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Lao PDR

WFP Lao PDR Country Brief, January 2017

Attachments

Highlights

  • A donor mission from Yum! Brands Australia visited Lao PDR to visit the villages where Mother and Child Health and Nutrition (MCHN) and school meals activities are supported with their contribution. The representatives met with local government officials, visited two schools, three health centres and two villages in Sekong and Savannakhet districts in the south of the country.

Operational Updates

  • A donor mission from Yum! Brands Australia visited Lao PDR to visit the villages where Mother and Child Health and Nutrition (MCHN) and school meals activities are supported with their contribution. The mission met local government officials, visited two schools, three health centres and two villages in Sekong and Savannakhet districts in the south.

  • Training of trainers sessions for the Cost of Diet study with the Ministry of Health have started. The study will involve a market survey in five provinces (Vientiane, Phongsaly, Oudomxay, Savannakhet and Sekong), and will be part of a larger nutrient gap analysis to be conducted in 2017.

  • The country office submitted a proposal for the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Proection department (ECHO) to seek funding for capacity strengthening activities to support the Government’s ability to assess and effectively respond to natural disasters within the 72-hour window, as well as to build the preparation and response capacity of targeted disaster-prone communities.

  • WFP organized an informal meeting to share knowledge on the feasibility of cash-based transfers (CBT) in Lao PDR. Participants from UNICEF, World Bank, FAO, World Education, Word Vision, Lux Development, European Union and Poverty Reduction Fund shared knowledge and technical expertise on implementing CBT activities.

  • Discussions were held among the UN Network for Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN), attended by the World Federation of Orthodontists (WFO), UNICEF and WFP, to agree on a common reporting framework for 2017. A global conference call, where WFP represented the SUN Business Network in Lao PDR, was also held to share knowledge and experience on establishing and strengthening private sector connections.