Village/Kum-ban/District level Development

Laos has many small villages in mountainous areas. For Laos to break away from the least-developed country status, these small villages are in need of further development, and practical measures for rural development and poverty reduction are essential.

Development partners and sector organizations have so far provided development schemes for rural development and poverty reduction in selected regions and areas. Many of over 2,000 PIP projects nationwide are relatively small projects with a budget below 5 billion Kip (US$5.5 million) and are generally implemented and concluded at the village, Kum-ban and district levels.

Many village, Kum-ban and district authorities find it difficult to follow the standard PIP management procedure in small projects due to lack of accurate information and staff capacity. The current PIP management methods and process are designed for large projects.

PCAP2 will work with MPI and the National Leading Committee for Rural Development and Poverty Alleviation in the Prime Minister’s Office (NLCRDPA-PMO) to harmonize the existing rural development and poverty reduction schemes conducted by multiple development partners, sectors and provinces. PCAP2 aims to realize a unified Kum-ban development scheme involving rural development and poverty reduction components under the PIP budget procedure.

PCAP2 will also develop simplified PIP management tools so that the village, Kum-ban, and district levels are able to conduct effective and efficient PIP project management. PCAP2 will also provide project assessment methods for DPI and District Planning and Statistics Offices so that project requests from villages, Kum-bans and districts are appropriately assessed even with limited information.

Staff members of villages, Kum-bans and district staff members must be trained on such PIP management tools and assessment methods. PCAP2 will conduct Training-of-Trainer courses and provide training kits to DPI so that staff members will be capable of conducting direct training sessions at the village, Kum-ban and district levels.