^ THE COi&IISSION FUH mjkL AFgABiS . , ;

( Structures, Functions and Achievements )

Introductions t

/ The independent Laos has inherited the adiAitti&trative structures set irl bldce by the colinial power. After ^ pjeribd of latericyi they grew Up in l^lk with a GdmiTiision General foi* the Plkti and in 1^58 with a CortitaiQ ion fot' Hufal Affairs»

Provided' ;d.th a ministerial status, the fUnction of this Coroniisalon is not to take the place of the already exiisting technical iilnistries but] h r an appropriate action, upon psychoidgical factors, to help them in their task of introducing and propagating new hnowledge and techniques. The specificity of the social fact was recognized and a new approach to the development was established.

However, due to lack of funds, from 195^ to 19S8, the new -institution was hardly active and rmained under the shade of Rural Developnent division of LISAIJ which, during that entire period, played a leading part in the conception as well as in the implementation of the community development pro/. rams.

It was only in 1968 that the Com^iission obtained autonongr thanks to the first allotment of staff and investment funds from the National Budget. Since then, progress was fast and from four officials early in 1968 the comuission has presently 16? of them and is getting one^ tenth of the funds from the Development Budget financed by the Plan cadre*

The Commission is running a Training Centre where its' personnel litidergoes training and refresher course (front-fline worker) and where, for three months, an elementary training in handicraft and accelerated rural development is given to selected farmers• Apart from this Centre the capacity of x\rhich will soon reach 150 beds, the Com?aission possesses a m extension structure covering the whole Kingdom down to the village level.

Studies of the problems of community development in LaoS#

In 1968 - 69, the Comoiission undertook an analysis of the rural society and tried to set up, commensurate with national resources, a coherent policy on accelerated rural development. The choice of variables retained for this analysis was influenced by the conception that the leading officials of the Comnission had developed on the notion of community development which is not synonymoTis of the rural development but is rather an accelerated development. Here is the brief account of the results of that analysis;

a) The village econojifiy is characterised by an acceler^jted self-sufficiency where self consiamption and production are well balanced leaving only little resources for the market econoiny. In fact, the economic relations are generally limited within an isolated settlement of a few thousand persons living by itself due to the rugged surface and the lack of roads. Complete lack of plantation economy.

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b) The urban ^pUlatlon represents one-tenth of the entire population and is empioyed either ip the ao/ainistration or in other services• The industri'" is non-^existent niirticulai ly the 4gro^industries which^ situated upstre^ or .do.m2trea.n of the circulation of ci.n;ricultural production, co»ild have a stiimlative effect on agriculture• The economic relations are therefore restricted between the city and the villa/je

and are essental^y reduced to rice supplies, the national production of jAixch is riardly sufficient to iiieet the needs, thou/rh farnine does not actually exist, iiround the cities, within a much restricted radius, one can find an embryo of monetary econoii\y,

c) The population is youa^ •ri.th a t rov/th rate of Uaentj four per thousand, however, the density is only twelve persons per sq. iim. .moreover, the custoiiiary lav/s, still in force, stirul Jite thao the Jdaddiss never owned i.vdth full ownership but only as usufruct • The land is supposed to belong to the one v/ho cultivates it anci becomes again public property three vears after the last harvest. At that tLae, whoeter tills it is considered to be the new beneficial occupant. The cultivable lands are still abondant ana no agrarian problem is anticipfited for the next twenty years. In connection these custor?iary laws and this abundance of lands, let >is point out the fact that there are no big estates. The paid agricultural labor is practicc),lly non-existent exce^ in the plain of Vientiane, Lvery farmer is therefore owner of the land which he cultiva-tes and the extent of the rice-^fiels depends on the size of his faiidly,

d) The rural bociet; 's stnicture is weak.

-ii Except the Iniddhist monastic communiby, no functional p-roup innervates the traditional society, How&ver^ pro^resaive astA^ blishiient of a net-work or public uc^^tiDnfil institutions mif: :t be a element for structuration and favour the entry of the btate to t>ie level of village society arjd contribute to the foraiation of a natioml consciou-sness.

