The poor
Development and assistance for poverty reduction and food security
WFP injects more than US$85m to support sustainable development
The World Food Programme has granted more than US$85 million (682 billion kip) to help the Lao government achieve the Sustainable Development Goal targets, as well as middle-income country status. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed on Friday by Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment, ...
Food safety first as national laboratory opens
Food security and control in the country has been boosted with the first official National Food Safety Laboratory opened on Monday in Vientiane. The new laboratory is the first of its kind in Laos, serving as a ready reference centre for the control of food quality ...
Livelihoods for elderly now a top priority
With most elderly Thais having no or hardly any savings, Thailand has an acute need to keep people in work as long as possible. Creating job opportunities for the country’s greying population is now top of the agenda at various organisations, both in the government and ...
Low-income people around country register for new round of state welfare
A large number of low-income people queued up to apply for state welfare as the second round of registrations opened nationwide on April 3. Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong said at least 10 million people were expected to register in this round, which ends on May ...
UNICEF extends support for improved nutrition
The United Nations Children’s Fund to Laos has forecast a budget of over US$7 million in assistance to Laos from 2017 to 2018 to improve nutritional health. The support comes under the new Health and Nutrition Programme for 2017 to 2021 and aims to improve ...
Malaysian aid ship docks in Bangladesh
A Malaysian aid ship arrived in Bangladesh on February 13 carrying aid for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have fled from Arakan State, many citing abuses by the Myanmar’s security forces. A representative of the mission on the ship said it would unload ...
Australian charity to send Northern Territory cattle to Cambodian families
An Australian charity has bought 150 Brahman breeders from a Northern Territory Government research farm to send to Cambodia. Cows for Cambodia loans Cambodian families pregnant cows to look after until they have a calf, which the family keeps as payment. The Northern Territory cattle, ...
Switzerland gives further boost to poverty reduction fund
Switzerland has agreed to contribute US$18 million to help Laos reduce poverty and achieve the targets set in the National Socio-Economic Plan. A grant agreement for the funding was signed recently by the Director of Cooperation for the Mekong Region of the Swiss Agency for ...
WB: Cambodians still vulnerable
While the World Bank commended Cambodia for its strong economic growth and efforts to reduce poverty over the past two decades, it, however, cautioned on December 14 that the agriculture and garment sectors posed challenges which could make that growth unsustainable. “An overview of the past two ...
Cambodia to remain among least developed countries, for now
Cambodia is not expected to graduate from its Least Developed Country status until after 2025, though it has made progress in furthering its development, a new report by a UN agency said. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development projected in its latest review ...