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Rural poverty approaches, policies & strategies in Lao People's Democratic Republic

The Lao People's Democratic Republic has set out its development strategy for the period from 2006 to 2010 in the National Socio-Economic Development Plan (NSEDP). The government is committed to sustaining economic growth by accelerating human and institutional development, strengthening governance and achieving environmental sustainability. The plan's main goals are to:

• accelerate economic growth and improve people’s living conditions
• develop an efficient market economy
• develop effective external economic linkages
• improve access to and the quality of education and training
• further strengthen socio-economic infrastructure

Rural development is at the centre of the government's development and poverty eradication efforts. The orientation of the country’s rural development strategy is towards decentralization, poverty reduction and local-level participatory development. The main objectives are to reduce poverty, overcome environmental and social problems related to shifting agriculture and opium production, and improve infrastructure and services in rural areas.

In February 2004 the National Assembly approved the country's National Growth and Poverty Eradication Strategy (NGPES), which is the government’s first complete poverty reduction strategy. The NGPES focuses on:

• the priority sectors of agriculture and forestry, education, health and road infrastructure
• the supporting sectors of energy and rural electrification, tourism, mining, construction, small and medium-sized enterprises, and trade
• the cross-sector priorities of gender mainstreaming, environmental conservation, population, social security and capacity-building
• national programmes for drug control, removing unexploded bombs, and HIV/AIDS and preventing sexually transmitted diseases

Source: IFAD