LA - FCPF Readiness Grant 1.	The Project Development Objective is to contribute to Lao PDRâ€™s efforts to design and implement a sound national REDD+ strategy. 2.	Achieving this objective will enable Lao PDR to participate in and benefit from the emerging performance-based payment system fr om REDD+ within the context of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The activities aim to put into place socially and envi ronmentally sound policies and programs to reduce deforestation and forest degradation, an internationally recognized reference emis sion level, generate forest carbon emission scenarios, and technically robust systems of forest monitoring and emissions reporting. The program will also focus on non-carbon outcomes vital to achieving REDD+ objectives which will include enabling forest policy and  regulations, increasing the participation of local communities in forest management, building institutional capacity in the forestr y sector, improved information and data management and related activities which will contribute to the overall development of forest s and well-being of communities in Lao PDR and contribute to the national goals of poverty reduction, economic development and envir onmental sustainability.3.	To achieve the PDO the grant will support: a) operational costs and capacity build for the REDD+ Office  at the Department of Forestry (DoF, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry) and the REDD+ Division within the Department of Forest Re sources Management (DFRM, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment), b) developing a National REDD+ Strategy, c) developing RED D implementation approaches and benefit sharing mechanisms in coordination with other Development Partners, d) implementation of saf eguards through preparation of a  Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment (SESA) and an Environmental and Social Management Fr amework (ESMF) for REDD in Lao PDR, and e) development of Reference Emission Levels and design of a system for monitoring, reporting  and verification. The FCPF grant will finance some initial work on most major areas of REDD+ capacity building as defined in the La o PDR R-PP.  4.	As mentioned above the grant will fund only a portion of the activities identified in the R-PP, which will acceler ate Lao PDR efforts to achieve REDD+ Readiness. Nevertheless,  the country may not reach full readiness until after the grant closes . Based on the activities outlined in the R-PP, it is expected that Lao PDR would be able to participate in REDD+ carbon transaction s, potentially including under the FCPF Carbon Fund, which would purchase emissions reductions from FCPF countries.  Other options f or selling emissions reductions may exist in the future, but depend on the development of the global carbon market for forest carbon  credits. 5.	Additional funding in the forestry sector will be through the Forest Investment Program (FIP) program and the Interna tional Development Association (IDA) which will jointly support the expansion of Participatory Sustainable Forest Management (PSFM) in Lao PDR under the Scaling-up Participatory Sustainable Forest Management project (P130222). 6.	Key results, as follows:a)	Str engthened technical and institutional capacities for effective management, implementation and coordination of REDD+ Programs, projec ts and policiesb)	Strategies to address drivers of deforestation and degradation c)	REDD+ institutional framework designed and val idated nationally, including an Environmental and Social Management Frameworkd)	Social inclusion mechanisms in REDD+ at the nationa l, provincial, district and community levelse)	Regional collaboration mechanism for REDD+ implementation and avoidance of emissions  displacementf)	National reference scenario for emissions from deforestation and forest degradation prepared, taking into account t  he relationship between national accounting and sub-national implementation of activities; a national carbon registry developed and  operational.