Development Edge

The Seven Billionth Child

2011-10-20T03:02:00.000-07:00

Anytime this October, the seven billionth child will be born? Will it be in the Asia-Pacific with 61 per cent of the world's population? Or Europe? Africa? South America? The world is just doing a guessing game right now.

What is important is the reality that we are nopw 7 billion in this world. Remember Friedman's book describing the world as Flat, Hot, and Crowded? Will this pose a problem on food supply? On health? So many questions we need to tackle in development.

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Prahok

2010-02-15T22:32:00.000-08:00

When you are in Cambodia and taste Khmer food, you definitely will taste this pungent-smelling fermented fish paste called prahok. Prahok is used in most Khmer dishes.In December and January, when the water levels at the lakes and rivers start to drop,their centuries old knowledge draws Cambodian families across the country to the nearest fishing areas to make prahok from the Siamese mud carp migrating en masse. They clean the small fish on site and put them in jars with large amounts of salt. For most Cambodians, food just doesn't taste the same without prahok.

The catch this year has been bounteous given the crack down on illegal fishing so most Cambodians will enjoy prahok at cheaper prices. For many though, there is nothing like your own self-made prahok. When you are in Cambodia, try fish amok and you can for sure taste the prahok.

Cultural Tradition in the Lao PDR and the Development of Early Childhood Care and Education

2009-12-02T00:38:00.000-08:00

In the last three decades, after the communist regime gained power in 1975, the education system in Laos has been facing a number of problems. However, in 1987 the education system was redesigned and was given a high priority in the general schemata. This paper documents the processes and outcomes of four training sessins held in two provinces between July to November, 2007, under the aegis of the joint partnership between Aide et Action and the Ministry of Education of Laos. In general, positive outcomes were noted at the end of each of the training sessions whereby there was a change in the beliefs of the participants.

Abstract of a paper written in Comparative Education Bulletin by Purisima L. Gonzales, Aide et Action, South East Asia, Chamkarmon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

To get a copy, email: purs128@yahoo.com

The Power of Mobile Phones

2009-09-27T00:47:00.000-07:00

Mobile phones have become tools of economic empowerment for the world's poor. It has transformed the lives of so many people deprived of infrastructure such as telecoms and roads. So many villages used to be unserved by telecoms. They were so isolated that the entrepreneurial spirit of the residents in these villages were close to nil. That is changing very rapidly now.

Meanchey University, Cambodia

2009-06-21T01:22:00.000-07:00

Meanchey University is one of the recently added universities serving Cambodia especially the residents of Banteay Meanchey. Founded only two years ago, the University has now over 2,000 students and has started its graduate program as well. Owners of some of the small businesses in the Province have now the opportunity to get an MBA. Two of these were the owners of the hotel we stayed in and the restaurant where we had lunch.The commitment and dedication of the founding Rector has made this possible.

The University is located close to the Cambodian-Thai border of Poipet. It is about an hour from Siem Reap where Angkor Wat is. There are foreigners working in the University and it is opening its doors to more volunteers who want to share their expertise.

Travel Planning for International Work Contracts

2009-04-03T01:32:00.000-07:00

Gone are the halcyon days when "road warriors" and consultants had secretaries for their executive assistants and assistants for their secretaries. Today, somehow, the folks at the sharp end book their own flights and look for their own accommodation. And if you work for yourself, you'll be booking flights on the way to the airport and cell phoning a hotel at the airport! Sometimes, you forget that what you hope will be true is not the same as the reality awaiting you at the other end! There are all kinds of things you need to consider before you fire up your engines for the next task...and, then, more to follow once you're on the road. Here are some steps that may help:

Lead Like a Coach

2009-03-22T21:17:00.000-07:00

Coaching is helping people to learn as they work and nudging them as they think out solutions, wrestle with issues, discover ways of doing things and face challenges. Of course, there is also the red faced howling hockey coach style of yesteryear but maybe we've passed that! Today's leaders often talk about coaching but the truth of the matter is many don't really want to share with others what they consider their own competitive advantage. And, of course, others haven't a clue as to why they have been successful as they are as introspective as a flashlight. Coaching helps the coach too. Makes you think a bit and ask some questions about your own performance. But beyond this, you build stronger persons in your organization with competencies needed in the job as well as the capacity to take responsibility. And there is no delay between the "nudge" and the application. It's all applied and hands on...the best of learning. Mind you, if each time they face a problem, they go to you for solutions, they will develop a dependency that will just cripple their own growth! So, how do you coach them so soon they won't need you and learn to coach others?....read more

