This activity introduces a new feature by actively involving villagers in the development. Our aim is that they master the various activities by participating in all the project phases, from initial needs assessment to problem solving. From its experience in outreach work in Laos, SFE has developed special skills for a suitable approach to underdeveloped communities. Our range of activities includes basic and general health education, water, nutrition, agriculture and improved organization in health centres. The regional Health Service encourages SFE to work with them in this area because SFE reaches areas receiving minimal international aid and also because the project activities are closer to the millennium goals.

The first projects, established after discussions with the villagers about their health problems, have shown good results. Thus, SFE wishes to continue this work in the 10 villages until 2013, and then consider an extension (a future project) to other target villages. Close collaboration with and a good knowledge of the villages are necessary for this but they are slowly acquired.

As part of this work, after organizing clinic construction, SFE will introduce nursing training in other clinics in areas already functioning. Our aim is to have nurses who speak the ethnic language and thereby obtain the confidence of the local population to improve clinic efficiency and a permanent quality health service by trained staff.

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As a part of its Community Development Project, SFE is working with 10 very poor and remote villages in the Attapeu province, with a total population of about 3,300 people. The aim of this project is to improve population health and help them develop their villages in the most appropriate and sustainable way. Needs assessment is conducted in all villages at the beginning of the project. This process takes about three days, during which the SFE team evaluates with the villagers their problems and possible solutions. Then, a business plan specific to each villages is made. Activities may vary from one village to another, but we find the following main activities:-

teaching the villagers about disease prevention and agricultural practices
selecting suitable volunteers (each one responsible for 10 families) for community development (VDC).
further in depth training for these volunteers (VDC) to enable them to supervise and then teach a group of families.
medical training for one or two village health volunteers (HSV) in the treatment of common diseases. They are responsible for the village pharmacy
the treatment of village patients, working with volunteers (VHV), and especially visiting the more difficult cases.
training traditional midwives safer maternity techniques.
supplying water: in some villages, installing pumps in others using a gravity system.
toilet construction with the objective that eventually every household has - and uses - its own toilet.
the construction of one or two health centers in areas without access to public healthcare.
offering income-generating activities, such as rearing of insects, to help poorer families according to their needs,.
specific assistance in villages, such as providing school supplies, manufacturing food storage facilities, providing fruit trees, mosquito nets or sports equipment for group activities.

For all these activities, the population has to participate and contribute. e.g. for toilets, the family must provide the wood, sand and labour necessary to dig the pit and build the cabin. If a person is not able to do that, other villagers are encouraged to help. SFE provides the rest of the materials and teaches villagers how to build. Those participating receive no salary as they are simply given some small gifts such as a t-shirt, pens or soap. This is the only way to ensure that the project continues and remains beyond the withdrawal of SFE. Villagers sometimes have difficulty accepting this approach especially if they have already worked with other organizations which provide everything. Slowly over time, they understand and realize the value of "through helping others you help yourself."

The team for this project consists of four full-time Lao employees: a doctor, nurse, an agricultural specialist and a technician / manager. They normally form one team, but sometimes it is necessary, for example to construct a building to divide into two teams. The villages concerned are remote (most of them are within a hundred kilometers from the town of Attopeu) and bad roads (most of them tracks)means the team often goes for days or even a whole week to visit several villages in the same region. They take everything with them for the week, including drinking water and food, because it is difficult to buy anything in these remote villages. The team members are welcomed by the villagers, and sleep in their homes and eat with them, thus creating stronger relationships that enable the team to better understand the lives and needs of villagers.

The initial phase of this project, started in February 2010, terminates in August 2013. A renewal is under consideration.

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. Updated : 05/27/2012