Although the overall number of casualties caused by unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Laos has decreased in recent years, accidents still occur regularly, and each year, an average of 48% of all reported accident victims are children or youth. UXO accidents happen when children play in a forest, farmers tend to agriculture, scrap metal collectors scavenge for parts, and villagers light fires to stay warm during the winter. As a result, there is an ongoing need to implement explosive ordnance risk education (EORE) in Laos to raise awareness of the dangers of UXO and promote safe behaviors among high-risk groups.
Funded by the United States Department of State, the Lawang ("Beware") Project: Expanding the Scope of Explosive Ordnance Risk Education will help ensure that children, youth, and people living in high-risk communities in Laos will have the knowledge and skills to keep themselves and their families safe from UXO. The project builds off of the achievements of World Education's previous risk education programs by piloting new models of EORE that will bring UXO safety messages to a wider audience across the country.
While our prevous projects have focused on strengthening EORE in primary schools, the Lawang project will partner with the Ministry of Education and Sport (MOES) to target additional at-risk groups through a variety of channels. We are currently working with the MOES to finalize project design.
With the Department of General Education, we will train over 1,300 secondary school teachers on how to use EORE teacher handbooks that were developed under the Comprehensive Mine Risk Education project. Following the training, thousands of secondary school students across Laos will receive EORE lessons during extracurricular periods. We will also work with secondary schools to conduct additional EORE events for their students.
With the MOES' Department of Non-Formal Education, the Lawang project will develop and pilot an EORE curriculum for non-formal education centers to reach young people who have dropped out of the formal education system as well as agricultural works and other laborers pursuing equivalency degree certificates.
The Lawang Project will partner with village education development committees (VEDCs) to help spread EORE safety messages within at-risk communities. VEDCs will recruit youth volunteers to conduct EORE sessions for other members of their communities.
World Education, the MOES, and the National Regulatory Authority (NRA), the lead agency working on UXO and landmine issues in Laos, will work together to develop and disseminate EORE media across a variety of channels, including social media.
World Education strives to build lasting relationships with partners across diverse geographic regions and technical sectors to produce better education outcomes for all.
