Thursday, April 28, 2011

Real Estate market in Cambodia

Timely information on the Real Estate market in Cambodia :

http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Asia/Cambodia

http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Asia/Cambodia/Landlord-and-Tenant

http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Asia/Cambodia/Price-History

http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Asia/Cambodia/Buying-Guide

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Open-source blueprints for 50 farm machines

From TED Talks

Open-source blueprints for 50 farm machines, allowing anyone to build their own tractor or harvester from scratch. And that's only the first step in a project to write an instruction set for an entire self-sustaining village (starting cost: $10,000).

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/marcin_jakubowski.html

http://www.ted.com/speakers/marcin_jakubowski.html

http://opensourceecology.org/

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Book Review : Cambodia's Curse

In his new book "Cambodia's Curse," the former New York Times journalist Joel Brinkley comes very close to offering a similar dead-end theory to explain why he thinks the people of Cambodia are "cursed" by history to live under abusive tyrants. In his telling, Cambodians are passive Buddhists who have accepted their stern overlords since the days of the Angkor Empire. "Far more than almost any other state, modern Cambodia is a product of customs and practices set in stone a millennium ago," he writes, blaming that history for the ability of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to squash meaningful dissent against his corrupt regime.

Sunday, April 17, 2011
Cambodia's Curse
The Modern History of a Troubled Land
By Joel Brinkley

Source :
San Francisco Chronicle
http://editorials.cambodia.org/2011/04/cambodias-curse-by-joel-brinkley.html
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/17/RVTE1IKUA9.DTL

Monday, April 18, 2011

Aid to Cambodia rarely reaches the people

Representatives of more than 3,000 governments and donor organizations are meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Wednesday. If past experience is indicative, they will pledge to provide hundreds of millions in aid.

Most of these donors should simply stay home.

Year after year, smiling Cambodian government leaders attend these pledge conferences, holding out their hands. But first they have to listen as ambassadors and aid officers stand at the podium, look them in the eye, and lambast them for corruption and jaw-dropping human rights abuses.

Each year Prime Minister Hun Sen promises to reform. The donors nod and make their pledges — $1.1 billion last year. Then everyone goes home and nothing changes. In the following months, officials dip into the foreign aid accounts and build themselves mansions the size of small hotels, while 40 percent of Cambodia's children grow up stunted for lack of nutrition during infancy.

This year should be different. Over the past two decades, the Cambodian government has grown ever more repressive. Now it is actually planning to bite the hand that feeds it: The legislature is enacting a law that would require nongovernmental organizations to register with the government, giving venal bureaucrats the ability to shut them down unless they become toadies of the state.

Eight major international human rights organizations are calling on Cambodia to back down, saying the bill is "the most significant threat to the country's civil society in many years." Donors, they say, should hold back their pledges. But they say that every year, and each year the donors ignore them. Meanwhile, the status of the Cambodian people the aid is supposed to help improves little if at all. Nearly 80 percent of Cambodians live in the countryside with no electricity, clean water, toilets, telephone service or other evidence of the modern world.

All of this might surprise most Americans. It has been decades since many people here have given Cambodia even a thought. Forty years ago, Cambodia was on the front pages almost every day as the United States bombed and briefly invaded the state during the Vietnam War. Then came the genocidal Khmer Rouge era, when 2 million people died.

How many know what has happened there since? Last month, the Nexis news-research service carried 6,335 stories with Thailand in the headline. Vietnam had 5,196. For Cambodia, 578.

Most people don't know that Cambodians are ruled by a government that sells off the nation's rice harvest each year and pockets the money, leaving its people without enough to eat. That it evicts thousands of people from their homes, burns down the houses, then dumps the victims into empty fields and sells their property to developers.

That it amasses vast personal fortunes while the nation's average annual per capita income stands at $650. Or that it allows school teachers to demand daily bribes from 6-year-olds and doctors to extort money from dirt-poor patients, letting them die if they do not pay.

