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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1. Overview

2. Rural Electrification and Development

3. Ethnic peoples’ Development Plan

ETHNIC GROUPS

4. Ethnic Groups National Profile and Classification

5. ONGRID Ethnic Groups Profile in Project Area

6. OFF GRID Ethnic Groups Profile in Project Area

POLICY LEGISLATION & GUIDELINE

7. Policy and Legislative framework on Ethnic Groups

8. Other related Policy and Legislation

9. World Bank Policy and Guidelines on Indigenous People

RISKS & BENEFITS

4.1 Particular risks and issues concerning ethnic groups and the Project

4.2 Potential benefit for ethnic groups and the Project

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

10. Language Limitation

11. Base Line Information

12. Participatory Approach

13. Consultation and Information dissemination

14. Land Tenure

15. Capacity building

16. Institutional Arrangement

17. Implementation Schedule

18. Complaint Monitoring and Conflict Resolution Mechanism

19. Monitoring and Evaluation

5.11 Recommended Implementation Steps for EPDP

CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION

REFERRENCES

ANNEX: Brief Field Visit Report

I. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Overview

The EDL grid connection component for the Southern Provincial Rural Electrification phase II (SPRE II) Project will provide rural electrification for around 1,045 villages of about 50,000 households in 7 southern provinces where about 40% of 2.1 million populations are ethnic peoples. The Project area will cover 1,045 villages out of which about 58% (at the average) are the ethnic villages (602 ethnic villages).

The Project is anticipated to have positive impacts on ethnic groups living in the rural areas along the grid lines. As some ethnic groups in the Project areas are culturally, socially and economically distinct from more dominant groups. They are vulnerable to be disadvantaged in the development process, especially those who are living far away from the big cities, far from the main road or no road access at all.

The GOL is thus required to prepare an Ethnic People’s Development Plan (EPDP) to ensure that all the ethnic groups will benefit from the Project in a manner that is culturally, socially and economically appropriate to their particular circumstances.

This EPDP lays out the development strategy and program for the involvement of different ethnic groups in the SPRE II Project. It aims to ensure that development progress fosters full respect for their dignity, human rights and cultural uniqueness. It furthermore aims to ensure compliance with the GOL policies concerning ethnic groups, as well as the World Bank’s Operational Directive 4.20 (OD4.20) on Indigenous Peoples.

More specifically, it is to ensure that they do not suffer adverse effects during and after the development process. The basic strategy for addressing the issues pertaining to ethnic groups will be based on the informed participation of the ethnic groups themselves, which include identifying local preferences through direct consultation and incorporation of ethnic groups’ knowledge into project planning and implementation process.

EPDP’s negative social impacts will be minimal as participation in the Project activities will require some commitment of time and at least labour contribution, especially during the dry season, it could affect the time that villagers have to participate in other income-generating activities for their living.

In the development process, there is a small risk that some villagers could lose assets or access to resources that needs to be compensated under the compensation policy of the government and the Bank. Besides the compensation, the Project will assist villagers with the village small scale development projects to be based upon the village development potentials and the village preferences. This is to help them enhancing their affordability to pay for electricity. However, these village development projects must be sustainable in the long run. Local institutions and human resource development are to be covered at the same pace as well.

These ethnic peoples are more numerous in the more remote, upland forest areas than the lowland areas. These peoples are already disadvantaged in terms of greater poverty, less access to development (such as roads, schools and health clinics) and have a lower Lao literature than do the Lao and related Tai-Kadai ethnic groups.

SPRE II Project has been designed to take into account of these differences seriously through its extension and training strategies to the concerned villagers and their leaders.

The institutional arrangements will include social and anthropological experts’ inputs. The department of Ethnic Affairs of the Lao Front for National Construction (LFNC) will be included in the inter-ministerial Project Steering Committee as well as in the monitoring of the Project social impacts. The Sciences, Technology and Environment Agency (STEA) will be the counterpart of LFNC with regard to technological and environmental impacts.

The LFNC at province, district and village levels will be involved where appropriate in the implementation of the Project activities, especially in the participatory process. This will ensure the success of the GOL Ethnic Policy and enhance the sustainability of the village development projects.

1.2 Rural Electrification and Rural Development

In the rural remote areas of Lao PDR, where the ethnic groups are living, access to benefits from the national development programs is very limited or lacking. For centuries, development projects have been constrained by the lack of adequate basic infrastructures such as road system and electricity.

One of the national programs to reduce the rural people’s poverty is to develop the rural electrification in order to promote other rural development projects within these rural poorest areas where large potentials are waiting for rural electrification as the prime source of power for rural development projects.

Such development projects may be irrigation schemes and irrigated agriculture, community forestry and other income-generating activities as facilitated by the extension of the electricity lines to the village and village households.

The villagers can be supported initially with some priority small-scale market oriented businesses. This will mean the access roads to big cities will be improved. Irrigation pumps can be installed along the rivers to convey water to the agricultural land which can be cultivated the whole year round, where as in the past only one season (wet season) can be cultivated with many risks due to the uncertain rain. Domestic water supply will be also improved to enhance the people’s hygiene and health. Women and children do not need to get the water from far away for their family consumption. They can invest their time and efforts doing other income-generating activities such as weaving and looking after the home vegetables garden etc ...

Forest nursery can be established to support the community forestry in the long term. In some places, fruit trees are worth to try. However the villagers need to cope with all the changes, that needs time and strong support from the government and private sector.

1.3 Ethnic Peoples’ Development Plan

The Project is anticipated to have positive impacts on all ethnic groups living along the electrical grid lines. The GOL has to prepare an EPDP to ensure that vulnerable ethnic groups do not suffer adverse impacts of the Project and that they receive benefits from the Project appropriate to their particular circumstances.

