Tha Thom District Narrative: Background

Tha Thom district is located in the southern mountains of Xieng Khouang Province. The province is one the most heavily bombed during the Indochina war. Similarly in 2007, Tha Thom was listed as one of the 47 poorest districts in the country.

At the beginning of the project most villagers were subsistence farmers growing rice in the mountains and in paddies, typically reaping only one harvest per year following the rainy summer months. During the monsoon pounding rains conditions for growing gardens were difficult. Villagers and farmers resorted to collecting numerous food stuffs from the forest. These products are known as Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs).

In 2007 Tha Thom district had one small clinic located in the district capital, Sibounheurang. The district hospital consisted of fifteen beds, 26 medical staff, 10 of them based in 5 area dispensaries.  Diseases mostly founded were diarrhea, mumps and fever.  Some villages had trained VHWs and TBAs, but not all villages.  Of the 28 recorded villages, 20 villages had access to clean water while 8 villages still used water from rivers or streams.  Only twenty percent of the population used wet latrines.

In 2009, Tha Thom received electricity though access via road continued to be difficult at best and only by army truck in certain times of the year. When Bounchan Khammoungkhoun and the project team first tried to move office supplies to the area in June 2009, it was a three day ordeal. One day trip from Vientiane to Phonsavanh and a two day trip from Phonsavanh to Tha Thom District.

In December 2012 a paved road was completed, along with bridges, over the Nam Xan and Nam Ngieb, linking Tha Thom together and to the outside world. Modern conveniences slowly began to arrive in many of the towns. Electricity, packaged food, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, internet and cell reception were almost available district-wide.

As Tha Thom developed rapidly and the quality of life for many villagers was improving, there were many challenges that targeted peoples’ livelihood, health and food security. At the beginning of the project, prior to the road being built, the district was covered by 75.45% forest. As cutting and transporting the massive jungle hard woods was easier, the virgin forest disappeared. It was feared that bio diversity decline would soon follow, directly impacting the local population who relied so heavily on the jungle for Non Timber Forest Products for food security. As this traditional way of life was being threatened communities set up conservation zones to try and protect swaths of land. However, the systems that were setup to protect these areas were often corrupt or non-functioning.

Another challenge not to be overlooked was the presence of unexploded ordinance (UXO) left by the Secret War. In order to safely work any land it was first cleared by expert teams using high tech equipment. This violent legacy of war hindered development efforts and impacted the food security of many in Tha Thom District and throughout the country.

Since Tha Thom was largely undeveloped during MCC’s first years working in Tha Thom, land was plentiful. This raised another challenging situation for many. As transportation opened up, the Government relocated villages and families into Tha Thom District because of the available land. This moved people closer to services and road access, but also put a strain on the receiving communities’ water supplies, and other resources. Land tensions also arose and deeper issues related to ethnicity caused discrimination to grow in communities that were becoming increasingly ethnically diverse.

Land concessions were also being granted to foreign companies and investors. Concessions allowed outsiders to utilize large tracks of land for minimal fees for a long period of time. Local communities had little say in the matter and did not often benefit, generally loosing land as a result. Land vulnerability would then lead quickly to food and livelihood insecurity.

Sangthong District Narrative: Background

Sangthong District lies 55 km northwest of Vientiane Capital, bordering the Mekong River and stretching northward. A portion of the district is in the lowland flood plain of the Mekong, with northern areas more mountainous.

Although Sangthong district is part of Vientiane Municipality, the characteristics of the district are similar to more remote areas. Pialat, the capital of the district is 65kms from Vientiane, two hours by road.

At the beginning of MCC’s work in Sangthong, many villages within the district could be accessed only by foot and/or by boat; therefore complicating development work in general but particularly related to health care. Outreach activities were often very difficult. At the same time patients who were in need of medical care could not always reach the district hospital.

In 2000 Sangthong district was the poorest district in the Vientiane municipality with poor infrastructure and limited electricity. Of the 22,500 people in the district, most were farmers, planting lowland rice with a significant number involved in shifting cultivation. Farmers were dependent on many variables: sunlight, rainfall, soil fertility and the price of seed; therefore any changes in the environment caused severe hardships often leading to bankruptcy.