This is a government that stands by and watches as 75 percent of its citizens contract dysentery each year, and 10,000 die — largely because only 16 percent of Cambodians have access to a toilet. As Beat Richner, who runs children's hospitals there, puts it, "the passive genocide continues."

You wouldn't know any of that from the donors' behavior. You see, for foreigners Phnom Penh is a relatively pleasant place to live. Rents are cheap and household help is even cheaper. Espresso bars and stylish restaurants dot the river front — primarily for diplomats and aid workers.

Donors have largely been able to pursue whatever project they wanted without interference. They knew that the government would steal some of their money. But so what?

"Some money goes this way or that way," said In Samrithy, an officer with a donor umbrella group. "But it's useful if some of it reaches the poor. Not all of it does but some does. That's better than nothing."

Even with that, many donors feel the way Teruo Jinnai does. He's the longtime head of the UNESCO office in Phnom Penh. "Here I have found my own passion," he told me. "Here, I can set my own target. So that gives you more power, more energy, more passion."

Well, Mr. Jinnai, the noose is tightening. If, as expected, the NGO bill becomes law, government repression will reach out for you, too. Isn't it time, then, for all those donors to make a statement? On Wednesday stand up and tell the government: I am withholding my aid.

===

Aid to Cambodia rarely reaches the people it's meant to help
By Joel Brinkley,
Sunday, April 17, 7:45 PM

Joel Brinkley, a professor of journalism at Stanford University, is the author of "Cambodia's Curse: The Modern History of a Troubled Land."

See : http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/aid-to-cambodia-rarely-reaches-the-people-its-meant-to-help/2011/04/15/AF2JN8vD_story.html

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

US Congress Examines Visa Procedures

Anyone attempting to visit the United States as a student, businessman or tourist knows that getting a visa can take weeks or months, and involve several visits to a U.S. embassy or consulate. U.S. officials say they are aware of the need to improve visa and other services for visitors, and that they are making concerted efforts toward that end.

At a time of weak economic growth and fiscal austerity, Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota says America cannot afford to take tourists and other foreign visitors for granted.

"This is about jobs. Each foreign visitor to our country spends an average of $4,000," Klobuchar said. "We are talking about some serious money. In 2009 alone, spending by overseas visitors supported some 900,000 American jobs, and paid $23 billion in wages to American workers."

Klobuchar is Chairwoman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Competitiveness, Innovation, and Export Promotion. She says that from 2000 to 2009, America's share of global tourism fell by almost a third, costing the country hundreds of billions of dollars in lost revenue and hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Last year, President Barack Obama signed into law the Travel Promotion Act, which set up a public-private partnership to attract more visitors to the United States. At a hearing last week, Klobuchar said the initiative can work only if U.S. visa-granting procedures are improved.

"It doesn't do much good to promote the U.S. to foreign travelers when those foreign travelers can't get a visa for months to visit the United States of America. In a recent survey, 73 percent of respondents said they would not visit the U.S. if they knew it would take them two-to-three months to get a visa," Klobuchar stated. "Well, sadly, in several countries, that is how long it is taking."

U.S. officials testifying before the subcommittee spoke of efforts to expedite visa applications and boost consular staffing levels. They also pointed to a growing number of countries, currently three dozen, taking part in a visa waiver program that eliminates the need for a U.S. visa for many types of travel.

The State Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Visa Services, David Donahue, says these efforts have helped reverse the decline in the number of foreign visitors to the United States.

"In 2010, 60 million international visitors entered the United States -- a 17 percent increase from 2006. Demand for visas climbed at a dramatic pace in the world's fastest-emerging economies. Since 2005, visa issuance in China has doubled, and increased by 50 percent in India, 52 percent in Russia, 24 percent in Mexico, and more than 50 percent in the Middle East and North Africa. In Brazil, visa issuance has nearly tripled," Donahue explained.

