DONOR NEWS:

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation to help clear UXO

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) officially announced its contribution of $2 million to the UNDP to support the UXO Programme in Lao PDR at a signing ceremony held on 13 November 2006.

Ms. Setsuko Yamazaki, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative, said at the signing ceremony that: "The correlation between poverty in rural communities and UXO contamination in Lao PDR is obvious, and therefore eliminating UXO would substantially help remove many of the obstacles to social and economic progress and achieving the Millennium Development Goals".

The funding from SDC will support the on-going efforts to remove UXO from the country. Switzerland's agency for development has generously agreed to support both the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) for the UXO Sector and UXO Lao, the national UXO clearance agency.

The NRA is a newly established government agency that coordinates activities of the UXO/Mine Action Sector in the Lao PDR. This contribution will be used to strengthen the NRA to coordinate efforts by all operators in UXO sector.

For more than 10 years UXO Lao, supported by the Lao government and UNDP, has been removing UXO from the country. Now this funding will help UXO Lao increase its national capacity and expertise in UXO clearance boost its productivity.

Ms. Yamazaki continued: “The support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation will greatly contribute to the government's efforts to respond to the needs of the affected communities and release much needed land more quickly.”

SDC is also supporting UNDP's project on Governance and Public Administration Reform at Central level and in Xieng Khouang Province.
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EVENTS

International Volunteers Day celebrations get rolling

Millions of volunteers around the world are working to make a difference in the lives of disadvantaged people, and their efforts to change the world were  honoured on International Volunteers Day on December 5.

IVD was  celebrated in Vientiane with an action-packed sports day at Polytechnic College to raise community awareness of disabilities issues.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his final IVD message, expressed his thanks to volunteers around the world for their vital contribution.

“In ways both big and small, volunteers are transforming their communities and our world,” Mr Annan said.

“And in this era of problems without passports – from HIV/AIDS and trafficking in people and contraband – they are providing grassroots solutions to humanity's most pressing needs.

“Volunteerism is, of course, its own reward. But International Volunteer Day is an opportunity to remind all who seek selflessly to improve our world that their contributions are recognized.

“On my last IVD as Secretary-General, I express my sincere gratitude to all men and women who share their skills and talents with the world, and hope that many more will follow their example,” Mr Annan concluded.

The IVD sports event at Polytechnic College was aimed at giving disabled people a chance to try different sports and teach non-disabled people how to use wheelchairs and other equipment.

In turn, non-disabled people got  to experience competing on equal terms with disabled people and gain ed  an insight into the realities of life as a disabled person.

Tournaments in wheelchair basketball and table tennis were  organized with prizes presented to the  winning teams.

The event kicked off with welcoming remarks from Ms. Setsuko Yamazaki, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative a.i., at 8.30am followed by an announcement of the program, formation of teams and an explanation of the rules with the tournaments starting at 9.15am and finishing at noon.

After prizes were  distributed lunch was  served capping off a fun and rewarding day for all involved.

All volunteers, national and international, were  welcome to participate, with disabled people from the National Rehabilitation Centre, The Lao Disabled People Association, Quest College , Digital Divide Data and ALS Chemex also taking part.

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HIV/AIDS issues take the stage

On 9 December, 2006, more than 1000 Lao youth attended the UNDP-supported World Aids Day Concert in Vientiane for an evening of fun, music, a "battle of the bands" and theatre with an important message.

Billed as an "edu-tainment" event – a strategy combining a concert atmosphere and competitive spirit with a timely message that has been a proven success for disseminating important messages – the World Aids Day Concert was a huge hit.

The event, organized by the Vientiane Youth Centre, and UNFPA and supported by national and international HIV.AIDS stakeholders – kicked off with brief speeches from representatives of the organizing committee, Lao Women's Union, CHAS/AIDS Prevention Committee and UNDP.

Six bands – Dream, Fresh, Small Dog, Lao, Spylo and Num Tao – performed songs in a variety of musical styles with lyrics addressing issues such as HIV prevention, condom-use for dual protection, testing and counselling.

There were also theatre performances, exploring similar themes, and an HIV positive person courageously took to the stage to give the audience an insight into the realities of life with HIV/AIDS.

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NEW STAFF

Andrew Farquhar:
Andrew joined the Lao PDR Country Team in the UNDP Public Information Unit in October 2006 as a Public Information Associate through the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development program, an Australian government program that places skilled, young Australian volunteers on short-term assignments in developing countries across Asia and the Pacific. Andrew holds a Bachelor of Journalism and Communications from the University of Queensland and most recently worked as a journalist and sub-editor in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia .

Tim Horner:
Tim Horner recently joined UNDP Lao PDR as a Technical Advisor with National Regulatory Authority Laos. He has worked in mine action since 1992 and with the British military before that. In 2001, Tim completed a Masters in Disaster Management before working in Afghanistan. Most recently, he worked with UNDP Sri Lanka for four years running a UXO project.