This EPDP describes the legal, cultural and socio-economic context surrounding ethnic groups in Lao PDR, particularly pertaining to land tenure and natural resource use. The plan describes measures, institutional arrangements that address the particular needs and circumstances of ethnic groups being vulnerable to the development process as defined below.

The plan prescribes a process during project implementation that provides for:

a) collection of more site specific information on ethnic peoples through participatory methods;

b) the informed participation of all members of ethnic peoples covered by this plan;

c) identification, in close cooperation with the given ethnic groups, of their specific needs and priorities to be incorporated into site specific community development activities;

d) procedures for participatory monitoring and evaluation of project activities and their benefits and impacts on ethnic minority groups; and

e) Complaint mechanisms.

II. ETHENIC GROUPS

1. Ethnic Groups National Profile and Classification

Lao PDR is a cultural diverse country and its population was categorized into three major groups namely Lao Loum (lowlanders), Lao Theung (midlanders) and Lao Soung (highlanders), the main aim was for political commonality, unity, and promoting the ideal of how the ethnic groups were part of the Lao nation. It was also to simplify a complex ethno-linguistic classification of the ethnic groups.

In order to adapt to the new changes and bring forth unity among various ethnic groups in Lao PDR, the Lao Front for National Construction (LFNC) has identified 49 ethnic categories and well over 160 ethnic sub-groups.

Since the 1991 Constitution, the official terminology uses for describing the diverse population of the Lao PDR has been “ethnic groups”, whiles the term “ethnic minorities” is used to classify the non Lao ethnic groups.

The “Indigenous Peoples” as described by World Bank is not commonly used in Lao PDR, but for the purpose of this report it is taken to be one and the same as “ethnic peoples”. In this development plan, the official terminology- Ethnic minority, defined in the Lao Constitution is used throughout the plan.

The Lao ethnic groups are categorized into four ethno-linguistic groups as below:

• The “Lao-Tai” (also referred to as “Tai-Kadai” ), which includes the dominant “Lao ethnic group” and the “lowland Tai” speaking groups. The “Lao-Tai” consists of 8 ethnic sub-groups as follows:

| |Sub-Ethnic | |Sub-Ethnic | |Sub-Ethnic |

|1 |Lao |4 |Tai |7 |Phutai |

|2 |Leu |5 |Nhuane |8 |Yang |

|3 |Xaek |6 |Tai neua | | |

• The “Austro-Asiatic, including the Mon-Khmer” group . The “Mon-Khmer” consists of 32 ethnic sub-groups as follows:

| |Sub-Ethnic | |Sub-Ethnic | |Sub-Ethnic |

|1 |Khmu |12 |Phong |23 |Bid |

|2 |Pray |13 |Thene |24 |Lamed |

|3 |Xingmoon |14 |Eudou |25 |Samtao |

|4 |Katang |15 |Makong |26 |Taoey |

|5 |Yru |16 |Triang |27 |Katu |

|6 |Yae |17 |Brao |28 |Kriang |

|7 |Hahak |18 |Oey |29 |Suay |

|8 |Jeng |19 |Kadang |30 |Pako |

|9 |Nhaheun |20 |Lavy |31 |Nguane |

|10 |Kmer |21 |Toum |32 |Tri |

|11 |Moy |22 |Kree | | |

.

• The “Hmong-Iomien” group which consists of 2 ethnic sub-groups as follows:

| |Sub-Ethnic | |Sub-Ethnic | |Sub-Ethnic |

|1 |Hmong |2 |Iomien | | |

• The “Chinese-Tibetan” (also referred to as “Sino-Tibetan”), which includes the Chinese and Tibeto-Burman ethnic group and consists of 7 ethnic sub-groups as follows:

| |Sub-Ethnic | |Sub-Ethnic | |Sub-Ethnic |

|1 |Akha or Ko |4 |Phounoy |7 |Lolo |

|2 |Sila |5 |Lahou | | |

|3 |Hor |6 |Hayi | | |

Although the Lao language is the official language, the other ethnic languages are still used among themselves. Most ethnic groups do not have the written language.

Traditional customs and religious beliefs vary according to the ethnic groups they belong to. Buddhists form the big majority and they mainly belong to the Lao ethnic groups.

Table 1: Profile of the Provinces and Districts, and Ethnic Group (for the whole country)

|Code |  |  |Ethnic based on ethno-linguistic groups |Total of Minority |

| |Village |Population |Tai-Kadai |

| |Provinces |Total No. of Village |Total |

| |and | |Population |

| |Districts | | |

| |Provinces |Total No. of Village |Total |

| |and | |Population |

| |Districts | | |

|1995-1996 |1,242 |82,206 |879,594 |

|1996-1997 |1,327 |40,158 |329,580 |

|1997-1998 |1,232 |95,659 |3,244,576 |

|1998-1999 |1,009 |90,886 |855,527 |

|1999-2000 |555 |21,789 |823,460 |

|2000-2001 |508 |29,361 |673,992 |

|2001-2002 |315 |19,231 |1,322,645 |

|Total |6,188 |379,290 |8,129,374* |

Note: * Includes 286,303 ha for establishing new paddy fields, 431 ha of commercial crops, 59,429 ha of forest plantation, 21,951 ha of pasture land, 6,712,911 ha of forestland and 1,048,349 ha with other uses.