-ii. in tne absence of com lercial or even colitical structui^es txie administration is the sole source of modernization with which the r xral people are in cont'tct.

-iii. on-third of the popixLation belongs to minority ethnic /groups which have no access, or to a very livited extent, to the public offices.

e) The leadershio is not very coercive.

-i. The individual is n^t bo^md by any clan, lineage or even labor association of age ana of sex as it is often tte case in traditional societies.

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- i i . the c h i e f of t h e v i i i a g o i s e l e c t e d by h i s aquai.6 anci i s more an equal airiong h i s equals than a c h i e f . At the v i l l a g e x e v e l , no c o l l e c t i v e a u t h o r i t y or counci l supports hiin.

Granting; t . i i s , the popui?^tion o f the Aingdom can be c la j i -s i f led i r t to f i v e ;<>'roups according to i t s a t t i t u d e t o the chanF;^^

Ifc Urban populat ion

I I . Icural popula t ion l i v i n g i / i t h i n the l i m i t s o f c i t i e s ; par t ic ipe . tes i i uiirket econoray.

T i l . '.aos o f e leven thousand v i l l a g e s , ^hich i s subdivided i n t o t h r e e sub-f^rou^s: ( i ) the hi.^hlanders v/ho belon;-^ t o s e v e r a l e t h n i c groups and v/hose a b i l i t y t o use t i ie i -aot ian xanguage i s very auch I L a i t e d .

( i i ) the refugees

( i i i ) x'he t r ' d i t i o n a l i^o v i l l a g e s .

by d e f i n i t i o n , t i io /-roups I and I I have t o be excluded frora the a c t i v i t i e s of the Gouiitg-ssion f o r iCural A f f a i r s ; as regards the group I I I ( i i ) , they are unaer the i>Jinisti^.r of j o c i a i A f f a i r s , li'here reuiain only tl;e t r a d i t i o n a l i ^ o t i a n v i l l a g e s and th:; h i h l a n d c r . f o r t h e l a t e r , i n view of the absence of r u r a l o f f i c i a i . s belon'Tin^^ to t h e i r e t h n i c croup, 5,t seemed d i f f i c u l t t o launch a proaxaia.

To these s t r u c t u r a l para-ieters of t h e r u r a l soc ie ty which c o n s t i t u t e as laany r e s t r i c t i o n s t o the a c t i v i t i e s , uiust bo added tb^ l i i r d t a t ions created by the .leans of i n t e r v e n t i o n .

( a j The v/eaicness of the n a t i o n a l budget , f i f t y per cent of t/hich iG supported by the Aids and the r e a l l o c a t i o n of i /hich i s u n c e r t a i n froiii year t o e a r .

( b ) The Coiuioission s t a f f '^hich a t t h a t ti^ae was I 5 0 , a l l ' belon®ii i® t o i-x io e thn ic group.

Gb. ject ives;

( a ) t o c rea te necessarjr condi t ions f o r increasinc'^ the f low and the qualit.vr of com tun icat ion bet. jeen t!ic v i l l a g e s and the adrainistra--t i v e a u t h o r i t i e s .

( b ) to i n s t i t u t i o n a l i z e a t t i iu viaJLagu cora'aunity l e v o l a c o l l e c t i v L Jeadershi p f avorab le to the jTioderni^^ation vvhich could take up the acce le ra ted developnent vork once t'ue r u r a l a^ ent. weaves the p l a c e .

( c ) t o provide the t e c h n i c a l serv ices vdLth a l l necessarv he lp f o r o r r a n i z i n g the vtforking gro ips requ i red by the i n t r o u u c t i o n o f t e c h n i c a l in.:.ovat iovis.

