Norwegian
Church Aid has provided a grant of US$862.300 to continue the provision of
alternative livelihood opportunities to opium production in Long district,
Luang Namtha province.
A signing ceremony for the handover of the
grant took place yesterday at the Government Office in Vientiane.
Lao National Commission for Drug Control and
Supervision (LCDC) Chairman Mr Soubanh Srithirath and Norwegian Church Aid
(NCA) Southeast Asian Area Representative Mr Rolf Strand jointly signed the
document.
The NCA grant will fund the final phase of the
Empowerment of Akha Ethnic Group for Livelihood and Development project. The
project will run in Long district from now until 2015 and will continue
activities initiated by the Lao-NCA, which came to an end in the middle of
2011.
These include improvements in the areas of
rice production and livestock breeding, natural resource management, education,
basic health services, capacity building for women, and capacity building for
partnerships between district and village leadership.
From 1993 until the end of 2004, NCA programme
activities in Long district focused on the reduction of opium production and
local consumption.
The important results achieved included a dramatic
decrease in opium production in the target communities. Most opium addicts came
through a detoxification programme to become opium free, and were again able to
live healthy lives and contribute to improving the livelihoods of their
families.
However, clandestine opium poppy growing in
these communities has increased recently.
“Sustainability assurance of the achievement
in the reduction of opium areas and the number of opium addicts is very
important,” Mr Strand said.
Since 1993 a total of about US$8.1 million has
been provided to support NCA's programme activities in the district. Donors
that have supported the programme over the years include the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime, Sweden International Development Agency, German
Agency for International Development, Kadoorie Charitable Foundation,
Pestalozzi Children's Foundation, Hei Verden, the Norwegian government and the
people of Norway.
The main objective of the programme's final
phase is to sustain and further develop the many positive results and changes
that have already been achieved over the years, while also addressing some of
the new challenges that the communities face, particularly in relation to
climate change.
At the signing ceremony, Mr Soubanh called on
officials from both sides to work closely to ensure the project stayed on track
and the objectives achieved.
Vice Governor and Chairman of the provincial
Commission for Drug Control and Supervision of Luang Namtha province, Mr
Phanthong Phitthoumma, witnessed the signing.
By Times Reporters
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