Source of information: Shifting Cultivation Stabilisation Centre, NAFES

By the end of 2001-02 fiscal year some 6,200 villages, more than half of all villages including those in urban areas, took part in the allocation exercise, receiving on average just above one thousand hectares of village forest each. In addition, about 380 thousand households, more than 60% of agriculture households, have been allocated land. It is reported that shortages of funds, equipment and technical staff are the main causes of both delay in program implementation and its modest effectiveness.

In Prime Minister Decree No. 117 was elaborated in 3 articles stating the following aims:

• to allocate 2-5 ha of forest and forest land to each household and 100-500 ha to each village;

• to allow villagers to manage and use allocated forest as long as wood volume increases;

• to allow villagers to inherit or transfer allocated forest to others; and

• to recognize ownership of individuals and groups to degraded land which they plant trees, regenerate, grow crops or raise livestock by themselves.

The strategy dealing with shifting cultivation stabilization, as spelled out in the 1999 Agricultural Sector Strategy, includes activities in the following areas:

• land use zoning based on slope and land capability

• sedentarization of agriculture in sloping lands through farming system diversification and agro-forestry development

• enhanced access to markets through feeder road construction and delivery of market information

• rural savings mobilization and credit grants, and

• land allocation and land use occupancy entitlement

In 1996, the ministry of Agriculture and Forestry issued a ministerial Decree No 0054/MAF concerning the Approval / Decision on Customary Rights and the Use of Forest Resources. This ministerial Decree was based on the previous Prime Minister’s Decree No 169/PM in November 1993. The Decree recognized the people’s customary rights to forest resources for their own household subsistence needs (not for cash sale).

The MAF Regulation on Village Forest Management was issued in June 2001, mostly to consolidate existing provisions concerning village forests, e.g. classification of village forest, harvest of logs for housing and social welfare construction activities. However, collection of NTFPs for sale is also recognized, with the condition that management plans are formed and approved. NTFPs have been recognised as one of the few income sources available to rural villagers for a long time without legal recognition, which, for the first time, this regulation provides.

The forest resources exploitation must be in a sustainable way and to be under the close supervision of the local authorities as per adopted Forestry Law and in accordance to the land use planning.

Forestry Law specifies that the use of forestland has to be approved by the following agencies:

Table 5: Responsible Agency for approval of the use of forestlands

|Forest area |Agency for approval to use |

|< 3 Ha |District authority with approval of provincial or prefecture Agriculture and Forestry Division |

|> 3 Ha to 100 Ha |Provincial or prefecture authority with approval of ministry of Agriculture and Forestry |

|> 100 Ha to 10,000 Ha |Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry with approval of central government |

|> 10,000 Ha |GOL with approval of National Assembly |

Many ethnic groups have traditionally recognized certain areas of forest as sacred forest sites. In addition, among ethnic groups, individuals or households were considered to be the owners of specific trees, such as those used for resin-tapping or that may have ancestral spiritual significance. These are important aspects of village cultural and economic life that need to be investigated and strictly respected.

There are also other related policies and laws / regulations such as the GOL Resettlement and Compensation policies, the ADB and World Bank guidelines on the same issues. These aim at ensuring that the losses incurred by affected people are redressed such that Affected Persons share project benefits, are assisted to develop their social and economic potential in order to improve or at least restore their incomes and living standards to pre-project levels.

3.3 World Bank Policy & Guidelines on Indigenous People

World Bank has provided policy guidance on Indigenous (Ethnic) Peoples to ensure that they benefit also from development projects and those adverse impacts are avoided or mitigated.

In situations where the Bank investments affect indigenous peoples, special actions are required to ensure that there is no restriction whatsoever to the indigenous peoples’ capacity to assert their interests and rights in land and other productive resources.

Indigenous peoples are found in varied and changing contexts and therefore no single definition can capture their diversity. In particular geographical areas, indigenous peoples can be identified by the presence in varying degrees of the following characteristics:

• a close attachment to their ancestral territories and the natural resources in these areas;

• self-identification and identification by others as members of a distinct cultural group;

• an indigenous language, often different from the national language;

• presence of customary social and political institutions; and

• primarily subsistence-oriented production.

It is clear that the GOL ethnic policies, guidelines and the World Bank policy concerned with the indigenous peoples are in general on the same lines.

IV. RISK AND BENEFIT

4.1 Particular risks and issues concerning ethnic groups and the Project

Communities within the Project areas vary in terms of social organization, culture, land use practices, food security, Lao language abilities, and access to resources, gender roles and participation in local development planning processes. Some communities, in particular are vulnerable and marginalized ethnic groups, pose particular challenges and risks in relation to the proposed Project. These challenges and risks may include, but not limited to the followings:

• Cultural practices which need to be recognized in preparation of the rural electrification plan and its implementation. Community developers must be patient and need more time and efforts;

• Varying level of Lao language ability (both written and spoken) among villagers, including women and other groups within a given village, affects the level participation in development processes among non-Lao speaking villagers;

• Weaker capacity of particular local communities (eg. vulnerable ethnic groups) to participate in development activities, which may require additional project assistance to provide for equal participation and project benefits among different communities or among villagers within a particular village;

• Weak capacity, both in funding and human resources of local government organizations to work with vulnerable ethnic groups, including lack of local language skills and cultural sensitivity including gender issues.

The major challenges for the project in working in these areas will relate to lower levels of development, language and communication issues, as non-Lao ethnic groups, including women within the groups, have significantly lower rates of fluency in both spoken and written Lao.

In some ethnic villages, the level of poverty is quite severe. During the Project preparation, some ethnic villages visited, villagers spent most of their times and efforts to find food, as their annual rice production is enough to feed the family for only 3 – 6 months.

