During 25th Feb – 2nd March, VITRI organised the intensive field course titled "Measuring the contribution of forest and environmental income in rural livelihoods" in Luang Prabang, Laos. The course was organised in cooperation with Souphanouvong University and included 16 participants from Souphanouvong University, Savannakhet University and National University on Laos. Prof. Markku Kanninen, Nicholas Hogarth, Adrian Monge and Dipjoy Chakma joined from Finland as teachers.
The aim of the course was to introduce standardised methods to quantify the contribution of environmental income in rural livelihoods as well as to introduce digital tools for data collection. Participants got an overview of the importance of measuring environmental income, ethical issues affecting the collection and analysis of socioeconomic data; after collecting data in the field using tablets, participants were given information about how to prepare and modify their own questionnaires.
The course was part of the capacity building activities under the PARFORM project which is financed by the HEI ICI program and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