Build a Stronger Customer Base in Tough Times

2009-02-11T01:35:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's tough out there! As competition for reluctant shoppers' dollars (or rupees or euros or whatever) gets more global and intense, you need more than ever to concentrate on your relationship with your customers to make it deeper and broader, to move from one of the pack to the go-to-gang for your product or service. Now is the time to dig further into your customers' needs and survival strategies and make these key inputs in your organization and decisions. Several factors determine your customers' thinking as they look at the year ahead. For you, to be successful, you need to manage these factors in a much more strategic way...Read more

Turbo Charge Your Performance

2009-02-01T01:45:00.000-08:00

When done strategically and executed effectively, you will surprise yourself at how much you can really do. We only get a high when we are totally engaged and performing at the edge of our personal envelope. Fluffing around and shuffling papers or waiting for the boss' orders do not make for a happy you. You can almost hear the self respect going down the gurgler. Talk about a lose-lose situation. And it does NOT have to be this way. Sometimes, it's just that you feel like an outsider, sitting in the grandstand seats watching others dig in to the fun of effectiveness. Don't wait for someone to show you how you fit in. As the rugger coach says....GET STUCK IN!...read more

How to Complete a Project on Time

2009-01-05T19:54:00.000-08:00

Completed on Time! A wrap! 30! The dream of every project manager. You don't have to be a military equipment manufacturer to know that this does not often happen. How often have you had to explain to clients why you just can't make the schedule? There are just too many variables to manage in most projects, making on-time completion just a misty dream. Still, every time a project starts, this is the goal. Complete the project on time to the satisfaction of the client. It can be an Everest to climb... but still a task to be done. So, here are some simple steps you take to push yourself...and the project...up that mountain.

Step 1:

Start with the plan. This must be realistic, with clear achievable goals. If the plan is already in place before you started, review the plan and assess whether, given your resources, you will be able to complete this on schedule. Check to see if there are contract penalties for missing deadlines. That gives you some levers in the company if things get bogged. If you have any computer skills at all, get a project planning software. This will help the whole team see what is happening and what must happen. Careful and thoughtful planning can save your skin....Read on

How To Work Internationally

2008-12-11T22:43:00.000-08:00

Ever dreamed of working around the world? Many people fantasize but when push comes to shove, most are stay-at-homes and travel is part of vacation. But if you have skills, international work is not as difficult as some make it sound. If you have itchy feet, you will get a chance to not just look at other cultures as a tourist, but participate in them as a co-worker and that is vastly different. This type of experience is like winning a new set of eyes and you'll never see the world in the same way again.

If you have kids, the experience will be a permanent reservoir of ideas and experiences that will never leave them. And with an international salary, return travel paid and the possibilities of a living allowance and even subsidized education for the kids, it is often a financial bonanza. If quality of education for children is a concern, you'll find the international schools in many countries have standards and expectations well beyond your local school and with the International Baccalaureate and other standards, the grades will be recognized when they come home. And for your career, you'll have a chance at leadership and training roles much sooner and these may be more satisfying than just staying in your usual cubbyhole. If you have read this far, you may have the wanderlust so start dreaming. Take these simple steps:

Paying for Technician Education

2008-10-24T20:04:00.001-07:00

How Did Nice People Like Us Get Into a Mess Like This?

In some countries, publicly funded technician education is on the verge of bankruptcy and irrelevance. Buildings are decaying, ancient equipment is unusable, students register only if they have been turned down by every other option in post secondary education and employers turn up their noses!

Yet in other countries the reverse is the case. Systems are growing rapidly, state of the art equipment is crowding labs and well qualified students including masses of university graduates are lining up to get in. Naturally, the level of development of each country has some impact on this. But some countries struggling to develop their economies have dynamic TE systems while others languish, so stage of development is not the sole cause of these differences.

