Laos youth program grows from 1,000 to more than 7,000 young people in a year

A youth program run by the Lao Youth Union with UNICEF has now reached more than 7,000 young people in seven provinces of Laos, UNICEF Lao PDR said on 15 October. The organizations showed the work of Project Sinxay at a Youth Skills Expo in Vientiane on 12 October, themed “Investing in Us.”

The program covers Vientiane Capital, Savannakhet, Xaisomboun, Xieng Khouang, Houaphanh, Luang Prabang and Oudomxay. Its youth-led projects range from products made from rice straw in Savannakhet to campaigns on digital safety and on preventing child marriage.

Seven times as many young people as a year ago

The growth has been quick. In September 2025, less than a year after it started, Project Sinxay had reached just over 1,000 adolescents and young people in four provinces, according to UNICEF. Participants learned innovation, entrepreneurship, leadership, advocacy and digital tools including AI.

At its core is UPSHIFT, UNICEF's social innovation program, delivered in Laos with financial support from the U.K. tech company Arm. It combines hands-on training and mentoring with small seed grants so young people can test their ideas. In the first year, teams launched community projects on waste reduction, clean water, school inclusion and mental health, while a separate Youth Champions track trained advocates, including girls speaking out against child marriage.

“Investing in us starts with listening to us.” — Chanphone Xongchaiyua, 21, Project Sinxay youth advocate from Houaphanh Province

More than half of the population is young

The size of the target group is the reason the program matters. “More than half of the Lao population are young people,” said Thongly Sisoulith, secretary general of the Lao People's Revolutionary Youth Union, at the expo. Preparing them for work and public life is “the shared duty of the whole of society,” he said.

The expo was timed to the country's next big step. Laos is scheduled to leave the UN list of Least Developed Countries on 24 November 2026, according to the UN. Graduation is a sign of progress, but sectors that rely on LDC trade preferences, such as textiles and clothing, are expected to feel the change, according to a study published on the UN's LDC portal.

Young Lao people are also starting projects on their own. In Pakse, a hotel worker's habit of picking up one bag of trash a day grew into a cleanup movement across 13 provinces.

Girls are the focus of the next five years

“Project Sinxay shows what young people can achieve when they are given the opportunity to lead,” said Bilal Aurang Zeb Durrani, UNICEF's representative in Laos. Helping adolescent girls stay in education and build skills is a priority of the new 2027–2031 country program between the Lao government and UNICEF, the agency said.

A second phase was already announced in 2025, focusing on AI for climate-resilient and nature-based solutions, youth enterprise and measurable community results. UNICEF has not said how many young people the program aims to reach next, or how much funding the new phase has.