Laos Development Context

Since the end of the Indochina War 30 years ago, Laos development has been largely marked by political, social and economic isolation and marginalization. As a result, our institutions and governance structures, be they political, social or economic, have remained relatively static.

At the same time Laos' population growth is one of the fastest in the region. We now have more than 50% of the population below 20 years of age. Our young, as with young people all over the world, are energetic, restless, hungry for information, and eager to learn and experiment. Yet, our schooling system and state-sponsored youth organizations are out-dated, top-down and have generally failed to tap into the energy, intelligence, and potential of the young and engage them to participate and shape the development of their own society. In fact, our institutions, and especially our school system, tend to constrain and limit children's development, discourage their enquiry, and blunt their natural curiosity and creativity, and as a result ill-prepare them for adulthood. Our systems place too much emphasis on theoretical teaching and not enough on practical learning; we focus narrowly on content but not enough on basic life skills; we value obedience and submissiveness and ignore initiative and leadership.

Hence, it is no wonder that our young people feel disconnected and marginalized, misunderstood and alienated, especially from their teachers, parents and elders. They frequently seek alternative sources of information and inspiration and other forms of excitement and stimulation to overcome their boredom. For some urban Lao youth, this means turning to TV and become lured by its messages and consumerist lifestyles; some turn to alcohol, drugs, and unsafe sex and expose themselves to risks of addiction and HIV infection. For rural youth, many see leaving the villages as a means to escape poverty and lack of opportunity only to find that jobs are few in the cities and they have little skills for meaningful employment. Some even end up as victims of cross-border trafficking, abuse and exploitation.

I believe, the challenges faced by the Lao youth are caused by adults and hence as adults we should find ways to resolve them, not by offering our own solutions, but by engaging them to find appropriate solutions themselves. As adults, we need to give space to the young, create enabling environments for them to express themselves and channel their youthful energy and passion, and innate creativity in the form of practical activities and projects which steer them towards concretely working for the betterment of their peers, their schools, their communities, and their environment. This is precisely what my team in PADETC tries to do through our youth program.

From Community Development to Youth Engagement

I had not embarked in my development work initially by working with young people. I had earlier focused my energies in rural development with the intention of enhancing productivity and food security of poor rural communities. I worked with farmers, with community leaders, with women's organizations, and with district officials, introducing appropriate technologies, such as organic fertilizers, bio-intensive gardening, and establishment of small-scale enterprises to process and market farmers' agriculture products to improve household income. While we have met with some success, I soon realized the limitations of focusing my energies only on community development and rural livelihood issues without addressing some of the fundamental constraints of human resource development. My years in working in rural development convinced me that it is not easy to change adult attitudes and practices, be they farmers, village leaders, or government officials. On other hand, I found that students and young people are more receptive to new ideas provided they are empowered to work through these ideas through practical experience.

The 1990s was a time of change in Laos, with the Lao government adopting a more open-door policy and transiting from a centrally-planned to a market economy. The greater flexibility gave me and my team more room to operate. In 1996, under the Ministry of Education Private Education Act,I was granted permission to officially establish our training center, PADETC, to provide participatory "non-formal" training. We seized the opportunity to broaden our focus to target larger segments of the population, including the young. At that time there were also limited activities or entertainment facilities available for young Lao. There were no shopping malls, sports centers, or computer game parlors, and even if available they were not affordable to the vast majority. School-based extra-curricula activities were almost non-existent. This means young Lao had a lot of free time and welcomed opportunities to participate in activities which can channel their boundless energies and challenge their innate curiosity and creativity.

PADETC's conceptualized a youth program that combined training and a wide range of activities which offered young people an alternative to better use their free time and, more importantly, challenged them with new concepts to explore issues of self and societal development in a rapidly changing world. PADETC's approach is non-hierarchical; it is participatory, and stresses mutual respect and teamwork. Enrolment and participation in our program is also free of charge, meaning even those from poor families can join. And to ensure official endorsement and sustainability, our youth programs also involved government officials, teachers, parents and community leaders which kept them informed and involved.

PADETC's youth program expanded rapidly and now it offers the most wide-ranging and systematic training for children and youth according their capacities and interests and in accordance to their age and abilities. The programs combine training and practice, providing them opportunities to put into practice what they learn in their own environment - be it in their classrooms, the university or in their own communities. Through the program, the our young participants rapidly gain confidence, develop greater discipline and sense of purpose, and become leaders in their own right. And more importantly, they have positively influenced the attitudes and behavior of their teachers, parents, and the local officials, making the adults more accepting of their views and more responsive to their needs and thereby pave the way for further involvement and dialogue.

Mainstreaming Youth Development and Youth Leadership

PADETC's youth program has gained acceptance and recognition and is being increasingly mainstreamed into the state education, youth institutions and community development programs. I will highlight a few examples:

1. Institutionalization of Youth Leadership training: The modules of PADETC's Youth Leadership program have been approved by the Ministry of Education and the National Youth Union and are now used by the Youth Union to train their members and staff both at the central and local levels. As the largest state sponsored youth organization, such training will have widespread reach to young people all over the country.

PADETC has also established partnerships with local government agencies, such as media institutions and schools all over the country. Working closely with our network of government and school-based trainers, we regularly and systematically conduct training for young people on various life skills and livelihood skills. Training is accompanied by field surveys and implementation of small-scale development projects in rural communities to foster mutual learning and exchange with emphasis on self help and self discovery. We also encourage continuous adaptation and improvement of our training modules and approaches through regular reviews and sharing of experiences.