But Donahue added that the need for prompt visa processing must be balanced against America's need to scrutinize everyone entering the country following the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. For instance, he noted that some have suggested adopting video conferencing technology so that U.S. officials can interview visa applicants from afar, rather than forcing them to visit U.S. consulates. Donahue said that from a security standpoint, that idea is ill-advised.

"The purpose of the in-person interview is to really assess the person standing in front of you and make a determination whether they are going to use the visa properly," he explained. "And in a two-dimensional Skype-type situation, even with the best technologies, we do not believe we will be able to make those decisions. It is a three-dimensional live presence that we feel is important."

To reduce aggravation and delays after visitors arrive in the United States, the former Bush administration established a "Model Ports of Entry" program. Under the program, additional Customs and Border Protection officers have been deployed to the nation's busiest international airports. Inspection areas have been revamped to make them more welcoming, and express lanes have been established for arriving visitors who need to make connecting flights.

April 12, 2011
Michael Bowman | Capitol Hill
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/Congress-Examines-US-Visa-Procedures-119691564.html

Monday, April 11, 2011

Cambodian prime minister cancels titanium mine

In a surprise move, the Cambodian Prime Minister, Sandech Hun Sen, has cancelled a titanium strip mine project in one of Southeast Asia's last great intact forest ecosystems, the Cardamom Mountains. According to a press release sent out by the Cambodian government the mine was canceled due to "concerns of the impact on the environment, biodiversity and local livelihoods" of villagers. The mine, which was planned to sit directly in the migration route for the largest population of Asian elephants in Cambodia, had been largely opposed by locals in the region who spent years developing eco-tourism in the region.

"We were under the impression the battle was lost. We are very pleased that the prime minister has weighed the environmental impact," Wildlife Alliance Communications Officer John Maloy told AFP.

Wildlife Alliance, a conservation NGO, has worked extensively in Cambodia for nearly a decade, including with the village of Chi Phat near the area slated to be strip-mined. Many local had residents given up logging and poaching to focus on tourism efforts; for its part, Wildlife Alliance invested over half a million US dollars to build infrastructure.

"We are elated by the decision of Prime Minister Hun Sen. It is incredibly encouraging to see that the prime minister has looked so deeply into this proposed titanium mine and taken the effort to weigh the consequences that this project would have on the rainforest and the local people," said Wildlife Alliance CEO Suwanna Gauntlett in a statement. "[Mining company] United Khmer Group had promised staggering revenues for the government, and we applaud the courageous decision of the prime minister to see the greater value of the forest as it currently stands."

United Khmer Group publically projected that the mine would bring in $1.3 billion dollars a year, but Wildlife Alliance and the Cambodian newspaper Phnom Penh Post questioned the company's projections. According to the Phnom Penh Post, the company was citing prices for titanium that were three times current market price and was projecting a big haul of titanium without ever conducting a comprehensive study of the ore deposit.

Incredibly rich in wildlife, the Cardamom Mountains is home to Indochinese tigers, Malayan sun bears, and pileated gibbons, in addition to 250 species of birds. According to Wildlife Alliance 70 threatened species live in the area, including the Siamese crocodile, which is listed as Critically Endangered.

Endangered species found in the Cardamom Mountains according to the IUCN Red List:
Asian elephant (Elephas maximums): Endangered
Banteng (Bos javanicus): Endangered
Burmese python (Python molurus): Near Threatened
Clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa): Vulnerable
Dhole (Cuon alpinus): Endangered
Frog-faced softshell turtle (Pelochelys cantorii): Endangered
Gaur (Bos gaurus): Vulnerable
Green peafowl (Pavo muticus): Endangered
Indochinese tiger ( Panthera tigris corbetti): Endangered
Malayan sun bear (Helarctos malayanus): Vulnerable
Pileated gibbon (Hylobates pileatus): Endangered
Siamese crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis): Critically Endangered
Smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata): Vulnerable
Southwest Chinese serow (Capricornis sumatraensis): Near Threatened

Cambodian prime minister cancels titanium mine project citing impact on biodiversity and local people
from Cambodia.org by Morodox
April 11, 2011
Jeremy Hance
mongabay.com
http://editorials.cambodia.org/2011/04/cambodian-prime-minister-cancels.html

Friday, April 8, 2011

Cost for a solar home system in Cambodia

According to the Asian Development Bank, the cost for a solar home system in Cambodia ranges from $200 for a 20-watt system to $600 for an 80-watt one.

