Planning ministry strengthens leadership competencies of top women

Investing in capacity building to equip women with the necessary competencies they need to fulfil their roles is part of ensuring women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision making in political, economic and public life.
To this end, the Ministry of Planning and Investment with support of United Nations Population Fund (UNFP) conducted women’s empowerment and effective communication skills training for 33 senior ministry staff in Vientiane recently.
Acting Head of Office of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Mr Phongsamuth Khamvanvongsa said the training was very beneficial for ministry colleagues who attended.
“I want to have similar training with more male senior ministry staff attending to have the opportunity to understand gender equality and women’s empowerment in order to better advocate for these rights,” he said.
The training aimed to sensitise the importance of women’s participation, leadership, and decisionmaking,  equip women leaders with effective communication skills, share examples of success stories of women leaders, and how they could influence and make a positive impact for other women’s lives.
When women are meaningfully represented and engaged in leadership bodies (like courts, executive boards, or community councils) laws, rulings, decisions are more likely to be inclusive, representative, and take diverse views into account.
The training sessions employed a variety of participatory methods such as interactive discussions, group work and practical exercises to achieve the objectives of enhancing not only knowledge but also skills and confidence of the participants. Women senior officials from the government agencies, who have attended several leadership programmes under the support of the Australian Government, were invited to share their experience with participants.
Director of Department of Personnel, President of Lao Women’s Union of the Ministry of Planning and Investment Mrs Thamma Phetvixay, said “I am very lucky to have opportunities for skills building.  We learned real successful experiences on women’s empowerment from a valued invited speaker. In the future, I would like to request UNFPA to continue and support complementary training in other areas related to women’s empowerment and gender equality to carry on our job with the most suitable knowledge on the population’s needs.”
Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ms Khamchanh Vongsengboun,   co-chaired the training with UNFPA Representative, Ms Mariam A. Khan to present the joint work on Sustainable Development Goal 5 and gender equality in Laos.
Women and girls, everywhere, must have equal rights and opportunity, and be able to live free of violence and discrimination. Women’s equality and empowerment is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, but also integral to all dimensions of inclusive and sustainable development.

By Phetphoxay Sengpaseuth
(Latest Update September 21, 2020)