Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Plan opened its Laos office in the capital, Vientiane, in November 2006.

Plan Laos’s first program will be in Early Childhood Education and Development. Initially this is designed as a five year program with a budget of $1.2m, but the scale of activities and budget are likely to expand.

Plan will work in early education at both national level – for example, working with the Ministry of Education to improve the pre-school curriculum, advocacy and lobbying for higher investment in early childhood – and at community level – for example, helping villages and District authorities to establish pre-schools linked to primary schools, supporting in-service teacher training and pre-school committee training and improving water, sanitation and hygiene at schools.

Plan hopes to receive formal approval from Government for this Early Childhood Education and Development Program in July/August 2007.

Once the Early Childhood Education and Development Program is established, Plan will develop further child centered programs in fields such as water and environmental sanitation, nutrition and children’s rights to protection and participation.

Plan aims to serve the poorest areas of the country. 47 of Laos’s 142 Districts are officially designated as “poorest” and these are almost all in mountainous areas, with very difficult communications.

Some of the reasons why Plan works in Laos

• Laos is one of the poorest countries in Asia, at 133rd out of 177 countries on the Human Development Index 
• Functional literacy levels are low. Many children drop out of primary school in the first or second year
• Child nutrition levels are very poor, with 40% of children under the proper weight for their age 

Country statistics

Country:	Lao People’s Democratic Republic
Population:	5.9 million (2005)
Capital:	Vientiane
Languages:	Lao (also many minority languages)
Per capita income:	US$ $440
Life expectancy:	55
% of population using improved drinking water sources:	Rural 43%, urban 79%, national average 51%
Under 5 mortality rate:	79/1000 live births