Cambodia's decades of war has made the country's poor electricity infrastructure even worse, leaving millions of Cambodians in constant struggle for lighting. But that is now changing. With declining prices of solar technology and the introduction of low-income oriented payment options, villagers are increasingly harnessing the sun to power their wooden huts.
Untapped Market Potential

In rural Cambodia, where about 11 million people live beyond the reach of electric grids, most villagers rely on one of two sources for lighting: kerosene lamps, which serve nearly half of this off-grid market (left), or automobile batteries, which villagers use if they have a bit more money and seek energy for lighting, cell phone charging and watching television.

But there are downsides to these two solutions. Villagers explain that the open flame kerosene lamps often burn their children. And although using automobile batteries is safer, it requires frequent trips to diesel-powered charging stations to recharge the battery.

"When my parents were too busy to recharge the empty batteries, the whole family ended up sitting in the dark," said Muon Tuorn, a 25-year-old guesthouse receptionist who shared her experience.

Such troubles are opening the door for solar solutions that provide safe light and require no travel time. More importantly, rural families have discovered that solar lanterns and solar home systems can even help them save money.

Currently, for the average family here, fuel expenditures on a kerosene lamp are about $30 annually, while a solar lantern that lasts for two years costs only $25.

For richer Cambodians who use more energy, buying a solar home system has proven to be an economic choice compared to automobile batteries.

According to the Asian Development Bank, the cost for a solar home system in Cambodia ranges from $200 for a 20-watt system to $600 for an 80-watt one. Although expenses on automobile battery use vary from family to family, depending on the battery size and recharging frequency, interviews with villagers demonstrate that their investment in solar home systems usually takes three years to pay back.

And solar home systems are becoming more cost competitive as diesel fuel costs escalate. During the last six months, the recharging fee of automobile batteries (right) has already gone up by 25 percent due to rising fuel costs in the country.

Payment Solutions Designed for Rural Poor

Still, many villagers find it hard to make the switch to solar energy because they can't afford the upfront investment. But solar entrepreneurs in the country have been working hard to help. One popular practice is to partner with local micro loan providers who can loan villagers the money to purchase solar lanterns or solar home systems. Villagers can then gradually repay the loans through savings on kerosene or automobile battery recharging fees.

Although the lending scheme helps villagers deal with the upfront investment, it is far from perfect. Like other developing countries, lenders in Cambodia often charge a high interest rate on the loan. If a family takes a three-year loan for a $300 solar home system, the interest rate will push the total investment to about $423, according to Michel Kindbeiter, managing director of Cambodia's Credit Mutuel Kampuchea, a micro loan provider with a comparatively low interest rate in the market.

For those who don't want the loan, there is another way to embrace solar energy. Last year, a local solar company, Kamworks, rolled out a rental service that allows villagers to rent a solar lantern at a daily rate of 8 cents, roughly the daily rate for kerosene.

The service was so well received by the rural poor that the company plans to expand its rental outlets from its current 3 to 80 this year.

Challenges Ahead and Unexpected Help

More business, of course, also means more challenges. "If we have to pre-finance solar lanterns [for the rental service], we also have to raise capital. That is still quite difficult for us," said Jeroen Verschelling, a director at Kamworks.

Besides that, distribution remains a barrier. It is hard to reach and provide after-sales services to villagers scattered in remote areas. Furthermore, it also takes a lot of effort to promote solar energy, given the fact that less than 20 percent of the rural population in Cambodia has even heard of the technology, according to figures from the Asian Development Bank.

