UN-backed project to help rural poor in Cambodia

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

UN-backed project to help rural poor in
Cambodia

UN News Centre30 May 2007 – The United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has announced that it will support a new $11.5 million development project in
Cambodia aimed at helping the rural poor.

 

“The project will not only boost incomes, it will also lay foundations for sustainable social and economic development in the future,” said Youqiong Wang, IFAD’s country programme manager for Cambodia, noting that it is the agency’s first to target the poor, ethnic population living in remote areas of the country.

 

Decades of war and internal strife have made
Cambodia one of the world’s poorer countries. The three provinces that the project is targeting – Kratie, Preah Vihear and Ratanakiri – are among the poorest in the country, IFAD said in a news release.

 

The Rural Livelihoods Improvement Project, set to involve 22,600 rural households in the border provinces, will be financed partly by a grant of $9.5 million from IFAD. It will also receive funding from the Government of Cambodia and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

British to give Cambodian Muslims radios to help fight terrorism

Thu May 24, 1:52 AM ET

Britain will hand out hundreds of radios to
Cambodia’s Cham Muslim minority, partly in an attempt to combat militancy among some of the country’s poorest people, the British embassy said Thursday.The radio giveaway in rural Kompong Chhnang province is part of a larger effort begun last year to give Cambodian Muslims access to Cham-language programming on development, human rights, health and current affairs.But “it also helps to engage the Muslim community throughout
Cambodia and works to promote peace, democracy, human rights, and to combat terrorism,” the embassy said in a statement received Thursday.Cambodian Muslims make up around one percent of the country’s total population and have traditionally lived in tight-knit but poor fishing communities.While the government says it has no specific concerns that the Chams are leaning towards militancy, authorities claim to have exposed several groups plotting attacks in
Cambodia, including the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah.Most recently, several Cambodians, including Muslims, were arrested for allegedly trying to create an armed force, while Bangkok periodically voices concerns that Cambodians are crossing the border to join the insurgency in southern
Thailand.The government has vigorously denied these accusations, saying Thai officials have never provided proof that Cambodians are involved in the troubled Thai south.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070524/wl_uk_afp/cambodiapoliticsislamminority_070524052646

UN aids Cambodia to develop eco-tourism

May 20, 2007

The United Nations’ World Tourism Organization (WTO) has signed an agreement with the Cambodian Tourism Ministry to help the country develop eco-tourism in its
northern province of Kratie, local media said on Saturday.

 

According to the agreement, the WTO will grant technical assistance worth 700,000 U.S. dollars to help establish sustainable eco-tourism system, improve protection of environment, and develop tourism promotion programs in the resort areas in Kratie, Cambodian daily newspaper Koh Sontepheap reported.

 

The development projects aim to attract more tourists to Kratie, which boasts primitive scenery and endangered species habitants, and contribute to poverty reduction in the country, the WTO said.

 

Source: Xinhua

US Donates Bird Flu Equipment

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from
Phnom Penh
16/05/2007

The US Embassy said Wednesday it planned to donate equipment to help fight bird flu and other infectious diseases in Cambodia.

The embassy, through USAID, planned to donate 4,500 sets of personal protection equipment and 50 decontamination kits to the Ministry of Agriculture. A handover ceremony was planned for Thursday.

Bird flu has killed at least seven Cambodians, one of them this year.

US DEA Pledges $50,000 for Drug Destruction

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Original report from
Phnom Penh
09/05/2007

The US said Wednesday its Drug Enforcement Administration would give $50,000 to
Cambodia through the UN for the destruction of 4 tons of drug-making materials found in two raids April 1.

 

One ton of the chemicals were potentially explosive and others were toxic, officials said. The Cambodian government and the UN planned to spend $120,000 to destroy drug-making materials, a UN drug officer said.

 

Fourteen people were arrested in the April 1 drug sweeps, but a provincial government official and a rights investigator urged their release, saying the suspects were unwitting workers in drug production who thought they might be making fertilizer.