No matter how different systems are, virtually all of them are facing similar problems in government financing. Shrinking tax-based funding has hit North America as directly as it has hit Asia and Africa. The preoccupation with balanced government budgets and national debt reduction has been as pervasive in Europe as it has in South America. The need to recover from the financial crisis in South East Asia has significantly reduced funding for social programs and even those relatively wealthy economies are in a cost cutting mode.

So what is at the root of the highly variable performance of TE systems? Why are some clearly outperforming others even when they come from comparable economies? It is not simply the differences in the problems they face because many of the problems are similar and societal wealth seems not to be the sole determinant of successful technician training systems. Some systems are triumphing in the reduction of tax based funding while others are dying. Money is flowing into some government-based institutions from non-traditional sources while others seem to be incapable of grasping the basic issues they are facing.

What can be learned from the TE systems that are growing and meeting economic objectives? Can any of this be adapted to help failing systems? Is there any experience in the resuscitation of bankrupt technician training systems? Does outside donor financial assistance help or simply exacerbate the problems? And in the long run, is government funding the answer, or is it really the problem?

Experience suggests that although funding seems to be the major issue, the answer to the problems do not start with more money! Even worse, experience suggests that simply throwing money at the problem of decay so as to build new buildings and buy new equipment will only put the systems on life-support, not bring them back to a useful, productive life.

What seems clear is that technician education systems have either evolved in new directions and new relationships or they have gradually become irrelevant. There seems to be no middle ground. As in most ecological, economic or social systems, those that have evolved in pace with their environment are stronger and more dynamic today than they were 30 years ago. Those technician training systems that have been frozen in time and have become warehouses for the history of economic change, have become irrelevant to the societies in which they are located. And, the tighter the control by Government, the greater the propensity for system disaster.

A Bit of History in the Developed Economies
If we start with the premise that technician education cannot survive in most countries if Government is the exclusive funding agent, then we need to look at factors that engage other partners in accepting a role. Does the history of the various TE systems give us any hints as to the process that lead to engaging partners in helping to finance TE systems?

In North America, institutional technician training grew out of necessity in the post war period as a response to the decline in the pool of well-trained immigrants from Europe. In the 1960’s this decline happened as advances in manufacturing and office technology began to affect the basic requirements of the workforce.

However, in the United States this pressure for institutional training for technicians did not necessarily mean direct government financing. Other factors relieved the pressure, at least for a time. As an example, the impact of technological change on the 2 million person-military resulted in a massive increase in the complexity, comprehensiveness and intensity of training. Thus, as citizens completed their draft obligations, left after short service or retired, there was an increasing flow of skilled technicians to industry.

Beyond this, the location of mega-national and multinational home offices in the US resulted in a stronger commitment to in-industry training supported by employers. Managers had some sense of responsibility to the communities in which they lived and worked.

Consequently, in the 1960’s, the pressure on government was to create Junior and Community Colleges in order to integrate immigrants into the dominant culture or facilitate access to University. Technical skills were seen as being met in other ways.

In Canada, with a miniscule military and a largely branch plant/warehouse distribution system rather than a significant manufacturing sector, there was little tradition of skills training beyond repair and maintenance competencies. British apprenticeship had been imported and met skilled worker requirements such as they existed in the construction industries. Thus when the post war flow of skilled immigrants from Europe’s industries tapered off in the late 1950’s at the same time as the economy began to industrialize, a significant problem emerged.

Beyond this, in both Canada and the United States, the arrival of the post war baby boom at the doors of post-secondary education amplified the need for a mechanism to both satisfy the demand for access and to keep the group off the job market as long as possible. In United States, private sector universities expanded quickly to absorb some of this demand. In Canada with no “entrepreneurial” private University sector, there was no existing post secondary response. Equally in Canada, there was a much stronger tradition of government involvement and accountability in social services such as education. Higher taxes supported government programs. Industry was conditioned to externalizing the cost of training based on this higher tax base. Therefore, in Canada the emergence of government Community Colleges was the most important response to all of these changes and challenges. In United States, the tradition of multi-stakeholder involvement in the financing of technician education grew easily from their history. In Canada, state financing of all education was more the norm.

In Western Europe, the proud tradition of craftsmanship had evolved into factory schools that met the needs of expanding industry. Family traditions supported the passing of trades from father to son and the concept of work had not been twisted into a perceived colonial plot to keep conquered peoples in their place. Technician education was largely a factory based and funded activity with tax based subsidies and government involvement in standards setting. Post war socialism ensured that state involvement would remain high. Thus much training even at the technician level took place in-industry with full management /union supervision but with massive state support.

