Vientiane, Lao PDR, 12-15 October 2015. SEAMEO CELLL attended the regional workshop on “Using the Concept of Soft Skills in Non-Formal Education” co-organised by Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) and DVV International. The workshop was held at the Non-Formal Education Development Centre (NFEDC) and was joined by 30 participants from DVV International, NFEDC, Lao Women Union, NGO Education Partnership and SEAMEO CELLL.

Mr Kaustuv Bandyopadhyay, Director of PRIA, delivered the lecture on Understanding Self As the Basic Building Block for Developing Soft Skills

Through a variety of activities including lectures, self-tests and interactive exercises, the two experts from PRIA helped the participants gain a better understanding of soft skills and provided them with opportunities to explore and improve themselves. The participants learned about the role of self understanding in soft skill development, interpersonal communication, leadership, negotiation, decision making, and teamwork. Also at the event were three presentations by representatives from Lao PDR, Cambodia and Vietnam, informing the participants about the need of soft skills on the national, regional and global level, as well as the current practices of teaching and learning soft skills in NFE in the three countries. 

The workshop was generally a great success, the participants familiarising themselves with new concepts and techniques of soft skills, and more importantly developing new national and regional project ideas to incorporate soft skills into NFE.