Despite these difficulties, there is still some good news. In 2009, the Cambodian government cut the import tariff on items like solar panels from 35 percent to 7 percent. And surprisingly, it is sometimes villagers themselves who handle the marketing and distribution setbacks.

Duc Vy is one such case. After hearing of his friend's positive experience with solar energy, Duc travelled three hours by bus to the nearest solar company and bought a solar home system. A half-hour training session at the company plus an illustrated guidebook turned the then 53-year-old truck driver into a solar installer, at least for his own house.

The solar system has been working well since he mounted it on the roof three years ago, said Duc as he greeted neighbors who came by to watch television powered by the sun.

Off-Grid Solar Solutions Shine in Low-income Rural Cambodia
April 8, 2011
Siem Reap, Cambodia
By Yotam Ariel, Contributor

Yotam Ariel specializes in solar energy in the developing world, runs an online database (www.bennu-solar.com/resources), and provides market intelligence for businesses and organizations that are active in this sector. Contact Yotam at: y.ariel@bennu-solar.com

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/04/off-grid-solar-solutions-shine-in-low-income-rural-cambodia

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Travel to a new country

Whenever you travel to a new country there are many changes that happen in your life. You are bound to notice at least a few differences between your country and the one you just moved to. The differences could be anything from food to culture or language. Here are my top 10 differences between my life in India and in the U.S.

Traffic:

The first thing I noticed as soon as I landed in the U.S. was the traffic. The vehicles are on the right-hand side of the road in America as opposed to the left in India. Also, there is a strict sense of lanes followed here while there is none back home. And obviously, vehicles are left-hand drive here, but they are right-hand drive in India.

English:

Although I have learned and spoken English all my life, the way it is spoken here is quite different from what I learned back home. Watching all those Hollywood movies as I grew up still fell short of preparing me for this, and it came to me as a mild shock. I confess I initially struggled to catch what people were saying, especially when they talked fast.

Food:

Although I usually make food at home with my roommates - meaning I eat Indian food all the time - whenever I did go out with my roommates or friends, it was hard to find food I liked. Being a vegetarian did not help my cause much, either. Did you know that McDonald's in India has a veggie burger?

Money:

It took me a bit of time to get used to paying in U.S. dollars and not converting every dollar I spent into rupees. Thanks to a 45 rupee Cilantro bundle, I realized that converting the expenses into rupees will end up killing me in less than a week.

Culture:

As long as I was in India, I lived only among Indian people, those who mostly shared my culture and language. When I came to the U.S., things changed. I got to mingle with people from many different countries and cultures, from Asian to Middle Eastern to European to African.

Wal-Mart:

Shopping for everything I basically need to live my life under one roof was a totally new experience to me. This is a recently developing concept back home, and hence I hadn't experienced it until I went shopping for groceries in Manhattan.

School:

The schooling system in the U.S. gives the student much more freedom in picking the courses he or she likes with merely an outline of requirements to be eligible to graduate. The classes are more interactive, and assignments are more challenging. The concept of open book finals blew my mind. The fact that attendance is not mandatory, especially for graduate students, is great.

Lingo:

Words like gasoline as opposed to petrol, interstate as opposed to highway, cab for a taxi, bike for a bicycle, etc., became part of my vocabulary. Although it felt weird using those words to describe the respective items in context, I got used to it pretty quickly.

Safety:

Ever since I arrived in the U.S., I have been introduced to a world of safety precautions. Back home everything is laid-back to the point of being careless. Here there is a strict emphasis on seat belts, speed limits, smoke detectors and fire alarms.

Night Life:

Going out to the bars with friends is a tradition that became a part of my life after I came to the U.S. The amount of exposure to night life has been enormous in my case.