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( d ) t o approach t'rie h igh l a n d e r s and t o extend t o thorn t h e modern iza t ion iirhile t r y i n g t o se t i n mot ion among them the process o f p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n the J^o n a t i o n .

btrateCT^:

I n v iew of the human and j n a t o r i a l resources which t h e Commission .could |X)ssess, t h e s t r a t e g y imxst be z o n a l , p u t t i n g s t r e s s on the f o r n a t i o n t o the de t r iment o f invest /uent and t r y i n g t o a c t on a x i a l i n s t i t u t i o n s and i n d i v i d u a l s of t h e coixmnity, s u s c e p t i b l e t o l e a d i t subsequent ly t o the process or m o d e r n i z a t i o n .

For the Commission, the zenf i l approach cons is ts i n choosing a g e o - s o c i a l u n i t , besides o f t e n d u p l i c a t e d by an a d m i n i s t r r i t i v e u n i t , a m o i y f o r example, and i n c o n c e n t r a t i n g t h e r e i t s e f f o r t s concomi tant ly vrith o ther t e c h n i c a l se rv ices i n such a way t h a t the m u l t i p l y i n g e f f e c t s a c t between d i f f e r e n t programs^ These p r i v i l e g e d n - g i o n s arc c a l l e d n a t i o n a l zones of development and ^ d l l be oix.ned a t the r a t e o f f i v e zones every y e a r , l .ach zone cons is ts o f 1 0 , 0 0 0 t o 15,0i30 people and o f f i v e t o seven r u r a l a/^ents who r e s i d e t h e r e , working under t h e guidance o f a zone c h i e f - ho i s i n t u r n o f f i c i a l l y a t t a c h e d t o a p r o v i n c i a l c o n t r o l -l e r jhosi t a s k i s t o coord inate and d i r e c t the a c t i v i t i e s under taken i n va r ious zones of a o rov ince . He s i t s a t t h e i r o v i n c i a l Com.dsj^ion f o r U u r a l Developjiicnt and holds tht:- po in t of v iew o f the Commission and r u r a l a g e n t v / h o a re under h i s c o n t r o l .

.d i th in the zones, a par t i cuL- i r e f f o r t i s g iven t o the f o r r a i t i o n o f a loccnl l e a d e r s h i p . The concept ion o f the Goriimission i s t i i a t i n a c c e l e -r a t e d development, t h e l e a d e r p lays a key r o l e . .tfTiether he expresses t h e .. n«;:;eds f e l t by h i s group, or he r e - i n t e r p r e t s the governm^;nt i n i t i a t i v e s i n p o s i t i v e t e r m s , he c o n s t i t u t e s t h e ind ispensab le c a t a l y s e r o f energies.^ T\vro a c t i o n s were proposed: one f o r s t rengthen ing t h . a b i l i t i e s and q u a l i -t i e s o f the present l e a d e r s - c h i e f of the v i l l a ^ ' e , monk and t e a c h e r , arid the o t h t r f o r o r g a n i z i n g .uaong each comiuunity a c o l l e c t i v u l e a d e r s h i p comprising f o r n n l l e a d e r s diom have Just mentioned ana i n f o r m a l l e a d e r s . The c r e a t i o n o f thv.se v i l l a g e coiiKidttv.es . /hich t r a d i t i o n r t l l y d i d not f i n d any support vras, i t appeared t o u s , an indis^pt^nsablv; prel iminary^ t o the i n s t i t u t i o n a l i z a t i o n of r e l a t i o n s h i p bet^feen t h e govetnxnent and v i l l a g e cominunities, v i a the ? i 'ov inc ia l Commissions f o r Uevelopment.

The es tab l ishment of these v i l l a g e co^iirdttees prov ided f o r i n the xtoyal J e c r - e 254 cromuigated i n 1966 , ap eared as the f o c a l po in t where ideas r e l a t i n g t o m o a e r n i z a t i o n ^verediscussed and wore l a t e r on r e f l e c t e d i n thr, f a m i l y c e l l s . On the o t h e r hand, a f t e r t h e depar tu re o f the r u r a l a g e n t , these commit t ees w i l l c a r r y on t h e i r a c t i v i t i e s o f a c c e l e r a t e d developm^.nt and prevent t h j v i l l a g e from f a l j . i n g back i n t o i t s a p a t h y . 5 ^rainars f o r the f o r / a t i o n ox members o f these committees v/ere o r g a n i z e d .

