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 Home Overseas Projects Laos
Laos
Overview
Visitors to Laos are often struck by its natural beauty, the hospitality of its people and its ‘Shangri La’ atmosphere, but the reality is Laos remains one of the poorest countries in Asia, partly as a legacy of becoming the most heavily bombed country on earth during the Vietnam War.
An ex-hairdressing trainee now running her own business
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As Laos embraces a market economy, its fragile eco-system and relative isolation to major regional health issues, such as HIV, will be challenged. Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA has been working in Laos since 2000, initially working with the Laos Women's Union, the Vientiane Capital Women's Union and the Luang Prabang Women's Union with a capacity building and vocational skills training program focusing on disadvantaged women, to assist them gain employment and reduce poverty.
APHEDA's program has since developed, beginning work with the Lao Federation of Trade Unions in 2004 and receiving funding from a range of donors, including unions and the International Labour Organisation, across OH&S, HIV awareness and vocational education. In 2010 we began an education quality and teacher support partnership with the Pakse Teacher Training College as well as expanding our vocational training project to Xiengkhouang Province.
Strategy
Lao PDR remains one of the poorest countries in South East Asia. The effects of many decades of colonialism, conflict and isolation and its slow integration into the global economy are still widely apparent.
» Full Strategy for Laos
History
Overview
Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA commenced support to Lao PDR in 2000, establishing a permanent office in 2002. The initial project of non formal vocational training through the Lao Women's Union, supported by AusAID, built on our experience in adult education and non formal education for women particularly in Cambodia and also Vietnam over 15 years. ...
Projects
Vocational Training for Poor Women with the Lao Women’s Union (LWU)
Since starting work in Laos in 2000, Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA has been working with various branches of the Lao Women’s Union (LWU), especially in Vientiane Capital, Luang Prabang and Xiangkhouang Provinces, to deliver vocational training for income generation. By giving women the skills they need to earn an income, they can independently lift themselves and their families out of poverty without needing ongoing charity....
Union Strengthening with the Lao Federation of Trade Unions (LFTU)
While the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) is primarily an agricultural society, there are extensive mining and logging industries and more recently, work has begun on a number of World Bank and Asian Development Bank financed dams across tributaries of the Mekong river which will provide electricity for sale to neighboring Thailand.Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA works with the Lao Federation of Trade Unions (LFTU), with the support of international trade union networks as well as Australian trade unions and unionists to build national OH&S capacity. Laos has one of the highest occupational death rates in Asia with 28.8 fatalities per 100,000 people, around nine times higher than Australia. Combined with high levels of under-reporting, non-fatal but crippling occupational injuries and the lack of a social safety net the risk to workers is very high. Together, the LFTU and APHEDA are taking concrete actions to protect workers. ...
Teacher 2 Teacher
Since 2010, Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA has partnered with the Pakse Teacher Training College (PTTC) in Southern Laos. The college covers four provinces in the South, including Sekong province, which is overwhelmingly made up of ethnic minority groups with some of the worst educational outcomes in the country due to language barriers and its remoteness. ...
Latest Laos News
Volunteer Opportunity | Union Training Officer | Laos - Applications close 13/1 - 21 December 2012
Help Lao unions protect the rights of workers by supporting a comprehensive training program in communication and negotiation skills, union policy and principles, funds management and occupational health and safety. ...
Volunteer Opportunity | Union Training Officer | Laos - Applications close 11/11 - 20 November 2012
Applications for this position have now closed. ...
Volunteer Opportunity | Union Training Officer | Laos - Applications close 26/8 - 09 September 2012
Applications for this position have now closed....
Volunteer Profile - Adam Kaminski - 16 January 2010
Adam Kaminski has been volunteering in the Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA Lao office for the past 15 months. He has another 9 months left in his placement. ...
Lao unions hold international meeting - 04 June 2008
On 12-13 May 2008, the Lao Federation of Trade Unions (LFTU) and Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA hosted the first ever LFTU International Solidarity, Cooperation and Coordination Meeting. ...
» More Laos Project News
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