Ministry of Education and Training University of Economics Hochiminh City ___________________ CHANTHAVONG SOMSANOUK “Maternal Education, Women’s Access to Information and Childhood Development: A Case of Lao PDR” MASTER DEGREE THESIS IN ECONOMICS HOCHIMINH CITY, VIETNAM LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Ministry of Education and Training University of Economics Hochiminh City ___________________ CHANTHAVONG SOMSANOUK “Maternal Education, Women’s Access to Information and Childhood Development: A Case of Lao PDR” MAJOR: ECONOMICS OF DEVELOPMENT (Research-Oriented Programme) CODE: 8310105 MASTER DEGREE IN ECONOMICS ACADAMIC ADVISOR: VO TAT THANG HOCHIMINH CITY, VIETNAM LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I certify that, All contents of this dissertation have never been submitted for any other degree and has never been currently submitted for any other degree. I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and helps from the advisor in preparing this dissertation and all sources used, have been acknowledged in this dissertation.” Signature CHANTHAVONG SOMSANOUK iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I would like to express my highest appreciation for my thesis supervisor Dr. Vo Tat Thang for his valuable suggestions and encouragements during my study and doing research at the University of Economics Hochiminh City (UEH) My highest gratitude also goes to all instructors, lecturers who provide me valuable knowledge especially Prof. Pham Khanh Nam who compliments and provides best viewpoints on my thesis proposal; my friends in class who are actively discussed and commented on my thesis.
My research would not have been possible without the permission from UNDP’s survey data who formally provided data needed for the qualitative analysis part which are indeed valuable information that useful in this study. My best sincere appreciation also goes to the People’s committee of Hochiminh city who provide and grant aid as exchange scholarship, especially the Lao student Dormitory in Hochiminh City where provide facilities and the best living condition during my study. I also would like to express my best gratitude to the Postgraduate Institute of University of Economics Hochiminh City that helps facilitate and providing guidelines during my study in UEH. Finally, my heartfelt gratitude goes to my parents, sibling, wife and the dearest three sons of mine for support, love and encouragement, this dissertation is dedicated to them LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENT DECLARATION.
iv TABLE OF CONTENT .v LIST OF TABLES. vii LIST OF FIGURES. viii List of abbreviations. Some fact on Lao social, economic Status.
Government policy on gender. Education policy toward women empowerment .4 Government policy on education. Literacy status of Lao people. Research objective and Research question.
Scope of the Study .12 Chapter 1: Literature review. The impact of maternal education on early childhood development. The role of mother’s education and women access to information impact on early childhood development.3 The effect of development economics on health .25 Chapter 2: Research Methodology and Data Resources .27 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Analytical model and data processing: .43 Chapter 3 Empirical result.
Maternal education and early childhood development. Women access to information and early childhood development. Wealth Quintile Index. Clean water using and toilet using.
Household Member and number of children under 5. Age of mother. Limitation of the study. IV LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table1.1: Attendance of students by Education Level in 2014-2015 Table 1.2: Mean primary school enrollment rates (in %) for children aged 6-12 (2002- 2003) Table 2.
Detail description of the variables Table 3. Descriptive statistic of variables used in the regression model.2 Logit estimation result Table 3. Average Marginal Effect result LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF FIGURES 1. The diagrams for the determinants for early childhood development 2.
The Development progress of children in different age ranges LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com List of abbreviations CEDAW: The Convention of the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination CRC: Right of the Child ECD: Early Childhood Development Lao PDR: Lao People’s Democratic Republic LWU: Lao Women’s Union GRID: Gender Resource Information and Development Center Lao NCAW: Lao National Commission for Advancement of Women LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Abstract Maternal Education, Women’s Access to Information and Childhood Development: A Case of Lao PDR Chanthavong Somsanouk The Lao People Democratic Republic (PDR), a transitional economy, and one of least developed economics in Southeast Asia region, After its opening the country and an economic pathway of its development following the semi-market economy system, the GDP of Laos during last decade growth with an average rate of 7%, which is a high rate compared to many countries in the region. In the long run, to guarantee the sustainable growth and development of the country, to raise the productivity, the need for human resource becomes one of the main focuses in the 8th Social Economic Development Plan. This paper examines the impact of maternal education and women’s access to information on probability of the outcomes of early childhood development as expectedly that the healthier children will eventually to provide higher labor productivity and guarantee the sustainable development of the country. By using the Logit regression model, the measurement of health status of children called Early Childhood Development (ECD) this fills the gaps and make it more diversity in research on the determinant of the child’s health.
