CEDAC and PLAN Joint Full Proposal to EU

CEDAC and PLAN Cambodia were working as partners on the designation of a joint full proposal to the European Union (EU) for four days from 25-28 January 2010 at SUNWAY Hotel in Phnom Penh. The proposal “Promoting Climate Resilient Livelihoods for Small-Scale Farmers in Most Vulnerable Dry Land Areas in Siem Reap and Kampong Cham Provinces”. The purpose of the workshop was to write up the full proposal for submission to EU. The project was developed to be implemented for five years from the end of 2010 to 2014, which mainly focus on the dry land areas, desertification. In addition to the project, it will cover on 325 villages across 31 communes, in 6 districts, in 2 provinces with estimated budget of 2.2 million euro.

22 participants attended the workshops, included 3 CEDAC’s staffs, 14 PLAN Cambodia’s staffs, Mr. Andi Hill who is the program officer of PLAN England, 2 representatives from Provincial Department of Agriculture from Siem Reap and Kompong Cham provinces, and other 2 farmer representatives from Takeo province. It is to note that CEDAC’s staff were included Mr. Yi Kimthan, CEDAC Field Program’s Director, Mr. Yim Sok Sophors, Program Officer and Mr. Ma Veasna, Project Coordinator of CEDAC were at the workshop.



One day before the workshop at SUNWAY Hotel, Mr. Andi Hill conducted a field visit to Dombae district, Kompong Cham province on January 25, 2010 in order to seek for understanding about the situation of the proposed target district. He met a group of youth, a group of farmers and local authorities in order to learn from the situation of the target district. Mr. Yi Kim Than and Mr. Yim Sok Sophors from CEDAC also participated in the field visit at that time. Apart from the group discussion with the key informants in the villages, we have also visited the farmers’ rice field in order to learn about degraded land. During the workshop, the participants discussed actively about the designation of the proposal. Small group discussion, plenary presentation, brain storming, group work were conducted during the workshop.

The preparation of expected outputs, activities, logical framework, were achieved during the workshop. The final action to finalize the full proposal was developed and it is expected that the completed proposal will be submitted to EU Brussels on March 08, 2010.  During the workshop, the participants could learn from each others and knew how to integrate their actions between CEDAC and PLAN in dealing with sustainable development, primary education, etc. All in all, the workshop could achieve all results as expected.

MONTHLY MEETING OF CEDAC FIELD PROGRAM

Monthly meeting of CEDAC Field Program is organized regularly every month. The purpose of the meeting is to share the progress of project’s implementation, to prepare the action plan and to ensure a good cooperation among the development projects under the program and also to strengthen the knowledge and capacity of the project officers in relation to project management and implementation.

On January 29, 2010, CEDAC organized one-day monthly meeting with the participation of 17 participants, of whom 3 are women. Those participants are the project officers, project coordinators, program officer and director of CEDAC Field Program. Mr. Meas Somica, project coordinator, was the main facilitator of the meeting. During the meeting, the participants had reviewed the last minute of the previous meeting, discussed on writing up the annual progress report of CEDAC Field Program, discussed to identify target communes for new CEDAC’s projects that will be implemented in Prey Veng and Svay Rieng provinces. At that time, Mr. Yi Kim Than, director of CEDAC Field Program also presented in plenary about the concept notes of two development projects to the participants. Those projects are “Improving Food Security for the Most Vulnerable Families in Prey Veng province/IFS-PV” and another project ” Development of food production, farming incomes, nutrition and resilience in rural Cambodia/FF-PV&SR”. 



As the result, the participants could learn from each other relating to the progress of project implementation from each target province of CEDAC Field Program. Based the information shared by the participants, it is able to know that the Village-based Farmer Organizations (VFOs) set up under the facilitation of CEDAC are more effective in terms of operating their community-led businesses and other social development activities especially those VFOs become important partners with the commune councils. Furthermore, the participants could absorb more understanding about the general concept of the project IFS-PV and FF-PV&SR so that they are quite sure about what the projects will do. Moreover, the participants committed to improve their writing skills (writing of best practices, farmers’ successful stories, etc) so that they can produce interesting case studies for the Farmer Magazine, CEDAC’s website and so forth. The meeting was ended successfully with fruitful results. On the other hand, the next meeting will be held from 01 to 03 March 2010 at the branch office of CEDAC in Kompong Chhnang province.

CEDAC and SEA-TV

On Monday, January 25, 2010, a video production team from SEA-TV visited Trapaing Veng village, Beungtranh khang tbong commune, Samrong district, Takeo province to interview and video experienced farmers cooperating with CEDAC in adapting and developing multi-purpose farms (MPF) as well as filming farmers and conditions in rural areas.



