The School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (HAFL) has been commissioned by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) to develop a new study programme for the Northern Agriculture and Forestry College (NAFC) in Luang Prabang in Laos. The courses will start in the autumn of 2010.

Necessary reforms

Laos intends to modernise its agricultural and forestry sectors in order to reduce poverty and to guarantee food security. With this aim in mind, it is launching a reform of training and education in these areas with financial support from Switzerland. The SDC is financing the project with the sum of 4.5 million Swiss francs. It has commissioned the School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences to lend its support to the part dedicated to overhauling the curriculum, which should better meet the needs of the labour market. The implementation of the project has been entrusted to Helvetas.

Development of a new curriculum

When defining the new contents of the curriculum in a joint process, experts from SHL and lecturers from NAFC based their decisions on the skills required for practising the professions concerned. Striking a judicious balance between practical and theoretical courses, they have set up three subject areas: livestock, agronomy and agribusiness. The proposed method of teaching places students at the heart of the training process and relies largely on participative methods. Designed in the form of modules, the courses are flexible and thus fit in easily with the demands of the labour market. However, the introduction of the new study programme will represent a challenge for the lecturers at NAFC, making continued support from experts at SHL vital.

Questions of gender and ethnicity

Throughout the project, these two aspects were taken into consideration systematically. The participation of women in decision-making processes and teaching has been strengthened and access to training for ethnic groups from the north of Laos has been improved. The start of the new academic year in the autumn of 2010 will be a time of renewal and dynamism.