Dr Silinthone Sacklokham

Director General of International Cooperation Department Ministry of Education and Sports (Laos)

Associate Professor Dr Silinthone Sacklokham holds a Master's of Science Degree in Agronomy from the Agricultural Academy of K. Timiryazev in Moscow, Russia, and a PhD in Agricultural Economics (2003) from the Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon (INA-PG), now known as AgroParisTech, France. 

Dr Silinthone has held several academic positions in the field of education, notably serving as a Lecturer and Researcher at the National University of Laos (1995–2017). She also served as Head of the Department of Rural Economics and Food Technology (2004–2010), Vice Dean for Academic Affairs and International Cooperation at the Faculty of Agriculture (2011–2017), and as a member of the National University of Laos Council (2011–2024). 

Since 2018, Dr Silinthone has been working with the Ministry of Education and Sports of the Lao PDR. From 2018 to 2019, she was appointed Director of the SEAMEO Regional Centre for Community Education Development (SEAMEO CED), the first SEAMEO Regional Centre established in Lao PDR. Since 2019, she has held multiple leadership roles, including Director General of the Department of International Cooperation at the Ministry of Education and Sports and Secretary-General of the Lao National Commission for UNESCO. 

Dr Silinthone also represents Lao PDR as the ASEAN Senior Official for Education, the Lao National COSTI Chair to ASEAN on Science, Technology, and Innovation, and the SEAMEO High Official from Lao PDR. In addition, Professor Silinthone Sacklokham continues to contribute to academia as a visiting lecturer and researcher at the National University of Laos, specialising in Agricultural Policy, Agrarian Systems, and Agricultural Product Value Chains. 

Dr Silinthone Sacklokham has published and co-edited a number of journal articles in the field of Agriculture and Education Development, significantly “Land Policy and Farming Practices in Laos”, Development and Change 36(3): 499-526 (2005); “Agricultural Development and Deforestation in Lao PDR: Case study of Vientiane Plain”. Revue Mousson, 2008; “White Gold”, the Commercialization of Rice Farming in the Lower Mekong Basin, Palgrave Macmillian; “Girls and Women in STEM in Lao PDR” UNESCO Asia Pacific Regional Bureau for Education. © UNESCO 2020.