At the signing ceremony 

(KPL) With financial support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland and Plan International Finland through Plan International Laos, the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES), represented by Vice Director General of Bokeo Provincial Education and Sport Department (PESD), Mr Soulintha Nalin and Country Director of Plan International Laos, Ms Carol Mortensen signed the Memorandum of Understanding to implement a new project titled  Scaling up Comprehensive Sexuality Education and Improving Reproductive Health Services for Secondary Schools and out-of-school Adolescents in Paktha District, Bokeo Province.

The project aims to support MoES’s mandate under the Education and Sports Sector Development Plan 2021-2025 to roll out comprehensive sexuality education in secondary schools and reduce dropout due to child marriage and adolescent pregnancy among secondary school girls.

Ms Mortensen said, “We are proud to be part of contributing to priorities of the Government of Laos, especially the scaling up comprehensive sexuality education and improving reproductive health services for secondary school and out-of-school adolescents by working with adolescents, their caregivers, and decision-makers to ensure their sexual reproductive health and fundamental rights.”

The government of the Lao PDR recognises the importance of providing Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) to reduce the dropout rate among secondary school girls due to child marriage and adolescent pregnancy in its Education and Sports Sector Development Plan 2021-2025.

Similarly with Plan International Laos, in accordance with National Strategy and Action Plan for Integrated Service on Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health 2016 – 2025, in recent years, the Ministry of Health has been working towards making adolescent-friendly sexual and reproductive health services accessible through health centres.

However, the benefits are not widely available yet, and more investment is needed to develop the capacities of health service providers to enable them to provide health services to adolescents in a non-judgmental, friendly and gender-responsive manner.

Although there have been some improvements in previous years, child marriage and adolescent pregnancy rates in the Lao PDR, continue to be high, significantly impacting girls’ ability to enrol in and continue secondary school.

The situation is worse for upper secondary-school-aged girls as 41.8% of girls in the 15-17 age group are out of school compared to 34.8% of boys. Lack of access to comprehensive sexuality education, lack of skills among girls and boys to access available reproductive health services, lack of skills among service providers to provide adolescent-friendly and gender-sensitive sexual and reproductive health services, and lack of awareness among parents/guardians are contributing to this situation.

“With the support from the MoES and other related ministerial partners, I believe that our strong and long-time partnership and collaboration between the Provincial Education and Sport Services and Plan International Laos will make this project successful," said Mr Soulintha Nalin, Vice Director General of the Bokeo PESD.

This project will be implemented by Plan International in partnership with key government partner Provincial Education and Sports Department in Bokeo, under the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) and in collaboration with other relevant line ministries, including the Ministry of Health (MoH), Lao Women’s Union (LWU) and Lao Youth Union (LYU), and UN agencies i.e., UNFPA and NPA partners Gender Development Association (GDA) and Promotion of Family Health Association (PFHA).

“We are happy to partner with related ministerial counterparts and civil society organisations to strengthen the capacity of partners to make a just world for adolescents and children, especially girls and young women, to ensure they lead and decide about their bodies and rights,” added Ms Mortensen.

CSE is a critical factor in developing skills among adolescents to protect themselves from adolescent pregnancy and child marriage, thereby supporting them to complete secondary education. The project's general objective is to contribute to the overall socio-economic development of the Lao PDR. The project will contribute to supporting the Ministry of Education and Sports to implement its 9th Education and Sports Sector Development Plan 2021-2025 in scaling-up comprehensive sexuality education and increasing school retention among secondary school girls by reducing child marriage and adolescent pregnancy by capacity building of MoES staff and teachers to deliver  comprehensive sexuality education in secondary schools; ensuring in and out of school adolescents learn and participate in CSE activities through student clubs in schools and girls’ club in villages; supporting adolescents to access better health services through building capacity of health centre service providers and health staff; and increasing awareness among village authorities, parents and guardians on child rights and gender equality.

Plan International scales up comprehensive sexuality education and adolescent-friendly health services for secondary school and out-of-school Adolescents in Paktha District, Bokeo Province. The project will directly involve and benefit 3,437 adolescents, teachers, parents, health workers and village leaders in 15 villages, 7 secondary schools and 6 health centres. Indirectly, the project will benefit approximately 6,638 people in these communities.

KPL