Prior to the start of the project, medical care standards in the district hospital and at the dispensaries were very poor and substandard. Infrastructure was also so poor that areas, such as the operating room, could not guarantee a sterile environment even for minor procedures. Staff had not been given any refresher training and lacked essential equipment. As a result, patients had no faith in the services and generally went to Thailand or Vientiane for treatment if they could afford it.

At the village and sub-district level, people had little understanding about the causes of diseases and how they themselves could prevent common diseases. Most people used traditional medicine rather than consulting medical staff, while this could be appropriate in some cases, in other cases it delayed necessary medical treatment while the patient’s condition deteriorated, often becoming serious.

Traditional birth attendants provided a basic level of health care for pregnant women, and a few villages had health workers who could educate on a variety of problems, not just issues related to pregnancy and reproductive health.

The district was the recipient of an influx of ethnic minorities from uplands, mostly from the Northern part of Laos. Upon arrival in a new area, these populations typically lived in marginal locations, geographically and socially removed from village life and those systems which were designed to service of basic needs such as education, village health activities, etc. These relocated communities and households often faced difficulty finding enough land and enough capital to invest in their income generation activities.

In 2000 Sangthong District was primarily comprised of Lowland Lao, with a small minority population of Kh’mu who were generally concentrated in house clusters on the outskirts of Ban Gua, Ban So, Ban Hoi Dtom. There were two exceptions to this: Ban Vangma and Ban Hoi Kham. Ban Vangma was a largely Kh’mu village, who had recently received a large influx of Red Thai from Luang Prabang Province. Ban Hoi Kham was a government-resettled village of Kh’mu, Black Thai and Red Thai.

According to the 2005 census information, the average resident of Sangthong lived on $1.35 per day, with significant disparities between lowland and upland villages. The economic sector was poorly developed, with few cash crops apart from rice. Due to easy access to Thailand, much of the produce sold in Sangthong was imported from Thailand, having a dual negative impact on local economy in terms of removing much needed capital from the areas, and also decreasing the demand for local goods.

Integrated Rural Development Project (IRDP) in Phongsaly and Houaphan – 1993 to 2000

In 1992 MCC did an evaluation of its program in the Lao PDR which confirmed what MCC country representatives had long maintained: MCC should be looking at projects that integrated all areas of development in village communities with a focus on the long-term and the sustainable. In 1993 MCC proposed working jointly with local governments to implement such projects in Samphan and Vieng Xai, two districts in which the organization had a long history of working.  The government approved the Vieng Xai site, but Mai district of Phong Saly was chosen over Samphan, as access to the villages in the latter was considered too difficult.  Four villages in each district were selected and initial projects included family gardens, contour hedge farming, clean water systems and teacher upgrading.  By the end, the project was implemented in 16 villages in Mai district and 13 villages in Vieng Xai.

The Integrated Rural Development Project (IRDP) started with the goals of improving the quality of life in the target villages, and developing the capacity of district government counterparts to give them the skills and experience to carry out a planned and systematic integrated development program.  Quality of life issues were broken down into food security, basic health care and accessible basic education.  Since the inception of the IRDP project, MCC staff also undertook projects to improve women’s development.

A variety of activities supported increased food security in villages from family gardens to small animal loans to addressing the problems in insufficient rice production.  MCC applied the experience gleaned from alley cropping projects in Xaignabouli Province to encourage farmers in IRDP villages to use this alternative farming method.   Experimenting with and extending higher yielding upland rice varieties decreased the period of rice shortage for many families in the project areas.  Water availability, another difficulty with highland agriculture, were addressed through irrigation systems in many of the villages.  While not directly improving food security, rice banks established in project villages allowed farmers to focus their attentions on rice production during the planting season.

Women in Vieng Xai, 1999

The IRDP started fruit tree nurseries in both districts which produce and distribute seedlings to farmers.  In 1999 the Vieng Xai nursery produced 5,000 sweet plum, orange, pomello and longan seedlings.  Training in grafting and fruit tree propagation was also made available to interested farmers.

