Today, the kickoff meeting on the Lao Social Indicator Survey III (LSIS III) 2021-2023 was organized, representing a major milestone in expanding the availability of quality data for the Lao Government’s decision-making and policy formulation.
The meeting commenced with opening remark by Vice Minister of Planning and Investment. Khamchanh Vonseneboun, , after which it was co-chaired by Deputy Head of Lao Statistics Bureau Phetsamone Sone, and UNICEF Representative a.i. to the Lao PDR Beate Dastel.
LSIS is a nationally representative sample survey combining the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) and Lao Reproductive Health Survey (LRHS) to achieve a set of single national figures for social indicators. The survey is carried out once every five years, with the previous LSIS I and II having also received strong support from UN agencies and development partners.
Both LSIS I and II provide essential data about the living conditions of the Lao people, covering multiple indicators such as health, nutrition, education, water and sanitation, child protection, and the use of mass media and information technology.
LSIS I and II were also important in enabling the nation to track its progress against the 7th and 8th National Socio-Economic Development Plan (NSEDP) indicators and SDGs.
Likewise, LSIS III will also generate baseline information for the national monitoring and evaluation framework of the 9th NSEDP, the National Agenda to overcome the economic and financial difficulties, and support the monitoring of the Lao PDR’s progress towards the SDGs and its graduation from Least Developed Country (LDC) status. It will also provide important insights into the impact of COVID-19 on indicators related to children and women as well.
“On behalf of the Government of the Lao PDR, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, as well as the Lao Statistics Bureau, I would like to express our sincerest gratitude for the leadership and active engagements of all parties, especially UNICEF, UNFPA, and other development partners, who have contributed their technical and financial support in the implementation of LSIS III,” stated Vice Minister of Planning and Investment Khamchanh Vonseneboun.
LSIS III is going to cover 21,000 household samples throughout all 18 provinces of the Lao PDR. The survey will be comprised of five questionnaires targeting individual households, women aged 15-49, men aged 15-49, children aged 5-17 and children under five years of age. For the quality assurance, the CAPI will be used for data collection.
“I would like to take this opportunity to reintegrate the importance of ensuring that we have a national data survey and results available to support tracking development impacts in the country. LSIS has proved to be a vital source of data and analysis, and it deserves continuous investment. We have witnessed strong partnership and comprehensive support for the predecessor of LSIS, and we hope more partners will join us through the LSIS III Journey,” stated UNICEF Representative a.i. to Lao PDR Beate Dastel.
Source: Lao News Agency