The Khong Development Committee has made a lot of progress in just a few years. At the beginning of the activities most decisions were made by the board in The Netherlands. 

But when the KDC was founded it all changed quickly. Soon they learned how to use a cell phone and they were able to keep in contact with the board in The Netherlands and two experts in the capital Vientiane. The next step was to learn how to finish business transactions and how to send financial reports to The Netherlands. 

Because of the visits to Vientiane and the classes they took, their world got broader each day. Which lead to an expansion of their network. Not only did they work closely together, they also worked with international and national organisations like DED and Room to Read. They learned how to work economically.

They’ve managed their management skills to start the projects. Together with the schools, the district and the contractor they reviewed contract applications. Not only reviews from their own village but also other villages nearby have the advantage to join to build school buildings. The collaboration between them and the district remains transparent: this will encourage the collaboration between the villages. 

While choosing alternative building materials (such as wood instead of concrete) and doing most of it on their own, the price of the applications can be reduced by 50 percent without losing quality. 

So not only is there capacity building there is also community development in several different areas. This shows a lot of promise for the future, when choices have to be made between the temptations of extensifying or  growing in a tempered and economically optimal way. Our job in Laos will be promising in the future, yet it’s not nearly done.