Enhancing district delivery and management of agriculture extension in Lao PDR

Line drawing of chicken people and plants representing Social Systems program

Overview

This project aimed to develop an Extension Management System (EMS) and guidelines for implementing a newly mandated set of comprehensive extension interventions.

The agricultural sector of Lao PDR is undergoing rapid change, particularly in relation to increasing private sector investment, and this is placing new demands on agriculture extension. This has led to the creation of a new Department of Agriculture Extension and Cooperatives (DAEC) that will support districts and provinces to provide effective extension services.

In this project a research team from James Cook University partnered with DAEC to research and implement ways of strengthening extension. By partnering with other initiatives currently underway in Lao PDR the project sought to achieve significant scaling out of extension guidelines and tools. Participating in the project also increased the capacity of DAEC to support extension delivery nationwide.