Beautician Training and Entrepreneurship

2008-03-05T23:35:00.000-08:00

Miss. Seng Mutha is 21 year old. She finished grade12 and then continued to study in a local private college for a further 2 years in management. Family problems made further financing for education impossible. Fortunately, her Commune Council had just completed a VSTP training plan with the Provincial Training Center, based on skills that could be taught to out-of-school youth to help them improve family income. With her mother and sisters depending on her, she needed to move quickly and she joined the training.

The beautician brings together a variety of skills and the job cannot be learned quickly. The hairdresser of yesterday is now expected to provide hand and foot care and a surprising array of dermatological treatments that combine traditional and more modern over-the-counter salves and lotions. Mutha joined the center based (PTC) training program where she worked hard for 9 months combining the theory of her work with daily practice as a hairdresser, stylist, manicurist/pedicurist, make up artist and skin specialist. She had to drop out for a while to help at home, but MOLVT PTCs have an adult learning orientation and understand the realities of supporting families. So after a short while she was able to come back to the Center, pick up where she left off, and finish the course.

And financing a new shop was not a problem. A neighbor loaned her $1000 for equipment (at 3% monthly interest) and she was off and running. Her shop is the ground level of her Mothers home and is well located for business. Many days she brings in over $25 and will average $12 per day this year (she estimates). In fact sometimes she in so busy she needs help and has brought on an informal apprentice to learn the skills at her side.

Mutha sees a real future for locally made products and has an idea about a locally made shampoo…using herbal ingredients. However the PTC will have to find an expert in this area to work with farmers in converting aloe and other crops to new uses. What is clear is that VSTP opens windows not just for the trainee, but for the community around her.

Wedding Outfitting in Cambodia

2008-03-05T23:26:00.000-08:00

As agricultural productivity increases, villagers have more money to spend on the important celebrations of Commune life. Opportunities are created for out of school youth.

Miss Sup Ra is 24 years old and finished grade 7. Her family had few resources and so further schooling was not an option. With only basic literacy, she tried but could not learn new skills from books. She needed a chance to work on the job so she could imitate work activities from someone already skilled…and learn a basic competence which would start her up the National Qualifications Framework ladder.

Ra had an understanding of make-up and had been looking through fashion magazines for years, so when she saw a chance to learn wedding outfitting, she jumped! Wedding outfitting combines dress making, hair dressing and make up…a complete support package for the many dress changes needed in a Khmer wedding.

The Community Development Specialist from the PTC lined her up with an employer who could provide on-the-job training through the VSTP and within 9 months, she had her own business, wedding outfitting. The best part of her training was actually working with her trainer at Cambodian weddings getting practical experience every day as she learned.

VSTP has three training options for Communes: Commune based training, Center based training (at the PTC) and Enterprise based training, a style of informal apprenticeship. By for the most popular is the Commune based activities because it is so accessible and trainees can apply what they are learning everyday…to make sure it works. However working directly with an employer in the Enterprise based training is a cost effective way of providing skills when expensive training equipment is needed

The Sup family now has a reliable income source once again and they are already thinking of when they can get back to vegetable growing. Ra often earns over $8 per day, more than double the average family income in the village. The Commune has asked the PTC for a vegetable drying course next year and a Seng sister has put her name into the Council as a trainee.

Ra’s dream now is to move her business closer to the village market in Ra Village, Moung Ruessei Commune, Moung Ruessei District .. where she thinks she can double her revenue…even after paying rent. And she will hire her sister as a trainee…and also to sell the dried vegetables out front!

Pumpkins and PostHarvest Technology

2008-03-05T23:21:00.000-08:00

Ms. Seth Nary is 64 and a widow. She lives in Psa Khleang Village, Kampong Khleang Commune, Soutr Nikom District, Siem Reap Province. Nary has 9 children, all unskilled and unemployed except for acting as farmers helpers during the rice season. Working with VSTP training Nary now grows pumpkins, a good cash crop that involves her family completely. She has passed on all her knowledge to the family and they have taken up the work.

