Contemporary arts in Cambodia (Interview)

ELIZABETH JACKSON: Hello I'm Elizabeth Jackson and this is a radio
current affairs documentary. When you think of the Asian nation of
Cambodia, you might think of ancient temples, rice paddies, the Khmer
Rouge and the years of civil war in the '80s and '90s.

There are still plenty of tales of hardship and poverty in Cambodia,
but there's also a booming tourism industry and a young population
keen to embrace the modern world. The influences of America and Korea
might be prominent in popular culture but Cambodia has a small but
growing contemporary arts movement of its own.

Liam Cochrane reported this story on Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Text of this Interview :
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2011/s3398745.htm

MP3 Audio of this Interview :
http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/pm/201112/20111228-beyond-apsara.mp3

OEUR SOKUNTEVY: For the local Khmer, I think maybe they don't know
about artists at all. I tell them I'm an artist, I'm drawing, and they
think maybe I'm architecture or something. But it's just step by step,
one day they might see.

DANA LANGLOIS: The desire is there. The intention is there. The
passion, the drive, it's all there. But there's this lack of
resources, lack of tools, lack of language, there's a lack of so many
things that kind of stalls or stagnates that process in many cases,
but not all.

SUON BUN RITH: Without all this new energy, and then the culture will
stop and culture cannot stop. It has to go, has to continue.

LIAM COCHRANE: 1975 was Year Zero for Cambodia. The ultra-Communist
Khmer Rouge wanted to turn the country into a peasant utopia, where
everyone but the top leaders planted rice and constructed huge
reservoirs.

Intellectuals became the enemy. Any art that didn't serve the party
was outlawed and in just three brutal years, the nation's artists were
all but wiped out.

Years of war and struggle followed and art was far from a priority.
But in recent years, a contemporary arts scene has been growing in
Cambodia. One of those who has nurtured the budding visual arts
movement is Dana Langlois, owner of Java Arts Cafe. I catch her at the
cafe as she's heading out to see a young Cambodian artist.

Dana, you've been around the Cambodian arts scene for a long time. As
we travel in this tuk-tuk along the streets to another studio, tell me
how you first came to be here and involved in Cambodia's art scene.

DANA LANGLOIS: OK I first arrived in '98. I came as a volunteer. And
of course I did my, I stayed for a year doing that and then I ended up
meeting the man who's the love of my life and that's what actually
prompted me to stay initially.

And then after that, so in 2000 I actually started the cafe and
gallery, seeing a need for some cultural expression here, something in
the contemporary realm. And so I wanted to bring this space that would
make it available for artists to use. And so basically that's how it
was born. At the time the cafe was, and it still is, a great way to
bring an audience into the work.

LIAM COCHRANE: And just briefly can you tell us a little bit about the
artist that we're going to visit now?

DANA LANGLOIS: So we're going to meet Oeur Sokuntevy, usually called
Tevy, 'cause that's the short form of her name. She's this great
artist I've been working with through Java Arts through the last
several years, we've been working together at least six years.

She, what's exciting about her work is that she's very bold, very
honest and completely unabashed about her approach to her work. I've
often referred to her as our one-woman sexual revolution. She's just
completely open and she's turning on its head these notions of what is
expected of women in Cambodian society, very powerful.

LIAM COCHRANE: And Dana, I've travelled in a lot of tuk-tuks in
Cambodia but I've never travelled in one that has a painting hanging
from the front of the tuk-tuk. Did you plan that? Did you organise
this in advance?

DANA LANGLOIS: No! Actually I was quite impressed with that as well.
This tuk-tuk, Chea, he's actually one of my employees and he's been a
great asset to the company and a good team member. Anyhow, I'm hoping
somewhere that he's actually been influenced by the gallery.

LIAM COCHRANE: Java Gallery has played an important role in fostering
talent and providing a place for shows. Ten years ago, it was just
Java and the French Cultural Center. But now there's a dozen galleries
and studios dotted around Phnom Penh.

Such exposure brings opportunities for artists like Tevy, who, when we
visit, is putting the finishing touches on a large oil painting that
will be shipped off to an art auction in Singapore.

LIAM COCHRANE: Can we get through here?

DANA LANGLOIS: Yeah we can go through here. Last time they told me to
go through their house... Hello?

LIAM COCHRANE: Tell me about your background in arts, how did you
start painting and working as an artist?

OEUR SOKUNTEVY: I'm from Battambang. I draw all of the time after
finished school, about 2007 I had a show and then I moved to Phnom
Penh to be an artist and keep moving, keep drawing. In the first show
I do only 20 small painting but later now I see many thing change in
Cambodia and I change too [laughs].

LIAM COCHRANE: And tell us what you're working on. Tell us perhaps
this picture leaning up against the wall here that's been completed.
Tell us about that work?

OEUR SOKUNTEVY: It's all about the human and animal are related. We
are human as the animal, you know, I don't know how to explain

LIAM COCHRANE: As you collect your thoughts and think about how to
explain let me describe for people who can't see it. We've got a very
bright, brightly coloured painting here on a canvas about two metres
by one metre and it appears to be a human/animal figure in front of a
mirror having his or her, I presume her, head done. Tell us a bit more
about it.

OEUR SOKUNTEVY: This one is a happen a lot in the markets and the
woman usually go to the market and washing hair and I don't draw look
like a normal people who washing hair at the market I just use animal
instead of people.

LIAM COCHRANE: It looks like a monkey right?

OEUR SOKUNTEVY: Yeah it's a monkey. It's a monkey who washing hair and
elephant doing for her.

LIAM COCHRANE: It looks like some kind of body building, very muscly
elephant who's doing the washing of the hair.

OEUR SOKUNTEVY: Yes, kind of a gay elephant or something. It's just
fun, I just tried to make a joke of it. What I think it's like right
now, a woman many people use a lot of cosmetic, you know, try to make
themselves look beautiful and try to be like a model/woman. Now they
use the contact lens with the eyes, it's the Asian but they try to
look like the European, they try to look slim, look nice and spend a
lot of money on that. But for me I don't think it's useful.

(Music from Khmeropedies)

SUON BUN RITH: Visual arts take the lead, they are so much advanced.
Now the performing arts starting. Contemporary dance is starting.

(Music from Khmeropedies)

My name is Suon Bun Rith. I am the representative of the Amrita
Performing Arts, so I am dealing with performing arts for the last 14
years - everything on stage - dance, music, theatre. Amrita and the
group of the artist that we are working, we are trying to find their
own vocabulary, the style of Cambodian contemporary, of course
Cambodian do not have a traditions of contemporary dance.

LIAM COCHRANE: Why not?

SUON BUN RITH: We have so many different art forms, heritage that our
ancestors inherit to us. So we have more than 20 different dance and
theatre and art form.

So there is not much room for creating new things, especially after
the prolonged civil war. All about 20, almost more than half have been
almost disappear. But the young people they are, see something new
from of course the globalisation and all the country in the region
around us.

LIAM COCHRANE: Tell me about two or three of the most exciting
Cambodian artists in the contemporary art scene.

SUON BUN RITH: Just talking about the performing artists. I think for
example talking about Belle, Chumvan Sodhachivy. I have a lot of hope
on her. She's become like the, how to say, the young model for the
younger generation.

LIAM COCHRANE: What does she do?

SUON BUN RITH: She's a great dancer. She's a classical dancer but she
have a special gift of her body, easily to study many other things and
she open herself up. She study so many things, she study Indian, she
study contemporary, she been into Europe, into Asia and she seen so
many things and now she's coming back and she try to find her own
style and I can see now each time she do her own production, she
choreograph and she have her bands of younger artists follow her, and
work with her and happy.

And you can see the way the young people work together, the different
way from the elderly master and the younger - they take a different
style how to work. One that can stroll any idea into the piece the
other one is one, two, three, four you have to follow this.

LIAM COCHRANE: So it's a master/disciple relationship?

SUON BUN RITH: It's a master/disciple relationship but the, now the
new, what I call the next generation of the younger master. When they
working into a piece I see a different relationship, like, they open,
'What is your idea?' Before the master don't really ask, 'Oh, do you
have any idea in putting into this?' But now they putting in together.

LIAM COCHRANE: When Belle was eight years old her mother started
teaching her traditional Cambodian ballet, a royal dance with
elaborate costumes and the graceful hand gestures that are so
emblematic of Cambodian culture. Years later she began to develop an
interest in contemporary dance.

BELLE: I was go outside from school on the vacation. Learn some like
pop dance, aerobics, some like Michael Jackson style [laughs].

LIAM COCHRANE: Belle says learning contemporary dance required not
just a shift in her physical performance but in her entire approach to
dance.

BELLE: We can say like it's very difficult the first time because like
we learn like Cambodian classical and then you know the form of
classical dance, it's really exactly, the movement we have to do it
the same and the same every time.

And also like very slowly, like the emotion a lot inside or the
feeling and then for contemporary dance or new creation it's a, we
need something more faster, a lot of energy and also about the feeling
how I want to show it.

And also like less talking about human feeling about me, myself well,
but when I perform classical dance it's a very beautiful, perfect,
like we feel like a god. The feeling and the movement of my body come,
get from the feeling of classical dance and then I feel like I don't
want to cut it. So I just combine it from the past and the future, put
it together to present it.

(Hip-hop music)

LIAM COCHRAN: While artists like Belle have grown up amidst Cambodia's
traditional art forms and travelled abroad for new experiences, the
traffic is going the other way too.

