VIENTIANE – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) thanked the Government of Japan (GoJ) on Monday for its continued and generous support of food assistance programmes in Laos PDR. 

Japan donated 316-metric tons of canned fish, worth US$1.2 million, to help people cope in the aftermath of Typhoon Ketsana in October this year. The largest part of the donation, however, will be used in the WFP School Meals Programme. The fish is an integral item in the take-home food basket given to children and their families as an incentive to attend primary school in three northern provinces of Laos. Read more

H.E. Mr. Mr. LyTou, H.E. Mr. Miyashita and Mrs. Elisabeth Faure after the ceremony

(Photo: WFP/Peter Lappe)

VIENTIANE – More than 50,000 primary school children in Oudomxay province will receive mid-morning snacks and take-home rations during the first term of 2010 thanks to a generous donation from the Republic of Korea, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said Friday. 

The US$500,000 donation is a significant contribution that will help ensure the children receive a well-balanced meal each school day. Well-nourished children are better able to concentrate in class and as a result generally do better academically.  The funds will secure the purchase and distribution of corn-soya blend, a vitamin and mineral-enriched food product, as well as 392 metric tons of rice, to children who attend 417 primary schools in Oudomxay. read more

Guests at the ceremony (center Ms. Karin Manente, to her left H.E. Mr.Jae-hyun Park, to her right H.E. Mr. Ly Tou Bouapao)

(Photo:WFP/Stefanie Kahls)

UNDP and the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare inaugurate new project

On Thursday 14 January Mr. Laoly Faiphengyoa, Vice-Minister of Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, and Ms. Sonam Yangchen Rana, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, signed and formally initiated a UNDP-supported project to assist the institutional strengthening and capacity development on disaster risk management in this country.  The ‘Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Development on Disaster Risk Management in Lao PDR’ Project  has a budget close to US$1 million, and is the first ever fully-fledged UNDP project in support of disaster risk management capacity development in the Lao PDR.  As Ms. Sonam Yangchen Rana, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, highlighted, “Today marks the beginning of a very timely and comprehensive initiative to meet the needs of the Government and people of Laos in disaster risk mitigation and for more effective responses and coordination.“ [Read more]

(Photo from Vientiane Times)

UNDP-supported Khoun Community Radio for Development participated in the recent Mekong Media Forum in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The current situation of community radio and its potential for being ‘radio for the people, by the people' in Lao PDR was the highlight of a satellite session held on 10 December 2009 at Forum. The session, with the theme ‘Empowering Local People Through Community Radio', was hosted by UNDP/ Khoun Community Radio together with the Ministry of Information and Culture and Xieng Khouang Province Department of Information and Culture. [Video on Youtube]

On 17 December 2009, representatives of staff working in United Nations agencies in the Lao PDR presented donations of 8.5 million Kip and 11 cartons of materials to the Lao Red Cross for distribution to Ketsana affected communities.

The donations were made by national and international staff working in the many organisations that make up the United Nations Country Team, and collected on the occasion of UN Staff Day in October 2009.

Many United Nations staff have close personal and professional connections within the areas that have been affected by the devastating storms and floods that Ketsana brought to the worst affected communities, and they are aware of the damage to families’ livelihoods and development projects in the area.

“We all wanted to express our concern for and solidarity with the victims in the most concrete way, by providing resources to help these communities rebuild their lives,” explained Mrs Chanthavisouk Nirasay, Staff Association Committee representative.
 
The UN Staff Association Committees selected the Lao Red Cross as recipient of the donations, who will ensure that the staff members’ contribution will go to the much needed victims in the southern provinces and will provide a report on the beneficiaries and the services provided to them.

Vientiane, December 7, 2009: A new 24-hour telephone hotline has been launched by the Lao National Tourism Administration and the Tourism Police to help keep children safe from sexual exploitation. The hotline number 192 was launched to coincide with the opening of the 25th South East Asian (SEA) Games as part of efforts to make the event a safe experience for children.  

Staffed by a specially trained team of tourist police, the toll-free hotline has the support of the United Nations and a number of International Non Governmental Organisations. [Read more]

Human Rights Day 2009 on 10 December will focus on non-discrimination. “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. These first few famous words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights established 60 years ago the basic premise of international human rights law. Yet today, the fight against discrimination remains a daily struggle for millions around the globe. Read more

A one day meeting to discuss the problems related to parasites in fish in Lao PDR was held in Vientiane on 03 December 2009. The invited participants included Department of Livestock and Fisheries of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, public health personnel and fish farmer representatives. 

The meeting was opened by Dr. Bounkhouang Khamounhouang, Director General, Department of Livestock and Fisheries and Mr. Serge Verniau, Representative of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to Lao PDR. In the opening remarks the importance of fish and the safety of this source of food in Lao PDR were stressed.

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Vientiane, December 4, 2009:  Communities hit by the floods that swept parts of southern Lao PDR following Typhoon Ketsana last September will be the beneficiaries of $300,000 in emergency aid provided by the United States government to UNICEF. READ MORE