 

The money comes as cooperation between Cambodian and
US enforcement agencies, including the DEA and the FBI, are improving.

U.S. donates bird flu equipment to Cambodia

The U.S. government donated 65, 000 U.S. dollars worth of avian influenza equipment to the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on Thursday.

 

The U.S. embassy in
Phnom Penh, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has donated 4,500 sets of personal protection equipment and 50 decontamination kits to the Cambodian side, a press release said, adding that the items will assist the Cambodian government in its efforts to fight avian influenza and other potential pandemic diseases.

 

The equipment includes protective suits, respirators, goggles and gloves, Joseph Mussomeli, the U.S. Ambassador to
Cambodia, said while addressing the handover ceremony.

 

This equipment will be distributed to the front-line workers who come in direct contact with infected poultry, and will be used during the collection of samples and the culling of diseased flocks, he said, adding that the decontamination kits will limit the risk of animal-to-animal and animal-to-human infection during an outbreak response by reducing the presence of the virus in the affected community.

 

Since 2004,
Cambodia has experienced 22 bird flu outbreaks that killed 7 people, according to official statistics.

 

Source: Xinhua
People’s Daily Online — http://english.people.com.cn/

India to aid Cambodia in rural development

By IANS

Monday May 21, 06:30 PM

Phnom Penh, May 21 (Xinhua) India will give a loan of $35.2 million to
Cambodia to develop rural infrastructure, media reports said Monday.

 

‘The loan will be mainly used to build dams, irrigation systems, and electricity networks from Kratie province to Stung Treng province,’ said Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong, who recently visited
India.

 

‘The rest of the loan will be spent for buying water pumps for helping rice farmers during drought season,’ Namhong, who is also minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, told the Koh Sontheapea daily.

 

Prime Minister Hun Sen also plans to pay an official visit to
India, he added.

 

Namhong was in
India May 17-19 and met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram apart from other ministers.

 

Agriculture, garment production and tourism, are the economic pillars of
Cambodia.

 

http://in.news.yahoo.com/070521/43/6g25d.html

NZ to provide 5 mln USD to help people around Angkor Wat

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

The New Zealand government will donate one million U.S. dollars each year in the next five years to help about 190,000 people living around.

Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple, local media reported Tuesday. The program of New Zealand government will help the people plant vegetables, feed animals, plant trees around Angkor Wat temple, and teach them how to protect temples and make a living from tourism sector, the Raksmey Kampuchea Daily quoted Ouk Sameth, Deputy Director General of APSARA authority, as saying.

Sok An, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Council of ministers supported this program and he considered that it will help reduce poverty in Cambodia, the paper said.

Sok An also said that this program will make the relationship between New Zealanders and Cambodians better, it added.

Source: Xinhua

Norwegian People’s Aid Helps Clear Landmines in Cambodia

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Norwegian People’s Aid Helps Clear Landmines in
Cambodia

2007-05-16
By Kittisak Siripornpitak
ScandAsia.Norway

With around 840 landmine victims annually, Cambodia has the third highest number of casualties worldwide and projects have been carried out by the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) which are supported by the Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) to reduce this problem.

 

NPA has been supporting CMAC’s development projects since 1993 to help with the development and implementation of technical survey project and is currently providing two technical advisors to the CMAC Mine Detection Dog Program.

 

With aims to clear mines and ensuring fair distribution of land, the NPA gives funding and is monitoring the CMAC Demining Unit 1 in the Beantey Meanchey province.

Summary of Disbursement by Project for the Year 2006

Follow this link to see ODA News from CDC: http://www.cdc-crdb.gov.kh/

Follow this link to see ODA of the Republic of Korea in Cambodia for 2006 and on-going 2007: http://cdc.khmer.biz/projectlist/project_list_updated.asp?OtherDonor=52&status=0&UpdateFrom=1/1/2007&updateto=5/30/2007

or this link: http://cdc.khmer.biz/Reports/summary_disbursement2006.asp