The Project may need to make arrangements so as the villagers engaging in the Project activities can be paid for their labor in cash or through food for work but not to create dependency, high salary payment, mentality like some previous projects and companies.

In some cases, there have been development projects in the villages and the villagers are well paid for their participation in the projects’ activities. Some projects provide free of charge assistance to the villagers. This will make the EPDP difficult to develop the village in a sustainable and self sufficient. Giving something free of charge to the peoples and everything has to be paid very high, are not the sustainable way of the rural village development.

4.2 Potential benefit for ethnic groups and the Project

Lao PDR has one of the least developed economies in Southeast Asia, with an average annual per capita income of only about US $290. It also has one of the lowest per capita rates of electricity consumption in all of Southeast Asia.

In Lao PDR, a low electrification rate (8% in rural areas and 11% in villages) constitutes a major constraint limiting rural economic development and poverty alleviation.

The impacts of these constraints vary across the major geo-cultural zones within the country, each with its particular geographic, agricultural, social and cultural traditions. Ethnic groups throughout the country are by far the most affected.

Study by SEATEC in 1997 found that, rural electrification had brought about significant gains in agricultural productivity and an increase in the number of small-scale family enterprises.

Rural electrification such as SPRE II has a potential to bring about multitude of benefits to the communities, directly or indirectly, in particular the ethnic groups in the remote areas. The benefits can be generally summarized as follows:

• It helps to foster opportunities for agribusiness within the communities. High agriculture productivities can be possible through off seasonal cultivation, via irrigation and pumping system (not economically possible with diesel pumping sys).

• It will create new income opportunities, in light industries, handicrafts, through improved quantities and quality products, by accessing electrical tools and equipment.

• Women and children are among the principal beneficiaries of rural electrification due to their roles in household provision and management. Fetching water, rice de-husking activities are back breaking and time consuming chores, traditional burden reserved for women and children. Such manual activities would be replaced by electrical pumps and machineries. Traditional weaving can be done during the night time, hence increased productivities and economy of the villages.

• Service industries such as shops, restaurants and guesthouses could be established to a better standard that will attract visitors to the area and provide needed incomes to the communities in the area.

• The project will provide 24-hour electricity which is vital for storage of vaccines, drugs and medications both for human uses and animal husbandry as well as improvement of general health and hygiene through food refrigeration. Provision of relatively cheaper lighting cost, in comparison to the current karosene lamps, dry and wet batteries. The communities’ communication system and other public medium will greatly improve following electrification.

V. IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

5.1 Language

During the visit of the review team, it was apparent that in two selected villages, all the villagers speak Lao fluently. This was due to their integrated association with and their close proximity to the main stream Lao

In remote ethnic villages, some do not speak Lao at all. Most villagers are reported to speak Lao, but very few can read and write Lao, especially for elderly women. In the implementation of the Project activities, the language problem can be solved in the following manners:

• Produce audio-visual materials in local languages, so as the concerned ethnic villagers can understand the Project and their village development projects much better;

• Provide support, directly or indirectly, where needed, for functional literacy and numeracy training to villagers,

• Provide immediate and long-term village education, hands on learning activities

Use government staffs that are fluent in ethnic group languages in villages where relatively few villagers are fluent in Lao. If the above government staffs are not available, the Project can hire the interpreters who can communicate fluently with the ethnic villagers.

5.2 Baseline Information

In order to ensure the success of the Project implementation with a good understanding of the different issues pertaining to particular ethnic groups and particular areas, baseline information will be collected on ethnic groups in the project area. Such baseline information may include the general socio-economic data of the ethnic peoples in each village, the traditional customs and religious beliefs, the agricultural and other income-generation practices (if any), the health and education etc…

Most of the information and data used in this EPDP are to be updated and to be investigated in more details. Different ethnic people will have different culture and beliefs. Sensitivity analysis for each ethnic group is needed before the start of the Project implementation together with all the resettlement, compensation and village development plans.

Land and forest area maps are to be available before the start of the village development projects.

Post-Project evaluation can be carried out with reliable detailed baseline information and data.

5.3 Participatory Approach

The Project has been designed in such a way as to provide opportunities to full participation by the beneficiaries.

Villagers will participate from the stage of identifying the problems they face and the development potentials they have, throughout the stage of the Project implementation and monitoring / evaluation (please refer to development steps in 5.11).

The participation of the ethnic groups in the Project activities should not be just during the Project implementation stage, but should also be encouraged after the completion of the project. This is to ensure the better living conditions of the ethnic groups, so as they are able to invest in more income-generating / agricultural production activities and are able to pay the electricity fees in the long term.

According to the site visit, it is certain that electrification has a positive impact on the villagers. Electrification does not only provide technological context, in the eyes of the ethnic villagers, but symbolises new age, new life, new hope, and vision. It provides enthusiasm and confidence among the villagers.

In order to ensure the full participation of the ethnic groups, it is necessary to get them involved right at the start of the Project implementation. A series of meetings or consultation workshops should be set up to provide them with clear and reliable information and to ensure their in depth understanding of the Project and village development activities. It is vital for them to see clearly both adverse and positive impacts of the project.

Some of the ethnic groups (most of them are very poor) may need financial support from EDL or the government, in either long term non profit loan or subsidised fees suitable for individual ethnic groups. EDL shall be flexible in its approach and sees itself as development coordinator, work closely with NGO, Donors and other development providers etc.., in the area, so that the project becomes a holistic and extensive effort.

Special policies to support these poor ethnic groups have to be realized and further improved to suit the real situation. At the same time, the rural electrification projects have to take into consideration the rural poorest villagers and villages.

