Laos Country Strategic Plan (2017-2021)

Country Strategic Plan approved at EB.1/2017.

Revision 02 approved by the RD in October 2018.

Revision 04 approved by the RD in September 2020.

Revision 05 approved by the CD in September 2021.

Lao People’s Democratic Republic is moving towards middle-income country status. Economic growth is strong, with reduced poverty and a decline in the proportion of hungry people. However, the country is behind on stunting reduction, and one-fifth of the population consumes less than the minimum dietary energy requirements. 

This Country Strategic Plan supports the Government’s vision of “a prosperous country, with a healthy population, free from food insecurity, malnutrition and poverty.” It takes important steps in WFP’s new strategic direction for strengthened national and local capacities to enable the Government and communities to own, manage and implement food and nutrition security programmes by 2030. 

Lao People’s Democratic Republic is in transition. This Country Strategic Plan builds on investments made since 2012 as WFP transitioned from emergency and recovery to development work, and entails a shift from direct delivery of programmes for enhancing schoolchildren’s access to food, preventing stunting – with a focus on the first 1,000 days following conception – and building the resilience of vulnerable communities towards increased policy engagement, capacity development and knowledge sharing in preparation for the hand-over of gender-sensitive and culturally appropriate programmes.

The Country Strategic Plan is based on consultations with the Government, development partners and beneficiaries, contextual and gender analysis, and gap analysis and recommendations from the national strategic review on food and nutrition security.

It seeks to achieve the following strategic outcomes:

i) Schoolchildren in remote rural areas have sustainable access to food by 2021.

ii) Stunting rates among children under 2 in provinces with high levels of malnutrition meet national targets by 2025.

iii) Vulnerable households in climate-sensitive districts are more resilient to seasonal and long-term shocks and stresses. 

iv) National and local governance institutions are strengthened to improve service delivery, especially in hard-to-reach areas, by 2025.

The Country Strategic Plan will contribute to implementation of the Government’s National Socio-Economic Development Plan (2016–2020), sector strategies and plans of action and the United Nations Partnership Framework (2017–2021), and to achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 17. It is aligned with WFP’s Strategic Results 1, 2, 4 and 5.