Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR 6 July – As part of the Noi approach for empowering adolescents and young people, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Lao PDR signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ChildFund Laos for scaling up comprehensive sexuality education for secondary and Technical, Vocational and Educational Training (TVET) students.
The ChildFund Laos will use Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) teachers’ guidebook and a one-week module on CSE for TVET developed by UNFPA and the Ministry of Education and Sports for the training of secondary and TVET teaches to deliver the CSE in secondary schools and TVET college in Houaphan, Xiengkuang and Vientiane provinces. Through this partnership, 19,677 secondary students (Girls 9,486 and Boys 10,191) in Xiengkhouang, Huaphan and Vientiane Capital and 596 TVET students (Girls 243, Boys 353) in Huaphanh Province will receive CSE focusing on gender equality, healthy relationships, reproductive health, family planning, decision making, communication skills and effective use of information and communication technology.
On this occasion, Mariam A. Khan, UNFPA Representative said ‘Comprehensive sexuality education is one of the most effective and economical strategies for empowering youth to minimize adolescent pregnancy and early marriage. It will help young people reflect on social norms, understand and manage their relationships with peers, parents, teachers, other adults, and their communities in these provinces.’
In 2019, with support from UNFPA, the Life Skills - CSE contents were integrated into the national primary curriculum. Teachers guidebooks on CSE for secondary schools and a manual on CSE for TVET students were developed and a pool of 20 master trainers from the relevant departments of the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) at central and provincial level was trained on the teachers’ guidebook and teaching aid for comprehensive sexuality education for lower and upper secondary education and one-week module on CSE for TVET. Following the Training of Trainers (TOT), 110 teachers of 45 lower and upper secondary schools from 5 districts and 30 teachers of TVET college of Bokeo provinces received training on the use of the teachers’ guidebook to deliver CSE for the 25,000 lower and upper secondary and 900 TVET students. In addition, 24 teachers from 8 teacher training colleges were also trained on comprehensive sexuality education to deliver CSE sessions to 7000 teacher trainee students in the 8 teachers training colleges.
Khamphaseuth Kittiyavong, Deputy Director of Planning Department, Ministry of Education and Sports said ‘Expansion of CSE will help accelerate the progress towards achieving the sustainable development goals.’ This collaboration between UNFPA and ChildFund Laos will expand CSE implementation in Xiengkhouang, Huaphan and Vientiane Capital provinces to make sure that young people develop essential skills, attitudes, and values for enabling them to develop a positive view of their sexuality, in the context of their emotional and social development by embracing a holistic vision of sexuality and sexual behaviours.
Biju Abraham, Country Director of ChildFund Laos said that ‘The ChildFund Laos is happy to join hands with UNFPA and MoES for delivering CSE to secondary and TVET students. It will enable adolescents and young people to make informed decisions about their life which will help them achieve their full potential.’
For more information, please contact:
Mr. Vilasay Thammavong, Youth Empowerment Coordinator, ChildFund Laos
Email: vilasai@childfund.org.la
Mr. Oloth SENE-ASA, National Programme Analyst for SRH, UNFPA Lao PDR
Email: sene-asa@unfpa.org
***
UNFPA is the United Nations reproductive health and rights agency. It is the leading agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA promotes sexual and reproductive health and rights, particularly maternal health, in over 150 countries, as well as working to end harmful practices such as child marriage, and supporting population data collection and analysis.