During their visit, the TV team interviewed Mr. Kep Chorn, a farmer who is cooperating with CEDAC to apply various agricultural innovations introduced by CEDAC on his farm. The SEA-TV team also interviewed Mr. Him Noeun, field coordinator of CEDAC, for more information about CEDAC, how CEDAC assists farmers in developing multi-purpose farms, and  accomplishments of  the project. After visiting and taking videos of multi-purpose farms and other agricultural innovations being implemented by participating farmers, the TV team videoed family sugar palm operations and living conditions in the rural areas.

The multi-purpose farm is an integrated agricultural innovation promoted by CEDAC since 2000, and is now being disseminated by CEDAC through two development projects: “Poverty reduction among subsistence rice farmers through the promotion of sustainable livelihood system” (PRS-EU) funded by the European Union and Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (EED); and “Integrated commercial farm for small farmers in Samrong district, Takeo province project” (ICM-SR) funded by UNDP Global Environmental Facility Small Grants Programme.

It is expected that the film will be shown on SEA-TV in February 2009 to share experiences from best-practice farmers with other farmers and stakeholders.

CEDAC organized training series on Management and Leadership

On 22 January 2010, CEDAC organized the fifth training session on Management and Leadership. The purpose of the training series is to strengthen the knowledge and capacity of CEDAC’s middle managers to be more effective managers and leaders. The training was organized at CEDAC’s office in Phnom Penh, and attended by eight middle managers who come from different target provinces of CEDAC.  Mr. Tath Sok, project coordinator, was the facilitator of the training and Dr. Yang Saing Koma, president of CEDAC, was the main resource person for the training.

The training focused on the “8 ritual of visionary leaders,”  as developed by Robin Sharma and which include: compelling future focus; human relations; team unity; adaptability and change management; personal effectiveness; self-leadership; creativity and innovation; and contribution and significance. Dr. Yang Saing Koma explained each concept in detail by using concrete real-life examples. The participants discussed and actively shared their knowledge and experiences in relation to these topics. Drawing on his own work experience, Mr. Tath Sok illustrated the concept of “Maturity of Work” and facilitated participants to reflect on aspects of their jobs they had conducted well, or which they should have done better, and how they could be successful in making improvements.
As a result of learning and thinking about these concepts, and understanding how they are relevant to their current work and daily lives, participants will be able to improve the quality of both their professional and personal endeavors. The training was concluded successfully and the next training will be conducted 19 February 2010 at CEDAC offices in Phnom Penh.

Chea Borey: From Construction Worker to Agri-Entrepreneur

Chea Borey is 27 years old and lives with his parents and four other family members in Prey Kuy village, Trapaing Sre commune, Mesang district, Prey Veng province. Borey stopped studying at grade 12 in 2004 after failing the Bac II exam. For six months afterwards, he worked as a security guard in Phnom Penh, and then became a construction worker.  During the following years, he worked hard to achieve the skills of a master craftsman in house building. However, his income remained low, around US$100-150/year, and he often had to find work in other provinces. Read more...

Farmer Success Story: Meng Pav Adopts SRI and Integrated Farming

Ms. Meng Pav is a 50-year old farmer living in Srey Krong Reach village, Krangleav commune, Bati district of Takeo province. She has been cooperating with CEDAC since 2005. She is the head of a family comprised of six members (herself, her husband, three sons and a daughter). Ms. Meng Pav has primary responsibility for her family’s well-being as her husband is 66 years old and has vision problems due to injuries he received as a soldier in 1995. Read more....

Training on Paddy Value Chain Study in Tramkak district, Takeo province

A 3-day training session on the study of paddy value chain was organized by CEDAC at the branch office in Tramkak district, Takeo province. The purpose of the training was to boost the understanding of CBOs representatives on how to conduct the study of paddy value chain. Definition of value chain, market chain actors, theory of supply, demand and price, questionnaire design, data collection methods, were raised for discussion during the training.



Mr. Yim Sok Sophors and Mr. Chhong Sophal, CEDAC’s staff, acted as the co-facilitators of the training. 25 participants who are the representatives of CBOs (paddy farmer producer groups, community-based rice mills) from Kompot and Kompong Speu Provinces and representatives of partner NGOs such as WOSO, FLD, PNKS participated in the training. Mr. Yi Kimthan, director of CEDAC Field Program and Sun Vanthanak, provincial facilitator of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) for Civil Society and Pro-Poor Market (CSPPM) project also participated in and acted the observers of the training. During the training, Mr. Yi Kimthan and Mr. Sun Vanthanak shared their knowledge and practical experiences relating paddy value chain study to the participants. Some training tools such as brainstorming, plenary discussion, small group discussion, group presentation, field practice were used to ensure that the participants could learn effectively in a participatory way. It was able to note that the participants actively shared and learned the knowledge and experiences to one another.

