(LAOS) Recently I visited two communities that have seen the long-term results of seeds planted over a decade ago: savings and loan funds started almost twenty years ago are still growing, village leadership rotates and remains strong, and community togetherness is high. In collaboration with ZOA and World Renew, Viengthong and Si villages laid the foundations for their continued development to this day.

We visited as part of an exchange between leaders of communities where World Renew is currently working with leaders of communities where World Renew was working a decade earlier. The basic question we asked was, “How have you continued development activities on your own?” Based on discussions with community members, two elements have contributed to their sustainable development: capable leadership and community cohesion.

The level of togetherness and cooperation was evident in the hospitality with which we were received: each household brought a small amount of food to share at large group meals, so there were a dozen different dishes to try. We were hosted in their homes, split up two to a house, and welcomed with great kindness.

The continued success of their savings and loan funds indicates that they have good leadership. In Viengthong, their revolving fund had about $800 USD at the end of the project in 2004, and grew to about $2200 USD today. Using loans from their fund, they have expanded fish production in their village to a business that brings in several hundred dollars per household. The village leaders made sure poorer families have their own fish ponds by encouraging them to take loans to dig fish ponds as well.

Average income per capita in their village is 50% above the poverty line. In Si village, leaders who aren’t paid a salary by the government receive a small rice allowance collected from every household to encourage them in their work.

Community development takes many years of work before seeing fruits. We sometimes get discouraged at the slow pace of change, especially working with some more challenging communities. The continued success of villages like Viengthong and Si gives us hope that our approach can work in the long run.

Background information:
ZOA, a Dutch relief organization, started working in 1994 with communities in the Phan area of Paek district, Xiengkhouang Province, Lao PDR. Following the Vietnam war, these communities resettled on the barren uplands of the Plain of Jars to rebuild their houses and replant their rice fields. Others were returned from refugee camps in Thailand to barren, infertile plains with little opportunity for growing crops or raising animals. ZOA began a wide-ranging livelihoods project that included building a large dam to irrigate new rice paddies for over 100 families, planting pine trees for firewood, and setting up savings and loan funds to support animal raising. World Renew (formerly CRWRC) started partnering with ZOA after 1997 as part of a transition toward long-term development. By 2004 the project ended and started working in new communities in other districts of Xiengkhouang, inheriting the office, staff team, and legacy of ZOA.

Update from the Zwiers
Daily life in Xiengkhouang, Laos involves Sarah teaching every morning and a few hours in the afternoon; James is often working at the office or out on a field visit. We have enjoyed having a long stretch of time (almost six months) without any long trips away from our home, giving us time to tend our garden, cook special food, and read good books together. We celebrated Christmas and New Year with other foreigners in town. February and March were full of celebrations with Lao friends: goodbye parties for three staff (some who had worked with us for over ten years), a party on International Women’s Day, and a wedding.

Twice a year James has meetings in Bangkok with the World Renew Asia team. It was nice to get away for a week at the end of March! If her teaching schedule permits it, Sarah usually comes along and we go a few days early to enjoy the big city life: going to the movies, shopping, and eating out. Along with a volunteer with World Renew in Bangladesh, we biked around a conservation area right in the middle of Bangkok and went on a walking food tour of an old part of the city.

Lao New Year is coming up in mid-April and we plan on staying home and relaxing, as well as joining our neighbors in the water splashing and having fun. In June we’ll have a retreat/workshop with all of the World Renew Laos staff, hopefully in Jinghong, China, a city just north of Laos that has many Lao-speaking people.

Prayers for Laos

• There are still a number of steps remaining in the process for obtaining official government permission to carry out our project expansion in Bountai and Mai districts in Phongsaly province. Once that permission comes through and the agreement signed we can proceed with recruiting additional staff to work in health, education and agriculture with us.
• Our agreement to work in Xieng Khouang ends on December 31, 2013. Pray that we will be able to recruit an external evaluator for the October end of project evaluation.
• Wisdom as we follow the many steps involving in planning the continuation of our work in Xieng Khouang.
• Praise that we have a unique mix of donors who are committed and supportive of the projects we implement.
• For a meaningful time of learning and teambuilding during the all staff retreat taking place on June 4-7, 2013.
• Safety for all staff during their travels to villages, which becomes especially challenging during the wet season which is coming up soon.
• Blessings on staff leaving to work elsewhere, particularly one who returned to working with MCC after ten years with us.

James Zwier

Program Advisor
World Renew Laos