V

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V i l l a g e m o t i v a t i o n s g i v e n s p e c i a l a t t e n t i o n and i t was s t i p u l a t e d t h a t the r u r a l agents should u t i l i z e , as much as p o s s i b l e , t h e t r a d i t i o n a l va lues and b e l i e f s and a v o i d t o oppose thorn un less i t i s impossible t o do o t h e r w i s e , i b r e o v e r ^ t h e communication v e h i c l c i s a l s o dravm from c u l t u r a l exper iences . For example, t h e Ex tens ion s e r v i c e o f the Coimission used i n 1970 the mohlam^ a s o r t o f extemporan-eous and popular p o e t r y o f which the v i l l a g e r s a r e v e r y f o n d , f o r conveying i n s t r u c t i o n s r e l a t i n g t o s e l f - h e l p and t o h y g i e n e .

As regards the problem o f a c t i o n cover ing the m i n o r i t y e t h n i c groups, the s tud ies o f which have f u l l y proved t h e impor tance , i t can be considered o n l y a f t e r t h e r e c r u i t m e n t o f agents be longing t o these e t h n i c groups. For t h i s purpose, a c t i o n had t o be i n i t i a t e d w i t h tho Cabinet C o u n c i l .

ProHress Report f o r t h e years 1969 70 - 71 .

I n 1 9 7 0 - 7 1 , f i v e n a t i o n a l development zones were opened. They a r c :

i'iiong Houei Sai Houakhong Province /iuong Paklay Sayaboury " r'hong Kene Thao " " itiong Khanthaboury Savannakhet " i ixong Phone thong Champassak "

These zones were the c o n t i n u a t i o n o f the f i v e zones c rca ted dur ing the preceding y e a r .

riiong Khay Luaj^g Prabang Prov ice I'iuong Thakhek llhamraouane " Phoumachedy Savannakhet " Souvannak i l i Sedone Nakhavoury Sithandone "

I n these zones, thc^^rural agents a t tempted t o make t h e v i l l a g e r s f u l l y aware o f t h e i r problems and o f t h e i r own a b i l i t y t o g i v e them a s o l u t i o n by j o i n i n g t h e i r e f f o r t s t o those of the Government« V i l l a g e committees were formed and t h e i r members were g i v e n a t r a i n i n g . During the d r y season, the undereemployed l a b o r was m o b i l i z e d , i n d i r e c t l y by the v i l l a g e committees, t o undertake works o f p u b l i c i n t e r e s t , such as the c o n s t r u c t i o n o f schools , d i s p e n s a r i e s and w e l l s or t h e c o n s t r u c t i o n o f sma l l f a m i l y f a c i l i t i e s , such as l a t r i n e s , p igpens, v i l l a g e s a n i t a t i o n . I n v a r i o u s vrays, the r u r a l a g e n t i a l s o shared t h e work o f t e c h n i c a l agents by i n c r e a s i n g the r e c e p t i v i t y o f the people towards i n n o v a t i o n t h r o u g h , f o r example, a d u l t educat ion or the c o n s o l i d a t i o n o f the new s t r u c t u r e s o f o r g a n i z a t i o n c r e a t e d by these t e c h n i c a l a g e n t s . ( O r g a n i z a t i o n of a commttee in-»charge o f i r r i g a t i o n f o r water d i s t r i b u t i o n and maintenance o f c a n a l s ) .

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In 1970 - 71# tte training activities wero especially^ expended: 22,324 trainees-days were arranged of v/hich 15,620 at tte Training Center of Ban Amone, The courses at Ean Amone were iiieant for famers (8,633 trainees-days), for rurd agents undergoin^^ in-service training (1,385 trainces-Kiays) for minority rural agents (3,256 traineeS-^days), for student-^teachers (S64 trainees-days) and for village chiefs (1,470 trainees-days)• In the province, the training courses were confined only to monks (3#150 trainees^ays) and to members of the village committees (1,496 t-d).

