heks

“SEED - support for education and equipping for development” is the name of the aid strategy adopted by HEKS in Cambodia where the support is directed at projects run by local partner organisations in four provinces. All the projects are aimed at improving food supplies, promoting rural development and training the poor people.

Some of the benefits offered by the projects are training for farmers and for young people in rural areas, construction and maintenance of irrigation systems, production and processing of food, and access to local markets for their commodities. This helps to create jobs and allows people to earn an income.

Access to water is important in farming therefore HEKS supports the construction of irrigation canals to the remote villages.

Work-related migration from the country to the towns is a major problem in Cambodia. Young people cannot find paid work so they drift away to the urban centres. The villages are thus deprived of their manpower and resources. The HEKS projects help them to prepare for migration. This is why training is the central focus in all the projects. In a country like Cambodia, with a huge number of young people and an unhappy past under the Khmer Rouge regime, there is still a great deal of catching up to do in terms of know-how and education. This is where HEKS is keen to make a difference.

Aims, points of focus, initiatives:

The aim of the SEED programme run by HEKS is to guarantee entitlement to food in the villages targeted in the projects. In order to meet this aim, the land needs to be farmed in such a way as to increase the crop yields. Most of the smallholders are entirely dependent on the rain as they lack irrigation systems and other such necessary infrastructures. However, the climate has not been very cooperative in the last few years. A great drought was followed by heavy rain. This simply leads to floods. HEKS is therefore backing the construction of irrigation and drainage channels which will allow two rice harvests per year.

There is a small agricultural centre in Prey Veng where farmers can learn how to yield a large crop in a natural and organic way without using chemicals. The training courses include sessions on achieving soil fertility using compost, crop rotation and good quality seeds.

Such efforts also serve to address work-related migration. With precious few paid jobs on offer in the country, men and women move to the towns to look for work in textile factories or in the tourism industry. Experiences in new places can be enriching but enforced migration driven by poverty also carries inherent dangers, especially for young women. HEKS supports projects which prepare the people for migration and which also offer help in emergencies.

A scheme which has been newly included in the SEED programme is youth training in agriculture. In a country where over sixty per cent of the population is under twenty years of age and where unemployment and the lack of prospects in the rural areas drive tens of thousands into low-wage jobs and prostitution, training is a route to a better future - both for the people and for the whole country.