Anida Yoeu Ali was born in Cambodia but her family fled the Khmer
Rouge and she grew up in Chicago. Recently, she moved to Phnom Penh
and with her Japanese partner, Masahiro Sugano, and together they've
started Studio Revolt. The studio produces films and performances that
often involve social or political commentary.

(Music - Samnang's Bear)

ANIDA YOEU ALI: The stuff that we do as a collaboration is not only
making these shorts but kind of envisioning them as projects and as
something that seems like it has a beginning but not really an end
point.

And by that I mean like we're doing projects like the Gallery Psar
Kandal piece which was a huge social experiment of bringing art into
an environment like Psar Kandal which is a lively open-air market in
the middle of the city where no one expects to see art and the normal
art viewers don't expect to have that encounter with everyday culture.
And so that was the project we did that we thought was extremely
successful.

LIAM COCHRANE: What sort of art did you take into the market?

MASAHIRO SUGANO: So on the first day it was a two-day project. On the
first day we set up a camera for three hours in the middle of the
market, bustling market and we asked people to jump and we took a
picture.

And on the second day we put up these walls that are to emulate the
environment of the gallery - the two white walls. But it looks more
like pillars, two pillars. And we cut out a hole on those and we put a
digital monitor inside so we would just show the pictures that we took
the day before.

It was kind of chaotic because vendors didn't want to pillars in front
of their store and they were very hostile at the beginning, which we
expected because you know, most of the time hard-working people view
fine art as a waste of time and money. But eventually the market
people really embraced it and it was like a gathering, chatting corner
throughout the evening.

Art is something that is usually nurtured by the middle class, the
upper-middle class, you know, with a disposable income and people who
have time to go out on Friday night and chat and look at art. Because
of the economic situation right now in Cambodia, a large part of this
country just cannot afford the kind of thinking. So most of the art
that probably immediately seek for are like stress relief, such as
karaoke which we always make fun of but it has a vital function in
this society.

LIAM COCHRANE: While karaoke-style concerts in beer gardens may still
be a popular form of entertainment there have been some musical
breakthroughs as well.

Cambodian psychedelic rock from the 1960s is being reworked and
re-imagined by bands like the Cambodian Space Project and Dengue
Fever.

(Music Dengue Fever)

Based in Los Angeles, Dengue Fever consists of a Cambodian singer
fronting a band of American musicians.

(Music Dengue Fever)

Meanwhile, the Cambodian Space Project is a similar arrangement - a
Cambodian woman singing with a band of foreigners, but they are based
in Phnom Penh.

(Music Cambodian Space Project)

Expatriate musicians, artists and gallery owners have played prominent
roles in fostering Cambodia's contemporary arts scene, although more
and more, Cambodians are taking the lead. It's an interplay that must
sometimes be delicately handled, as Masahiro Sugano explains.

MASAHIRO SUGANO: So as I come here I found it very difficult to frame
art without being a little patronising in some ways. So I guess that's
why we positioned ourselves to be in the position to question it
rather than telling what art should be. Like we question on behalf of
each other to the Westerners 'Should the art be like this?' And I ask
my people, 'What do you think the arts should be?'

LIAM COCHRANE: Of course in a country that's still struggling to find
its feet economically, pondering the nature of art is a luxury many
can't afford. Just the simple logistics of obtaining raw materials can
be tough in a place like Cambodia, says Anida Yoeu Ali.

ANIDA YOEU ALI: It is so difficult to be an artist, a Cambodian artist
growing up here because of the lack of resources and so if people
really understand the nature of art making the resourcefulness that
artists have to be, specifically in Cambodia is painstaking.

And I don't think that people understand that. That just to make
something from scratch here is very a hard thing because they just
don't have access to a lot supplies and so they have to be very
resourceful. And there's not like a studio that you can just go to or
you can just have. You know people are doing it like in the dark in
their homes or in a little corner or making do with whatever space
they have.

LIAM COCHRANE: Painter Tevy works in humble surrounds, but she doesn't
seem to mind too much.

OEUR SOKUNTEVY: I just work in my living room. I don't like to have a
big studio place because it makes no sense for me. And I like to wake
up and then start to work. Don't need to have a big one. Very small.
That's nice.

LIAM COCHRANE: Tevy's been painting for years and is only just getting
around to a large work with oil on canvas.

Java Gallery owner, Dana Langlois, explains that resources aren't the
only challenge for artists.

DANA LANGLOIS: Socially it can be quite difficult. They are often
criticised and seen in kind of a strange light. Although that's
changing. But I mean the word for creative in the Khmer language
actually means you're a little bit crazy and not in a good way.

LIAM COCHRANE: So no matter what sort of art you're producing, even if
it's not at all political or challenging whatsoever, just being an
artist is enough?

DANA LANGLOIS: Exactly. And then that's what has to be understood
about the context of art and art creation here is that this process is
just, yeah just putting it out there already is a major effort and a
major statement.

LIAM COCHRANE: A major statement is exactly what's planned for 2013,
with a big Cambodian art showcase in New York City. Dana Langlois
explains the ambitious project.

DANA LANGLOIS: Basically we're talking about Season of Cambodia which
is supposed to take place in New York City in 2013. The idea's really
kind of highlighting and celebrating what's been happening here in
Cambodia specifically in the arts and cultural areas.

And then my role as the visual arts curator is to put together a
program of some of the established artists as well as some of the
emerging ones and talking about what are the contemporary art
practices here in Cambodia.

And specifically one of the things I want to do is also build these
kind of links to the New York audience. Audience or community or other
artists. There's certainly a lot of commonalities there it's just
trying to find those links.

LIAM COCHRANE: And will that be essentially Cambodia's big moment on
the international stage?

DANA LANGLOIS: Ah, yes. Yes it is. I'm always a little hesitant at
that 'cause you know the international stage, there's a lot of
multiplicity there. I mean it's not just New York anymore. It's Hong
Kong, it's Singapore, it's London, it's Mumbai, you know. When do you
suddenly define it as an international stage, I don't know. But it's
certainly a moment, a special moment where a lot of people will be
able to take notice of what's happening here.

LIAM COCHRANE: The sort of big vision behind the New York show is
providing inspiration to other art forms. Although Suon Bun Rith says
audiences for performing arts are still coming to terms with the
protocols of modern art.

SUON BUN RITH: At least for the last 14 years that I consider, I am
happy with the result and successes, they come to get the ticket. So
now they know before they can go to see a show they need a ticket in
their mind now, they know that. Before, like we don't really have the
mind of oh getting the ticket.

LIAM COCHRANE: What did they do beforehand? They'd just turn up?

SUON BUN RITH: They just turn up, they go and see. I know because we
have very long traditions of open air and no one need a ticket to go
to see a show. No one need to pay anything to go to see a show. There
must be someone that must be a sponsor who was dancing there.

Now they know to come to get the ticket if they want to see a show.
But again, no payment, the ticket is still free [laughs]. But about
the audience that turn out to our new contemporaries, I am so very
satisfied with that. I mean they support the new energy, they support
the new artists. All this is great.

LIAM COCHRANE: Suon Bun Rith is about to move from the capital Phnom
Penh to Battambang, which is fast becoming a cultural hub in the
country.

A school there teaches music, dance and circus and it's doing
incredibly well. It may not be widespread, but at least in some urban
areas, a whole new generation of Cambodian kids are growing up with
contemporary art as part of their education, part of their lives.

SUON BUN RITH: Culture is belong to them, it belongs to the next
generation. Everyone I believe, Cambodian people, we own our culture
and we have the right to preserve and make our culture alive.
Cambodian is starting. I am quite sure that the new contemporary dance
will have a great future.

(Music Dengue Fever)

ELIZABETH JACKSON: That report from Liam Cochrane. And you've been
listening to a radio current affairs documentary.

Cambodia wins again in drawing competition

Among 40,000 children from 60 countries, Cambodian Song Sothy is the
second Cambodian boy to win a prize at this year's EU International
Drawing Competition on the theme of Gender Equality. Song Sothy was
awarded a prize equivalent to €1,000 (US$1,304).

In the award ceremony at Friends International last weekend,
ambassador-designate Jean-Francois Cautain, head of EU delegation to
Cambodia, said that "it is a matter of pride for Cambodia to have won
for the second year in a row and especially to have such intelligent
generation who understand the gender equality concept from a very
young age".

"One upon a time there was a girl and a boy; together they wanted to
make the world a better place ..." begins the brief for the EU's
annual drawing competition for children launched globally on
International Women's Day every year.

Sivann Botum, secretary of state at the Ministry of Women's Affairs,
noticed the spread of gender equality in Cambodia. "We've seen gender
equality has been much developed to rural areas but women also need to
develop their own ability to develop more gender equality."

"The award also shows that Cambodian children's awareness has improved
even though we've suffered many years by civil war," she said.

Prizewinner Song Sothy, who studies in grade five at Cumpu Vuan
primary school, was keen to encourage his peers to enter the next
competition. "I first would like to thank to my parents who have
provided the opportunity for me to study and always supported me in my
drawing and delighted to thank to Friends organization who has
provided the information for us to join in the competition," Song
Sothy said.

"Through my drawing, I hope there will be more participation from
women in society and working opportunities. Women can do everything
like men do in sports, security and so on," he said.

"I also would like to inform the children between eight to ten years
old to join in drawing competition every year to help in raising
awareness about gender equity in Cambodia," Sothy added.

Kong Thea, Song Sothy's father told the Post about how he encouraged
his son to e successful in the competition. "I just provided him with
some ideas related to gender equality but I couldn't help him more
because I can't draw good pictures," he said.

