The EDC held its annual retreat and planning exercise last Jan 8 and 9, 2010 in the picturesque  River View Resort not far away from Tha Ngone bridge. All EDC staff led by the Managing Director, Ms Thiphaphone Phetmany and the partners participated. The entire event was managed by a team led by Visay SAYYAVONGSA, EDC’s head of Digital Media. The agenda for this year’s event are as follows; (a) review of 2009 achievements and missed opportunities, (b) trends and prospects for 2010, (c) what can we do and What we want to do, as well as (d) detailed planning activity. The partners also met and finalized the 2010 EDC plan. Read the rest of this entry »

As part of the young staff development process, EDC fully support staff for further study.  Big congratulation to Anousak Chaysavang, who has just successfully passed his exam on German language, which is a compulsory criterion for his attendance in a 12-month Young Leadership Training Program in Germany.   Read the rest of this entry »

September and October have been a busy month for EDC team to help people in different organizations to work better and to access to the new job opportunities, especially when the labor market becomes more and more competitive.

We have completed training on the “classic” topics like

Financial Management and Project Cycle Management (PCM) and also new and challenging

topic like How to write a good CV and get yourself ready for a job interview.  TIGO Department Heads and financial staff enjoyed learning more about accounting and financial management system while NTPC departing staff are excited to prepare themselves for new jobs

It’s everybody’s dream! Creating an economy is like leading a crowd to do what you intended them to do. Take a band: Black Eyed Peas; to a place: Chicago and its skylines; for a good cause: Oprah; and a group of like minded citizens; Chicagoans. See how it all happened.

What a great energizer! But, where is the leader here? How was the orchestration process? Can it be repeated? What are the lessons for the leaders of today? How about management?

Fair Trade is a growing market and offers both opportunities and challenges for the Lao producers. This was the message conveyed during a seminar on Fair trade, organised by the Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LNCCI) in Lane Xang Hotel last September 9, 2009. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SADC), the Royal Dutch Embassy and Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) co-sponsored the event.

The Fair Trade concept was primarily developed to fight poverty by creating just, honest and transparent trade agreements between producers and buyers. With Fair Trade certification, consumers are assured of buying products and services that have been produced or delivered under fair conditions. Fair Trade principles complement the current policies of the Government of Laos to promote more value adding initiatives and investments in the country.

Sales of Fair Trade products are 70 times larger than ten years ago. Sales of products carrying the World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO) or the Fair Trade Labelling Organisations (FLO) marks are specially booming. In 2007, certified products sales were €2.381million (46% up from 2006), and non-certified products added up to €265 million (7% up from 2006). Popular products having the Fair Trade marks include coffee, tea, cocoa and cotton. Read the rest of this entry »