Loans were extended to villagers at every IRDP location to purchase chickens and pigs, and trained village veterinary workers educated loan recipients on caring for their animals.  Animal vaccines were made available to villagers at reasonable prices through revolving funds set up by IRDP.  Loans for fingerlings to stock fish ponds were also given to villagers.

Health and hygiene improved in all of the project villages since the beginning of the program.  Like agriculture, the IRDP health initiatives were multifaceted.  Clean water systems, usually in the form of wells or gravity fed systems which bring water from higher elevations, formed a corner stone of the health project.  Provision of safer water was one of the key elements in the decline of disease in most project villages.  Building proper latrines in project villages also contributed to disease prevention.

At least two village level health workers were trained per village and primary health education and sanitation activities are centered around these workers.  It was the village health workers task to motivate villagers to drink clean water and maintain general cleanliness.  Many of the villages were fenced to prevent animals wandering into residential areas due to awareness raising by village health workers and the practice of medicating mosquito nets has proved effective in reducing the rate of malaria in some villages.  Village health workers also maintained revolving drug funds.  MCC donated chests of medicine that were distributed to villagers at reasonable cost.  The health worker then bought medicines to replace those purchased.  The revolving funds were designed to make reasonably priced drugs locally available.  Supporting the district health team immunization, birth spacing, and malaria programs was another important part of the health program.  In some project villages, immunization coverage of children and women of child bearing age was almost 100%.  Awareness of the importance of vaccination also increased.  District health officials educated villages about birth spacing, but with varied acceptance.

Mai District 1999

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mobile library (2000)

Prior to the IRDP, children, especially girls, in many project villages had little opportunity to study.  Education has been made a project priority with the IRDP providing tin sheeting and concrete flooring while the villagers provided wood and labor to build schools in more than half of the project villages.  In some villages, books were provided for students in the first two grades on the revolving fund model.  Students rented books at half of the purchase price when they begin studying and if the book was damaged by the end of the year they had to pay the other half.  With the money earned from book rental, new books could be purchased after a few years.  Through cooperation with Church World Service, MCC also organized workshops to upgrade teachers skills and initiated creative after-school programs.  Trainers demonstrated the use of local materials and new teaching methods to make learning more interesting for the students.

In several project villages, non-formal education programs were initiated. IRDP provided a training for the instructors as well as books for the classes.  In some villages, kerosene lanterns to accommodate night classes and stipends for the teachers were given as well.  Class subjects ranged from adult literacy to agriculture, animal husbandry and village sanitation, and were very popular among the villagers.  Adult literacy in particular benefited village women who often hadn’t had the same educational opportunities as the men.

In more recent years, IRDP made particular efforts to develop women in the project communities.  Villages were encouraged to include women in the development decision making process, and gender awareness trainings were held in some of the communities. Income generating activities sought to support and strengthen women’s management skills.  The focus of these activities revolved around development of silk production and weaving skills.  Villagers acquired new techniques and higher quality mulberry seedlings to produce improved silk received at the Phonsavanh Sericulture Training Center.  One family from Ban Nasa, the first IRDP family to join such a training, was recognized throughout Houa Phan province as a model family for high quality silk production.   Workshops were also held in natural dyeing, quality control, color matching and other skills important in making weaving more marketable both inside and outside of the Lao PDR.  Development of traditional weaving skills gave women and their families an important source of income.

Training was a central part of the IRDP.  All the sectors of the Integrated Rural Development Program: agriculture, health, education and women’s development, depended on well trained and dedicated village volunteers.  The project dedicated much time to the training of these committed people. Just as important to the projects, however, were well trained district government counterpart staff and MCC staff. District counterpart and MCC staff benefited from study tours to Thailand,  Bangladesh, and Vietnam in order to raise understanding of development processes in the region; and workshops on subjects ranging from upland agriculture, health, education, to project management and gender awareness strengthened their skills and knowledge.  While material aid was an important part of MCC’s work in the Lao PDR, trained development workers was a resource that would provide far greater benefit to the Lao people in the long term.  MCC believed and still believes that this capacity building will be the longest lasting legacy of its work in the Lao PDR.