"I realized he had talent since he was four or five years old. I like
to put his drawings on the wall but he has never had an extra drawing
class before," Song Sothy's father said.

The drawing competition is one the EU's initiatives as the world's
leading donor, committed to implement its plan of action on gender
equality and women empowerment.

In Cambodia, the EU through the Delegation of the European Union has
supported ten gender related projects with total amount of €3.4
million over the last five years which have been implemented by NGOs.
Besides Song Sothy, there were another nine local runners-up from
around the country.

Ou Mom
Monday, 26 December 2011
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011122653605/Lifestyle/cambodia-wins-again-in-drawing-competition.html

Timely Cambodia Business News

Cambodia: Refocusing Education Key to Addressing Youth Jobs
Speaking in the run-up  to the nation's first youth employment forum,
panelists from the government, the International labor Organization
and the UN said yesterday that refocusing education would play a major
role in meeting the needs of the 3 million young people expected to
enter the workforce during the next decade.
''In the future, I believe that Cambodia will face challengers in
recruiting labor forces working in the agriculture sector," said Seng
Sakda,  Director General at the Ministry of labor.
With a job market that will  be increasingly focused within the
agro-industry and manufacturing sectors, education should concentrate
more on technical know-how.
"So many people are graduating with language skills and accounting, so
few with engineering and science degrees," said Jose Bendito, a policy
adviser at UNDP. ''A big majority of the labor market will need
technical and vocational training-anything that deals with machinery;
we will need to build bridges, roads, factories," he said.
==
Cambodia: Banks Ordered to Give Borrower Info

Banks have 90 days to submit their existing customer data to the
Cambodian Credit Bureau (CBC), the country's first credit reporting
system, or they could be fined, the CBC and bank officials said
yesterday.

The establishment of the CBC, which was officially registered this
week, now makes it mandatory for all banks and microfinance
institutions to upload borrower information to the CBC system each
month.

Centralizing borrower data at the bureau will make the extension of
loans to consumers and businesses a more transparent process, the CBC
said.

The CBC is an affiliate of the Association of Banks in Cambodia, the
Cambodian Microfinance Association and New Zealand information
technology company Veda Advantage, which in May won the bid to provide
a creditchecking system for the CBC.

Veda holds a 49% stake in the CBC.

==

Cambodia: SMEs must network to Increase efficiency

High competition among Cambodia's small and medium sized enterprises
was hurting their ability to compete with neighboring countries,
Ministry of Industry, Mining and Energy officials said yesterday.

The ministry has pledged to find cohesion among smaller companies to
improve their efficiency.

The Kingdom's 30,000 SMEs worked largely as independent entities, a
practice that had raised the cost of imported materials and had led to
instability in the supply chain, director general of industry Meng
Saktheara said.

These unnecessary expenses which could be avoided if companies worked
together detracted from SME market research potential and the
competitiveness of Cambodian products abroad, he said.

"Vietnam's goods beat our goods on the market. They have the power to
beat us because they use networks and associations," Meng Saktheara
said, adding that the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce often came to
Cambodia to negotiate on behalf of many companies.

==

Protection Strategy for the Poor and Vulnerable

Cambodia on Monday officially launched the National Social Protection
Strategy for the Poor and Vulnerable, aimed at protecting the poorest
and most disadvantaged against chronic poverty and hunger, shocks, and
destitution, said the government's press release.

The strategy, which will be implemented until 2015, would address the
basic needs of the poor and vulnerable in situation of emergency and
crisis, said the statement. It would reduce the poverty and
vulnerability of children and mothers and enhance their human
development.

Also, it would promote the poor to move out of poverty by building
human capital and expanding employment opportunities.

The strategy would also promote affordable health care for the poor
and vulnerable groups.

Speaking at the launch at the Peace Palace, Cambodia's Prime Minister
Hun Sen said the country has seen significant progress in reducing
poverty rate in last decade--the national poverty rate had dropped
from 34.7 percent in 2004 to 30.1 percent in 2007 and to 25.8 percent
last year.

"The rate of poverty reduction drops about 1.2 percent per year, " he
said. "We hope that Cambodia will be able to achieve the UN Millennium
Development Goal (MDG) by reducing the poverty rate to 19.5 percent by
2015."

The premier noticed that despite declining poverty rate, the gaps
between the rich and the poor and inequality between rural and urban
areas are still challenging issues.

Meanwhile, Douglas Broderick, resident coordinator of the United
Nations Development Program (UNDP) to Cambodia, said it was very
important and timely to lay out the strategy in protecting Cambodia's
most vulnerable, particularly women and children, by providing them
access to essential services, especially during an emergency and
crisis.

Cambodia launches social protection strategy for poor
December 05, 2011
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90777/7666095.html

Cambodia Electricity prices, rice and garment production

Electricity purchases shown local supply short

The Cambodian government has released its first breakdown of energy
purchasing from neighboring countries, highlighting what officials say
is the importance of domestic power production and continued
investment in the sector.

Of the 500 megawatts of power consumed each year by Cambodia, 42% was
bought from Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.

The Kingdom's demand for power would increase by as much as 500%
during the next 15 years, reaching about 3,000 megawatts by 2025.

The high cost of electricity had stymied Cambodia's milled-rice and
garment-production capacity.

High priced power was the leading cause of un competitive milled rice exports.

The Kamchay hydroelectric dam-a $280 million investment by China's
Sinohydro Corporation is scheduled to open on December 6.

The dam, 112 meters high, will generate 193 megawatts a year.

Sinohydro has a 40-year contract to operate the dam.

(The Phnom Penh Post)

First leather furniture factory ever in Cambodia

DeCoro, one of the most highly renowned brands in the leather
furniture industry, has announced it is opening a new state-of-the-art
manufacturing facility in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Headed up by Chief Executive Officer Luca Ricci, DeCoro Cambodia Co.,
Ltd. will again focus on producing the finest quality, popular-priced
Italian-style furniture for global consumers. The new facility will
employ approximately 1,000 workers and is now fully operational.

DeCoro is the first leather furniture factory ever in Cambodia. In
addition to the jobs and general benefits it will create in the
country's capital and beyond, the company is making a direct effort to
improve the social welfare of Cambodian children by partnering with
Amici dei Bambini Association or Ai.Bi. (http://www.aibi-us.org/), a
non-governmental organization (NGO) registered in Italy and active in
25 countries including Cambodia. Ai.Bi. is dedicated to finding a
family for every child who lives in an orphanage. DeCoro will donate
U.S. $.75 to Ai.Bi. in Cambodia for every product it produces.

DeCoro was initially launched in 1997 by Mr. Ricci with manufacturing
facilities in Shenzhen, China. The company was the first international
sofa company producing in China and was followed by many others.

"DeCoro is back, and as a real Italian company, we will use our
knowledge and experience to produce the finest quality, superior
designed products at the best possible price," said Luca Ricci, chief
executive officer, DeCoro Cambodia Co., Ltd. "Moreover, we are very
happy to be involved in supporting social and charitable activities in
Cambodia that will help local children here to enjoy a better future."

Nov. 28, 2011
PRNewswire

Cambodian exports to China

Cambodia's commerce officials said Thursday China's tax exemption for
418 items of Cambodia's products to its market is an impetus for
Cambodian producers; however, the country has still not taken the
maximum advantage of the offer.

"The China's tax exemption is the open of the market for Cambodian
products and is an encouragement for Cambodia's producers to increase
their production," Ok Boung, secretary of state at the Ministry of
Commerce, told Xinhua in an interview.

"The provision is very useful to reduce Cambodia's reliance on only
the European markets, or the United States."
However, the country is still unable to maximize the benefits from the
bilateral cooperation due to the shortage of resources, quality
products, and market information.

"Cambodian producers need to learn more about Chinese market in terms
of product characteristic and qualities," he said. "It's important to
know about the needs of Chinese consumers."

Ok Boung said among the 418 tax-free items, Cambodia has exported to
China mostly garment and textile, footwear, some agriculture and
forestry products, and food products.

"Our export to China is still in small amount, but, in the future, we
see China as the largest market for our products," he said.

The tax-free products the government of China provided to Cambodia
include garments, textiles, shoes, food products, living animals such
as cattle and swine for breeding, according to the list of tax
exemption items, provided to Xinhua by Cambodia's Commerce Ministry
on Thursday.

Also, a number of agriculture and forestry products include cashew
nut, cane sugar, fruits, coffee, furniture, vegetations for using in
pharmacy, rattans, crude maize oil, castor oil, sesame oil and other
fixed vegetable fats.
Rice, cassava, rubber and corn, which are mostly grown in Cambodia,
have not been included in the tax exemption list.

Kong Putheara, director of the Commerce Ministry's Statistics
Department, said the tax exemption was very good for Cambodia to boost
production and to diversify Cambodia's export destinations.

"We see China as a stable and huge market for us -- unlike the
European markets that now are facing debt crisis," he said.

He said the exemption also helped boost Cambodia and China bilateral
trade relations.

According to the Commerce Ministry's reports, the two countries '
trade volume was $912.76 million in the first six months of this
year, up 82 percent from $501 million in the same period last year.

During the period, Cambodia's exports to China was $66.31 million,
increased 275 percent from $17.68 million, and Cambodia's imports from
China reached $846.45 million, up 75 percent from $483.37 million.

The two countries expected that the trade volume in 2011 would hit $2 billion.