5.4 Consultation and Information Dissemination

A strong information dissemination program will be established for the Project to provide proper Project information as well as to promote transparency in available resources and costs of various Project activities.

The information will be disseminated first orally in the languages of the villages by ethnic staff. The media used will be a combination of modern and traditional sources depending on the access to such sources and the literacy level of the communities.

Written extension materials to be developed by the Project will be multi-purpose ie. to provide materials that cover the technical issues, but can also be used as additional reading materials in the functional literacy and numeracy courses.

In addition to text and speech, alternative medium such as pictures, visual aids, radio, video and other appropriate methods will be used, such as Audio-Video materials in local languages. The efforts will be carried out during a time and space convenient to the villagers, but well before the start of the Project implementation as mentioned above.

Unlike the Ongrid, the Offgrid project involves complex generation system each has its own typical variations in accordance to location and environment. The complex technical aspect must be explained to the village in full preferably with demo model. The villagers must be given an opportunity to decide on what system to be selected eg Solar, Hydro or Gen-Set or the combination.

5.5 Land Tenure

The Project is not in a position to directly establish land titles for ethnic groups. Land use rights are allocated under the mandate of the Land and Forest allocation program, which has shown to have adverse impacts on ethnic peoples, particularly in regards to its emphasis of stabilizing or eradicating shifting cultivation.

The Project will assist in enhancing land tenure security for local communities by establishing land use plans that recognize traditional practices such as shifting cultivation (rotational), that are environmentally sustainable.

Coordinating and co-operating with the ministry of Agriculture and Forestry / the Land and Forest allocation Program is the best option. In the end, land titles should be provided to all villagers. This is to ensure the legal land ownership of the peoples, assuring the incentives for them to work harder on the land they are the owners.

Compensation for the loss of agricultural land and other lands is included in the resettlement and compensation policies / laws of the GOL and EDL not to be described here in details.

EPDP will support collaboration between government staff and villagers to prepare land and forest use plans, as well as village development projects.

The land and forest use plans will be based on the customary rights and village boundaries. Local customs and uses will be taken into account such as the rotational shifting cultivation, sacred forests, burial grounds, spirit trees etc … It is necessary that all ethnic families have sufficient suitable land and forest to survive and to build on their better future.

5.6 Capacity Building

The village development plans and projects are to be based on the real needs of the people and the village development potentials and priorities as described above.

All the development process has to be in a Participatory manner for which the villagers, especially the ethnic peoples and disadvantaged groups, have to participate right at the beginning of the project implementation. This means the villagers are to be motivated, promoted and strongly supported to participate in the development process properly. They are to be formed into strong and effective village development committees.

Individual villagers are to be trained in technical aspects needed to implement and operate the village development projects and their daily living or production.

Government staff especially the district staff working at the grass root level will have to be able to facilitate all development process activities. They are to be trained in how to work with the villagers and necessary technical know-hows geared towards the village development projects. They are to be formed into teams under the supervision of the district ethnic development committee of inter-sectoral offices.

District working teams are to be supported morally, technically and financially from the provincial and national committees respectively where appropriate.

Anthropologists from the LFNC, are to be among the village development teams as well. Socio economists, agronomists and NGOs may be needed in some locations and from time to time as appropriate. These agencies can formulate associate scheme to strengthen local capacity building and bring forth the success of the overall rural development project.

One of the activities (capacity building) that is currently practiced (Part of SPRE I ), by Electrical Service Company (Esco) is, Esco negotiates direct agreement with the project villages to supply (Ongrid) electricity to households in Savannakhet (4 Villages) and Khammouane

(11 Villages). Esco provided out their own pocket a bridging finance to poor households (approx 30%), the payments term two to three years.

In addition, Esco arranged buyers for the villager’s lives stock, as well other products as part of the deals which was of mutual benefit.

For On or Off grid projects, the Esco deal above can be repeated by EDL, but with more refined procedure and with better finance.

5.7 Institutional Arrangements

Obviously EDL (or any OffGrid project) would be very much easier if it deals only with the electricity lines extension to target villages, it would require less capital and less hassle. But the ultimate goal of the GOL and EDL is to achieve full sustainable development, ustilising rural electrification as a vital link or as part of the fundamental development components. The rural ethnic peoples must be trained in all aspects – socio economic, health and education etc.., so they are able to strive for the sustainable development by themselves. This will mean EDL has to include the ethnic peoples’ development activities as part of the Project components.

Under the EPDP, the institutional arrangements need to be designed to fit these new concept and strategies of rural electrification and ethnic peoples’ development.

At the village level, under the guidance of the village authority, the village development committee is to be responsible for all communications with the district ethnic development committee and seek support for the village development. The village development committee has to mobilise both human and local natural resources available to participate in all the development process as required by the Project (Ongrid or Offgrid) team will need to work through this village development committee and the village authority to some extent when it is beyond the responsibility of the village development committee. In most cases (it is the most suitable), the head of the village development committee is the village chief himself / herself.

At the district level, a special district ethnic peoples’ development team (as part of SPRE II or Offgrid components) has to be established. Under the direct supervision and moral support from the district ethnic development committee and the district governor, the district team has to provide needed supports to the ethnic villages through the village development committees established. The district ethnic peoples’ development team has to coordinate with all concerned district agencies in the villages’ development and make sure the LFNC at the district level is included in the district team as the local social anthropologist.

The village leaders are the target persons that the district ethnic development team has to concentrate on for their in depth understanding of the ethnic people’s development and other village development projects. They will be trained in how to manage the village projects and leadership skills to lead all the ethnic people’s development projects, while their village colleague are to be trained in new appropriate techniques in selected priority village development activities as per potentials identified earlier. The district ethnic development committee with moral, technical and financial supports from the provincial authority and the provincial ethnic peoples’ development committee are responsible for all ethnic peoples’ development at the district level.

