The Northern Uplands Development Program 2 (NUDP 2) organized its final national steering committee in Vientiane on December 4^th 2019. This event gathered 85 participants from the Lao Ministry of Agriculture (MAF), the French Development Agency (AFD), representatives from partnering Province and District Agriculture and Forestry Offices (PAFO/DAFO), as well as village beneficiaries from Luang Prabang, Houaphanh and Phongsaly provinces.

During the meeting, NUDP2 provincial coordinators presented the main achievements of the two components, namely SARI (Small Agriculture Rural Infrastructure) and EFICAS (Eco-Friendly Intensification and Climate-resilient Agricultural Systems), during the twenty-one months of NUDP extension.

The chairman of the meeting, HE Mr. Thongpat Vongmany (MAF Deputy Minister) and the two co-chairmen, Mr. Phanthong Phetsaysomphanh (Deputy Governor of Houaphan Province) and Mr. Mathieu Bommier (Head of AFD office in Vientiane) acknowledged the efforts and involvement of the different implementing partners, and stressed NUDP2 important contribution to the sustainable development of Lao Northern Uplands.

The participants agreed on the need to expand approaches and supports to other villages and on the necessity of continuing strengthening Provincial and District extension agents’ capacities in the fields of participatory planning, watershed integrated management, and facilitation of collective actions to reach scale.

HE Mr. Thongpat Vongmany reminded that NUDP2 was part of a long-term development process and announced that a new project phase was under preparation for integrated management of Lao northern watersheds that should build on SARI and EFICAS experiences i.e. combine small-scale agricultural infrastructures with participatory planning, and increased integration of lowland-upland, upstream-downstream development activities.

EFICAS-SARI joint presentation available here

The main lessons learnt from EFICAS grassroots activities are available here in the form of extension material (booklets, posters)

Video clips available soon!