On 8th February, 2024, the Policy Analysis Unit held a technical meeting at the Lao Academy of Social and Economic Sciences. The technical meeting was chaired by Ousavanh Thiengthepvongsa, Director-General of the Socio-Economic Policy Research Institute.
The technical meetings are similar to academic conferences in that researchers present their work or work-in-progress and receive questions and feedback from their peers. This process is central to how research is conducted because it pools expertise from multiple perspectives and backgrounds that improve the technical and practical aspects of a research project.
This technical meeting included research investigating the relationship between food production diversity, household food security, and dietary, as well as an econometric model estimating the additional cases of school repetitions and dropouts that can be directly associated to a child’s undernutrition before the age of five, and the associated cost to the Lao economy.
Meetings like this, with other researchers from other institutions in Lao PDR, listening to them and providing concrete feedback, is very important to improve the quality of the PAU’s research. It also provides an avenue for future collaboration.