In conclusion, the training is very useful for the participants, they have learned and understood well about the concept of paddy value chain, methodology of conducting the paddy value chain study, understood and knew how to conduct individual interview and focus group discussion and finally the action plan was prepared among the CBOs representatives.

Reflection Meeting between CEDAC and PACT

On 18-19 January 2010, CEDAC and PACT Cambodia conducted a 2-day reflection meeting about the implementation of the project “Local Administration and Reform/LAAR” at CEDAC’s office in Tramkak district, Takeo province. It is to note CEDAC has cooperated with PACT to implement this project since 2006, the project is funded by USAID. Up to now, 3 phases of the project has been implemented.
The purpose of the meeting was to reflect the progress of the project, to find out recommendations to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of project implementation. Furthermore, the meeting aimed to strengthen and build up capacity of the project’s staffs in relation to the financial management as well. Totally, 7 people participated in the meeting, included 5 CEDAC’s staffs and 2 staffs from PACT.

Mr. Yi Kim Than, director of CEDAC Field Program, Mrs. Hell Simon, program officer and Ms. Oung Chan Mony, senior grant management officer of PACT were the main facilitators of the meeting. It is to emphasize that the participants discussed and conducted reflection in detail about progress of the project implementation, the progress of staff capacity, effectiveness of implementing social development projects, reporting and monitoring system, financial management, etc.

Finally, the meeting has achieved fruitful results especially the participants could learn that the project has accomplished more results if compare to the last quarter. In addition, the project’s staff are clear about the progress of the project implementation, they could learn well from their prior experiences and could improve more skills to implement and manage the project successfully.

FNP Coordination Team Meeting at CILD

CEDAC Field Program (FNP) organized a meeting on January 08, 2010,  with the participation of its coordination team members, the members of FNP coordination team are the one who is the permanent staff of CEDAC/FNP. About 25 staffs participated in the meeting. The meeting was conducted in order to prepare the staff salary for 2010. Mr. Yi Kimthan who is the director of FNP facilitated the meeting smoothly for a full day at CILD (Cedac Institute for Local Development) office in Phnom Penh. During the meeting, staff salary was raised to talk over based on the policy of CEDAC. In the meeting, the participants prepared the proposed budget plan of FNP for 2010. Both staff salary and proposed budget of Cedac Field Program will be submitted to CSC (Cedac Steering Committee) in order to ask for the official approval.

Subsequently, all participants, Mr. Sim Samoeun (Executive director), Mr. Tath Sok (representative from Credit Cooperative) and Mr. Ouch Ngak (human resource manager) participated in the evening party as well. We have discussed and shared notions and experiences from one another.
Dawn to dusk, the meeting was conducted successfully with a happy environment and we got more energy to work more smarter in 2010. It is expected that we will have more projects for CEDAC Field Program in 2010 so that we can expand our scope of work to support rural  poor, marginalized people, poorest families, indigenous minority people, rural women, children to improve the quality of life and social development in the respective communities. We will be able to serve the benefit of 300,000 families in 6000 villages to overcome the poverty and improve the quality of life through the promotion of family’s ecological agriculture, community-led businesses, collective saving, establishment of farmer organizations and networks, etc.

CEDAC Generaly Assembly

On 5-6 January 2010, CEDAC organized its annual assembly at CJCC (Cambodia-Japan International Cooperation Center) for 2 days in order to reflect the results have been accomplished in 2009. About 300 participants, included CEDAC’s staffs and other local stakeholders such as representatives of village based farmer associations, farmer producer groups, collective saving group, rural women, youths, people living with HIV/AIDS, school principals, participated in the assembly.

Generally, representatives of each main component of CEDAC presented the main results achieved in 2009 as well as we have learned about the strategy of CEDAC 2010-2014. Mr. Yi Kimthan who is the director of CEDAC Field Program (FNP) presented the activities and results of FNP in 2009 and we generally could learn that FNP had finished some development project successfully and received more development grants to implement more projects within its target provinces. There are good progresses in terms of improving the livelihood of small farmers, help poorest children to go to school regularly, improving local governance, improved the women power in social status, promoting indigenous people to be active in agricultural and rural development, etc. Many other main components of CEDAC were working well in 2009, such as CILD (CEDAC Institute for Local Development), Publication and Communication, Research and Development, Health and Environment, CEDAC Cooperative, etc.

