On December 13, 2011, the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) Professional Communication Skills for Leaders program was officially launched with a four-day orientation programme sponsored by the Thai Government at the Chulalongkorn University Language Institute (CULI) in Bangkok, Thailand.
(from left) Mr. Siriphone Intirath, Director of the Public Works and Transport Training Center, Mr. Thanousone Boualapha, and LMI Englis
5The LMI is a programme created by the U.S. State Department to provide a regional framework for the lower Mekong nations of Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia to address areas of mutual concern such as education, environment, health, and infrastructure.
It is designed to give participants in LMI programs the specialized English language skills they need to be effective in meeting, presentations, and workshops.
The LMI English project in Laos will involve five intensive English language seminars focusing on infrastructure issues including watershed management, engineering and construction, and telecommunications.
The project team is headed by Mr. Siriphone Intirath, Director of the Public Works and Transport Training Centre, Mr. Thanousone Boualapha, and Ms. Vanida Laungthepxayavong. The team also includes Dr. Rachel ‘Rocky’ Peltzman, an English Language Fellow working for the U.S. State Department in conjunction with U.S. Embassy in Vientiane.
Each two-week seminar conducted by the project team will include participants from Laos as well as Cambodia and Vietnam. At the same time as the seminars are taking place in Laos, dozens of Lao officials and academics will also be travelling to Vietnam and Cambodia to attend Professional Communication Skills for Leaders programme conducted in those countries.
The entire Lao project team attended the programme launch orientation in Bangkok, as did representatives from Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The purpose of the orientation was not only to educate all the project members to the goals of the LMI project, but also to form a strong regional team. Joining the orientation program were members of USAID/RDMA, who will assist the project on the specific technical content areas and participant selection in coordination with the participating posts.
The orientation successfully ended with the participants having formed a strong English project team, as well as finalizing a schedule of seminars and developing a seminar template to be used in developing each of the project’s seminars.
