Promoting Development through Shared Governance Strategies in Lao PDR Article Non-state actors in Lao PDR are reshaping the single-party system through shared governance, blending local knowledge with expert guidance. Despite being in an "experimental phase," this approach is yielding positive impacts on natural resources and fostering new political dynamics. By Phong A Huynh
Mekong River Hydropower Development, Compensation and the Resettlement Legal Framework in Lao PDR: The Case of Luang Prabang Dam Article Like two sides to every coin, hydropower development offers benefits and disadvantages. Lao PDR has been constructing many dams, with assorted projects in various stages of completion. But what is the legal framework to ensure proper compensation for affected residents? By Sypha Chanthavong
Lao PDR: Containing COVID-19 Outbreaks but Alert for Virus Spikes Article During the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, Lao PDR managed to contain the pandemic quite successfully. More than one year later, the virus remains a challenge: in communicating with people via social media, integrating workers returning from neighboring countries, and vaccinating the population. By Vannaphone Sitthirath
Laos Needs Another Revolution but This Time with Single-Use Plastic Like in any other country, plastic is widely used and it is everywhere to be found in the Lao PDR, a landlocked country in Southeast Asia with a population of 7 million people. Plastic has become part of our modern life. Yet as omnipresent as it is, our ever-increasing reliance on single-use plastics, our throwaway culture and poor waste management system have created a huge problem. By Vannaphone Sitthirath
Looking for Space in the Lao Dam Debate Article At the time of the 1975 Revolution, when the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party came to power, the country had one large dam of 15 megawatts or more. In September 2018, Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith said Laos has “about over 50 hydropower dams”. By Johanna Son
Laos: Dammed Information? Article The 2018 collapse of a Lao dam is far from an old, closed file stored in dusty archives, but that is the rather strange, surreal feeling one gets when searching online for updates about the disaster and its aftermath in this Southeast Asian country of 7 million people. By Johanna Son
Lao students succeed in Thai school, another 200,000 migrant children left unschooled A small school in the Northeast is setting an example in adhering to Thailand’s human rights obligations seeing its Lao pupils become student leaders. But another 200.000 migrant children are left without access to country’s education system, reports Mingkhawan Thuemor, a participant of The Isaan Journalism Network Project. By The Isaan Record
