Good Practice: Establishing Community Learning

Centers in Nong and Sepon District, Savannaketh

Province
Uwe Gartenschlaeger, Regional Director, DVV
International
Why the practice was put forward?
Extreme Poverty

No Space for learning and sharing in the villages

Marginalised ethnic group (Brue)

Cooperation with a successful nutrition and rural development

Project (WHH, NORMAI, CODA)

www.dvv-vhs.de www.dvv-international.de 2
When and how was it out forward?
Start in 2010 in Cooperation with German Agro Action (expertise in the region) with
education activities (REFLECT)

Including from the beginning government partners on all levels: DNFE, PESS, DESB plus
other agencies as well as NPAs (partnership)
2011: Construction first pilot CLCs
2012: Workshop with all partners decided CLC standard (joint decision making)

From the beginning, own contribution from villagers was foreseen: labour, wood, sand
(ownership)

www.dvv-vhs.de www.dvv-international.de 3
Management coordination of the initiative

At the village level: CLC

Management committee
(including one women)

At the district level: DESB and

DVV International field offices

At the national level: Project

manager DVV International
(support) and cooperation with
DNFE (advocacy), provincial
level keep informed
www.dvv-vhs.de www.dvv-international.de 4
Implementation of the initiative I

Preparation: Pilots, Baseline and

Needs Assessment, Workshop with
stakeholders, dialogue with
villagers

Management structure: National

Level Project manager, field offices
on district level, counterparts at
government agencies

Construction: Plan developed with

DESB, construction process with
TVET teachers and villagers (no
company)

www.dvv-vhs.de www.dvv-international.de 5
Implementation of the initiative II

Learning opportunities provided in

Literacy/basic education,
Vocational skills and
Life skills

(at the beginning determined by the

project, at the moment by the
villagers)

Open to other stakeholders

www.dvv-vhs.de www.dvv-international.de 6
Challenges I

Capacity at all levels

Province and District : Lack of Staff,

lack of knowledge about CLC, LLL
and legal framework

Village: Lack of Staff (CLC

Managers, teachers), lack of all
kinds of basic knowledge,
lack of life skills, no idea of
management and advocacy,
limited Lao language,
cultural barriers

www.dvv-vhs.de www.dvv-international.de 7
Challenges II

NFE system

Provincial NFE Center District NFE Center CLC on village level

Monitoring and Evaluation System

www.dvv-vhs.de www.dvv-international.de 8
Challenges II

Lack of

Curricula
Learning materials

Lack of funding

Government and development partners

www.dvv-vhs.de www.dvv-international.de 9
How to overcome the challenges?

Capacity Building
Trainings at all levels (national,
provincial, district, village)
Community of Practice
Resource Center

NFE System
Establishing the missing link:
District NFE Centers
Develop LLL Policy

Lack of funding
Advocacy
?????

www.dvv-vhs.de www.dvv-international.de 10
 Impact of the initiative

24 CLC established

All of them used as multifunctional spaces

by the villagers, more than 10 events per
month

Higher attention in Lao policy frameworks

Other development partners get interested in

the concept

Learning exercise

www.dvv-vhs.de www.dvv-international.de 11
Reasons for success

Ownership of the village (CLCs belong to the village)

Multifunctional use

Realistic design

BUT: Lack of funding,

lack of system to support

www.dvv-vhs.de www.dvv-international.de 12
The Way Forward

Policy Level: Decree on LLL Policy

District NFE Center: The challenge of implementation

Capacity Building: Adult Educators and Managers

Youth and CLCs: New target groups

www.dvv-vhs.de www.dvv-international.de 13