Narrowing Focus and Building Capacity

During the mid 1980s MCC had projects in 11 of the Lao PDR’s 16 provinces, and it was felt that the material resources were being spread too thinly to be able to see a real difference in individual communities.  By the late 1980s MCC was trying to narrow its focus.  There were two aspects to this shift.   MCC began looking for projects that integrated many aspects of development in fewer locations.  It also began initiating projects involving expatriate volunteers working beside local workers to help the Lao people develop skills in their respective fields.   These projects moved away from material development and focussed on capacity building.

Janette Shellenberger, MCC’s health education expert, demonstrates first aid techniques for teachers during workshops to introduce the health curriculum. (1989-1993)

The Health Education Curriculum Development program, a joint program between MCC, Save the Children Fund UK and the Lao government, combined material assistance with capacity building.  Six educators from the Ministry of Education were selected and participated in a three month training in Solo, Indonesia during 1989.  In June 1990 Janette Shellenberger, a health-education expert, arrived in the Lao PDR and began working with the chosen committee to create a program to teach basic sanitation and healthcare in the national school system.   A pilot was created and tested, the curriculum was revised and books were finally printed by the end of 1992.  Two workshops were held to introduce the new materials to teachers and the curriculum was introduced during the 1993 school year.

A well digging team, started in 1991 as part of a community-based primary health care project in Outhompone district of Savannakhet, has an audience of novices as they work. (1990-1992)

In 1990 MCC also initiated a community-based primary health-care project in the Outhomphone district of Savannakhet.  Jim Kurtz, a public health nurse, arrived in November of that year.  The first phase of the project was a clean water initiative, and a well digging team was trained and started their work during 1991.  By 1992 the well digging team was capable of digging a well a week and by the end of the year phase one was considered a success and a malaria prevention program was begun in 1993.

Highlighted are Xaignabouli Province in green, left red is Samphan district, right red is Vieng Xai district, and in blue is Outhomphone district

A large variety of micro-projects in the same vein as those undertaken during  the early eighties were supported in various provinces across the country into the 1990s.  However, MCC became increasingly concerned with long-term development planning beyond relief initiatives.  This shift was apparent in agriculture projects as MCC looked at sustainable alternatives to “slash and burn” swidden farming in highland villages.  Alley cropping, a method in which narrow hillside plots are bordered by “nitrogen infusing” plants; making growing crops on steep mountainsides sustainable was introduced in Xaignabouli province.  Other agricultural projects and health initiatives were implemented in villages throughout the Lao PDR, but it slowly became clear that Samphan district in Phong Saly Province and Vieng Xai district of Houa Phan were becoming focal points of MCC support.

Increasing Project Areas

In 1983 MCC started involvement in Pha Tok and Nong Bia handicap villages, working with veterans that had been injured during the war, and Pak Leum leprosy village in Luang Prabang.  For MCC, work in these villages represented a first step towards taking an integrated approach to improving the lives of people in a given village.  Health concerns were addressed through a clean water system and medicines.  Sewing machines and blacksmithing tools were provided for income generation.  The villagers received cattle and other animals to breed and raise for food.  It was hoped this aid would allow the village to become self-supporting.

The Agricultural and Junior High Teacher Training School projects continued to expand and were some of MCC’s primary projects in the late 1980s and into the early 1990s.    MCC added teacher training schools in Vientiane, Champasak and Oudomxay to the list of original facilities and assistance was given to additional agricultural schools in Vientiane, Sayaboualy, Oudomxay, Khammouane and Saravane.  In the first few years, considerable aid was put into the construction of class rooms and dormitories. Other early aid included blankets, mosquito nets, cooking utensils, sports equipment and other basic necessities of a boarding school.  MCC also supported larger projects at these schools, such as clean water systems, rice mills and electrical generators. Equally important were the textbooks and teaching materials that were contributed by MCC.  The Oudomxay Junior High Teacher Training School was an especially important project for MCC as it provided teachers for three of the poorest and most isolated provinces in the Lao PDR, and it became a focal project.