At the province level where the central level staff has to play the technical and management support roles to the provincial team, as part of the provincial team and as the liaison officer of the Project (Ongrid or Offgrid), the ethnic peoples’ development committee is to be established. The provincial level committee is to provide needed technical, moral and financial supports to the district teams and to monitor and evaluate the development process as a whole.

At central level, the LFNC is to be part of the ethnic peoples’ development steering committee. In fact, LFNC is to be involved to provide social inputs to the ethnic groups development at all levels. The central level Project steering committee has to be established involving inter-ministerial senior officers as members of the committee. Once appointed, these staffs have to work for the Project (Ongrid or Offgrid) full time until the end of the Project period and to coordinate with their respective department and ministry for needed supports. If this is not feasible it is recommended that a separate team of multi-disciplinary staff (at least main fields of expertise such as agriculture, forestry, health specialists) is to be recruited. Of course, LFNC staff is to be included in the team as the Project anthropologist.

However, before taking any decision on the institutional arrangements for the Project implementation, it is advisable to organize a series of national and provincial workshops to absorb technical abstract and implementation processes and agree on the final institutional arrangements.

Sustainability of the rural development will take time, patience and the right approach in development. The development shall be in a full cycle process, starting from the participatory identification of problems, needs and potentials for development until the monitoring and evaluation of the whole development process. The evaluation should not just concentrate on economical issues of the investment made, but it should also give a due consideration on the ethnic people themselves and their overall well being. Peoples need caring, understanding and above all the respect and moral supports.

5.8 Implementation Schedule

The EPDP will follow the Project (Ongrid or OffGrid) implementation schedule. In fact before the actual electricity lines extension(for Ongrid) or Offgrid generation system adoption is going to take place, the ethnic groups and village development activities have to be planned in a participatory way, well in advance. Recommended steps for village development projects are provided in 5.11.

Anthropologists and village projects development planners are to meet with the ethnic peoples to develop the village development plans and projects in the most participatory way. The district and provincial ethnic development committees are to provide support right at this beginning. In particular for the Offgrid project and being relatively complex technically, the villagers shall be fully comprehensive about the system before any decision is made.

5.9 Complaint monitoring and Conflict resolution mechanisms

In any development project, complaints and conflicts are normal and likely to occur at various degrees and styles according to ethnic traditional customs and village authorities’ capabilities to initially solve the matters and the influence they have on their peoples.

The village authorities and the LFNC or village elders at the village level have the role and responsibilities to motivate their people to participate in all village development process through participatory consultation meetings. However problems or conflicts and complaints may occur during and after the Project implementation for which the village authorities have to manage the conflicts and complaints by themselves.

In solving the village conflicts and complaints, usually, the village authorities have to refer to the village traditional, legal and institutional systems or mechanisms and in compliance with the relevant (in particular on ethnic minorities) provincial policy, guidelines and national laws / regulations

If satisfactory resolution at the village level is not reached, the parties can appeal to district or provincial authorities for assistance in either mediation or arbitration.

5.10 Monitoring and Evaluation

The EPDP will include a monitoring and evaluation system right at the beginning of the implementation plan. It is necessary the project monitoring and evaluation system to include the village authority and some of its representatives (one should be of ethnic minority) as part of the monitoring scheme.

The village authority together with selected villagers’ representatives, the village monitoring and evaluation (VME) team will be the one to monitor and evaluate the village development projects.

The village development committee (VDC) will be the one to implement the village development projects by encouraging a strong participation from the villagers in all development process.

The VME team, are to be trained properly how to fulfill their roles and responsibilities as the village development projects monitoring and evaluation team.

At provincial and district levels, the monitoring and evaluation teams are to be formed as well. The teams are to be headed by the provincial and district governors or their representatives, at their level respectively.

The Project (Ongrid or Offgrid) director and the department of Ethnic Affairs under LFNC will closely supervise the whole monitoring and evaluation system, within the framework of the Project steering committee’s direction and guidelines.

5.11 EPDP Recommended Implementation Steps for ON and OFF Grid system

EDL Projects either-Ongrid or Offgrid project should not just stress only on extending the electricity lines to, or setting up isolated electricity system for the ethnic or non ethnic villages for fees collection. It will not be sustainable if the villagers are still poor and are not able to pay the electricity fees higher enough to meet the most economical return of the investment made. This means that rural electrification should be conceived as a component of an integrated rural development and not as an independent project currently practiced.

The electricity provided needs to be used most effectively. The ethnic peoples are to be supported educated and promoted to use the electricity to more income-generating activities and not just for household lighting, or entertainment etc. This means that EDL should co-operate with other government agencies related to specific rural development projects in providing support to the target villages’ social and economic development projects.

The rural electrification should not be considered as purely providing electricity to the rural people, but as an essential component of the whole rural village development project by coordinating and co-operating with other government agencies for the rural village sustainable and the most effective development projects.