China's tax free provides impetus for Cambodian producers
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/business/2011-11/25/content_14163616.htm
2011-11-25

Schools and Flooding

Schools damaged in Cambodia's worst monsoons in more than a decade may
take up to a year to recover after flooding delayed the start of
school for thousands of students nationwide, say aid workers and
officials.

As of late October, 323 schools out of 1,400 damaged ones were closed;
some have since reopened. Though flood waters have receded, how well
those schools are functioning and how many remain closed is still
unknown, as the government continues its damage assessments in a dozen
flood-hit provinces.

At least 77 schools are beyond repair, while students and teachers
were still pumping water out of dozens more, said the director of the
education ministry's construction department on 21 November, Song Yen.

"We have not yet completely assessed the damage," he added.

Sam Sereyrath, general director of education at the Ministry of
Education, estimated some 20,000 children remained out of school,
based on the number of schools destroyed.

Meanwhile, teachers warned that flooding had exacerbated the chronic
shortage of books and other study materials. Purchases of 47,000
textbooks for 12 grades are under way while some schools simply opened
their doors in October with no teaching materials, said the president
of the Cambodian Independent Teachers' Association, Rong Chhun.

It will still take months for the school system to recover, he added.

Disruption from the flooding will have a "huge impact" on drop-out
rates, absenteeism and enrolment, said Keo Sarath, education programme
manager at Save the Children Cambodia.

MDG progress

The country's progress on the Millennium Development Goal for primary
school education is mixed: 94 percent of primary school-age children
were enrolled for the 2009-2010 school year; 83 percent of students
enrolled in primary school completed the 2008-2009 year; and there was
virtually no gender disparity in enrolment. Lower secondary education
goals cannot be achieved by 2015 at the current pace, according to a
preliminary UN analysis from September 2010.

To mitigate the risk that the floods may derail progress on primary
education, existing guidelines to make up lost school hours must be
enforced, said Denise Shepherd-Johnson, head of communications for the
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Cambodia.

A downward trend in government spending on education - 19.2 percent of
the budget in 2007 to 15.9 percent in 2012 - limits the Education
Ministry's ability to respond to the flooding, she added.

Almost 10 percent of the country's population, about 1.6 million
people, was directly hit by the flooding, about one-quarter of a
million people fled to higher ground and about 250 people died,
according to the National Committee for Disaster Management's most
recent data from 28 October.

The flooding began in mid-July in the upper Mekong River, and then
spread to 18 of the country's 24 provinces as Cambodia's largest lake,
the Tonle Sap, more than doubled its monsoon-season size.

Almost 20 million people have been affected since June in Thailand,
Cambodia, Philippines, Vietnam and Laos.

Save the Children and the Education Ministry have set up more than 400
temporary schools in four of Cambodia's worst-hit provinces, reaching
more than 12,000 primary-school students.

"Every day a child is not in school increases the risk they drop out
permanently in a disaster like this. If we can quickly get them back
in school-like settings, the chances of this happening are reduced,"
Jasmine Whitbread, CEO of Save the Children International, told IRIN.

In recent visits to the flood-hit provinces, Battambang and Kampong
Cham, residents of villages who lost their annual rice crop, or remain
isolated by flooding, told IRIN they were struggling to feed
themselves and keep their livestock alive.

Flooding destroyed some 265,000 hectares of rice, about 10 percent of
the total 2.5 million hectares planted, according to the government.

A rice-growing village, Anlong Chrey, in Kampong Cham Province, has
become an islet reachable only by an hour's boat ride.

It had been entirely submerged for about one month, after the Mekong
River, 8km west, and the Tonle Sap River, 35km east, overflowed their
banks and converged in mid-September, said residents.

The village has two temporary primary schools - attended by about 140
children - but older students are among the hundreds who have been
forced to leave the village of about 380 families in search of work.

Some children have gone as far as Thailand and Malaysia, residents
said. A recent assessment by Save the Children Cambodia in 20 villages
raised concerns of increased child labour and migration as adolescent
girls search for work.

Soy Chet, 16, lives alone in Anlong Chrey village in a hut surrounded
by knee-deep water. Orphaned three years ago, she managed to remain in
school and support herself before the floods.

She said she hoped to finish primary school, but did not know what she
would do afterwards as her neighbours had told her they could no
longer support her.

"Maybe I will go to look for work in a sewing factory," she said,
adding that if she did, it would be the first time she had ever left
her district.

http://www.irinnews.org/printreport.aspx?reportid=94298
24 November 2011
PHNOM PENH

Cambodian Health Professionals Association of America

Daniel Chan is a Cambodian-American doctor who survived the Khmer
Rouge and says he was fortunate to escape it. Now he is determined to
give something back. That's why he'll be traveling with other doctors
to Cambodia in next year as part of a medical mission to provide
health care to some of the country's neediest.

"I came from Cambodia," he told VOA Khmer. "I saw it and lived it. Now
our lives here have gotten better, and if we don't help the poor, it's
like we are heartless."

Chan, a family medicine practitioner who is the vice president of the
Cambodian Health Professionals Association of America, will travel
with a team of doctors and volunteers to Koh Kong province from Jan.
30 to Feb. 4. They will provide free medicine and medical and dental
care. They will also meet with Cambodian doctors, nurses, students and
volunteers to share their experience.

"I want to help them because they need help, just like I did, 20 or 30
years ago, during the Khmer Rouge," he said.

This will be the association's second mission to Cambodia. Last year,
the Long Beach, Calif., organization saw around 5,000 people, much
more than they were prepared for.

This year, they have more volunteers, said Tang Song, who is a doctor
and the president of the association. "In the next mission, we hope to
add more doctors and physicians that have specializations in optometry
or even surgery," he said. "And we need more volunteers in dental
care, because it's highly needed in Cambodia."

"Some people had never seen a doctor once, even though they were in
their fifties," said Visal Nga, a specialist in internal medicine who
will travel again to Cambodia this year. "Problems like heartburn,
back pain, we can give them medicine, but some people have chronic
diseases like diabetes that really need to be taken care of."

Last year, the group had expected to see some 500 patients a day.
Instead, they saw 1,000. This year, they hope they will be prepared.
The doctors say that even though they will be in Koh Kong, anyone from
Cambodia is welcome.
Long Beach, California
Cheang Sophinarath, VOA Khmer
California Doctors Prepare for Mercy Mission to Cambodia
23 November 2011

US$200 million for struggling rice-milling industry

Two Cambodian banks have set aside US$200 million for loans to bolster
the Kingdom's struggling rice-milling industry, officials said
yesterday.

The move comes as the Cambodian government has called on the private
sector to boost loans to rice millers during the harvest season as a
way to curb paddy exports to neighbouring countries.

ANZ Royal Bank and Canadia Bank said yesterday they would prioritise
lending to rice millers given the government presently lacks the funds
necessary to subsidise the still-developing sector.

"ANZ Royal is very keen to expand it's lending to rice millers. In
fact, I'd be happy to make $100 million available today for millers
with the right credit quality," CEO Stephen Higgins said.

The lending market to rice millers is very competitive at the moment,
Higgins noted, as many banks have been aggressive in chasing potential
customers.

Canadia has also set aside $100 million to loan to the agriculture
sector, especially rice millers, Vice President Dieter Billmeier said
yesterday. He noted that agriculture loans account for 8 per cent of
all the bank's loans, and the rice industry comprises a significant
part of that lending.

The government has reached out to the private sector to provide
much-needed capital to rice millers, as public funding as of now
cannot meet the industry's need.

"The problem is a lack of capital to buy rice for stock. We need
US$200 million to $300 million. If we don't have enough, the rice will
flow to other countries," Son Koun Thor, general director of state-run
Rural Development Bank, said on Monday.

RDB holds $60 million in working capital for loans to rice millers,
Son Koun Thor said. Beyond that figure, some commercial banks are
working with the industry as well.

Chhun Thom, a rice miller in Prey Veng province, where most unmilled
rice is shipped to Vietnam, agreed that paddy-buying capacity is
constrained by companies' small budgets.

"Of course, we got some money from the bank, but it is still limited
unless we have enough collateral" to ensure the loans, he said. "But
if we don't have that collateral, we cannot get the loans."

Prime Minister Hun Sen had said previously that Cambodia will export 1
million tonnes of milled rice by 2015, however experts have countered
that the country lacks the milling capacity necessary to meet that
goal.

Much of the country's unmilled rice is shipped to Thailand and Vietnam
for processing. As a result, help from the private sector will be
crucial, Son Koun Thor said.

Banks offer millions to millers
Rann Reuy and May Kunmakara
23 November 2011

Rising Wages in Cambodia

With per capita GDP well under a thousand dollars and a government
dependent on foreign aid, Cambodia is among the poorest of the poor in
Southeast Asia. But with workers in China, Thailand and Vietnam,
demanding and obtaining heftier paychecks, Cambodians are getting a
residual lift. Rising wages, labour unrest, as well as currency
instability and political turmoil in some cases, elsewhere in the
region's traditional manufacturing centers are improving the prospects
of Cambodia, an industrial minnow.

The country's garment exports have soared in the past year, increasing
by nearly 40 per cent, according to the government. Independent
observers might put the figure lower, but they would agree with Ken
Loo, the secretary general of the Garment Manufacturers Association of
Cambodia, when he points to rising wages and work stoppages in China
as one of the main causes of Cambodia's increased share of the market.
It's an important boost in a sector that has been Cambodia's main
engine of growth since the late 1990s, when the country stabilized
after years of debilitating civil strife. The garment and footwear
industry employs some 400,000 people in this country of just over 14
million (the Gap, H&M and Nike are among the major brands that have
suppliers in Cambodia) and account for more than two-thirds of
Cambodia's exports.