Additionally, the election of CEDAC’s was conducted and Dr. Yang Saing Koma was selected to continue his duties as the CEDAC’s president for another 2-year mandate thanks to his good leadership. Moreover, 9 members of CSC (CEDAC Steering Committee) were also selected during the assembly. Up to 2014, CEDAC aims to improve the livelihood of 500,000 farmer families in 6000 villages in Cambodia.

Monthly Meeting of IFWP-MP for December 2009

The monthly meeting of the project team “IFWP-MP/Improving Livelihood for Women and Rural Poor in Mundulkiri province” was conducted on January 04, 2010 at CEDAC headquarter in Phnom Penh. All project team members included Mr. Yim Sok Sophors, Mr. Pol Samath, Mr. Mak Samath, Mr. Nhim Sokea, Mr. Pheung Kosal, Mr. Pel Sovann and Miss. Som Charya participated in the meeting. We have discussed and shared about the activities and results in December 2009.

In December 2009, the project conducted some activities, such as organizing extra study tour for 39 interested farmers (they are all the indigenous minority people, called Phnong) to Kompong Speu and Takeo Provinces. The purpose of the study tour is to train the interested farmers on agricultural innovations from the experienced farmers under other CEDAC’s projects. The interested farmers visited community-led saving group, village-based farmer associations, young farmer groups, women groups, multi-purpose farm, home gardening, etc. The visit was a very effective tool to attract the participation and satisfaction of the interested farmers in cooperating with the project. At the end of the visit, the project’s facilitators conducted reflection meeting with the participants in order to sum up what they have learned and what they are going to apply after visiting.

On the other hand, there are 11 collective saving groups were formed in 10 villages (in 6 communes) under the technical support from the project’s supporting officers like Som Charya and Ear Sophal. Totally, 183 indigenous people (99 women) participated as the members of saving groups. The accumulated capital of all groups is 1,698,000 Riels. It is to mention that the indigenous minority people are strongly interested in conducting collective saving group while they can access to credit service from their groups and also can help each other in terms of strengthening solidarity and cooperation among the members. The interest rate is 3 % per month which is lower than the interest rate charged by the middlemen in their villages. Moreover, there are some farmers starting to prepare vegetable gardens. The farmers can follow the technique of growing vegetables in the dry season as they apply circle garden.

To me, I can say that the project is being progressed even it is just started in October 20, 2009. However, we need to pay more attention to provide individual follow up advice to the target groups. More frequent follow up is really good to improve the understanding of the cooperating farmers amid the increasing of rapport between the project’s staff and the community people.

The project will undertake some main activities for January 2010, such as:

1. Organizing training for key farmers
2. Capacity building for leaders of collective saving groups
3. Organizing commune forums
4. Facilitating group training at village level
5. Providing training support to CFAs (Community-based Field Assistant

In January 2010, it is expected that there are 21 farmers apply vegetable growing technique, 31 farmers apply solid compost, 10 collective saving groups will be formed, 8 farmers apply fish raising in plastic hole, and 5 women groups will be set up. In order to ensure that those activities were conducted effectively, it must realize that the project team had prepared training guideline before organized those activities in the fields.

Happy New Year 2010 !!!

New Year, 2010 will bring CEDAC more achievements and progresses toward the implementation of the EU funding projects. It is to note that CEDAC is implementing 5 EU funding projects by its own and in collaboration with other partner NGOs. Those projects are included:

1. Improving Livelihood for Women and Rural Poor in Mundulkiri Province
2. Improving Food Security of the Most Vulnerable Families in Prey Veng Province
3. Development of food production, farming incomes, nutrition and resilience in rural Cambodia (CEDAC is a partner NGO of GRET in implementing this project in Prey Veng and Svay Rieng Provinces)
4. Poverty Reduction among Subsistence Rice Farmers through the Promotion of Sustainable Livelihood System (PRS-EU), CEDAC is a partner NGO of EED
5. ALDI project is implementing in Ratanakiri province as a partner with GAA

Additionally, CEDAC Field Program has been implementing many other projects involve in Agricultural Extension, Agriculture and Local Development Association, Saving Group for Self-Reliance, Local Governance, Primary Education, Rural Women Empowerment, People living with HIV/AIDS, and Climate Change. More detail information about CEDAC…

The implementation of the projects abovementioned will contribute to achieve the vision and mission of CEDAC align with the strategic paper from 2010-2014. CEDAC Envision a Cambodian society where small farmers enjoy good living conditions and strong mutual cooperation, with the rights and power to determine their own destiny. As well as playing an important role in supplying healthy food for the whole society. In period of 2010 and 2014, CEDAC commits to benefit 500,000 farmer families in 6000 villages throughout Cambodia.