2. Youth Volunteers for Community Service: As part of its youth training programme, PADETC also encourages community service by organizing youth volunteers to do community service in schools and rural communities as a way to expose the young to relevant and real life issues. Through a combination of peer education and entertainment, the youth volunteers and youth networks all over the country now regularly conduct peer-to-peer awareness raising campaigns and discussion on the environment, health, drugs, HIV/AIDS, and growing-up pains. So effective are the youth volunteers and youth leaders that they are in great demand by government and international agencies to serve as facilitators and trainers in many of their community mobilization projects.

3. Giving the Young a Voice: The young people now have a number of public forums for expression and debate. They have 14 weekly radio programs through central and provincial radio stations; one weekly TV program, and 3 monthly newsletters. They also often lead panel discussion with peers and adults on various development issues. These are fora for the young to reach out to one another and they also serve as training ground for the young to exercise their democratic citizenship.

4. Engaging the Young to Improving the Quality of Learning: To transform the age-old teacher-centered rote learning practiced in many schools PADETC once more drew on pool of youth leaders to assist the teachers and principals of a number of primary schools to pilot a new approach of child-friendly, activity-based discovery learning initially through organizing extra-curricula activities to in-class demonstrations of learning through story-telling, songs and experimentation. The youth leaders also engage the parents, community leaders and Buddhist monks to participate in school activities and teach indigenous knowledge in and outside the classrooms. The results have been encouraging, with positive impact on students' enrolment, attendance and performance. Parents and teachers have also become much more enthusiastic about education. Impressed with the results, the local education service has requested PADETC to expand the project to more schools and to more districts.

Challenges Ahead

PADETC's youth program is still fledging and it will need deepening and broadening and be given greater space to grow if the potential of our youth were to become a real social force to shape Laos' development agenda. PADETC's capacities are far too miniscule to bring about such a major social venture. To continue on this journey, we will need partners and like-minded supporters. My staff and I have drawn inspiration and learned from the wisdom, development lessons, and experiences from the region and beyond. We hope to continue this process.

However, the greatest challenge and potential for development will still have to be from within Laos. In the area of youth development we will need to continually change the mindset and attitudes of our leaders, parents, educators and all adults towards the young. They should put children and young people at the centre of development - the centre of livelihood. Our children are a key to the future, but there are also a link to the past and the present. We must see the miracle and wonder in every child and allow and support each and every child to discover and develop her multiple intelligences and distinct characteristics through every stage of childhood to adulthood. Only then can we truly unleash the great potential of our young and transform our society from within.

Charting a New Development Paradigm with Youth

I strongly believe that Laos can chart its own development path which would avoid the development mistakes that have currently fraught so many poor developing societies and mired them in debt, social disintegration, disease, and environmental degradation.

In the eyes of external development specialists and measured in pure economic terms, Laos is poor. Many people in Laos, including our leaders, have accepted this depiction of our situation. In fact, from my perspective, we can turn our situation of underdevelopment to our advantage. Laos may be cash poor, but we are wealthy in many other ways. We have a rich tradition and a wealth of indigenous knowledge and local experience; our communities are known for their strong sense of social solidarity and cohesion. We have a tradition of sharing and caring for one another and a great ability to be satisfied and happy with very little. And of course we have a vibrant and young population who are still relatively unspoiled by mindless consumerism and commercialization. We should turn these attributes into our development capital and not trade away our precious heritage by adopting development models which emphasizes economic growth but jeopardizes social and environmental sustainability and stability.

Laos may not become another tiger economy in the region, nor for me, should that be our aspiration. With our small population and our social and natural wealth, we can still strive towards a development path which strengthens self-reliance, enhances social equity and environmental sustainability, and ensures stable livelihoods for all.

In charting such a course for development, I believe Laos need not be a laggard in the development league. Instead we can become a leader in promoting an alternative development philosophy whose ultimate goal is not just pursuit of GNP (Gross National Product) but the pursuit of GNH (Gross National Happiness). Underpinning the basic principles of GNH is the balanced pursuit of the four pillars of economic development, social and cultural progress, environment protection, and spiritual growth.

The discourse to steer development from a one-dimensional course of economic growth to the multi-dimensional and multi-faceted course that puts human rights and human dignity at the centre has been in development theory for a while. But it has fallen short in practice because it lacks the critical mass needed to sustain the course and withstand the onslaught of globalization and human greed.

To build the critical mass needed to sustain such a paradigm shift, I have placed my trust in the young. I believe that Laos can make such a development leap by preparing the young and placing them at the forefront of such a development movement, a movement which would put human progress and happiness as the ultimate goal of development.

This is why PADETC's youth program has as its central focus the integration of our youth training, youth leadership and youth volunteer programs to the transformation of the learning process in and outside the classroom. This transformation emphasizes the empowering teachers to de-emphasize rote learning to problem solving and skill building and involvement of parents, community and local spiritual leaders in the transmitting of local wisdom and skills, and in the building of solid social, cultural and spiritual values among the young. This educational transformation is the foundation stone upon which to develop governance structures and institutions which respect human rights and advance social and economic justice for all - the basis to promote balanced economic development, social and cultural progress, environment protection, and spiritual growth. It is only when a society develops these four pillars in balance can we achieve societal harmony, sustainable growth, stable livelihoods, and in short human progress and happiness.

Thank you.

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