The European Union promotes a better life in Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang is one of the provinces in northern Laos benefitting from the UNSAP programme from the European Union, which has been working to improve lives since 2018.
Recently after a pleasant train-trip to Luang Prabang, six European heads of mission visited the Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Project (UNSAP) at Sio village in Pak-ou district.

Nutrition for children.

The project location in the village is not far from Luang Prabang city, which is a distance of only 23 kilometres.
While the EU representatives were there, an official from the Pak-ou district agriculture office, Mrs Bouasavanh Phongsavanh, told the Vientiane Times that developers from EU would help to build a rice bank, a fish reserve, a gravity-fed water system and forest conservation in Sio village project. Currently, only the rice bank is built and the villagers use the service.
The system of borrowing rice from the bank was not a problem for them. Approximately 10kg from borrowing, but 11kg must be returned to the bank in six months. However, the borrowing will not exceed 100 kg for the member family.
“The villagers needed a gravity-fed water system because the water that is now available is not enough for daily use,” Mrs Bouasavanh said.
NUSAP works in 11 districts in the provinces of Luang Prabang, Luang Namtha, Phongsaly and Huaphan in order to contribute to improved food and nutrition security and promote sustainable agriculture.
The programme started in August 2018, following approval of a one-year extension that will be ended in 2023.
The NUSAP project also provides a small grant of 1 million kip to 3,000 households in 100 villages. Many households divide their grant with about 60 percent of households investing in poultry-raising, while approximately 40 percent cultivate vegetables and about eight percent do fish farming.
In Sio village in Pak-ou district, French Ambassador to Laos, Mrs Siv-Leng Chhuor, told villagers that the project is an example of French and EU cooperation in Laos.
France in Laos seeks to act as closely as possible to the populations and to meet their most pressing needs. Therefore, the NUSAP project is based on thorough analysis of the Lao food and nutrition situation and targeting the most vulnerable population in the provinces.
The general objective of the project is to help improve food and nutrition security and to promote sustainable agriculture, to improve the nutritional status of young children, and pregnant and lactating women.
By 2023, the project targets the distribution of 9,000 famer grants and 150 collective grants for an amount of more than 1.6 million euros, the French Ambassador said.
This project has a capacity building dimension. It includes training targeting in a first time at local level through provincial agriculture and forestry offices and district agriculture and forestry offices.
In the second for the disseminating their knowledge to villagers through the training nutrition and food to target groups, cooking demonstrations and development of agricultural activities such as home gardens and small livestock raising.
The NUSAP, like other projects in the biodiversity and agriculture sectors, is co-financed by EU and France, and to be looked at as the first steps for an even closer EU cooperation.
During their three-day visit from May 16-18, six European heads of mission travelled to Team Europe projects in Vientiane and the provinces of Vientiane and Luang Prabang.
The purpose of the trip was to promote the progress of Team Europe’s strong commitment in working together in the framework of the Team Europe strategy 2021-2025 for Laos. 

By Times Reporters
(Latest Update May 20, 2022)