Habitat for Humanity Laos

Contact information HFH Laos C/o CDEA House #171, Unit 11 Ban Phonxay Saysetha District LAO RDR Laos Phone: +856 21415105 E-mail: aaliggayu@habitat.org				Habitat's Work in Laos New families served this year*: 55
Country profile

ONE OF THE WORLD’S FEW remaining communist states, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, or Laos, is also among the poorest countries in Asia. Poverty is concentrated in the rural areas where most people live. Eight in ten Lao people are employed in subsistence agriculture though little of the mountainous terrain is suitable for farming. Periodic floods and droughts add to the farmers’ burdens.

Across country, more than half the population lacks access to clean water while about one-third of the people lack access to adequate sanitation facilities.

Due to ethnic diversity, house sizes and designs vary in Laos. Based on government census data, houses are made of either concrete, brick and wood, or concrete and wood. One tenth of the population lives in semi-permanent shelters where floors, walls and roofs are made of bamboo or grass. Wood and bamboo houses built on stilts are a frequent sight in rural and mountainous areas where many ethnic minority groups reside.

To meet the housing needs in Laos, Habitat for Humanity International established its presence in 2006 by partnering with like-minded local organizations. Habitat’s first partner was the local nonprofit association, Community Development and Environment Association (CDEA) that supported women-led savings groups in villages in the northwestern province which includes the capital, Vientiane.

By the end of 2008, the Habitat-CDEA project had served 24 families in five communities through repairs and renovations. An additional 15 migrant families were helped through the provision of microfinance loans of up to US$250 per family for building toilets and water installations, and through training on health and hygiene issues.

Lessons learnt from the CDEA project were incorporated into a Habitat pilot project with World Concern and the Lao government.

The project, in Phontong district, in the southern province of Champassak, takes an integrated approach to community development that combines community-based education, food security, water and sanitation and health activities, while also addressing HIV/AIDS knowledge-gaps.

The pilot project is targeted to start in early 2009 and should run for three years. Habitat’s contribution will be to focus on improving water and sanitation facilities through the provision of loans to families for the construction of toilets, latrines and wells.

World Concern was the first American humanitarian agency to be allowed in Laos by the government. In the past 25 years, it has implemented successful projects in various sectors such as agriculture, forestry and fisheries, community development, education, health care, income generation and economic development.

Laos is expected to host one part of the Mekong Build, the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project scheduled for November 2009.

COUNTRY FACTS

Population: 6.7 million (July 2008 est.)

Capital: Vientiane

Area: 236,800 sq km

Ethnic groups: Lao Loum (lowland) 68%, Lao Theung (upland) 22%, Lao Soung (highland including the Hmong and the Yao 9%, ethnic Vietnamese/Chinese 1%

Languages: Lao (official), French, English, and various ethnic languages

Religions: Buddhist 67%, Christian 1.5%, Muslim and Bahai, less than 1%, others 30.9% (2005 census)

Updated January 2009