10 cultural nuances found in USA
By Balasubramanyn Meenkshisundaram
Thursday, April 7, 2011

Source :
http://www.kstatecollegian.com/edge/10-cultural-nuances-found-in-usa-1.2535092

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Information Technology Scholarship

Background

The Information Technology Scholarship Foundation (ITSF) is a local organization offering non- profit, non-partisan, non-governmental support to promote education services and vocational skills to poor people through sustainable integrated development programs. The organization was initiated by a team of six youths with a high commitment to rehabilitation and rural development in equal education services and promotes community livelihood and the importance of access to technology by community members. Information Technology Scholarship Foundation (ITSF) evolved from The Oxford School and Kindergarten program based in Chamkar Leu District, Kampong Cham Province which was established in 2005, an established English and Computer training Programme that trained over 1,000 students through the last 4 years. ITSF became recognized by the Ministry of Interior on January 20, 2010.

Vision:

Cambodian people are able to exchange the current and important information to the world and participate in social accountabilities, moreover, to be able to improve the standard of living, self reliance, and to be able to develop their community.
Mission:

ITSF is to focus on vocational training especially Information Technology (IT) awareness program; demonstrate a model of IT advocacy for social accountabilities; and support a sustainable holistic integrated-community development program to remote areas in order to access education for all and rural development.

Goal:

For Cambodian people to be equal members of the global community who are fully able to participate in worldwide communication and combine families' economic enhancement with unity of peace, human rights and prosperity.

Core Values:

ITSF subscribes to a set of core beliefs that informs and guides ITSF staff members in carrying out their responsibilities and working with local communities, all level partners, and other constituents. Those values are as follows:

Transparency
Gender Sensitivity
Justice
Tolerance
Inclusiveness
Consultation and participation
Respect
Responsiveness
Learning
Ownership
Non-partisanship

Our Approach

ITSF wishes to contribute to the nation's development efforts through collaboration with the Government. In this way, we hope to develop and coordinate the work both with IT specialist private sectors, and local and International NGOs. We encourage these different sectors to cooperate with each other to achieve our mission.

Our Beneficiary Projects

Vocational Training Centre (VTC) Project: This project is focused on developing young people's skills through its IT Training Program (ITTP). The project also provides training to strengthen English for business communication, provides business consultation and technical assistance on how to communicate using the World Wide Web to exchange knowledge and skills. This project also helps to reduce unemployment among youths through working with prospective employers and creating employment opportunities for youths.

Research indicates that a lot of businesses and organizations will come to Cambodia in the coming years to do businesses. These organizations will set up offices to engage in business and will require a strong, educated workforce with excellent written and verbal English who are able to work comfortably in an office environment and participate on at a global level. ITSF will empower them by providing these skills and creating competent employees. Our training will focus on students from high school and universities as well as government workers.

In order to achieve this, ITSF is sub-divided into the following programme:
a/ IT Awareness Program (ITAP)- This programme is to improve awareness of IT among young people through ITSF skills training curriculum standard in both theory and practical methods. The course includes:

o Office Secretarial Skills
o Accounting Skills
o Design layout and Printing skills
o Repairing and Networking skills
o Programming and Database Development skills
o Web Page Design skills

All core study areas will include how to use internet search tools, email communication and other technical communication in order to exchange information and knowledge.

In addition to the above course, ITSF provides English classes to students, in order to enable them to understand the information when using the internet and to relate with E-friends in order to use it in daily communication in working environment.
Other topics to be covered include:

- How to write a CV and Cover letter for jobs
- Personal Development Workshop.
- Reproductive Health and Birth-spacing
- How to Initiate a small business

b/ IT Solution Programme (ITSP)- This program aims to strengthen IT skills to enable students to become professionals through a more involved internship with an IT specialist partner of ITSF This helps our target group to learn about income generation using IT opportunities such as Database Management, Website Development, Computer Repairs and Maintenance, Network development and Design layout and printing.

c/ Employment Service Program (ESP)-This programme aims to promote employment amongst young people through developing their capacity to meet the employer's criteria and conditions. ITSF will network with the Recruitment Agencies and directly with employers.

d/ Integrated Community Development Project (ICD Model)-This project works through the community development process to enable people to work collaboratively with their neighbours to identify opportunities for growth related to their abilities to access food, clothes, health care and education. Their families members are taught to work cooperatively through expert advice and technical and advisory support aimed at the specific target groups in the community.
To achieve this ITSF is going to deliver the following development programmes:

1/ Village Pre-School program - This program is to provide vulnerable children under the age of 6 with the opportunity to attend pre-school in their own village. Previously Kindergarten has not been available to these children.

