Through the Women's Literacy and Basic Skills Project, many of Laos' ethnic minority women have been given access to some form of education and a chance to improve their lives and to help in the development of their communities. A total of 3,240 women participated in the program's various projects. It is further estimated that an additional 16,000 people will benefit indirectly from the women's participation. These beneficiaries include children and other family members, as well as villages.

Capacity-Building for Nonformal Education

The national project center for the Minority Women's Project, called Kilometer 8 (located 8 kilometers outside the capital Vientiene), has become a thinktank for nonformal education and develops much of the national curriculum. Staff at the center also develop materials and provide resources for other agencies in Laos doing related work, in addition to offering a public library. Training is offered to literacy instructors in learner-centered, and adult-versus-children teaching methodologies. The primary responsibility of the center is the preparation of the mass expansion of the project throughout all the provinces of Laos.

In addition to the popularity of the program with the villagers, the women's project has seen the Laotian government's growing interest in and support for nonformal educational approaches. The project has strengthened the government's decentralization efforts and helped to develop the educational infrastructure in the form of three additional regional staff development and resource centers for nonformal education. In addition, a Norwegian-backed distance education initiative will build on the foundation of the Minority Women's project by providing educational radio programs to three provinces.

While the Minority Women's Literacy and Basic Skills Project could not directly reach all the disadvantaged women of Laos, it has helped to strengthen the capacity in the country to expand non-formal education to all disadvantaged populations and ethnic minorities.

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