But the spillover effects of higher labour costs in China and
elsewhere aren't limited to the textiles sector. Slowly but surely,
Cambodia's industrial horizons are expanding as well, with Japanese
companies leading the charge. Minebea, a Tokyo-based producer of micro
motors, for example, started operations in Cambodia at the end of last
year. The Japanese company began outsourcing manufacturing to Thailand
25 years ago, where it has grown to employ over 30,000 workers.
Because of rising wages there, it's now assembling some of its
products in a special economic zone in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital.
Other manufacturers—making headphones and wetsuits, among other
products—have opened plants there too, lifting the sophistication of
the Cambodian manufacturing sector above T-shirts and sneakers.

"It's unrealistic to say Cambodia is adding huge value-added chains,"
said Peter Brimble, chief economist of the Asian Development Bank in
Cambodia. But growing hurdles in Asia's main production centers are
"enough to tip the scales" to attract investor interest in Cambodia.
Gordon Peters, an investment adviser with Emerging Markets Consulting,
which operates in Southeast Asia, said the number of international
companies contacting his consulting firm about business scoping
opportunities in Cambodia has grown exponentially this year. More
investors are looking at Cambodia as an attractive "long-term bet,"
one with limited dividends now but high-growth prospects in the near
future, he said.

Observers often criticize the heavy-handed influence of Beijing on
Cambodia. But if rising wages in the regional powerhouse can lift
business and employment prospects in Cambodia, this is a spell under
China's shadow that the Southeast Asian country is likely to enjoy.

http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/11/22/cambodia-enjoying-chinas-long-shadow/

Cambodia: enjoying China's long shadow
Brendan Brady
November 22, 2011

Cambodia fashion changing quickly

Cambodian youngsters are becoming increasingly fashion conscious and
are trying new looks
As the sun sets, the rebels come out. Their favourite form of
transport is the Scoopy motorbike. Their destination is Phnom Penh's
riverside branch of Pencil.

On the face of it, this is an unlikely venue for youthful insurrection.

This nondescript, low-rise building in Cambodia's capital was, until
recently, a slightly shabby supermarket. But where the shelves of food
and household goods once stood, the rag trade has taken over.

This is what the rebels have come for. You shall know them by the
brevity of their skirts and the blondness of their hair.

Too much flesh?

They arrive in force. Hundreds of motorbikes are already crammed into
the narrow parking area in front of Pencil by 17:00, and a growing
queue of others is starting to block the road. The four-wheeled drive
cars dropping off the more well-to-do rebels exacerbate the
congestion.

Many of those arriving share a common look: micro-mini skirts or hot
pants for the women, and elaborately coiffed and coloured hairdos for
the men.

People have seen what they're wearing in other countries. Everybody
wants to be Korean"

In many countries, this would barely raise an eyebrow, but in Cambodia
it could be read as a deliberate effort to confront authority.

The lithe-limbed, topless apsara dancer carved into the stones of the
ancient temples of Angkor may be one of the icons of this small
nation, but the modern powers-that-be frown on the exposure of too
much flesh.

In the past, television celebrities have been ordered to dress
modestly, and keep a conservative hairstyle.

Even those with a lower profile have had to contend with the attention
of teachers and traffic police. Both groups have been known to
administer impromptu haircuts or even cart offensively styled
youngsters off for "re-education".

All this is a sign of how the aesthetic norms, in place since three
decades of conflict came to an end in the 1970s, are being challenged.

"It's changed a lot in the past two or three years," says Cambodia's
leading model agent, Sapor Rendall.

"Designers are making things more exciting now. When we got out of the
war, it was very conservative. In the past you'd think: 'My mum would
kill me for dressing like this'," she says, gesturing to her low-cut,
cleavage-exposing vest top. "But now... don't care."

That attitude is shared by the young crowd at Pencil.

Cambodian designers are also being influenced by trends in other
countries around the region

"Sometimes my mum asks 'Aren't you ashamed of going out like that?'
But it's changed for the new generation," says Arun, a 25-year-old
shop-worker with crimped and highlighted hair, who says she takes
style tips from international pop singers like Rihanna, Beyonce and
Pink.

Her 23-year-old friend Monika says her mother does not mind her
dyed-blonde hair or her preference for short skirts.

"People can do what they want now," she says. "Not just dress as the
authorities say. It's a free style - a sexy style."

A Korean style, as it turns out. The young women all acknowledge the
influence of the slew of celebrities coming out of Seoul, who they
watch on the wildly popular local, youth-orientated channel MyTV.

One of the busiest concessions inside Pencil is simply called Korean Style.

There are dozens of other clothing stalls - most no bigger than a
walk-in wardrobe, with garments hanging from floor to ceiling and a
fitting area squeezed into a corner.

Daly Na, 19, runs a stall called Darlink, which specialises in hot pants.

"These are my designs," she says, pointing out the boldly coloured
cut-offs on one side of the shop. Copycats are rife, she notes
ruefully.

"People have seen what they're wearing in other countries," says Ms
Na. "Everybody wants to be Korean - or pick up styles from Thai and
Hong Kong fashion magazines."

'Not our culture'

Prices can be bargained down from an initial asking price of $15 (£9).

However, the hot pants are still too expensive for those outside of a
rapidly emerging urban middle-class.

And Ravy Nick, a 19-year-old student, finds it hard to disguise her
distaste for the styles on display in Pencil.

"This is not our culture," she says. "Men look down on you when you
wear sexy. They think you're easy."

However, Ms Nick believes the sartorial mood may have shifted irreversibly.

"The government can say things, but they haven't made any rules or
laws - they're not doing anything about it."

As Cambodia has one of the youngest populations in the world, the
numbers would seem to be on the side of the fashion rebels.

For the moment, their desire for self-expression appears to be limited
to personal style and consumerism.

There seems to be little appetite for any movement other than that of
the upward march of the hemline.

However, as the increasingly affluent urban youth become ever more
savvy with social media and foreign travel, they may also bring
further changes to a country finally emerging from conflict and
conservatism.

Cambodia's fashionable rebels
By Guy De Launey
BBC News, Phnom Penh

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15632586

Business Opportunities in Cambodia

One of the most compelling opportunities here is in the agriculture sector.

Cambodia has some of the cheapest productive property in the world
that I've seen, far cheaper than in neighboring Thailand or even in
South America.

What they lack here is value-add capacity. Take rice, for example.

Rice is becoming a significant export in Cambodia, yet the country
lacks the capability to turn its raw paddy rice into refined, more
expensive grain.

Much of the rice is shipped off to Thailand at below-market rates
where it is milled, repackaged, and sold at a much higher price as
refined Thai jasmine or basmati.

Land costs and operating costs are both much lower in Cambodia… and
given the country's relative stability and sea access, it's much
easier to achieve economic scale here.

There is little reason why the entire value chain cannot take place
in-country… from growing to processing to transport.

Seafood and other agricultural commodities are in the same boat, so to speak.

Tourism is another key driver for future economic growth.

Cambodia receives a tiny fraction of the number of tourists that
Thailand, Malaysia, and even Vietnam receive, yet the country's
beautiful coastline, cultural treasures (like Angkor Wat), and
accommodating locals certainly rival regional competitors.

The issue with Cambodia is simply a promotional one… and that's
something that can be addressed with time, effort, and a
cleverly-deployed marketing budget.

There is already a steady rise in Chinese and Singaporean tourists
coming to the country, and Cambodia's reputation is slowly beginning
to spread.

Manufacturing is another compelling sector in Cambodia.

China still dominates Asian manufacturing, but the more China
transitions to a fully developed nation, the less competitively it can
manufacture cheap goods.

Cambodia is best positioned among its neighbors to take over from
China as it has several competitive advantages:
the labor market is young and fairly well educated. The port
facilities are reasonably developed.

And believe it or not, Cambodia's dollarized economy makes
international trade and cost structure predictable.

Now, to be involved in Cambodia, you definitely have to be here.

This isn't a place to have a factory that you drop in on every few
months– being here full-time is key.

If I were in-country full time, I would focus on a key trend: the
rising incomes of average Cambodians.

As the economy continues to grow, Cambodians across the board will
become wealthier.

And in the developing world, it's a simple progression.

When people are totally broke, they walk.

When they have a bit of money, they buy a bicycle.

Then a motorbike. And finally a car.

They start using more electricity, purchasing more expensive mobile
phone plans, eating out more often, buying sweets, upgrading their
beer selection, etc.

You won't find iPad sales skyrocketing here anytime soon, but simple
pleasures do extremely well in this sort of environment.

Last, I should mention that both foreigners and their capital are
treated well in Cambodia.

Taxes are low (0% to 10%), and the country lacks the political
instability that Thailand seems to undergo every few months.

Overall, for both foreign investors and entrepreneurs, Cambodia is a solid bet.

There are a lot of opportunities to make some serious money here, and
the start up costs are negligible.

More :
http://www.businessinsider.com/cambodia-almost-endless-opporunities-2011-10

Simon Black
Oct. 19, 2011
http://www.businessinsider.com/author/simon-black

Solar Products More Affordable for Developing World

It is the cleanest, most abundant energy source. But solar power faces
the challenge of affordability and efficiency, especially if such
systems are to be widely installed in the developing world.

Progress is being made. Scores of Chinese companies are touting their
latest solar electronic components and products at an international
trade fair in Hong Kong.

Most of the products on display here at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair
are practically unusable for the 1.6 billion people, a quarter of the
world's population, living without electricity.

