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.

Global Entrepreneurship Week

Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) is the world's largest celebration
of the innovators and job creators who launch startups that bring
ideas to life, drive economic growth and expand human welfare.

During one week each November, partner organizations (23,952 in 2010)
in 118 countries conduct a broad range of activities, events and
competitions (37,561 total in 2010) that are designed to promote some
level or form of entrepreneurial activity.

At a minimum, the activities connect participants to potential
collaborators, mentors and even investors.

GEW 2011 is scheduled to occur from November 14 – 20, 2011.

How will Cambodia participate?

More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Entrepreneurship_Week

PPPost: Cambodian Baseball Federation

After substantial campaigning of authorities, the Cambodian baseball
team finally seem set to make an appearance at the 26th SEA Games in
Indonesia this November.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011092251785/Sport/baseball-team-gets-nod-for-games.html

Following months of uncertainty, the Cambodian Baseball Federation
(CBAF) has been granted permission by the Ministry of Education, Youth
and Sports and the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia to send the
national team to November's SEA Games in Indonesia on the condition
that neither organisation bears the costs.

"The MOEYS has cleared baseball as a special case," NOCC Secretary
General Vath Chamroeun told the Post yesterday.

"The entire cost of the trip for a squad of 27 members including
officials will be borne by the Federation. [However], the team will be
part of the national contingent."

The NOCC Secretary noted that all the promises and pledges made by the
newly restructured CBAF regarding good governance and promotion of the
sport had been taken into consideration.

"As a sign of encouragement, we let them go," said Vath Chamroeun,
"though the Federation failed to comply with our guidelines and
technically had no case."

"Since baseball was not in the national list of teams approved by the
Government, the only way they could make the trip was by taking care
of their own expenses which the Federation has now agreed to do."

The change of heart to allow Cambodia's participation in the baseball
competition was ostensibly brought about by reassurances made by the
CBAF regarding its long term strategy to promote the sport in the
Kingdom and to streamline its administrative set up.

The Federation had vehemently argued that denying baseball its due
would seriously impair its development and would have driven away
several Japanese baseball agencies which are now ready to help the
Cambodian team in a big way.

The CBAF welcomed the last minute clearance as a huge relief and a big
opportunity to showcase Cambodia's passion for baseball.

With baseball being included well past the deadline for entries, there
were some hectic exchanges of correspondence in the past week between
the NOCC and the SEA Games organising committee, while the Indonesian
Baseball Federation acted as a conduit to straighten things out.

Despite the Indonesian National baseball authority already approving
Cambodia's inclusion, the Games organising committee is yet to
officially convey its sanction although the proposal has been cleared
in principle.

"The green light has already been given. I think the Organising
Committee will have no objection once the Indonesian Baseball
Federation has agreed to include Cambodia," Vath Chamroeun said.

"It is now up to the national baseball team to make the best of this
opportunity."

The NOCC official also revealed there had been "a lot of negative
thoughts and publicity" surrounding the whole affair, with both the
MOEYS and the NOCC "singled out for unfair criticism at various stages
by various individuals."

Vath Chamroeun assured that the NOCC had "no axe to grind against anyone."

At the end of it all, the happiest man was undoubtedly US-based Joe
Cook, the founder of the Cambodian Baseball Federation, who
relinquished his position as CBAF President a few months ago but led a
vigorous campaign for an Indonesian ticket for the national team.

Though he may not be officially involved with the day-to-day affairs
of the Federation any more, there is no disputing the fact that Cook
has been the driving force behind the team and should claim part of
the credit for pulling off this minor coup of sorts.

However, Cook's well publicised outbursts against several officials at
the height of this controversy, "may bounce back and hurt him at some
stage" according to a high ranking NOCC official who wished to remain
anonymous.

Law: Farming Cooperatives in Cambodia

New Law to Support The Creation of Farmers' Cooperatives

Agriculture Minister officials said that they would soon complete a
new law to regulate and support the creation of farmers'
cooperatives.

They said the law would allow farmers to organize themselves in
legally recognized cooperatives, which could improve their market
position and allow access to financial and technical support.

Chea Saintdona, chief of the farmers' organization office at the
department of agricultural extension at the Ministry of Agriculture,
sad the draft law would be sent to the Council of Ministers after a
final discussion of its contents this week.

The law, he said, would provide big advantages to farmers that joined
a cooperative. "They could get technical and financial support from
the government partners," Mr. Saintdona said.

He added that farmers unified in a cooperative would be in a stronger
position to sell their produce.