The result of the study shows that maternal education is confirmed to have a positive effect on children well being. Children whose his or her mother has more years of school are more likely to be properly developed. At the same time, Women access to information also found to have a positive effect with a satisfactory level of statistical significance for the likeliness that her children are properly developed. The suggestions on implication of the theoretical and the finding of the research are the scientifically advanced for the policy makers for setting up guidelines for sustainable development strategies, particularly in aspect of women and child empowerment through education and access to information.
Key words: Maternal Education, Women’s access to Information, Early Childhood Development, Lao PDR. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Research Problem Early childhood development (ECD) plays an important role in development as the whole, a recent study in human development reveals that epigenetic, immunological, physiological and psychological adaptation to the environment is to be possessed from the very early stages of children and becomes the basis for the entire life course development (Young, 2002). Evidence on long-term outcomes in low income and middle income countries allowed the conclusion that the increase cognitive development of children 25 years ago has significantly resulted in 25% more than those that was not joining the early child educational programs (Glewwe, 2005).
ECD widely accepted as the foundation of sustainable development in developing countries. After the publication of The Lancet, the landmark series, child’s development in developing countries in 2007 and child development in developing countries II in 2011, the number of scientific publications on a core topic of Early Childhood Development has substantially increased. There also has been increasing in numbers of funding programs for early childhood development as recent research in early human development affect overall development throughout the life course (Britto et al. Early childhood development is gradually improved throughout the past decades because of the help and support from many development agencies.
Together with the efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, which UNDP has declared since 1990, so that there has been a great improvement in child survival while mortality of child under five is dramatically dropped. Many pieces of study have found a significant relation between Mother’s Education and child development in many aspects. Barrera (1990b), for example, has found that maternal education level has a positive correlation with health and nutritional status of the child. Hill and King (1995) has also explained the relationship between educational level of mother and child’s well-being as the increase of mother’s education results in LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 2 having less number children’s in a family, consequently, this allows family to invest more on their children.
Some fact on Lao social, economic Status. Located in the center of South East Asian, Lao PDR is surrounded by 5 neighbor countries, China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand. As of 2015 its population is approximately 6 million, increased from 5 million in 2005. With Its total area is 236,800 square kilometers, this makes the population density of Laos is still low.
Government policy on gender The Lao first constitution adopted in 1991, has stated guarantee of equality of genders in politics, economy, culture and society, as well as they are concretely stated in family law. National Assembly has revised and promulgate the family law in the year 2003, stated that “ the state, society and family should attentively implement the policy on the development and promotion of women’s advancement, protecting women’s and children’s rights and benefits” this show that the importance of women and children is among the concerns of the Lao government. The said law also states that “Lao citizens have the freedom of settlement and movement as provided by law, women of all ethnic groups should receive equal treatment in terms of legal rights, economic and social opportunities. Apart from stating on the constitution and the law, there are many other laws and legal documents which reflected the principle of equality between men and women, Labor law 1994 for example, which requires nondiscrimination in employment, equal salary pay for both genders not only quantify but quality and value.
Female workers have her right to be off of work at least ninety-days of the maternity period with normal pay from their employers or from the social security fund. And at least thirty more days could be allowed as supplementary in case of illness resulting from pregnancy. On October 2004, the National Assembly passed the Law on Development and Protection of Women. Subsequently, the President of the Lao PDR issued a decree which officially announce a publicly this legal instrument that enforced to ensure and uplift women’s role; to define basic provisions, meaures for the protection of the LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 3 legitimate interests of women as well as the responsibility of the state, society and family vis-à-vis women; it also aims to promote their knowledge and competency, revolutionary morals and virtues, gender equality; to eliminate all forms of discri- mination against women; to proven and fight against trafficking in women and children; to combat domestic violence against women and children; to creat enabling conditions for women’s participation; and to be equal force in national protection and development.
The law also indicated the responsibility of the state, society and family towards women is to encourage knowledge, capacity and gender quality. Not only from law and regulation and other legal documents in country level, Laos is also a signatory to a number of international conventions, which the country is committed to implementing. It joins the convention on the Political Right of Women in 1969, and ratifies the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW) and the convention on the Right of Child (CRC) in 1981 and 1990, respectively. CEDAW prohibits women’s discrimination and protects their rights and CRC obligates government to protect the rights of children-girls and boys – and to ensure that their basic need are met.
Safe motherhood is also part of the CRC. The government’s commitment to gender equality is also expressed in policy document, including those on population, health and human resources. Lao PDR has incorporated the main ideas of these conventions in its constitution. However, there still remains the needed to develop laws to steadily strengthen the Lao legal framework, which suffers from a shortage of experience and human capacity, and limited awareness among the population.