The PTC Director has noted a real difficulty growing from Nary’s success. Last harvest, after 3.5 months in the fields, she collected around 30 tons of pumpkins. Even with her children working she needed extra workers to help her. As all the pumpkins ripen at about the same time in Siem Reap her prices fall from $.25 per kilo to less than $.05 per kilo by the last days. Her fixed costs for seed, labour and transport do not decrease but even with this the Seth family is able to earn enough to live. However 10 adults living on an average of less than $5 per day is extremely marginal. Because pumpkins are so difficult to transport, she must even pay the fuel costs to get them to market and these costs are going up dramatically. So reducing the weight and size of the produce through processing would really address this issue as well.

The problem is that she is unable to sell about a third of her crop. Pumpkins last for about 10 days after harvesting and unless they are sold or processed, they are thrown into the river. There is a 12 month market for pumpkin and its preserved and processed derivatives, but Nary has no idea what these processes are nor do the staff of the PTC. markets are local, provincial and even international, but nary cannot assess these markets and the Commune has no information either. She has been told that her use of home made fertilizer and avoidance of pesticides (much too expensive) may make her crop even more valuable in some markets.

With no access to post harvest skills or market knowledge, Nary seems to have reached a dead end. The PTC Director sees post harvest processing as being the most obvious answer to the problems that Nary and thousands of other Siem Reap farmers are having. Her PTC interacts with the Communes on almost a daily basis through the VSTP program and despite her best efforts she cannot locate a skilled training in PHT.

Cabbages in Siem Reap...Too Much of A Good Thing?

2008-03-05T18:59:00.000-08:00

Cabbage is the one vegetable that most people in Samrorng Commune, Soutr Nikom District, Siem Reap province prefer to grow. In Angkuhn Village, 90% of villagers are grow cabbage because it is one crop the rather thin soil seems to support.

Ms. Chan Theurn is 36 years old and like many local farmers, received some very general introductory training to crops from the provincial Agriculture Department. last year her Commune became part of VSTP and when the Council selected compost fertilizer making as an option, she was quick to indicate her interest. The soil is very thin and production of even cabbage has been falling. Even worse, competing crops are now being imported to Siem Reap and it is difficult to compete with them in price as productivity falls. Composting worked. This quantity of cabbages increased. But now the competing products had taken away part of their market and the price of fuel had led to middle men demanding that farmers share the transport cost. So by doing better, the trainees were actually no better off and many decided to reduce production and try to find another crop they could grow. Theurn was told that only cabbage can grow on her land even with compost and in any case she cannot take the risk of a crop failure with an unknown crop.

One of the MOLVT-TVET staff had done her graduate work in Germany and Russia and remembered well the pickled cabbage and “sauerkraut” that was so popular there. Others immediately remembered the Kim Chi so favoured by many of the Korean Volunteers. If the cabbage could be processed to make it a pickle or relish, Theurn and her neighbour, Mr Seurng Thaing were certain they could sell the product all year round in the local market and maybe even replace some of the expensive pickle imports coming from other countries. The PTC has no capacity for this training and there is no expertise available from other Ministries in the Province. But for Theurn, if there is no way of preserving her cabbage crop, she really does not see an alternative. So the Commune and the PTC need to build a PHT capacity as quickly as possible in partnership with NGOs and other Ministries.

Fish Raising in Rural Cambodia

2008-03-05T18:51:00.000-08:00

Voucher Skills Training Program: Fish Raising in Rural Cambodia

Mr. Hor Sitha and his wife are committed to training. First he took a course in fruit farming from an NGO and his mangos will go to market this year. Sitha wishes he had a way of bring the mangos to market a month later because all the other farmers will bring them at the same time and the price will be lower. He is looking for a course in food processing so that he can really begin to earn from that training experience.

Then Sitha found a course in vegetable growing. His cucumbers and long beans are a good income base and have introduced him to the realities of the village markets where his wife is now “Head of Sales”

Last year his Commune Council was selected for VSTP and among the many training options they identified for improving family income, fish raising seemed and unusual choice. Although dried fish were a part of the local diet, being some distance from a river, fresh fish were not well understood. But Sitha saw a market opportunity and with his fruit and vegetables giving some income, he, unlike most local farmers, could afford to take a risk.