In sunny Africa and South Asia, which have the lowest electrification
rates, cheaper and more efficient solar cells are in demand.

And innovation is occurring, says Zhong Xiao Jun, whose company in
Guangzhou, China makes solar panels, chargers and lighting systems.

"To improve competitiveness of our products, we are working on
increasing battery performance," he says. "We are using some printed
circuit board to cut energy losses. Secondly, we are increasing the
electrical conversion efficiency of solar panels. This is possible
because we are utilizing special new materials and techniques for our
panel production line."

One of the challenges of solar power, of course, is what do you do
when the sun is not shining?

There are innovative solutions, such as this one: a hybrid system that
relies not only on solar, but also wind power, for street lamps. It is
already operational in Shenzhen, China and Germany.

In North America and Europe, more expensive crystalline silicon
technology is preferred for high power, limited space installations.

In the developing world, Topray Solar's Frank Lin says cheaper thin
film technology is favored.

"That means they can pay for the same power with less money. Of
course, the disadvantage will be a bigger size. But bigger size is not
an issue for the African, for the developing countries because they
have that kind of space. And usually what they use are smaller
applications," says Lin.

More affordable products for daily use in places off the grid are
coming to market. Solar flashlights on display here are being sold on
a wholesale basis for as little as 35 cents each.

A detachable LED shines up to 20 hours when fully charged and retails
for under $100.

Solar power, globally, is reaching new heights every year. Industry
officials say installations reached a record high of more than 18
gigawatts last year.

But the top market remains Europe. It is estimated only one percent of
the world's solar panels are in the developing world.

October 14, 2011
Solar Products Becoming More Affordable for Developing World
Steve Herman | Hong Kong

Find this article at:
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/environment/-Solar-Products-Becoming-More-Affordable-for-Developing-World--131852308.html

Cambodians struggle for rights and freedom

Cambodia has the youngest population among the 10 members of the
Association of South-East Asian Nations. Two out of 3 Cambodians are
under 25 years of age, and more than 30 percent of the country's 14
million people are between the ages of 10 and 24 years. With such a
young and vibrant population and an enviable rate of economic growth
for the past 10 years, what about the future does not beckon brightly?

Last July, the United Nations Development Programme released results
of a survey of Cambodian youth. Ninety-five percent of young Khmers
are proud to be Cambodian nationals. They said the country is headed
in the right direction.

Reports abound about many of the young and vibrant population who fall
prey to alcoholism and the "Perfect High"; live in a culture in which
bribery is prevalent and has spread nationwide among pupils, students,
teachers, and officials from elementary school to university level, to
the Ministry of Education.

Doctorate degrees, and honorary degrees from non-accredited
institutions, are much prized credentials that improve one's job
prospects and social status. Even military officers and government
officials want doctorate titles. There are some 2,000 Ph.D. candidates
in the country.

However, the UNDP reports that the 300,000 Cambodians who enter the
domestic labor market yearly often don't have the skills required by
private-sector employers.

Concerning Cambodia's outstanding economic development, Cambodians and
foreign donors know that has been accomplished through violence and
through governmental actions that have created in essence a "country
for sale." Tens of thousands of villagers' homes have been burned down
or dismantled and demolished by authorities. Privately owned land has
been taken by force; tens of thousands of people have been evicted;
and many have been brutally beaten. The country's forests are fast
disappearing and national resources are being sold to foreign
investors while some 35 percent of the people live on 75 cents to one
dollar a day.

Dr. Gaffar Peang-Meth
October 14, 2011
More :
http://www.humanrights.asia/opinions/columns/AHRC-ETC-048-2011

Water Festival cancelled

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday cancelled the nation's
biggest annual festival as he announced that the death toll from the
worst flooding in over a decade had risen to 247.

The funds needed to put on the popular Water Festival, due to take
place in the capital from November 9 to 11, would be better spent
helping the tens of thousands of families affected, he said.

"If we don't spend the state budget for the (festival) preparations in
Phnom Penh... we can save some money to improve the living standards
of our people and repair the damage," Hun Sen said in a televised
speech.

He also said the precariously high water level of the Tonle Sap river
that flows through the city would present a "high risk" to revellers.

More than 270,000 families nationwide have seen their homes or
livelihoods waterlogged in two months of flooding caused by heavy rain
that has resulted in the Mekong River bursting its banks, according to
official estimates.

Hun Sen said the government, the Cambodian Red Cross and several other
relief organisations were racing to provide emergency aid to the
victims, reaching more than 76,000 families so far.

The country's deadliest floods since 2000, which have inundated some
390,000 hectares (960,000 acres) of rice paddies, represent a huge
challenge to impoverished Cambodia but the government has not appealed
for international assistance.

In neighbouring Thailand, the worst monsoon floods in decades have
left more than 280 people dead.

Cambodia's Water Festival, which marks the reversal of the flow
between the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers, usually draws two million
visitors to the capital to enjoy dragon boat races, fireworks and
concerts.

Last year's event ended in tragedy when more than 350 people were
killed in a stampede on a packed and narrow bridge.

India Launches 'World's Cheapest' Computer

India has unveiled what it is calling the world's cheapest computer,
aimed at bridging the digital divide between the nation's rich and
poor.

The tablet computer is called "Aakash", or sky in Hindi, and will be
sold to students at the government-subsidized price of $35.

Indian officials and the company that developed the computer, DataWind
Limited, handed out the devices Wednesday to hundreds of students in
New Delhi.

The company is planning a pilot-run of 100,000 units.

The computer tablet provides word processing, Internet browsing and
video conferencing. The device also has two USB ports.

DataWind Chief Executive Suneet Singh Tuli on Wednesday called for
competition in order to get the price of the tablet computer down to
$10.

Indian Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal called the
computer India's gift to all children, and a tool to help lift many
out of poverty.

India has a reputation for creating affordable innovative products,
including the compact "Nano" car, which sells for about $2,000.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/India-Launches-Worlds-Cheapest-Computer-131164843.html

Students display Aakash, which means sky in Hindi, dubbed the world's
cheapest tablet computer, after its launching ceremony in New Delhi,
India, October 5, 2011.

Chinese language schools in Cambodia

A Cambodia's senior education official said Wednesday that Chinese
language schools have been mushrooming throughout Cambodia and the
language becomes the second most popular foreign one in the country
after English.

"I observe that more and more Cambodian children flock to study
Chinese language nowadays," Chey Chab, secretary of state for the
Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, said Wednesday during the
inauguration of the Beijing International Academy (BIA) in Phnom Penh.

"I see that Chinese language has been broadly used internationally now
and it looks more important, especially among business communities,"
he said.

Chab said that in Cambodia, the language has gradually been gaining
popularity as China is the country's largest investor and a leading
trade partner with Cambodia.

According to the Chinese Association in Cambodia, there are 56 Chinese
schools with more than 30,000 students throughout Cambodia. The figure
does not include local private schools that offer part- time Chinese
language courses.

Diana Liu, the BIA's director, said the BIA was the first academy in
Cambodia that offered Chinese and English programs with complete
combined programs including arts, cultures, sciences, music, dance and
martial arts.

"We are committed to building an excellent quality of Chinese and
English education in the country," she said. "Our presence here will
also help the government of Cambodia to develop human resources."

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/culture/2011-10/05/c_131175527.htm
2011-10-05

World Day Against Child Labour

Hundreds of Cambodian schoolchildren marched through the country's
capital on Sunday to mark the World Day Against Child Labour, waving
banners calling for an end to the widespread practice.

Hundreds march in Cambodia capital urging end of child labor - PHNOM PENH

The demonstration was organized by the International Labour
Organisation (ILO) and the Cambodian government, who have set a goal
of ending the worst forms of child labor in the country by 2016.

They also announced the launch of an ambitious program to rid Phnom
Penh's popular riverside area of child workers by this time next year.

Menacherry Paul Joseph, head of the ILO's anti-child labor programmed
in Cambodia, said it was "a shame" that young children could be seen
begging or selling books and souvenirs to tourists until late at
night.

"Cambodia is truly a kingdom of wonder. Let us make it a kingdom
without child labor," he said at the rally, where demonstrators waved
banners saying "Warning! Children in hazardous work — End child
labor."

According to the ILO, some 1.5 million Cambodians under the age of 18
are forced to work, more than 310,000 of them in hazardous jobs such
as spraying pesticides or working in brick factories.

Ten-year-old child worker Soth Ousphea, watching the rally, said his
mother could not afford to send him to school, and instead he earned
around 50 cents a day collecting plastic bottles and cans.

"I want to go to school," he told AFP.

Cambodia is one of Southeast Asia's poorest countries, with around a
third of its 14 million people living on less than a dollar per day.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/asia/other/2011/06/13/306009/Hundreds-march.htm
June 13, 2011

Cambodia economic growth

Cambodian officials say the country's economic growth rate is set to
exceed seven percent this year.

According to financial analysts even if the global economy slows,
Cambodia is well prepared to deal with it, partly because of strong
foreign investment. But the billions of dollars flowing into the
country are also raising concerns about the political and social
impact from massive development projects.

Cambodia has posted strong economic growth in the two years since the
2008 global financial crisis. Foreign investment, a growing tourism
industry and a strong agricultural sector have been key to that
growth.

The country's garment and textiles sector is also doing well, with
exports set to rise by 40 percent this year.

