appropriate training.
• Health
  Project staff help communities identify people who could become Village Health Volunteers (VHV’s). These men and women are trained in basic components of health care. Then they conduct training on hygiene, sanitation, family planning, and immunization throughout their village.   Clean water systems are designed and constructed together with community members to improve quality and quantity of water available in the village. CRWRC is also part of a Nutrition Alliance that is developing a nutrition training targeted to have an impact on reducing the levels of malnutrition among children in Laos.
• Education & Literacy
  Teachers and parents are trained on how to more effectively monitor students’ progress throughout primary school. Project staff also organize literacy classes for adults.  We are also in the process of developing a new curriculum that is more appropriate for literacy classes in ethnic minority communities.

Relief Projects

CRWRC is implementing a CFGB funded project that is providing food for work for the construction of rural infrastructure- in particular, footpaths and roads. This project takes place in an isolated area with marginalized people groups in the Phongsaly project area.

This is one part of the larger project outlined above which seeks to provide effective community development for 13 Iko, Laobit, Khmu, Taidam, Hmong and Lao Saeng villages totaling about 3200 individuals. The entire project will improve family incomes, provide opportunities for elementary school education, train village health volunteers and traditional birth attendants, and help develop good community organizations.