When function and creativity fused, you get great values for your furniture. This are new furniture pieces for a constantly shrinking spaces in the future homes. Great ideas to learn from, adapt, use and apply.

Mr. Ekk Pathammavong, SNV governance advisor and Ms Buakhai Phimmavong, EDC Managing Partner have just returned after officially representing Laos in the five-day Capacity Development Learning Week event held from May 24 to 28, 2010 in Manila Intercontinental Hotel in Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines under the auspices of the UNDP Asia Pacific Regional Centre in Bangkok. With the overall theme of Reducing Poverty; Delivering Services, the event attracted more than 50 participants from 18 countries and from UNDP, SNV and ADB. The event showcased some of the country’s CD initiatives via the event’s three segments: Practice Meets Policy, CD Talk and Panel Discussion, and CD Policy Dialogue.

On the first day, the event implemented a CD Knowledge Fair which enabled each participating group Read the rest of this entry »

EDC, ACDI/VOCA and SNV recently organized a workshop at the Settha Palace hotel on the 27th and 28th of May, focusing on enhancing staple crop value chains and cross-border trade in Lao PDR.  ACDI/VOCA, represented by Ms. Janice Stallard (Senior Technical Director – Enterprise Development – Washington DC) and Mr. Adam Keatts (Regional Director – South-East Asia), along with Mr. Wanna Lassamee from EDC conducted an assessment of the staple crop sector in Oudomxay province before attending the workshop.

During the workshop presentations were made by ACDI/VOCA on the consequences and lessons learned from the 2008 global food price crisis, gave an overview of their value chain approach and presented the findings of the study in Oudomxay. Read the rest of this entry »

EDC has successfully completed the Professional Project Management Course for Aid for Trade course for 32 staff and senior officers of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MoIC), National Implementation Unit (NIU) and other staff involved in the implementation of Aid for Trade (or AfT) in Laos. It was implemented from March 29 to April 2, 2010 in the Vansana Hotel in Vangvieng. EDC assembled a team of trainers consisting of Dr. Ed Canela (Chief Trainer), Buakhai Phimmavong (EDC Partner) and Nicolas Tomecko (EDC Consultant). The course was done in English and featured interactive sessions, engaging exercises and dynamic work groups.Three proposals were drafted by the groups: (a) Sustainable Handicraft Souvenir Production Project, (b) Improving Food Safety in the Domestic Markets, and (c) Improved Value Added Exports of Wood Products. The proposals would have generated US$ 7.1 Million in aid money. In addition, the participants and the Trainers constructed two interactive slideshows (Trade and Memories), a functional website (http://projectnui.ning.com) and asembled a 500 MB CD of all the basic documents, templates, references, manuals, powerpoint, videos, photos and books.The participants were fascinated and impressed with the methodology which allowed them to learn more while doing that they confront in their jobs. During the closing ceremonies, four participants reported: (a) “great training style”; (b) “a lot of hard work, energy and effort that was much appreciated”; (c) “I would like to recommend this course and say the trainers are “exceptional”; and (d) “good presentation and team building exercises”. Both NIU and EDC plan to continue developing this new found partnership.

EDC has successfully completed the Professional Project Management Course for Aid for Trade course for 32 staff and senior officers of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MoIC), National Implementation Unit (NIU) and other staff involved in the implementation of Aid for Trade (or AfT) in Laos. It was implemented from March 29 to April 2, 2010 in the Vansana Hotel in Vangvieng. EDC assembled a team of trainers consisting of Dr. Ed Canela (Chief Trainer), Buakhai Phimmavong (EDC Partner) and Nicolas Tomecko (EDC Consultant). The course was done in English and featured interactive sessions, engaging exercises and dynamic work groups.Three proposals were drafted by the groups: (a) Sustainable Handicraft Souvenir Production Project, (b) Improving Food Safety in the Domestic Markets, and (c) Improved Value Added Exports of Wood Products. The proposals would have generated US$ 7.1 Million in aid money.

Read the rest of this entry »

At her Harvard University commencement speech, “Harry Potter” author JK Rowling offers some powerful, heartening advice to dreamers and overachievers, including one hard-won lesson that she deems “worth more than any qualification I ever earned.” In her speech, she highlighted the fringe benefits of failure. For leaders of tomorrow she advocates, “We do not need magic to transform our world, we carry all the power we need inside of ourselves already, we have the power to imagine better’. JK Rowling penned the bestselling Harry Potter page-turners — a spellbinding, seven-installment fantasy of wizards, warlocks and decidedly British texture that brought her from rags to riches. A single mother who battled poverty and depression as she struggled to launch her writing career, Joanne “JK” Rowling was to become perhaps the most famous contemporary fiction writer in the world, with her Harry Potter series of children’s books — a chronicle of the adventures of an adolescent wizard of the same name. The fourth volume of the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was the fastest-selling book in history. Since completing the series, Rowling has put her fortune toward philanthropic projects dealing with poverty, multiple sclerosis and other issues through her own Volant Charitable Trust.

J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.