Mill construction in 1987

To further aid the education of children in these impoverished northern provinces MCC distributed 30,000 sets of school supplies, donated by families in North America, to students in Oudomxay, Phong Saly and Luang Namtha provinces in 1985.

As rivers and waterfalls are a plentiful and renewable resource in the Lao PDR, MCC was eager to pursue a micro-hydro power project in the country. Titus Peachey went to Nepal to study the uses of water power there, and returned with a proposal to initiate two micro-hydro-power projects in the Lao PDR.   Allen Inverson, a water resources expert, was invited to do a survey of potential project sites in 1986 and locations in Champasak and Luang Prabang where chosen for two mechanical power plants.  Work started on the Champasak plant in 1987 and in Luang Prabang the following year, with both plants at work milling rice for the local people in 1989.

David Merchant and Lois Foehringer replaced Peacheys as country co-representatives in 1986.  During their first year, MCC started addressing the problem of leprosy in the Lao PDR.  Working closely with the National Dermatology Clinic in Vientiane, MCC assisted in translating and printing two booklets on foot care for leprosy victims.  Support for the Pak Leum leprosy village was extended to include cotton cultivation and weaving as further income generating projects as well as protective footwear and medicines.  However, the country representatives were aware of MCC’s limitations in dealing effectively with the leprosy problems in the Lao PDR.  In 1987 The Leprosy Mission was invited in to assess the problem.  This trip later led to a full time presence in the Lao PDR of personnel of The Leprosy Mission International.

At the Very Beginning

Mennonite Central Committee as a North American organization dedicated to peace, felt it necessary to establish a presence in the Lao PDR following the Indochinese war.  It was hoped that MCC could work towards healing some of the damage done by US bombing in the Lao PDR as well as assist in addressing some of the post war needs of the country.  MCC representatives Murray and Linda Hiebert entered the Lao PDR in May 1975 and established relations with both the Provisional Government of the National Union and the Pathet Lao (at that time known as the Neo Lao Hak Xat or Lao Patriotic Front).  In their discussions with the Pathet Lao it was decided that MCC could be most useful in assisting returning refugees to war-stricken Xieng Khouang and in 1975  $10,000 in vegetable seeds as well as five brick-making machines were donated to people resettling in that province.  Vegetable seeds were also donated to the Department of Agriculture in Vientiane to encourage community gardens around the capital.

In 1977 MCC continued in its commitment to aid persons returning to farm the land of Xieng Khouang province.  It was estimated that 10,000 water buffalo had been killed just in that province during the war and MCC felt it was necessary to help with the repopulating of these crucial draft animals.  Buffalo were purchased and sent to resettled farmers in 1976 and then again in 1977 and 1978 along with tools to clear and work the land, blankets, soap and sewing kits.   The year 1979 also saw MCC extend their resettlement assistance to returning refugees settling in villages on the Vientiane plains.

When flooding in 1977 and a drought the following year threatened to leave many people in the south and central Lao PDR without food, MCC responded with 25 tons of rice seed for southern provinces and $240,000 worth of food and material aid for the Food for Work project of the World Food Program in Khammouane province.  MCC’s work, however, extended beyond relief aid.  Programs to produce animal vaccines, vegetable seeds and animal feed aimed to increase the Lao PDR’s self-sufficiency.  MCC worked extensively with the Had Dok Keo agricultural station in the Vientiane municipal area, starting in 1976 to upgrade their facilities and equipment to the point where it could produce vegetable seeds and animal feed for the Lao people.  Similarly, MCC contributed tools and equipment to the Tha Ngon agricultural implement repair station to enable the Lao people to repair their tractors and bulldozers.