He noted that after the law is adopted, the government would find
financial institution that could offer farmers credit through the
cooperative, allowing farmers to get loans without collateral, he
said, as the cooperative would guarantee the loans of its members.

Many farmers currently struggle to get credit and can only register
the land as collateral.

The 134-article draft law sets out a legal framework for farming
cooperatives, stipulating cooperative membership, organization
statutes and management, as well as capital and solvency issues.

A cooperative can be formed by at least 25 persons working in farming
and agricultural business, all of whom have to buy in to raise capital
for the organization, according to the draft.

It also details government policy in support of cooperatives,
specifying the creation of National Board for Agriculture
Cooperatives, as well as a training center and a development fund for
cooperatives.

Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun said in speech last month that 243
farmers' group had been formed so far. Given Cambodian's traumatic
experiences with Khmer Rouge forced labor cooperatives, he stressed
that the new cooperatives would be "absolutely voluntary" and would
"protect farmers' interest."

Yang Saing Koma, director of the Cambodian Center of Study and
Development in Agriculture, said the law was a step forward for the
agriculture sector, as recognition of cooperatives as business
organizations could help those working in the sector.

"It's important for small farmers to get organized in order to get
access to the market and additional resources," he said, adding that
it would be vital for farmers to choose good leaders for their
cooperatives.

Google Docs Character Reference Letter

> Aha! That's fun!

Yes, Google Docs is a useful and powerful tool for International
collaboration.  This is why I encourage others to have a Gmail account
so they may access other powerful personal and group productivity
tools. There are many in Cambodia who have no idea how just a few
simple changes in their thinking will cause their productivity to
sky-rocket.

This is why working with younger students is easier. They listen to me
more deeply.  Older students tend to think they know already, or they
don't understand and give up.

Because they are older they are less confident or likely to ask
questions.  They don't want to show how much they don't know.  It's
safer to be quiet.  Of course teaching is an interactive process -
learning is something we do on our own.

I do hope we can collaborate more on Google Docs. Google Docs in
conjunction with Skype is an extremely powerful
and effective group brainstorming tool.  Participants can be located
throughout the world while verbal discussion and on-line note taking
can be made in real-time for all to see. The on-line document becomes
as a white-board where all participants can contribute.

This is the future of teaching.
By the way, check out this video :
http://www.dibella.biz/media/education/

Also, for example, I placed an audio file in your Google Docs
directory.  As you know, this could easily have been a personal
dictation.  Google Docs offers simple and easy solutions for a variety
of distance-networking problems.  Again, this is the future of
education. Another term used is "Cloud Computing".

My Cambodia directory :
http://tinyurl.com/pub-ggl-docs

Charles

Useful Business Information

== Great Mapping Utility ==

http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/draw/?type=h&zoom=17&center=11.569244,104.920678&note=Hello
there.

== Interesting Cambodian Business Website ==

http://www.google168.info/

http://www.khdown.blogspot.com/

http://www.opendevelopmentcambodia.net/home/

== Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone ==

Over the past decade Cambodia has adapted a wide range of free market
policies, with a business-friendly and proactive government seeking to
encourage investment and manufacturing in the country.

The capital Phnom Penh is strategically located in one of the world's
most attractive destinations for your long term and secure investment.

To compete in a highly competitive global business environment, the
Royal Government of Cambodia has liberalized export policies &
licensing and implemented tax reforms providing various incentives to
investors.

It has also promoted the creation of economic zones - self contained,
fully serviced Special Economic Zones providing a range of attractive
incentives to their customers.

Special Economic Zones such as Phnom Penh SEZ are considered growth
engines that boost manufacturing, augment exports and generate
employment for the country.
Companies investing in Phnom Penh SEZ are enjoying a wide range of
support from government institutions based on site - minimizing
administrative efforts and providing direct access to solutions.

Components of a Special Economic Zone include infrastructural
facilities such as roads, generation and distribution of power, water
supply, sanitation and sewage systems, telecommunication networks but
also hospitals, hotels, education centers, residential and leisure
units.

http://www.ppsez.com/about-us/overview.html
and
http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t146517.html

== Good Investment for Future ==

Cambodia's Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) is unlike a
typical water utility in Asia. And it is not because it has service
efficiency, greater water productivity, or increasing consumer
base—other water utilities in the region have some of these traits at
one time or another.

PPWSA is different because it has achieved all these by radically
transforming a decrepit and war-torn water supply system with missing
water and missing customers into a model public sector water utility
that provides 24 hour drinking water to Phnom Penh.

http://www.adb.org/water/actions/cam/PPWSA.asp