Public Information and Awareness Services for Vulnerable Communities

The Public Information and Awareness Services for Vulnerable Communities in Lao PDR Project (PIASVC) – is a project funded by the Japanese Social Development Fund (JSDF) and administered by the World Bank (WB). It is co-financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and aims to improve public access to information on natural resource rights, by providing awareness raising and enhanced legal counselling services to poor and most vulnerable communities. Increased awareness and improved capacity of local paralegals to deliver legal counselling will help these communities to prepare and address challenges and livelihood impacts stemming from climate change or natural resource-based investments.

The Development Objective is to improve access to legal information and counseling services for poor and vulnerable persons in selected rural districts to enhance protection and fulfilment of their natural resources and livelihood rights. The project aims to improve public knowledge on natural resource rights by providing awareness raising and by enhancing legal counselling services for the poorest and most vulnerable communities with approaches tailored to their unique conditions. The awareness raising and capacity building for counselling services focus on rights to natural resources that are of pivotal importance for the livelihoods and subsistence of the beneficiary communities. Increased awareness and improved capacity of village mediation committees, para-legal volunteers and community leaders to deliver legal counselling will help the communities to address challenges and livelihood impacts stemming from natural resource-based investments typical to Lao PDR.

The project is based on three main components. Component 1: This Component supports capacity building for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) members of the Land Information Working Group (LIWG) to deliver awareness rising and counselling service trainings for village-level facilitators and paralegal volunteers who will disseminate public information and provide counselling services for the vulnerable and poorest rural communities, including women, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities and communities located in remote geographical locations. Component 2: This component focuses on the delivery of the small grant support. The Sub-Grants will be used to cascade the CSO capacity building, and the training of trainer inputs provided under the Component 1 to implement in the project target areas the awareness raising and the capacity building for enhancing counselling service at community level. Component 3: This component relates to Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation and Knowledge Dissemination. 

The project duration is 3 years, starting in November 2021 and is managed and implemented by Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation in Lao PDR. The project General Procurement Notice (GPN) is available in the Publications via the link below.

Helvetas will implement material measures and actions so that the Project is implemented in accordance with the relevant Environmental and Social Standards (ESSs). The three following documents, have been prepared to support this process and are available via the link below:

• Environmental and Social Commitment Plan
• Labor Management Procedures
• Stakeholder Engagement Plan