History of Peuan Mit / Why and how did we start the Peuan Mit program?

In 2002, the Lao Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare and UNICEF in Lao PDR asked Friends-International to train a team of volunteer social workers to provide services to street children in Vientiane and to assess the situation of those children working or living on the streets. Friends-International was able to get to know the children by running creative workshops with them (photo and theater mostly), and confirmed the initial assumption that there was a gap in services addressing the needs of the most vulnerable children and youth.

The Peuan Mit program officially started operations on May 2004 by signing a collaboration agreement with the Lao Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare and it is so far still the only program in Lao PDR addressing the issue of children living and working on the streets.