The United Nations
in Lao PDR is
committed to support the Government of Lao PDR to achieve the
country’s priority national development goals, including the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The achievement of the MDGs is one of the critical strategic
areas of the forthcoming Seventh National Socio Economic
Development Plan (NSEDP) 2011-2015. The 7th NSEDP
provides a major opportunity for further poverty reduction,
achieving the other MDGs as well as making substantial progress
towards promoting equitable sustainable growth, ultimately
helping the country graduate from the LDC status. Efforts on
achieving the MDGs is placed in tandem with the 7th
NSEDP which is further supported by UNs response to the NSEDP in
the form of UNDAF (United Nations Development Assistance
Framework) . The tripartite relationship between the efforts on
MDGs, NSEDP and UNDAF is raising Lao PDR to another level of UN
Reform on coherence and aid effectiveness per Paris Declaration.
In light of this, the UN, in its capacity as the co-chair to the
Round Table Process in Lao PDR, is playing a crucial role in
ensuring a nationally-led, managed and owned development
mechanism.
The diagram below illustrates four key analytical and strategic
initiatives supported by the UN of which four are completed and
one is ongoing, that have been informing the formulation of the
next 5 year socio-economic development plan.
Lao MDG Costing Report
Most recently, on May 13th 2010 the Government of Lao
PDR through the Ministry of Planning and Investment launched
their MDG Costing Report (2010-2015) in Vientiane, Lao PDR. The
launch was attended by a cross section of Ministries and
Government Agencies and the United Nations.
In
order to
concentrate efforts on key interventions that will help achieve
the MDGs,
the Department of Planning at the Ministry of Planning and
Investment estimated the cost to achieve the MDG targets. This
was supported by the United Nations in Lao PDR.
The needs
assessment and costing were carried from June 2009 until
November 2009, involving over 10 Government ministries and
departments, and several partners from the United Nations
agencies. It identified over 200 priority interventions across
eight sectors: agriculture, education, energy, environment,
health, gender, rural transport and water and sanitation. The
estimated
resource requirements,
suggest that
the achievement of the MDGs could be expected to cost 6.4
billion US$ from 2010 to 2015. The main drivers for these costs
are in four areas: the rural transport, agriculture, health and
education, making up a total of 79% of total costs. On a per
capita basis this is approximately 194 US$, of which government
incurs 151 US$ per person or approximately 78%. The remainder is
born by individual users and private sector.
The MDG costing indicates that the Government requires
836 Million US$ per year.
The
Government of Lao PDR operates in a resource constrained
environment and therefore, in order for the country to reach the
MDGs, higher levels of both government expenditure and donor
assistance will be required. For the next five years, the
current estimates indicate that the best results can be obtained
if the current level of assistance doubles.
Lao MDG
Framework
The
complementary initiative to the costing is the MDG Acceleration
framework. Through this framework the Government of Lao PDR in
partnership with the UN aims to identify key innovative
initiatives that can further accelerate the progress towards the
MDGs and ensure that assistance is extended to the underserved
communities to meet the basic infrastructure and services
requirement of those in most need.
With these innovative options and the appropriate levels
of resources, the assumption is that the MDGs in the context of
the NSEDP are achievable in the next five years in Lao PDR.
The Lao PDR Accelerating Progress Towards the MDGs - September 2010 (PDF)
MDG Publications
Watch a
Photo Essay about achieving the MDGs in Lao PDR
