Mekong Institute invites rural- and urban-based social enterprises to a regional modular training program on Rural E-Commerce Development in Lancang-Mekong Countries on March 25-29, 2019. The training aims to build the capacity of rural e-commerce development professionals from Cambodia, P.R. China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand. The training is part of a two-year project being implemented by MI in cooperation with the Ministry of Commerce of Thailand and funded by the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Special Fund.

Anchored on participatory processes and action-based learning, the training will combine lectures, plenary discussions, case studies, group activities, role play, and simulation. Participants are expected to be aware of the full duration and content of the training program and the implementation of an action plan following the training.

The training program will comprise of the following phases:  

• Learning phase – one-week training at the MI Residential Training Center in Khon Kaen, Thailand (March 25-29, 2019). During this period, action plans, comprising of individual e-market business plans and registration on e-commerce platforms like alibaba.com, will be prepared by training participants.
• Knowledge application phase – participants of the training will be encouraged to link with markets through e-commerce platforms with the MI team monitoring and providing technical and financial assistance. This phase will last for six months (one month for each enterprise to finalize their e-commerce business plan; two months for registration and launch on an e-commerce portal; and three months monitoring of business growth). This phase seeks to observe how rural-based social enterprises are able to access markets and the associated challenges, if any.