Project Case Study
Improving Australian Aid in Laos
The Laos-Australia Development Learning Facility (LADLF) supports the Australian Aid programme in delivering effective and efficient aid investments
Laos is one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia. Australia has a strong interest in ensuring Laos continues to develop as a stable country and is increasingly well-positioned to contribute to regional security and economic growth.
Key development challenges include limited access to quality education services, skills shortages, and constraints to the development of the private sector. Australia supports Laos to build prosperity, reduce poverty and take advantage of its economic integration with the region.
Australia funds investments in basic education, human resource development, infrastructure for trade and economic growth, access to finance, water resource management, unexploded ordinance clearance and development learning.
Established in 2014, ASI was asked to manage LADLF, working closely with Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and its implementing partners to support the more effective implementation of Australia’s Aid Investment Plan (AIP) in Laos. LADLF activities included studies, provision of technical assistance, capacity building and training, process facilitation, and helpdesk advice. ASI has worked almost as an extension of DFAT in Laos.
The 4 pillars of the second phase of LADLF services
- Contextual analysis: analysis of contextual developments that could influence the delivery and impact of Australian aid in Laos.
- Strategy and design: supporting the development and design of Australia’s aid strategies and investments in Laos, including advice on programme-wide, sector-wide or individual investments.
- Performance assessment: assessment of the performance of DFAT aid investments in Laos through activities that target programme-wide, sector-wide and individual investments, and driven by the ambition to maximise utilisation of performance information.
- Communications and public diplomacy: supporting development and implementation of DFAT public diplomacy strategy and developing case studies to showcase the positive impact of DFAT activities in Laos and the Australia-Laos relationship.
Project achievements
We have supported DFAT to design and evaluate numerous programmes in sectors such as education, human resource development, human rights, trade and private sector development, and water resource management. We have worked closely with Laos Government institutions to support knowledge management, including rolling out a national monitoring database for Laos’ Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) to help it manage all Official Development Assistance (ODA) to the country. Numerous reports have been generated and publicly disseminated, including 15 contextual analyses and seven performance assessments. LADLF is a high performing programme and has averaged higher than 5 out of 6 in Partner Performance Assessments over its lifetime.