Kindergartens prepare children for a lifetime of learning. Kindergarten classes help children form a habit of coming to school regularly. Educators trained by ITSF nurture the innate creativity of children and prepare them for the rigors of primary education and beyond. ITSF sponsored Kindergartens make learning joyful and effective, which encourages the holistic development of the child. Children who have passed through the Kindergarten program develop good study habits, health practices and socialization that will serve them throughout their lives.
Child nutrition and healthcare- Included in the Pre-School Program, ITSF offers a snack during class break to strengthen the nutrition of the child in order to help them develop immunity to basic diseases and to be nourished and healthy. Additionally, the local referral hospitals in each commune were contacted to serve the basic healthcare service by being free of charge to the kids learning in ITSF pre-village school. This can improve the health condition of the child and they will become healthy without any harmful viruses.

2/ Scholarships program- Housing and support for orphans, vulnerable children living in the poorest families and adults with a disability. This shall be included in the kindergarten facility, including staff and education and orphans housing areas.

• Community Scholarships: With community scholarships students are paired with sponsors from overseas countries. But, while the sponsorships do provide direct support for the student they also help finance school rehabilitation, teacher training and other activities in ITSF's Education Program. Additionally, most of the students in this program are children of women involved in ITSF's Women's Development Program; this makes the experiences of mothers and their children mutually reinforcing.

• Womens Scholarships: Helping the women organize into women's groups is especially difficult, so ITSF provides a scholarship for one daughter of each woman as an incentive for them to become involved. This strengthens the women's groups while increasing school enrolments from these marginalized community members.

• Higher Education Scholarships: Through a rigorous selection process needy but excellent students are given the opportunity to continue their education for two years in university after successful completion of the High School Certificate (HSC) exam.

3/ Women's Empowerment program- The effect of these programs on the lives of women and whole communities is profound. Through their newfound skills and income, women are able to fulfill many of the basic needs of the family. Access to credit allows them to start other productive activities and steadily increase their incomes. Through their achievements, they build not only their self-esteem, but become more respected by the men in their lives which place them at a more equitable level in Cambodian society. Finally, they begin to act independently and with confidence.

Advisory Board
Ms. Jo Baker
Mr. Penn Kongkea
Oknha Um Pros,

Governance Committees
Mr. Ean Pheara, Executive Director
Mr. Yem Kim Yen, Deputy Director
Mr. Dith Sareth, Fundraising/Public Relation Manager
Miss. Sok Raksa, Admin & Financial Manager
Mr. Yea Chitra, ICD Model Manager
Mr. Ty Sengdy, Vocational Training Centre Manager

Funding Sources
- Membership Association
- ITSF Income Generation
- Oknha Um Pros Foundation
- Donation in Kinds

Contact
Information Technology Scholarship Foundation
Head Office
#62,St.156, Sangkat Phsar Depo II, Khan Toul Kork
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Tel: 012 912 891, 012 977 542
Email: info.itsf.org@gmail.com
Website: www.itsfcambodia.org

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=263303181607&v=info

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Death haunts women in Cambodia

Death haunts women in this Cambodian village at a moment of happiness - when they give birth.

"Today, nothing frightens Cambodian women more than having to give birth," says Mu Sochuea, former minister of women's affairs. "It is costly, risky and not safe for the mothers and the babies."

Cambodia has acquired the notoriety of having among the highest maternal mortality rates in the region. Five women die every day during childbirth, according to U.N. reports.