Hassan Latif Khan:
Hassan Latif Khan joined UNDP Lao PDR as Financial Manager and Head of PSU in August 2006 to work on financial management, monitoring and evaluation, audit, and micro-finance. He joins us from the UNDP office in Pakistan where he started in February 2002 as a Programme Management Analyst. Before joining UNDP, Hassan worked for IUCN as a Monitoring and Evaluation and Micro Finance Expert. He also worked for five years in Union Bank Pakistan and has completed an MBA.

Juha-Pekka Snäkin:
Juha-Pekka joined UNDP as the Manager of the Environment Unit. His duties include the overall management and oversight of the Environment and Energy portfolio. He holds a Ph.D in Forestry from the University of Joensuu, Finland. Before joining UNDP Lao PDR in October 2006, he worked as a researcher focussing on wood energy production for greenhouse gas emissions mitigation using  the  industrial ecology approach, which is an emerging scientific discipline aimed at sustainable development.  He has also worked as a forestry and bioenergy consultant, carbon sink expert in climate negotiations, bioenergy project manager and lecturer. During 1993-1995 he worked as a provincial forest extension officer counterpart in the Forest Department of the Republic of Zambia.

Louise Scott: Louise joined the Lao PDR UN Country Team in the Office of the Resident Coordinator as a Donor Coordination Associate in October 2006 through the Volunteers for International Development from Australia, a program established as part of Australia's international development assistance program to support Australian volunteers who work with people from other countries towards the sustainable development of their communities. Before joining the UN, Louise worked in the Victorian Public Service as a policy officer in the Department of Education and Training and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Public Policy and Management degree with Honours from the University of Melbourne in Australia .

Sineesh Varghese:
Sineesh joined the Lao PDR UN Country Team at the UNDP UXO and Natural Disaster Management Division as an Administrative and Financial Specialist in October 2006. He entered the UN system in 2001 when he joined the UNDP India Country Office as an Administrative and Finance Associate with the UN Coordination project on AIDS and as a Financial Assistant with Disaster Risk Management Division. Previously, Sineesh worked with the UNODC in its regional office for South-East Asia and with PSU and Procurement Divisions of UNDP India. He holds a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) in Finance from Madras University, Chennai and a Master of Commerce from MG University, Kottayam.

Interview with the Vice-Governor of Luang Prabang province, Mr. Khamdua Yiakuanoheuvang

The progress of the GPAR project and the review of its 2005-2006 activities have been positive. There was also a high level of participation during discussions.

The government of Luang Prabang has committed itself to  a second phase of this better governance initiative to implement reforms aimed at creating new services to improve  people's living standards. The reform process will be carried out under a participatory approach and will follow the principles of transparency and accountability.

In addition, the government remains firmly committed to achieving its long term goal of improving the living standards of the Lao people and to achieving our goal of no longer being ranked as a Least Developed Country by 2020. Both the Leading Committee for Public Administration Reform, of which I am the chair-person, and the provincial government of Luang Prabang, are committed to supporting the public administration reform process in the province, with the twin perspectives of fostering a rights based approach to services and to strengthening provincial ownership and therefore sustainability.

Focus on fieldworkers

A group of seven fieldworkers was deployed to  help implement good governance initiatives in Luang Prabang and Ngoi districts as part of the  mobilisation phase  of the Governance and Public Administration Reform Project Luang Prabang Phase II (GPARLP II). The handover ceremonies took place last week in the district offices.

The seven fieldworkers will represent a link between the project and districts acting as focal points to collect vital information, in a participatory way, which will improve implementation of crucial activities to fight poverty at district level.

Three of the fieldworkers will be operating in Luang Prabang District, and Mr. Sayyasack Keo Panh Ya, Deputy Chief of the district, welcomed the assistance. He noted how useful their deployment would be to implementing  activities in line with good governance practices in the only district in Lao PDR that has the challenge of becoming a municipality like Vientiane.

“This is not one of the poorest districts in the region. However, we have very limited staff to carry out our activities,” Mr. Sayyasack said during the hand over ceremony held on 7 June, and added that there was a dire need for finance planning and opening channels of communications.

A day after, a project delegation led by Mr. Bounthanh Sisouphanh, Project Manager, picked up the remaining four fieldworkers to start a two-and-a-half-hour trip to Ngoi district, some 150km northwest of Luang Prabang, capital of the northern province.

The last passenger to get into the minibus was Mr. Singkham Chanthavong, a father of three in his forties. In the full volunteer spirit, he left his family behind believing that his work could have an impact not only on his in his own family, but also on others families' future welfare.

Ms. Southida Moungkhounsavat, a 22-yea-old finance graduate, is the youngest volunteer in this group of four. Even though this is her first experience as a fieldworker, she expressed her enthusiasm  for the project and having such an enriching opportunity for herself and for the members of the community where she would be serving.

