Established in the early 1990s, the Children's Cultural Centre (CCC) presents a wide range of extra-curricular cultural activities for children. It aims: (i) to promote the national culture for children during their free time, weekends and holidays; (ii) to provide library services and encourage reading amongst children; (iii) to organise useful and enjoyable activities for children; (iv) to serve as a meeting place for training courses and workshops on children's development; and (v) to publish picture books for children. Since 1996 the Centre has functioned as the executive body and home of the Children's Home for Culture and Education Project, which is organised in co-operation with the National Library and the Japan Sotoshu Relief Committee (JSRC) with funding from the Lao Ministry of Information and Culture, the All-Japan Prefecture and Municipal Workers' Union (JICHIRO), the Japan Sotoshu Relief Committee (JSRC), the Association for Sending Picture Books to Lao Children (ASPB) and the Japanese government. The Project offers children aged 7-13 more than 20 different courses and activities, including musical theory, khene, ranat, flute, drum, so, khong wong, khim, keyboard, traditional dance, Lao folk song, drawing and sculpture, weaving and sewing, cooking, Lao language games, Lao culture and social behaviour, library and storytelling, creating children's toys, drama and sports (table tennis, badminton, rattan ball). Children are allowed to take part in any activity and use any facilities without paying fees, except for a small commission for a membership card. Some 600 children use the facility each week, supervised by five full-time staff and a further 35 trainers, assistants and volunteers. The Centre publishes some three to five children's books each year, which are distributed through the National Library's National Reading Promotion for Children and Young People Project; to date it has published over 20 books. The Centre incorporates the capital city's largest children's library of around 4,000 books, in Lao, Thai and English. The Lao government is committed to replicating the project in all provinces of Laos as part of its wider commitment to human resource development and is actively seeking funds for this purpose. To date it has set up 21 centres in 13 provinces - in each case these are managed by the local authorities but the Children's Cultural Centre (CCC), Vientiane offers guidance and support on technical matters.