The UN’s special rapporteur for extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, visited Laos in March and got an earful.
“A number of people complained to me that many of the events organised by the UN in Vientiane were very carefully orchestrated…are not designed to give a platform for diverse voices,” he said.
“Rather than trying to promote projects that really would help the government and really would address some of the many shortcomings, they just come up with rather bland or banal projects because they’re keen to make sure the money is spent.”
The same can be said for for other donor agency projects, including tourism.
Source: The New Humanitarian