Public health experts attribute the high death toll to lack of sufficient midwives, limited health care centres, the cost of health services, and a bias in remote rural areas towards untrained traditional birth attendants.

Hak Sam Ath still fights back tears as she recalls how Ouch Lay, her eldest daughter, died at a health clinic that serves this fishing and trading community on the banks of the Stung Slot River. "She had high blood pressure at the time she had checked into the health clinic for her delivery," said Sam Ath. "But this was overlooked and she died on the night she was to give birth."

The death of mothers like 28-year-old Lay, over one year ago in this village some 60 kilometres southeast of Phnom Penh, confirms why a common saying in the local Khmer language about the dangers of childbirth still resonates in this country of some 14 million people. "The expression 'crossing the river' is used in Khmer to describe the moment when a woman is to give birth," says Sochuea, now an opposition parliamentarian. "It illustrates the risk and the danger of crossing a river, a totally uncertain experience, which is how childbirth is viewed by many here."

The country's maternal mortality rates reflect this fear. There are 461 maternal mortality cases per 100,000 living births here, which is "among the highest in the region and which has not changed much since 1997," noted a report released Mar. 28 on the country's progress towards achieving the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - a set of global targets to reduce poverty, ensure basic education, achieve gender equity, and overcome major health challenges.

Such frequent maternal mortality has condemned Cambodia to fall well short of meeting the fifth of eight MDGs by 2015, which specifically calls on countries to improve maternal health by reducing maternal mortality ratios. Cambodia is also trailing to meet the first MDG: slashing the number of people living in extreme poverty and hunger.

"It is highly unlikely that the original [Cambodian MDG] target of 140 deaths per 100,000 live births can be reached," revealed the 'Cambodian Millennium Development Goals (CMDG) Update 2010', the report that was jointly produced by the government and U.N. agencies. "The target for 2015 has therefore recently been adjusted to a more realistic level of 250, which still represents a major challenge."

To meet such a challenge in a country still struggling to rise to its feet after the 1991 peace accords - which ended two decades of deadly conflict, genocide and occupation - the U.N. has courted a prominent ally: Bun Ray Hun Sen, the wife of Cambodian Prime Minster Hun Sen. The former nurse was recognised in late February as the national champion for U.N. Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon's Action Plan for Women's and Children's Health.

"We are tackling the maternal mortality issue at an extremely high level," Douglas Broderick, the U.N. resident coordinator here, told IPS. "We will be working with the first lady to raise the profile of the maternal mortality challenge in the country."

Limited numbers of midwives and skilled birth attendants in the hospitals and health centres has contributed to maternal mortality, with the rural rice- growing areas - home to nearly 85 percent of the population - being the worst hit. Nearly 40 percent of births in Cambodia are "unattended by skilled birth attendants, who could save women's lives in case of emergencies," according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

"Maternal mortality in rural areas is three times higher than in the urban areas," says Chea Thy, the national health advisor at the Cambodia office of Plan International, a British child rights agency. "Some health centres don't have qualified midwives."

Midwives are paid approximately 10 dollars for assisting in a birth and the profession is struggling to attract larger and committed numbers to meet the health ministry's national health plans. The government has set its sights on opening 1,600 health centres across the country, with each having up to two midwives. This would mark a sizeable increase from the less than 1,000 health centres that currently dot Cambodia.

The high cost of health services in a country where over a third of the population live in poverty is also fingered as an explanation of why maternal care is so poor.

"The average payment for a four to six day stay at a hospital is 130,000 riels (about 27 dollars)," Henk Bekedam, director of health sector development at the WHO's regional office, told IPS. "That includes mothers going for delivery, a patient who has broken a leg, or somebody hospitalised for diarrhoea."

In Cambodia, Women Fear Death at Childbirth
By Marwaan Macan-Markar

KRAING KAOK, Cambodia
Apr 2, 2011 (IPS)

Source:
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55100