The Deputy Governor of Ngoi district, Mr. Bounson Khounmany, welcomed the fieldworkers and highlighted how beneficial they would be to improving planning capacity.

In early July, a GPAR LP II delegation headed by Mr. Bounthanh and Ms. Nisha Sharma, Participatory Planning Specialist, went on a field mission to both districts to further discuss the fieldworkers' role with district authorities and to provide them with technical advice on presenting data and reporting skills.

The project manager took that opportunity to advise district authorities to “use fieldworkers effectively as additional human resources to assist in the field of planning activities in the fight against poverty.”

Fieldworkers will work under the guidance of the GPARLP II advisor's team to build capacity at a community level to achieve the six outputs of the project and deliver them in a participatory way,  especially  focussing on outputs one and two: “Strengthened decentralized administration and expenditure management of pro-poor services” and “Public service delivery reforms in health and education sectors”.

To provide them with the necessary tools to build links with the communities, Ms. Nisha Sharma trained them from 28 April to 15 May on participatory approaches for planning and poverty alleviation techniques.

Luang Prabang and Ngoi districts are two of the five districts where the project will be operating alongside the provincial government. In Pak Ou, Pak Xeng and Phone Xay districts operations will start once the ongoing GPAR UNV project is over, expected by the end of August. The project will also select three more fieldworkers to support operations in all five target districts.

All the fieldworkers in GPARLP II are deployed as National Volunteers of the United Nations (NUNV). Many of them already had experience working in the field with the UNV Luang Prabang project.

Since 2002, volunteers of the United Nations have been supporting the commitment of the government of Luang Prabang to strengthen the on-going process of decentralization and local governance as the institutional basis for equitable development and poverty alleviation.

UNV's and Phone Xay district authorities promote local trade by improving road infrastructure and raise awareness on HIV/AIDS

Local authorities of Phone Xay district, roughly 65km north of Luang Prabang city, brought together 200 people from Huoya Moung and Thad Thong villages to  build  a road  that  would ease trade among the two villages in this remote area of northern Lao PDR.

District authorities took the opportunity to raise awareness of  HIV/AIDS among the participants, who volunteered to construct the road, making this initiative an example of solidarity and volunteerism to solve problems with small amount of funds, but with great participation and good resources mobilization.

With the support of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV), district authorities bought 50 hoes and 25 shovels to  build  the road. The equipment was handed over to the district authorities by Mr. Bounthanh Sisouphanh, Programme Manager of the Governance and Public Administration Reform project Phase II of Luang Prabang (GPAR LP) province, earlier in November.

The opening ceremony for the construction works took place on 17 November in Huoya Moung village and was presided over by  both district authorities –  lead by Mr. Khamla Liempadith, Deputy District Chief – and UNV representatives – headed by Ms. Nisha Sharma, UNV Participatory Planning Specialist with the governance project in Luang Prabang province.

“The activity was sponsored by UNV, though district office took the initiative to organize and conduct the activity calling for citizens to work in the construction of the road,” Ms. Sharma explained.

More than 200 citizens from Thad Thong and Huoya Moung villages worked to build the 8km road. 

Presently, the road connecting both villages is 2.5 meters wide making it difficult for vehicles to use. The new  road  is 3.5 meters wide, which will ease traffic flows and improve communication between both villages.

The new road will give people more mobility with chances for new business opportunities that will help their economy,” Mr. Khamla said, noting that this small fund activity had turned into a major development helping poverty reduction by promoting economic growth.

HIV/AIDS awareness

During the opening ceremony, the district office took this opportunity to raise awareness on HIV/Aids among the same group of villagers, of who two thirds were women.

While an expert from the district health office gave an overview on what is HIV and how this disease can be transmitted, UNVs distributed materials and condoms and conducted a demonstration on how to use a prophylactic using a wooden penis.

For a greater awareness, the activity was broadcasted by the local TV and Luang Prabang Radio all across the province and seven more provinces across the country.

In the Lao PDR, the HIV seroprevalence is low (estimated 0.1 percent) but HIV/AIDS is a growing concern, since the country is surrounded by nations with higher HIV+ rates, such as Cambodia, China, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar.

The steady increase of population mobility, tourism, urbanization and seasonal migration between countries makes the Lao PDR even more vulnerable to the epidemic. High numbers of school dropouts with limited access to vocational and higher education or meaningful employment are also important factors. The low socio-economic status of women is an additional factor that further compounds HIV vulnerability.

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Since 2002, volunteers of the United Nations have been supporting the commitment of the government of Luang Prabang to strengthen the on-going process of decentralization and local governance as the institutional basis for equitable development and poverty alleviation.

After the closure of the UNV GPAR project in last August, the volunteers UN agency continues to support the provincial governance reform programme with a team of 12 volunteers, two internationals and 10 nationals, working with the Governance and Public Administration Reform project of Luang Prabang.