Material assistance, however, was only one component of MCC’s work in the Lao PDR.  The Hieberts, John and Beuhlah Yoder who took over as country co-representatives in late 1977, and Fred and Jan Swartzendruber who followed as co-representatives in 1979 all considered education of North Americans about the situation in the Lao PDR to be an essential part of their job.  All of the early MCC workers in the Lao PDR wrote for a variety of North American publications. Yoder’s started a newsletter entitled “Lines From Laos” which attempted to tell the stories of the Lao people to citizens of the US and Canada.  Swartzendrubers played an essential role in continuing and building on this important work.

Bolikhamxay Narrative

After completing the Integrated Rural Development Project (IRDP) in Houaphan and Phongsaly, MCC realized the difficulties related to introducing new growing techniques to subsistence farmers and felt it necessary to change their approach. MCC believed agriculture colleges would be a better fit, offering a place where new growing techniques could be tested without risking families’ food security, educating students with hands-on practice, building the capacity of college staff and strengthening the school’s curriculum.

After searching for a school to partner with, the Bolikhamxay Agriculture and Forestry College was chosen. MCC felt it was a good fit as the college had students coming from all over the nation and land available for experimentation plots.

Health Education Program – 2005 to 2008

In 2005 MCC began a project to improve the health of villagers in seven villages near the Muang Mai Health Center in Bolikhan District. MCC’s Integrated Agriculture Experimental Project at the Bolikhamxay Agriculture and Forestry College (BAFC) was in the same area. The project focused on the 5,000 people living in this area, most directly focusing on children, aged 6-10, in a school education program, mothers and their children under the age of five, in a nutrition program, and 14 village healthcare workers (VHW) in increased training opportunities.

MCC worked in five schools in the area and visited them a minimum of once every two months to provide education on relevant health concerns as indicated by current research, area dispensary staff, and school teachers. They sought to increase the health knowledge of the primary school children. Teachers were encouraged to continue this teaching and were given supplies to do so (e.g. soap to encourage hand-washing).

These visits included the distribution of health kits, puppet shows, and a review of hygiene practices. A valuable addition to school visits about preventing infection from intestinal worms was providing all students with medicine to treat worms. Studies in the area showed that as many as 90% of children had worms, and regular treatment to all children was recommended.

MCC visited each village a minimum of four times per year to conduct relevant health education programs. The team taught mothers to make soy milk, rice soup and vegetable soup. After the demonstration, all the children were weighed, and then ate some of the tasty products. These visits increased the participant’s health knowledge. They also increased the capacity of the area dispensary staff, Dr Vang and the health team, and village health volunteers to conduct health education and promotion in the villages.

Bounchan Khammoungkhoun (MCC Project Officer) worked closely with both the Health Education Program and the Integrated Agriculture Experimental Project. In 2006 she was based at BAFC.

MCC workers Ben and Alisa MacBride-Smith arrived in Laos in November 2004. Ben taught English at BAFC and Alisa worked in community health. Alisa contributed to the atmosphere at the clinic and to the workshops that she and the clinic staff presented.

David Bowman supported the agriculture project as a Soil Analyst/Expert. He travelled to Laos multiple times during the project for short term visits, conducting soil tests, recording soil composition and changes in the experimental plots and also helping in other MCC project areas.

After Ben and Alisa’s term finished, MCC continued to support dispensary staff to implement nutrition activities in the villages. In 2008, the project ended with the Integrated Agriculture Experimentation Project.

For more information see:

Ben and Alisa MacBride-Smith Blog (macbridesmith.blogspot.com)

Integrated Agriculture Experimentation Project –Phase I – 2005 to 2006

At the Bolikhamxay Agriculture and Forestry College (BAFC), a government run post-secondary institution.

The project’s overall goal was to provide improved agricultural production methods for villagers to ensure their food security and reduce poverty through sustainable alternative models of food production and extension worker development. This goal was met by building capacity of teachers and students in developing sustainable upland agriculture alternatives through experimentation plots at the college.

MCC worked in 3 main areas:

Trained students and teachers in experimentation plots at BAFC

Developed an agricultural curriculum to use at BAFC

Expanded experimentation with farmers in area villages

Phase I began in 2006 when experimental studies in sustainable upland farming were carried out on a 12.7 hectare experimentation plot area adjacent to the campus of Bolikhamxay Agriculture and Forestry College (BAFC). A dozen demonstration plots of cropping systems of rice, other staple crops, fruit trees and vegetables were developed. Many students practiced in these experimental plots.

