ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the Lao in some detail, analyzing the impact of the political, economic, and ideological changes of the socialist revolution and the early years of economic liberalization. It discusses women from several different ethnic groups and provides information about their villages. The chapter describes the Luang Prabang Women’s Development Project, explaining both its design and its outcomes. It examines the pattern of different development project outcomes for the several ethnic groups, a pattern indicating that there is no single path to development. In 1989, at the time of the first interview, Boua and Soua, two Hmong women, lived in a village perched high on a mountain in Luang Prabang Province. Increases in income and resources could benefit women and their children only if they participated in family decision-making about the use of these increased resources. Project activities responded not only to village needs but also to governmental needs and requirements of the funding organizations.