In the fied of information, we must point out, in addition to the monthly bulletin with a printing of one thousand and to the weekly radio broadcast, the recording of twenty-one popular son s jpohlam^ each of fifteen minutes duration, emphasizing community development.

Evolution of the conceptions of coijmunity development, 1958 - 71#

Depending entirely on the assistance of the Rural Development Division of the USAID, both for the staffing and for the funding of the operations of the work, the policy of the Comiiiission is merged to a great extent with that of USAID from 1958 to 1967.

In 1958 • 59, the slogan was " development of all azimuths which meant that all the eleven thousand villages of the Itingdom are entitled, upon request, to get aid in kind from the Cotnmission, via the Rural Dovelopraent Devision, At that period, the community developnent was the synonym of tlie work by self-help and the offer of the products to the people. In that conception, rural agent had only a very effacing rolet Placed at the level of provincial authorities, he vas a catalyser of requestst

To this selfphelp operations, the " Cluster Villages Program " succeeded in 1963, which stipulated the concentration of efforts on limited geographical zones> The strategy consisted in changing massively the infrastructure and in injecting new techniques in the fields of agriculture, livestock, health, home econoaiics activities, etc,,,,,- Seminars were conducted for promoting these new knowledges. For their part the rural agents started to iive in villages to organize there, self-help ppurations^ However, their activity was still restricted to this field and no effort ^^s made to improve the local cadres, to set up institutions which would have permitted them to particimte in the work undertaken, and to develop now forms of society needed by the attempts to introduce new production techniques^. .

In 1967, this program changed gradually into a return towards an indifferentiated assistance as for a geographical point of view completed by seminars for village chiefs and Tassengs, It was nearly at that period that the Co'firaission obtained autonomy and undertook to implement its own program, described above»

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Conclusion'^ A concept ion o f caoniunity deve l o p aont> ,

I n the course o f the l a s t decade/ the Co-nrnunity Development of Laos has cons iderab ly been t ransformed, and from an i n i t i a l acceptance i n t e g r a t i n g i t i n tho se l f - *he lp work undertaken by the v i l l a g e r s w i t h the h e l p of the Government, a new n o t i o n had emerged f o r des igna t ing by t h i s te rm a l l psycho-soc ia l maeans used f o r promoting and gu id ing the process of s o c i a l and t e c h n i c a l changes, m r c s p e c i f i c a l l y , dur ing t h e l a s t few y e a r s , the Coiiimunity Development o f Laos t u r n s i t s e l f to . ^ards the c r e a t i o n o f now j o i n t res pons i b i t i e s going beyond t l ie v i l l a g e cadre and i n s t i t u t i o n a l i z e d by the- establ ishment o f v i l l a g e , Tasseng and D i s t r i c t committees, a l l o f them l i n k e d \>rith the p r o v i n c i a l comrtiissions f o r dev- lopaient . . / i t h a i t however n e g l e c t i n g the s e l f - h e l p approach, i t gave a more and more a c t i v e a t t e n t i o n t o problems encountered by the t e c h n i c a l se rv ices i n t h e i r tasks and j o i n t l y a t t e m p t e d , to reso lve the d i f f i c u l t i e s c rea ted by the s o c i a l changes r e s u l t i n g from t h e introduce-t i o n o f new methods o f product ion . There began t h e v/holc f i e l d o f farm^^r assoc ia t ions f o r proper use of water', f o r market ing and purchase, f o r c r e d i t , e t c ^ V . . \ I t i s a na^st f i e l d where the Commission's a c t i v i t y w i l l proceed i n c r e a s i n g l y i n t h e course o f the next decade. U l t i m a t e l y , t h e Comiflission has t a c k l e d the problems o f e t l i n i c m i n o r i t i e s . , a i m i n g , beyond the p h y s i c a l improvement o f the most d isadvantaged n a t i o n a l groups, a t the establ ishment o f a new s o c i a l cont rac t between the people l i v i n g i n the mo.mtains and those i n the p l a i n s .

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