"The Cambodian economy is probably in the best shape it has ever been
in - absent is what is going on the rest of the world," said Stephen
Higgins, chief executive officer for ANZ Royal Bank in Phnom Penh.
"The economic growth this year we think will be in the range of seven
to eight percent, and the normal global environment we would expect
probably eight to 10 percent in the next few years."

But Higgins says inflation must be kept under control, especially with
regard to rising food prices.

Despite economic uncertainty in Europe and the United States, the
Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimated growth this year at 6.8 percent
and only expects the rate to decrease slightly next year.

Analysts say foreign investors from Japan are seeking alternatives to
China and Thailand. They are joining long standing regional investors
such as Vietnam and South Korea.

But China remains the country's top investor. Chinese state media
report that investors have poured in about $5.5 billion in the first
seven months of the year.

Among the investments is a luxury property development project worth
$3 billion. China has also provided money for hydropower and road
construction. And two of China's leading banks, the Industrial and
Commercial Bank of China and the Bank of China, opened branches in
Cambodia this year.

ADB senior economist Peter Brimble says while funds from China are
welcome, Chinese aid can be restrictive.

"Chinese aid is extremely tied; [there is] no bidding. It's quite
likely - especially if it's a loan rather than a grant - you may
actually be paying more for what you are getting just because the
Chinese don't believe in competitive bidding. I think the government
knows that."

Critics say China's economic influence is linked to its political
concerns. They point to an incident in 2009 when Cambodia deported 20
Muslim ethnic Uighurs who sought asylum after fleeing violence in
China. Soon after their departure, a senior Chinese official arrived
in Cambodia to sign 14 trade deals worth $850 million.

David Carter, president of the Australian Business Association of
Cambodia, says Cambodia has welcomed investment from China.

"Certainly it has a big influence on the place," said Carter.
"Bridges and roads are being built. So there's a feeling that a lot of
Chinese money around the place, but I think most people are aware it
will come with obligations attached. So it's good, but you have to pay
your bills back at some time."

The development projects funded by those investments can have a
dramatic impact on one of South East Asia's poorest nations. While
officials have welcomed investments in upgrading Cambodia's
infrastructure, there have also been thousands of evictions to make
way for new projects. In 2010, rights groups estimate 30,000 people
were forced from their homes by mining, agriculture and hydropower
projects.

The Housing Rights Task Force, a rights group that has been critical
of government resettlement policies, says up to 150,000 people may be
evicted in the coming years. They say at least 80,000 evictions could
occur in the capital, Phnom Penh.

Hang Chayya, director of the Khmer Institute for Democracy, says
foreign investors must respect human rights in order to maintain long
term relationships in Cambodia.

"Any bilateral relationship with China has to be done on one that
respects human rights and democracy in the country," said Chayya.
"And this is what is not happening in the government taking the option
of dealing with China."

Cambodia's economic performance will be highlighted in 2012, when
Phnom Penh hosts the annual meetings of the regional Association of
South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Analysts say Cambodia's economic future increasingly lies with the
fortunes of its close neighbors Thailand, Vietnam and Laos, and its
distant neighbor to the north, China.

September 30, 2011
Foreign Investment Brings Cambodia Growth, New Issues
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/southeast/Foreign-Investment-Brings-Cambodia-Growth-New-Issues-130847333.html

Em Riem Gallery X Em Design

Phnom Penh may be Cambodia's cultural center, but decades of civil war and a regime that claimed the lives of millions left the capital seriously lacking in the art department.

That is, until artist Em Riem, fresh from a newly acquired French education, returned home in 2008 and set up Gallery X Em Design.

His gallery can be found at #13 178 Street, on the other side of the Preah Norodom Boulevard, isolated from clustered galleries for tourists clustered on the other side of the street towards the Sisowath Quay.

Finding this gallery is not an easy task.

The somewhat fanciful numbering system, has lead some fans to search for it for more than half a day. But they're not complaining, as the quest leads them to a gallery at the forefront of an emerging young Cambodian art scene, showcasing Em Riem's own work as well as work from other artists who are helping him carve out a rich cultural landscape in their home country.

More:
http://www.ianyanmag.com/2011/09/27/in-cambodia-emerging-artist-memorializes-genocide/

Innovative model to create meaningful jobs

Planting Promise is a community based organization in Sierra Leone
that develops the prospects of the world's poorest country by giving
local people the opportunity to create sustainable business and pursue
their education.

Planting Promise's innovative model not only creates meaningful jobs
with high social value, but also creates a financially stable model
for education.

His travels in eastern and southern Africa made him think about how to
deliver lasting, sustainable change for the poorest people in the
world.

To successfully escape the poverty trap, Rocco says, efforts must
focus on giving people the capacity to change their own lives and the
inspiration to do it.

"When we talk about poverty, we need to also talk about the poverty of
aspiration," he says.

Rocco's firm belief is that we need to invest in people, and help them
realize anything is possible.

Learn more about Rocco's work here :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru-CBJehYhY

Entrepreneurship : lifestyle of the entrepreneur

What it takes to be an entrepreneur and why now is the best time to become one.
by Jeff Fritz

It's scary out there. Graduating from university, students would hope
to whatever belief system they holds dear that they'll be able to land
a job within their chosen profession, to finally start their adult
lives in earnest. "But what if that doesn't happen?" they might
wonder. "What are my options?"

For many soon-to-be-graduates, the answer to this existential query is
weighing more and more on their collective minds. And even with the
economy crawling out of a recession, finding work—any work—remains a
bloodsport. They will be competing with thousands of other new
graduates and hundreds of thousands of other adult professionals for
the jobs they want.

Success in entrepreneurship is as much who you know as what you know
or how innovative you are. … All things together, it's usually the
well-connected person who wins the game versus the individual without
connections.

Pile on to this the fact that since the 1980s, since the rise of
globalization, cost cutting trends have changed the rules of the game.
Specifically, such movements as downsizing (reducing organizational
size either through the number of employees or the number or breadth
of departments); delayering (restructuring the organization to possess
fewer levels of bureaucracy); outsourcing (getting rid of
organizational functions to instead purchase them from external
specialists); and casualization of work (part-time, flex-time, temp
work, volunteer, etc) have led to a complete shift in how most view
the concept of work.

Summarizing this shift, Professor Jon Kerr, a lecturer and coordinator
of the management area in the School of Administrative Studies in the
Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, stated, "The
employment environment today is fundamentally different than the
environment 30, 40, 50 years ago. The idea of getting out of
university, getting into one stream of work and staying in that work
until retirement, those days are long gone."

Options

So what options are there? For some, taking action, taking command of
one's life to create one's own opportunities feels like a welcome
refuge from the thought of having to rely on the whims of external
employers. This mindset is entrepreneurship at its heart and many
young professionals are viewing this profession/lifestyle as a viable
option upon graduation.

One such individual is Moshe Lokshin, President of the
Entrepreneurship Society at York. Growing up in Israel, Moshe
developed a strong background in computers, so much so that at 17 he
decided to start his own business. To his surprise (and a great deal
of luck he adds), his business, M.n.B. Computers Ltd, grew over three
years to generate annual sales of approximately 3.5 million Shekels
(750,000 CAN).

Sitting down with him, we discussed the lifestyle of the entrepreneur.
Sure it provides the satisfaction of striking it out on your own and,
if you're successful, a great deal of wealth, but is it for everybody?

Moshe grinned. Then with a Russian accent confessed, "(When I first
started out) I had to sacrifice—initially it was a girlfriend, then
friends, my high school grades were lower, all the things that I
didn't know how to balance with my business, how to manage into my
schedule."

"You see, for entrepreneurs, you have to do everything, because
usually when you first start out, you don't have the capital to hire
anybody. … Those things, how to manage your time, you're not born with
them. It takes time to learn."

In the end though, Moshe confirmed that, for him, the pros outweighed
the cons. "Entrepreneurship is my life."

The conversation then shifted to the qualities a young professional
needs to succeed as an entrepreneur. "Generally, I would say (you need
to) have dedication, persistence, discipline, adaptiveness and
awareness. Things are always changing in the market place. You have to
be prepared for uncertain situations. And you have to be alert. You
have to keep up on the market, know who your competitors are and if
they make a mistake, know how to capitalize on it."

But Moshe added that above all else, "I think that it is very
important for entrepreneurs to be okay with failure, because it's
there all the time. You fail and you have to stand up and keep on
going."

If that last point hasn't scared prospective entrepreneurs off, then
the next likely question one might ask is, "Where do I begin?"

During the discussion with Professor Kerr, he pointed out that a good
place to start is through networking. "Success in entrepreneurship is
as much who you know as what you know or how innovative you are. On
two sides, it helps you with getting the resources you need to get
your venture off the ground … and also, at the market interface,
networking exposes you to different channels, new potential customers.

"All things together, it's usually the well-connected person who wins
the game versus the individual without connections."

Kerr went on to explain how, in terms of lack of funding, there are
also a variety of modest funding grants and loans offered by the
government for young entrepreneurs (that is, if you can't get funding
from family, friends, the bank, etc). Moreover, the importance is
pressed for those students who lack experience, to "weave
(entrepreneurship) into their education and choice of part time
employment, (to expose them) to the entrepreneurial landscape (as
early as possible)."

"But still," one could say, "the costs seem to high. Starting a
business, running a business, nowadays only the big corporations can
do that. How can I compete?"

Entrepreneurship 2.0

This mindset would have been perfectly valid and common only ten years
ago. For many, the costs of starting one's own business, competing
with the 'big boys' were staggering, not to mention the sheer amount
of industry or legal knowledge one would need to obtain to ensure
their business lasted past the first few years. But something arose
this past decade, something which acted as a game-changer: the
Internet Revolution.

