Resilient Livelihoods for the Poor

More than three quarters of the population in Laos lives is rural areas and poverty is particularly concentrated in these parts due to the reliance on subsistence farming. Seeking to increase the economic security and resilience of the rural poor in Laos, World Education, in partnership with World Education Australia and Village Focus International (VFI), is implementing the Resilient Livelihoods for the Poor (RLP) project. This is a component of a larger Australian Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) program called the Laos Australia Rural Livelihoods Program (LARP) which aims to reduce poverty in Laos. The focus of the project will be on providing social transfers (funding), livelihoods support, and financial literacy training to vulnerable households in the southern Lao province of Salavan.

The goal of the LARLP program is for the Government of Laos to begin implementation of a progressive social security policy that includes support to vulnerable families. The key policy initiative to be developed as part of the RLP project is an initiative for vulnerable families without a viable or decent livelihood who will receive livelihoods training, such as animal raising or mushroom growing and a cash grant to start a micro-enterprise.