Project activities in Khammouane are taking off

Our Nutrition and Food Security Project Team has jumped into action after the MoU for the project was signed at the beginning of this year: Over the past couple of months, the first project activities have been implemented. First and foremost, the core team have been travelling from District to District in Khammouane Province, conducting meetings with Provincial and District authorities of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At these meetings, project staff were introduced and the project’s activities, goals and expected results were presented to and discussed with local authorities. The authorities expressed a strong interest in staying updated on project progress, and reminded the implementing partners of the importance of focusing on sustainability in their work. For instance, they see it as very important for farmers to become active participants in training activities instead of passively receiving knowledge or handouts.

The aim of the meetings with District and Province authorities was to introduce who we are and what our plans are with the project.

The team went to meet with Provincial authorities before carrying on to the 6 target Districts.

Speaking of training: Another key activity was to recruit and train new members of the Humana family. For two weeks, more than 30 people including Farming Instructors, Project Managers and other project staff, also from our implementation partner Health Poverty Action, attended an intensive theoretical and practical training workshop in Thakek. Participants learned about Humana as an organization, the project’s background, activities and expected results, and of course the Farmers’ Clubs approach as their key tool of achieving these results. Now, the Farming Instructors have already been assigned to their respective target villages and have found homes all over the six Districts in which the project is taking place. Humana believes that the most sustainable and effective results of development projects are achieved by staff living directly in the communities they work with. In this way, they establish relationships of trust with villagers and get to know the local context. As much as possible, project staff are also recruited from the target areas in order to train locals themselves. They are thus empowered to carry activities forward even after projects have formally finished.

Group discussion with Timthong, Duncan and new Farming Instructors (from left to right)

Community Agriculture Facilitator Sysavang leading a group discussion

Launch of Food and Nutrition Security project in Khammouane

What a perfect start to the new year: In the first week of January, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between HPP Laos, our partner Health Poverty Action (HPA) and the Government of Laos was signed to officially commence project activities in Khammouane Province. The EU-funded project is part of large-scale efforts to combat malnutrition in Laos as well as to foster sustainable agriculture and promote climate-smart farming methods. In total, 5,000 farmers and their families in six Districts will be reached: Bualapha, Mahaxay, Thakek, Nhommalath, Xaybuathong and Kounkham (marked in green in the map).

While HPA will mainly focus on health-related activities such as increasing community capacity to prevent, respond to and manage the wider determinants of malnutrition, HPP Laos will work with farmers on increasing their food security and dietary diversification. To this end, we will use our well-established Farmers’ Clubs approach. Our agriculture team has already been deepening their knowledge of the Farmers’ Clubs concept and integrated sustainable agriculture methods in the run up to the MoU’s signing. Three experts from Malawi who have been involved in the setup of countless Farmers’ Clubs throughout Africa are supporting the team in all areas of project development and practical know-how.

Conducting introduction meetings with Province and District authorities after the MoU was signed

Tour through the demonstration garden in Pakxan

For instance, our office in Pakxan was complemented by a demonstration garden early last year: The agriculture team established it from scratch with a high focus on integrated systems such as composting and the production of earthworms and black soldier fly larvae. The latter in turn are fed to our catfish and chicken, suppliers of protein, while worm cast is also an excellent way of enhancing the garden’s soil. Throughout the garden, the method of companion planting is used to control pests and diseases in a natural way. Adding herbs also helps since they function as repellents. Apart from developing and practicing their skills, our team can now complement office lunches with produce from the garden, making them healthy and balanced.