<P><FONT color=#33711E><STRONG>Sombath Somphone</STRONG></FONT></P>
Executive Director
Participatory Development Training Centre
Vientiane, Lao PDR
Sombath Somphone’s early life took place amidst uncertainty and turbulence as Laos was swept into the Indochina War. He eventually escaped this by winning a scholarship to the University of Hawaii, where he earned degrees in education and agriculture. In 1980 Sombath returned to Laos and that same year helped launch the Rice-Based Integrated Farm System project, to help Laotian farmers achieve food security. The ensuing years exposed him intimately to the world of rural Laos and to the complex obstacles awaiting development workers in its remote scattered villages.
Drawing on these lessons, Sombath founded PADETC in 1996 to foster sustainable, equitable, and self-reliant development in Lao PDR. Sombath has led it to emphasize eco-friendly technologies and micro-enterprises and to enhance education by introducing fuel-efficient stoves, promoting locally-produced organic fertilizer, devising new processing techniques and marketing strategies for small businesses, initiating garbage recycling in the capital city, and organizing extra curricular programmes for the youth.
In 2005, Sombath received the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership from the Government of the Philippines and the Ramon Magsaysay Foundation, in recognition of his efforts to promote sustainable development in Lao PDR.