Lifelong learning policies and strategies from Lao People’s Democratic Republic and the Kingdom of Cambodia now on UIL’s online database

The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) is further expanding its Collection of Lifelong Learning Policies and Strategies, with two recent additions from the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Prime Minister’s Decree on Lifelong Learning, issued in 2020) and the Kingdom of Cambodia (National Policy on Lifelong Learning, issued in 2019). Both documents have been translated into English and are now available in the online collection.

Laos’s Decree on Lifelong Learning aims to enable all Lao citizens to access learning opportunities to advance their level of knowledge and professional capabilities as well as to develop sound morals and ethics. The decree seeks to ensure a high quality of teaching and learning provision and determines regulations for the assessment, recognition, certification and transfer of learning outcomes acquired through formal, non-formal and informal learning.

Cambodia’s National Policy on Lifelong Learning has been conceived to maximize human resource development to enable the country to progress to upper middle income status by 2050 in a sustainable manner. The policy addresses several challenges, including high drop-out rates, poor education quality and limited productivity in the country.

UIL has been closely involved in the development of the policy documents in Lao PDR and Cambodia from a very early stage and provided feedback throughout the drafting process.

The support of the drafting process is part of a wider collaboration with representatives of Lao PDR and Cambodia. In 2018, for example, a team of education stakeholders from Lao PDR participated in an online course co-organized by UIL and the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) on ‘Mainstreaming adult/non-formal education into Education Sector Plans’. In 2019, a cross-sectoral team of representatives from Cambodia participated in UIL’s workshop – hosted by the Shanghai Open University – on ‘Developing education systems from a lifelong learning perspective’, during which the team developed a draft action plan for the implementation of the National Policy on Lifelong Learning. UIL will continue to collaborate with both countries on the challenging task of translating well-articulated policy documents into lifelong learning opportunities for all.

About the UIL Collection of Lifelong Learning Policies and Strategies

UIL’s Collection of Lifelong Learning Policies and Strategies lists summaries and full-text versions of laws, policies, strategies and plans on lifelong learning from UNESCO Member States and intergovernmental organizations. The collection offers a comprehensive overview of the development of policy documents around the world, which integrate the concept of lifelong learning. Almost all of the documents have been developed at national level and are available in English. In addition to full-text documents, short summaries are available in English, French and Spanish, providing an overview of the rationale, main challenges and target groups, proposed measures and a particular feature of the law, policy, strategy or plan.

https://uil.unesco.org/lifelong-learning/lifelong-learning-policies