To improve administrative processes between the college and MCC, Bounchan Khammoungkhoun (MCC Project Officer) was based at the college.

To improve the food security of poor families and expand experimentation with farmers, MCC personnel, teachers and students visited five villages in the area and held meetings with village farmers to discuss their needs, and how they could benefit from sustainable agriculture techniques being developed at the college. MCC conducted workshops in villages (Phengdy, Houykhoun, Xomxeoun, Songkhone and Khenyong) to demonstrate techniques of fruit tree propagation, rice cropping methods, rainy season vegetable growing and mushroom growing. As follow-up, they began experiments in these techniques with farmers in four of the villages.

Integrated Agriculture Experimentation Project – Phase II – 2007

In 2007 MCC emphasized establishing sustainability of the most promising cropping systems and implementing significant student practice in sustainable agriculture.

Major activities included building capacity of students in sustainable agriculture techniques, via practical training and extension work in nearby villages. 12 senior students received training by working with farmers in two local villages. Also, during the summer months senior students developed the promising sustainable cropping systems in the experimentation plots.

MCC gave in-house workshops to teachers on techniques for sustainable upland agriculture, and follow-up practical training to students in selected techniques.

MCC also supported teachers on several study tours to Thailand, Sangthong (to the existing MCC Project) and about Non-timber Forest Products (NTFP).

Phase II of the project was completed September 30, 2007. MCC arranged for an external evaluation of the project. Comments presented by the lead evaluator (Susan Kauffman, MCC Cambodia) were quite favourable, with many suggestions for future work. The evaluation final report was issued in November, 2007.

Integrated Agriculture Experimentation Project – Phase III – 2008 to 2009

The goal of Phase III, which began in 2008, was to provide every eligible student at BAFC with thorough practical training, in parallel with theory, in the major fundamental techniques required for sustainable upland agriculture and agro-forest. Activities were created by MCC staff and teachers using expertise developed in Phases I and II of this project.

In 2008 students learned through various field practices: Agro Forestry, Farmers’ Extension, Fish Raising, and Poultry Raising, Principles of Cropping, Tree Propagation, Mushroom Growing, Sustainable Agriculture, Fish Raising, Food Processing, Nursery, NTFP and Laboratory Skills.

In September 2008, MCC provided training for 14 teachers on farming extension techniques by using the training manual developed by Central Extension Training and Development Unit – LEAP (Lao Extension for Agriculture Project).

MCC staff and BAFC teachers worked together to strengthen the college’s curriculum. Though the college had curriculum covering agricultural theory, practical application was lacking. MCC helped test growing practices and create a curriculum from the results. In total, curriculum for 17 subjects was finished by the end of the project. The curriculum was approved by the Ministry of Agriculture for use at BAFC.

In 2009 teachers led I, II and II year students in practical studies of various subjects:

– Principles of sustainable agriculture     – BE from fruit and vegetable

– Compost from rice straw                             – Mushroom growing

– Oilster mushroom growing                         – Principles of crops growing

– Vegetable growing                                         – Soil improving by adding compost and BE

– Soil profile                                                         – Soil infiltration

– Integrated vegetable garden planning  – Extension work

– Participant data collection                          – Village activities planning

Although the project was officially completed in February 2009, MCC continued to provide two scholarships for teachers completing their Bachelor’s degrees. Funding was provided in 2009-2010 and in 2010-2011.

MCC also continued the English Education Program at BAFC. Debi Vanduin, MCC Service Worker, taught English at BAFC from 2008 to 2009, after which it was determined not to continue the English Education Program at BAFC.

The first 25 years (1975-2000)

To start out this celebration of MCC Laos’ 40th anniversary, take time to look through the photo album-history book (in four volumes) located in the main menu. This photo album has been sitting in printed form in the Vientiane office for the last 15 years.

Scroll below to read more history or search by category in the menus above.