Background
Similar to Nepal and Afghanistan, Laos is a country where lack of infrastructure makes reaching people with information and education a challenge. With a population of approximately 5.5 million, the mountainous landlocked country of Laos struggles with widespread health problems including Malaria, TB and HIV/AIDS. The adult literacy rate is only 65.5% of the Laotian population, a percentage that drops to a frustrating 54.4% when one looks at female literacy percentages. Moreover, peoples' struggles are heightened by a lack of access to information. Mass media coverage in Lao PDR reaches only approximately 65% of the population and has a geographical coverage rate of only 55%, which means that 35% of the population has no access to any form of mass media- and 45% of the country is inaccessible to traditional mass media approaches.

Chatting with My Best Friend, Youth Life Skills Initiative
Teenage listeners in Pakse, Laos - often with no other reliable information sources - learn life skills for negotiating relationships, continuing their education and protecting themselves from HIV/AIDS, STDs, pre-marital pregnancies, drug use and trafficking from a radio show produced by their peers. Through ongoing, multi-day workshops conducted by Equal Access, Mahasot Consulting and local media partners, students from Pakse Upper Secondary School in southern Laos are trained on four key skill areas in digital recording, editing and broadcasting: production techniques, technical skills, program writing, on-air skills (i.e. voice acting, interviewing, etc.) and project management. In addition to learning how to produce a project on deadline and within budget, students have developed important radio skills such as interviewing, human interest reporting, radio drama and on-air balance - all in the context of youth life skills. Students receive additional support and guidance from local Radio Lao Pakse staff.

Less Restrictive Media: To further illustrate the need for less restrictive, demand-driven information in Laos, Equal Access chaired a meeting in Vientiane that brought together 39 local and international partners to present active projects and discuss collaboration possibilities on the enhancement of young people's radio for development purposes. Participants from multiple sectors around Laos joined this historic workshop to share experiences and pinpoint both existing gaps and overlaps in radio project coverage. By establishing a framework to operate from, these participants agreed to move forward collaboratively to strengthen the impact of education efforts, health campaigns, human rights messages and all other development projects by creating a demand driven, communications for development infrastructure.

With the support of the Open Society Institute, Radio Lao Pakse, UNICEF and the Zimmer Family Foundation, twelve students produce a youth life skills oriented chat radio show, Chatting with My Best Friend, that engages an estimated listener audience of 30,000 youth in discussions about how to negotiate relationships and protect themselves from HIV, drugs, gambling or reckless driving. Modeled off our successful youth chat show in Nepal with the same name, each broadcast highlights the stories of teens grappling with a particular issue. Then, the lead actors of the show discuss the impact of the various courses of action possible. When teen audiences identify, emulate and imagine themselves as participants in discussion with the hosts, they build the skills to make more informed decisions in their daily lives. The audience can also send letters or call the studio to ask for advice.

For more information on Equal Access' current activities in Lao, PDR please contact Mr. Michael Bosse, Director of Projects, at mbosse@equalaccess.org.