The ethnic village development projects (as part of SPRE II or any Offgrid System) have to be properly carried out to suit the real needs and satisfaction of the ethnic peoples. Before any rural electrification project is to be planned and implemented, the following steps shall be considered:

Step1. Data Survey: To conduct detailed survey and assessment of the village needs, difficulties, socio economic status, existing development activities and potentials for development. The process has to involve all affected villagers. The ethnic minority in particular is to be given special attention such as their cultural uniqueness, beliefs; eg sacred land, trees etc. The data collected will form part of base line information on which project design, planning , monitoring and evaluation is based. The villagers are to be well informed on technical complexity of the project (especially Offgrid Sys). After all they have the right to know about what, and why to be done to or for them

Step 2 Planning & Design: Based on information obtained in Step 1, the most suitable (culturally, economically, technically and environmentally) option shall preliminary adopted. For Ongrid for example, the line extension shall be the alignment that has minimal impact on the communities, in particular the ethnic community, their needs and requirement must be considered, eg their sacred land and other cultural sensitive issues must be properly addressed or avoided if feasible. Similarly for Offgrid project all cultural issues of the ethnic must be addressed. Types of generation system selected ( Solar, Hydro, Gen-Set) must not only be technically, economically or tographically feasible, it must also be ethnically acceptable.

In addition, the design planning should take into account the labour and financial availability. Any basic infrastructures development should not be always free of charge. At least the contribution of the villagers are to be in the form of free labour or some small payments or allowances, just sufficient for the family daily living and local construction materials.

The use of local skills is highly encouraged. It also mandatory that allowance be made in the budget to account for education and training both government staff as well as villagers in “Owning and Operating the project” and thus ensuring the sustainability of the project.

Step3 Consultation and Final Adoption: Once the preliminary “blue print” has been selected through detailed design and planning in Step 2, it must be presented to the villages for their final consultation and adoption. All the villagers are to be informed, educated about the proposed design, through serial meetings or workshops and these must take place at their village (home territory). In the case of Offgrid systems, the villagers are to be informed about the complexity of the system, the types proposed and selected.

Their social and economic benefits as well as advert impacts, both physically and socially and ethnically are to be very clear. Their roles and responsibilities as part of the owners, and operators are well understood and agreed upon.

The villagers must understand in depth the needs and priority for development. EDL staff, provincial and district officials involved in the consultation process shall be ethnically trained and sensitive to ethnic issues. If necessary translation and interpretation must be provided, this is to ensure that effective communication is attained at all times and levels.

Special soft loan / credit with long term pay back scheme for the poorest ethnic villages or ethnic individuals maybe implemented, whiles, at the same time it is not a “given for free” development, except for the general public utilities like village roads, schools and health stations.

Step 4 Implementation: After consultation and final adoption of the most suitable option is achieved, the implementation plan can take place.

To assist in the implementation process, the villagers are to be organized in accordance to their roles and responsibility as set out in Step 3.

The organization must take into consideration and incorporate the village existing organisations such as Village Committee, LNFC, Lao Woman Union (LWU), Youth League and Village development committee.

In order to be effective the implementation organization, and based on EDL existing organization for both On and Offgrid, shall consist of Village Electricity Advisory Committee (VEAC), Village Electricity Manager (VEM)

(refer for further details 7-VHGS Cluster Plan Format OPS 1July 2003 and SHS Cluster Plan Format OPS 1July 2003 for OFFGRID and Resettlement Policy Framework for Ongrid Component- May 2004)

EDL should act as coordinating agent to other government agencies, NGOs and donors in the project area to participate in the projects, resource sharing can be encourage and avoid duplication of the services. The organizations (mentioned above) and village committees should be developed, and trained in such a way when EDL and other government agencies leave the village, the developed projects can go on and effectively operated by the villagers themselves without much support from the government. The sense of ownership must be stressed mainly among villagers as well as the village organizations, mentioned above.

Step 5 Activities Schedule: To start the actual village development projects, starting with the easier activities, drawing out lessons learned and improving regularly.

To establish the village monitoring and evaluation system, so as the knowledge and skills of the ethnic peoples are always improved at least to the standards of the nearby Lao ethnic peoples. The projects must be owned by the villagers and managed by their village development committees.

Step 6 Monitoring and Evaluation: The village projects developed should be monitored and evaluated by the established village development committees and the village authorities. EDL through its branches (SPRE II for Ongrid and Others for Offgrid) should also make regular visits and evaluate the impacts for quite some times, until the developed projects and village institutions are in a sustainable situation. (refer to 5.10 for monitoring and evaluation details)

CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS

It is concluded here that Projects both On and Offgrid will cover quite a large number of ethnic villages and the Project activities have to be in phases based on the human resource and budget availability.

The Project is recognized as the prime mover of other village development, especially the ethnic peoples who never have a chance to be developed like other Lao ethnic groups. The Project responds perfectly well to all government rural development policies and strategies.

However, existing and local institutions are to be involved in implementing this EPDP together with EDL, especially the LNFC who is the authority on ethnicity at various levels. Central, provincial and district levels Project steering committees have to be set up with clear roles and responsibilities equipped with suitable fund and facilities to work effectively.

Electrification has to go along with other rural development if the ultimate goal of electrification has to be reached. Therefore concerned ministry organizations, Ngos, and donors and community developers are to be coordinated and co-operated in the rural ethnic village development for their expertise.

The above recommended rural ethnic village development steps are to be carried out seriously and in a very ethnically sensitive and understanding ideals.

References

1. The World Bank, 2000 Resettlement and Rehabilitation Guidebook (CD-Rom) Washington DC

2. IFC, 2003 Handbook for Preparing Resettlement Action Plan, Environment and Social Development Department

3. EDL, 2004 Resettlement Action Plan for the Thakhek-Xepone Transmission Line Construction Project, Donsay Consultants Co. Ltd.

4. The World Bank, 1991 Environmental Assessment Sourcebook, Volume 3 Guidelines for Environmental Assessment of Energy and Industry Project.

