Day: June 8, 2022

To strengthen Psychological First Aid (PFA) and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) services in the Lao PDR, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (MOLSW), with support from KOICA and UNICEF, has been helping to strengthen social service workforce capacity in PFA and MHPSS since 2021.

The collaboration, which is part of the “Integrated Programme for Climate Resilience and Empowerment in Attapeu Province (IPCREA) 2019-2023”, has helped support the development and launch of the first-ever national PFA and MHPSS training manual and subsequent rollout trainings at the national and provincial levels. The accompanying MHPSS booklets for Children, Adolescents and Parents were also developed and disseminated to improve communities’ understanding about mental well-being.

In July 2021, MOLSW conducted the training of trainers on PFA and MHPSS for 27 representatives (19 female and 8 male) from multiple sectors, including Social Welfare, Health, Education, Lao Women’s Union, Lao Youth Union, National University of Laos and CSOs. Participants learned about their roles and responsibilities to identify and respond to the psychosocial needs of vulnerable children and women in crisis events, and later assisted and facilitated the rollout trainings in the three provinces of Xayabury, Attapeu, and Xieng Khuang. Since August 2021, a total of 132 social service workers (54 female and 78 male) have been trained.

“This training covers contextualized examples, practical cases, and useful tips for frontline social workers on the provision of a wide range of PFA and MHPSS services tailored to the needs of the affected people, from immediate first aid to long-term resilience building and recovery,” said Mr. Khamsouk Somphavong, Deputy Head of Child Protection and Assistance Division, Department of Social Welfare of the MOLSW.

One of the individuals to join the training organised in Xieng Khuang province in April 2022 is Mr. Phonexay Saengphachan, a district LYU representative from Xieng Khuang.

“I have worked with the community for ten years, and it has always been challenging to talk about mental health with them. In this training, I learned a lot about reaching out to survivors and important communication tips, I will share what I learnt with my colleagues,” he explained.

The training manual has been further adopted and modified for use by the Ministry of Education and Sports and the Counselling Department for teachers’ training of the National University of Laos.

Based on the lesson learned and positive feedback from the training participants, MOLSW and UNICEF plan to scale up the PFA and MHPSS training to all provinces in Lao PDR.

“With recent emergency situations like the 2018 and 2019 flooding in Attapeu province and the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an increased need for good mental health and psychosocial support services in Lao PDR. UNICEF is proud to provide support in developing the capacity of essential social workers in delivering life-saving services to people in need.” said Ms. Young Joo Lee, OiC Chief of Child Protection, UNICEF Lao PDR.

Source: Lao News Agency

Lao State Fuel Enterprise and GAIA Petro, Korea has formed a joint venture of US$15 million on a bio-energy project (Bio-Oil). Commercial production of the bio-fuel is expected to be commenced in 2023.

An MoU on the feasibility study for the project was signed in Vientiane on Jun 6 between Director of Lao State Fuel Enterprise Sisangkhom Khotyotha and President of the Korea-Laos Industrial and Cultural Exchange Association Sam Maeng.

“This project will play an important role in infrastructure development in the Lao PDR, mitigating the country’s reliance on imported fuel, which is currently in short supply,” said Mr Sam Maeng. “Most fossil fuel products in Laos are imported from abroad. Our bio-energy programme will use two natural sources: combustion and fermentation (ethanol) by using state-of-the-art technology to produce high-quality bio-petrol.”

“After signing this MOU, we will spend about 3 months to study into the feasibility of the project. All information we need is available at hand right now,” said Sam Maeng. “We have a good partner Lao State Fuel Enterprise, which has a strong market potential and already has an oil depot. Putting together technology, machinery and equipment will make fuel production faster.”

The production capacity of the Bio-Oil facility will be 1 million litres of high quality bio-fuel per day, or 25 million litres per month.

Source: Lao News Agency

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has decided to provide a financing package of US$ 67 million to support the development of Thanaleng Dry Port, part of an integrated logistics facility in Vientiane.

This new financing will help improve and modernize services. Providing this financial support aims to fund the development, construction and equipment costs of the dry port, which is part of Laos’s first-ever integrated Vientiane Logistic Park (VLP).

A signing ceremony for the financing was held on Tuesday at the dry port site.

Open for service since December last year, the dry port and logistics park will set new standards for Laos’ logistics infrastructure and help drive cross-border trade, signalling a major shift from sea trade to road and rail for landlocked Laos.

Developed with IFC’s advisory and financing support, once completed, the Thanaleng Dry Port will offer access to efficient and cost-effective logistics services, increasing competitiveness and establishing a new trade hub in the Southeast Asian region.

Source: Lao News Agency