Social protection

Training provincial authorities in Lao People's Democratic Republic to implement the National Social Protection Strategy

The UN Joint Programme “Leaving no one behind: Establishing the basis for social protection floors in Lao People's Democratic Republic” has been supporting the government to conduct trainings in the country’s northern provinces to disseminate the Strategy to provincial authorities, increase capacities on social protection design and implementation, and discuss the establishment of provincial committees to implement the Strategy.

Press release | Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic | 01 June 2022
VIENTIANE (ILO News) - The Government of Lao People's Democratic Republic adopted the first-ever National Social Protection Strategy on 1 April 2020, with technical support from the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the UN system in Lao People's Democratic Republic. To plan, coordinate and monitor the implementation of the Strategy, the National Social Protection Commission was set up on 9 December 2021.

The UN Joint Programme “Leaving no one behind: Establishing the basis for social protection floors in Lao People's Democratic Republic” has been supporting the government to conduct trainings in the country’s northern provinces to disseminate the Strategy to provincial authorities, increase capacities on social protection design and implementation, and discuss the establishment of provincial committees to implement the Strategy.

Training in Luang Prabang province in April 2022.
Training recently took place in Luang Prabang province which saw some 45 government officials learn about the role of social protection in mitigating the financial impacts of risks, such as disability or sickness, and in alleviating poverty. Participants discussed about the social protection system in Lao People's Democratic Republic and the problems faced by people. The training also briefly touched upon the topic of financing social protection, by learning from the experiences of other countries.

Mr Weerapong Sisomwang, Department Director of Planning and International Collaboration stated, “The Strategy is very important to support social protection implementation in Lao People's Democratic Republic. It is equally important to disseminate it widely and train local authorities.”

The UN Joint Programme is also standardizing the training curriculum into a TOT that can be delivered by national authorities and civil society groups in Lao People's Democratic Republic, with the objective of making it sustainable.