5. The World Bank 2003 A Renewal Strategy for Rural Development, Washington DC.

6. Southern Provincial Rural Electrification Project II, Resettlement Policy Framework, May 2004.

7. SHS Cluster Plan format OPS 1 July 2003

8. 7- VHGS Cluster Plan Format OPS 1 July 2003

9. Forestry Status Report , prepared for Forestry Strategy 2020, Lao PDR.

10. Land Law, 1997 Lao PDR.

11. Forestry Law, 1996 Lao PDR.

Annex: Brief Field Visit Report

1. Purposes of the visit: To meet with selected ethnic minority villagers who will benefit from the SPRE II project and who will be impacted by the project development. The ethnic minority people will be consulted and motivated to discuss on their general socio-economic situation, the needs for electricity and the potential for further village development when they get access to electricity (for the first time of their life).

2. Time schedule of the visit and the villages visited:

4 February in Savannkhet province. The villages visited are....

5 February in Khammouane province. The villages visited are....

3 The team composition: The team consisted of the following persons (from Vientiane):

▪ Mr. Vilaphone (from the Environment office of EDL)

▪ Ms. Saisavanh (from the Environment office of EDL)

▪ Mr. Inpasith (Consultants from STS Consultant Co)

▪ Apart from the team, provincial EDL staff also joined the team in the people consultation sessions

4. The Methods used: Questionnaire from was prepared beforehand. After the introduction of the team to the villagers and the presentation of the purposes of the visit, the Consultant led the consultation sessions by starting with asking the villagers to tell about the village general information such as the history of the village, the ethnic composition and original villages before moving to the present village and other social characteristics of the village and the villages.

Then questions were asked of their living conditions and related problems, especially what concerned with women and vulnerable persons. This was in a plenary session with the consultant and EDL staff leading the discussion the discussion or facilitated the session.

The needs for the village development and priority for such village development were also explored. The final consultation was on the potential used of electricity when the electricity line extension reaches their village.

All the villagers were requested to join the meeting (a half a day meeting) and they did actively involved and participated in the meeting sessions.

5. Summary of the visit results

In general, all the villages visited, the villagers moved from their original villages during the war (50 or more years ago). They are Makong ors Brou Ethnic groups. They have their own spoken language, but there is no written language. However. most of them can speak Lao. especially the young generation. Some old women still do not speak Lao(may be they are shy to speak out)

The access road to the villages are quite difficult to reach, although it has been improved some years ago. For the two villages visited (in Savannakhet province). there is no electricity. While one village (in Khammouane province), the electricity program has just arrived 3 years ago. Of course, the living conditions of the recent availability). The road access is a better off all weathered road. Health and education are also very much improved. The used of the electricity here are for agriculture and home uses mainly. Vegetable gardens in the dry season, as well as in the wet season are wide spread in the villages. In conclusion, the access to electricity brings better living conditions to the village ( a complete change in their attitude in the village development vision - a long term planning is possible, not like before where only a day to day plan was adopted).

In the villages where there is no access to electricity, many potential for development can not be touched upon and nobody would think about them seriously. The access road is almost impossible during the wet season. When serious sickness occurs, the villagers will go to the hospital in the nearest big cities a long distance away. For those who do not have money, they just let everything depend on spiritual believing or to be treated in a traditional way. The children (especially women) when need to attend further education which is a rare occasion, prefer to stay home doing the traditional almost impossible to reach. Water supply is possible with shallow well, but during the face serious rice deficiency. Most of the families have to go to big cities to get some jobs for their family, even to Thailand with very little in return, but it is better than doing nothing.

When talking of the electricity program to be implemented in their village, the villagers are very happy to sacrifice for the electricity program. However, only labour can be contributed towards this program. The cutting of the trees (fruit trees) is no problem, they are happy to participate in all activities as found possible for them to do to assist. Access road will be also improved while implementing the electricity line extension activities. When asking what to be done with the electricity when it arrives, the villagers propose many options for livelihood based on the availability of the electricity as the followings:

▪ Electrical pump will be used for irrigated agriculture production;

▪ Furniture workshop with electrical equipment;

▪ Electrical pump will be used for domestic water supply (from well);

▪ Ice cream production will be possible (children like very much);

▪ People can get access to more information and learn new things from TV and even video;

▪ Lighting in the households and hence security is very much improved

▪ Others

However, before launching the project, there is need to conduct the village traditional informing the ancestors of the significant village development.

The villagers see that when the electricity program starts in their village, they are sure that other rural development is also going to take place such as the road net work, health and education system. The most important activity that they want to be taken place as soon as the electricity program has been completed is the agriculture program, using electricity as the energy source (pump scheme). This will need also a relatively large investment. They all see that their whole life will be very much improved, their younger generation will have a better living condition and their village development will be much more sustainable.

The young people will not need to go far away to get jobs during the dry season period as before and nowadays. During the development stage, they can also get jobs and learn new experiences. They can also see that the ethnic people will have a better chance to work with the government agencies with higher position or rank within the agencies.

When the village has a better development and facilities, this will attract more teachers and government staff to go tin the village to assist the villagers to develop the village in a sustainable trend.

The provincial EDL has to be not just the electricity provider, but to be responsible for other rural development activities as well, in order to promote and support the villagers to produce more and to generate more incomes to be able to pay sufficiently and reasonably higher electricity fees. There is a request for EDL to co-ordinate with other government agencies to provide supports to the villagers in other rural development.

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[1] Up to 1 ha for rice and fish farming, up to 3 ha for commercial crops, up to 3 ha for orchards, up to 15 ha of deforested land or grassland for pasture and up to 3 ha of degraded or denuded forest land for afforestation. More land of any of these types can be requested on a lease-hold basis.

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