2023 Annual Meeting of Association for the Development of Women and Legal Education

The Association for the Development of Women and Legal Education (ADWLE) held its annual meeting on 21 June 2024, at the Lao Women’s Union Training Center in Vientiane Capital. The meeting was co-chaired by Mrs. Bouaphan Rattida, representing the ADWLE Executive Committee and Mrs. Souphone Voravong, representing the ADWLE Advisory Board. Attendees included members of the association, representatives from Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Justice, and the Vientiane Capital Department of Justice, as well as donors, partners from the public sector and civil society organizations, relevant district, target village authorities and representatives from educational institutions. The objective of this meeting is to present the results of activity implementation and the financial report for the year 2023, as well as to outline future plans. This serves to inform association members, partners including government, civil society organizations and donors about the achievements the association has realized to date. Additionally, a booth has been set up to showcase and sell products from communities located in the project’s target villages. Ms. Inthana Boupphasavanh, Director of ADWLE, presented the results achieved during the first year of project implementation. In 2023, the Association carried out activities across five districts in Vientiane Capital, three districts in Champasak Province, and ten secondary schools in Attapeu Province. Additionally, the Association engaged with two universities the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the National University of Laos and the Faculty of Law and Political Science at Champasak University reaching a total of 8,006 beneficiaries, including 5,017 women. Furthermore, the Association successfully established its third legal counseling office for the public in Ban Phialat, Sangthong District, Vientiane Capital. Prior to this, the Association already operated two other legal counseling offices—located in Ban Nong Song Hong, Xaythany District, and Ban Chommany, Xaysetha District, Vientiane Capital which provided free legal counseling for 78 cases and served as legal representatives in 22 judicial proceedings, Completed 25 assistance cases in 2023.