Citizen Participation and Civil Society Development

We believe a vibrant, effective and credible civil society sector is essential. Multi-dimensional capacity-building can help give rise to civil society organisations that can engage and influence their government and corporate sector on a principled and sustained basis.

An essential part of building a credible civil society is to ensure that it legitimately represents poor and marginalised people and that its advocacy agenda is based on their needs, as well as backed up by solid evidence derived from research and development practice.

Goal

Deprived and marginalised women and men gain control over the decisions affecting their own lives by exercising their right to expression, information, assembly, and lawful protection. They take part in public policy, and social and economic development processes, at community and national level. 

What we want to acheive

• Support a diverse, accountable and inclusive civil society that is better able to exercise its rights to organisation, influence, access to information, public participation and equal justice.

• Support the enabling of communities and representative organisations in demanding transparency, fulfilment of the government’s duties and responsibilities towards the poor, and respect for citizens’ rights and the rule of law.

• Ensure more responsiveness and accountability from local and central authorities, as well as the corporate sector, to the interests of the poor and marginalised and their representative organisations, and to increase their influence and benefits from government policy and legislation on resource allocation, and the policies and practices of the corporate sector.

How we achieve it

• Helping to build the capacity of communities and community-based organisations in critical analysis, engagement in sub-national decision-making processes on issues affecting their livelihoods, and influencing economic and investment policies.

• Supporting civil society organisations in building their capacity to engage and influence the government and corporate private sector at various in a manner that communities’ voices.

• Supporting increased and intensified civil society participation in relevant regional and global advocacy platforms, with priority on issues related to ASEAN economic integration.

• Contributing to increase the government’s and the National Assembly’s ability and willingness to support participatory policy processes that enable poor rural communities, particularly ethnic minorities and women, to influence planning processes.

• Supporting the efforts to effect changes in the policy and legal framework around freedom of assembly and the fair implementation of the NPA decree and related legislation at national, provincial and district levels.

• Engaging with the National Assembly by bringing practical stories of the positive impact of community participation in decision-making processes and alternative development models

Our partners and relevent stakeholders

• Lao Federation of Trade Unions (LFTU)

• Lao Women’s Union (LWU)

• Lao Youth Union (LYU)

• Vientiane Youth Centre (VYC)

• National Assembly (NA) and People’s Provincial Assembly (PPA)

• Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (MoLSW)

• National University of Laos

• Participatory Development Training Centre (PADETC)

• Environment Conservation and Community Development Association (ECCDA)

• Community Association for Mobilising Knowledge In Development (CAMKID)

• Home Net Lao (HNL)

• Huam Jai Asasamak / United in Volunteer Association (HJA)

• Learning for Development Association (LDA)

• Maeying Houamjai Phatthana / Women Participating in Development Association (MHP)

• STELLA

• Association For the Deaf (AFD)

• Association for Development of Women and Legal Education (ADWLE)

• Gender and Development Association (GDA)