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Nearly three decades after Cambodia emerged from the vicious reign of the Khmer Rouge, it remains one of the fifty poorest countries of the world. The majority of children, families and communities that comprise Cambodia’s population of 14.1 million people, live in desperate poverty and struggle to meet even the most basic needs of food and clean water. The country’s leaders bear the daunting task of rebuilding the damaged economic, social and physical infrastructure needed to ensure future growth and development. The evaluation of the impact of the first Poverty Reduction Strategy demonstrate that Cambodia has failed to meet nearly all of its targets for 2005 for activities related to food and water security. MDGs (2000) suggest that only 26% of the Cambodian population have access to an improved water source. Chronic malnutrition rate among children is unacceptably high at 40%, as evidenced by stunting. What has World Vision Cambodia been doing? World Vision Cambodia has implemented various initiatives that addressed issues of food and water security for the past 10 years now within the Area Development Programmes (ADP) and other project activities. World Vision Cambodia defines food security as having enough physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food. It is viewed as a combination of food availability: sufficient quantities of appropriate, necessary types of food from domestic production, commercial imports or donors; food access: individuals have adequate incomes or other resources to purchase or barter to obtain levels of appropriate food needed to maintain consumption of an adequate diet/nutrition level; and food utilization: food is properly used; proper food processing and storage techniques are employed as well as the existence of, and application of adequate knowledge of nutrition and child care. However, beginning in 2006 through to 2010, Food and Water security will be one of the five focal directions for World Vision Cambodia. The five-year programming will address the following identified strategic goals:
The consumption of potable water is fundamentally linked to good health. WVC will expend more resources towards providing access to safe water at home, an approach that has proven to be more cost effective rather than making the water source safe. Technical options to secure safe water such as rainwater harvesting, water filters, SODIS, improved open wells will be introduced to vulnerable households and communities. Community involvement and acceptance is key to ensuring the success of this endeavor, hence, World Vision will exert great effort to work alongside community leaders and individuals. Poorest families are able to sustain their livelihoods and decrease their vulnerability Improved farm based productivity and increased access to nutritious food will ensure that the poorest and vulnerable families are able to sustain their livelihoods thereby decreasing, if not totally overcoming food insecurity. Just as the majority of Cambodia’s rural populations are subsistence farmers, so it is in World Vision program areas. World Vision will define an organizational-wide and community accepted approach to food and water security, an approach that recognizes that good nutrition and sustainable livelihoods cannot be achieved by increasing rice yields alone. Together with identified communities, WVC will introduce and provide information and training on food diversification, how to improve post production practices and improving product marketability. Simultaneous to increasing food productivity and food diversification, deliberate efforts will be undertaken to create understanding of the vital interrelation between food and better health through improved nutrition. World Vision Cambodia and communities advocate the protection of land and property for the poorest and most vulnerable household Externally, World Vision will advocate with various levels of government agencies and NGO networks involved in property rights and particularly for land rights. The main issues for national level advocacy are primarily for the implementation of laws pertaining to land and property rights, be they communal or private. At the local level (District, Commune and Village), World Vision will prioritize advocacy issues that call for the equal implementation of the law and immediate response to the needs of victims of abusive misappropriations. Towards this, World Vision will work towards getting local authorities and communities in defining mechanisms to protect themselves from abuse and ensure that these systems are well placed and functioning. Below are project summaries under Food and Water Security program: 
Food program.
Emergency relief and Disaster Management.
Land Mines Clearance.Read news/stories from the field on Food and Water Security click here. |
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