It seems quaint to say this now, especially with how comfortable many
Gen Nexters are with the Internet. But that's the point! When one
thinks about it, the Internet—and the Information Age it helped
foster—has completely democratized almost every aspect of starting a
new venture. And for those Gen Nexter's, currently in their 20s,
they're the first generation to grow up with it, to know how to use it
intuitively.

So why pay huge sums of money to market one's product or service on
television or in newspapers, when one can do so for free (or next to
free) online (e.g. Ebay or SparkFun) and in a much more targeted way?

Why shell out thousands in consultancy costs, when one can access
reams of industry, legal, regulatory, pricing, logistical information,
etc, for free online.

Why invest millions of dollars in owning manufacturing plants,
warehouses, shipping fleets, etc, when one can organize online the
outsourcing of a product's complete production to foreign countries
like China (e.g. Alibaba.com: business-to-business marketplace), have
it stored in a nearby warehousing company, accept payments for
products online (e.g. paypal.com), then deliver one's products
anywhere in the world (e.g. government or premium mail carriers)?

Even for those archetypal, DIY garage inventors, they can now download
free design tools like Blender or Google's SketchUp to create 3D
renderings of their product, then purchase online the manufacturing
equipment (which have fallen in price from the hundred thousands to a
few thousand, e.g. MakerBot) they would need to build their products
at home or in their rented space.

The latter is the approach Moshe is currently taking with his new
venture, Up Entertainment. Started over a year ago, Moshe invented a
new television screen system for condo elevators that will show video
and advertisements to riders, but do so wirelessly instead of using
long bundles of cable, which is the industry standard.

He programmed the software himself and, with a business partner,
constructed a several prototypes of the screens, which were later
installed (as a trial run) in a number of smaller GTA condos. With
their success, Moshe has already contacted a Chinese manufacturing
company to produce more of these elevator screens at much lower costs.
If all goes well, he plans to soon shift his business into full
operation, installing custom screens in condo elevators throughout the
GTA.

In all, never before has it cost so little or been so easy to not only
start one's own business, but make it survive and even grow globally.
The only thing stopping most from doing so is the willingness to take
risks and invest their time to pursue those opportunities they see in
front of them.

For Moshe, there's one thing he would tell a young counterpart
interested in trying entrepreneurship, "(It's) a lifestyle, not just a
career. So what do you have to improve most? Yourself. I am constantly
trying to develop myself, looking for what I'm good at and what are my
weaknesses and trying to improve on them.

"There is no stop. You can always be better, always continue, always
improve, always explore other opportunities. It's like a never ending
marathon."

Entrepreneurship and the Gen Next
http://www.arbitragemagazine.com/features/entrepreneurship-gen
SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Grantwriting Tips

Writing grant proposals to get money to make your project happen is
becoming more and more common.

Here are tips and resources for writing your first grant!

Find out which foundations have given grants in your region similar to
your planned proposal!

Talk to those who got funded and ask for advice and ideally copies of
their successful grants.

Read the current guidelines for those foundations on what they will
fund and when the grants are due.

If a foundation says they won't fund equipment, don't ask them for
equipment (unless it's a necessary component of the part of the grant
they said they'd fund!)

For example:

A programmatic grant could ask for $50,000 in support equipment, but
would not be considered if they called themselves a technology
project.

Semantics do matter a great deal!

If they say they'll fund up to $15,000, don't ask them for $50,000.

Foundations often shift their focus, and timing can be very important.

Watch for timing-sensitive opportunities.

Do your homework!

Grant reviewers appreciate those who paid attention to their RFP's
(Requests for Proposals.)

Too few do!

Collect sample successful grants to use as boilerplate models.

Many foundations will send you, on request, proposals from past funded
projects, or at least will give you the addresses of past grant
recipients, so you can ask them directly for copies of successful
proposals.

The more good proposals you read, the more you'll understand how clear
writing and following guidelines leads to funding.

Use the same terms in your proposal that the foundation used to
describe what they want to fund.

Buzz phrases push important buttons.

If they tell you what to tell them: listen, and be convincing as to
how your project dovetails with their posted guidelines.

If an RFP says they don't fund technology grants, don't use the word
technology.

Find other words to express your project, ideally taken directly from
the RFP guidelines.

Get to know individuals who have worked with the foundations to which
you're applying.

Talk to foundation personnel as much as is politely possible.

Typically, little suggestions, and hints, you'll pick up, even from a
phone conversation, will make major differences in the final form and
focus of your proposal.

The more personal contacts you make, the better for you.

Foundations appreciate those who take the time to gather all the
facts, and they might even recognize your name when your proposal
comes up for review.

Pay careful attention on what to emphasize and what to tone down.

Less is More!

Reviewing stacks of proposals is a difficult job.

Grant reviewers quickly learn to scan text, particularly proposal
abstracts, in an attempt to get a quick overview of exactly what you
expect to do, with whom, when, how, and toward what measurable
outcome.

If you are short and to the point, and you've answered the key
questions, your grant will be viewed as comprehensible and fundable.

If you bog down the reviewer with too much ambling detail they'll have
a hard time understanding your proposal and it is likely to end up in
the "NO" pile.

Good proposals are easy to understand.

A catchy name, like "Reach for the Sky" which is also descriptive of
the project, can make a big difference.

First impressions and a memorable theme and name are important!

Remember they will want to promote your project proudly as one of
their great projects.

Good writing should be easy to read, understand, and should present
your ideas in an exciting, yet specific manner.

The abstract of your proposal is the single most important paragraph
of your proposal.

You should know exactly what you're planning to do with their money,
and express it in elegant simplicity.

If the grant reviewer has a good idea of the direction of your
proposal from reading the abstract, it creates an important first
impression that you do indeed know what you want accomplish, with
whom, at what cost, and specifically how.

In reading an exciting, well-written proposal, one idea follows
naturally to the next. One disjointed or boring sentence can kill the
mounting enthusiasm of a tired grant reader. Maintain a tempo of easy
to understand sentences that build on one another in a crescendo
fashion.

Show in your proposal that you're aware of who has done similar
projects, and that you've partnered with appropriate entities to
assure your project will have enough support to make it through to
completion.

Big Sky Telegraph, BST, (my former 10-year project) has helped many
people get grants because it was widely known we'd been around long
enough that most funders assume we won't disappear overnight.

Affiliating with BST gave the impression that the grantees will have
technical telecommunications support to assure their grant's success.

Sustainability is a big issue.

Too many grant projects disappear after the funding is gone.

How can you assure ongoing benefits once the funding runs out is one
of the biggest questions in the mind of the grant reviewer.

Measurable outcomes.

Once the grant is over, exactly what was produced, how will it be
disseminated and exactly how many people will have benefited?

How do you intend to measure tangible outcomes to prove the projected
benefit actually occurred?

In the passion of writing a grant it is easy to get too ambitious.

A major red flag for grant reviewers is the indication you've planned
to accomplish more than your budget makes realistically attainable.

It is better to limit your proposal to less, more assuredly attainable
goals, than to promise more than you can deliver.

Most projects find they badly underestimated funding for staff and
particularly technology support.

Be realistic and conservative.

Tie yourself to a major regional, or national, issue and position your
proposal as a model to be replicated once you've proved your idea
works.

Make it clear you're not just benefiting ten people in Two-Dot,
Montana, but that you're solving a problem shared by all rural schools
and are creating a replicable national model.

A specific strategy for broadly sharing your solution should be
specifically part of your proposal plan.

Choose your partners wisely.

The more partners you have to deal with, the harder it is to keep
everyone happy, particularly where control of large sums of money is
the issue.

If you plan to be working with your grant partners for years, you'd
better be sure you know who you can trust and work with.

Many projects end up with internal in-fighting that takes the fun out
of getting funded.

Money changes friendships.

Tread cautiously.

Consider whom you may have to work with if you get funded and whether
you should include them for a share of the funding to avoid future
resistance to your project.

Grant reviewers look closely to see who is flying solo, and who works
well with the other girls and boys.

The better partners you have, the safer their money is when invested
in your project.

Even if your first grant-writing effort doesn't get funded, the
planning and writing process still allows you to resubmit your idea
elsewhere.

Often project partners get so committed to a good idea, even if
funding isn't won, that the means for moving forward on a project can
still be a possibility.

Boilerplate paragraphs from old grants are typically recycled.

Seasoned grantwriters are skilled recyclers, reusing paragraphs from
successful grants.

Make it fun! If you get funded, you'd better enjoy working hard to
make your dream happen. Be careful what you ask for, because you just
might get it! Once a grant ends, what will you have built for the
future? Will you be right back where you started having to write
another grant? Plan accordingly.

Many web sites exist to support grant-writers, even specifically
educational technology grant-writers. Knowing this, find them and use
them! Search the Web for "educational technology grants" and/or
"grant-writing." Below are a sampling of the best grant-writing and
funding sources web sites.

Evaluations are the means by which you prove your success at the end
of the grant period and are often the key to winning your next grant.

Be tangible and realistic in what you set out to achieve, and in how
you'll know whether you've achieved it after the money is spent.

While it is considered to be inappropriate to submit the same grant to
multiple funders at the same time, one option is to change the grant
slightly so multiple funded grants would actually dovetail together
instead of creating duplication.

Grantwriting Tips :
http://lone-eagles.com/granthelp.htm

Many Community Grant Templates are at :
http://lone-eagles.com/rural-grant-templates.htm

to be shared without restriction.