He signed up for the course and the trainer found by the local MOLVT-PTC was an enthusiastic fish person. He not only showed them how to raise complimentary varieties of fish, but came to individual farms to make sure his “graduates” were applying what they had learned. He did his training outdoors, so the number of unofficial trainees well exceeded the 25 registrants. Ponds were dug around the commune and the number of unofficial fish raisers causes smiles by those who feel they…beat the system.

Sitha is 42 years old, lives in Riessei II Village, Moung Ruessei Commune, Moung Ruessei District, and completed grade 7, He does not count as one of the youth originally targeted by the VSTP but he is teaching his children to be fish farmers and they now have a solid future occupation too.

It takes 8 months to raise the fish in Sitha’s ponds and only 4 months have now passed. But his grin when he talks about how well he will do in another 4 months…with an estimated 1700 fish at a kilo each …and his pride at the 2 new ponds to which he has just added small fish… is a good forecast of how an enterprising farmer/entrepreneur can use VSTP to build a future.

Now Sitha want as to know how to process the fish to preserve it for sale in the Provincial capital. The PTC does not yet know where to find trainers in post harvest work, but the opportunity is clearly there.

Mushroom Growing

2008-03-05T18:26:00.000-08:00

Mrs. Touch Sovanna lives in Beng Village, Anlong VillageCommune, Sangkae District. She’s 45 years old and has a daughter and her mother living with her. She has no land other than the site of her house, for like many others, land has been sold to pay for funerals and other events. Before the VSTP training Sovanna provided childcare in her house and was paid 25$ per month by her neighbor to do this

Her Commune Council worked with the Community Development Specialist from the Provincial Training Center to choose training activities that would do the most to improve family income. With a number of village markets close by, the Council choose vegetable and mushroom growing as well as fish breeding and a variety of small trades such as bicycle repair and Outfitting (wedding management).

The PTC found a trainer in mushroom farming and put together a one week training package that included sufficient mushroom growing stock for each graduate to get started. The training took place in a nearby village that was reasonably central for the 25 individuals who were interested. She learned how to prepare her own growing mix and has a very clean and well organized growing operation as you can see in the picture. The trainer came back after a month to make sure that all the graduates were being successful.

Sovanna now earns between $7 and $8.75 per day selling her mushrooms at $8.75 per 10 kilos in the market about 2 kilometers from her house. She goes there herself each day with her mother or daughter rather than selling to a middleman. As her production increases, she is considering using middlemen for more distant markets but she will loose about 15% of her revenue if she does this. She hopes her daughter can help her decide the longer term prices she needs to charge as she expands her business. Like many of 60,000 villagers who have now completed VSTP, her life has changed, her family is living well and she is prepared to teach others how to do mushroom growing….in other villages!

The next step for the Touch household is learning how to dry the mushrooms or package them so they can reach the larger Provincial market. There is no one in the area now who knows how to do this so she has asked her Commune Chief to make a request to the PTC for this skill.

Training Success in Communities

2008-02-03T23:36:00.000-08:00

Ms. Doung Vandeth, the head of the Polytechnic Institute of Battambang Province in Cambodia has demonstrated that community responsive training is the answer to poverty alleviation in some of the poorest communes.

Funded through the ADB, Voucher Skills Training Project, the Polytechnic has trained a total of 13,469 villagers. Here is one success story: Miss Choun is 21 years old and lives in Bors Pou Village. She stopped studying to become the main earner for a family of 6 with 2 studying. They are so poor that their home is only covered with coconut leaves. She supported the family by selling oranges which gave her very little profit and sometimes she lost money when she could not sell. So when she heard of the Voucher training, she enrolled in Sewing in the Polytechnic. When she finished, she got donation from the people in the United States of $400 for the sewing machine and other supplies needed. Her aunt's $200 helped her build a small hut for her sewing business. Now she is earning $140 a month and from this, she can even save some money. She plans to hire another tailor and buy another sewing machine so she can serve her clients on time.http://tvetjournal.com

Development Edge

2007-11-04T01:34:00.000-07:00

What we most value or what is most important to us is often the core of most of the choices we make, but often, this is not put in the forefront of most development programs. This is, probably, the reason why most development projects often end when the funding ends.

The current processes used often do not address participants' values. The culture of a community often determines and influences the sustainability of a development process.