Cambodia

Because of years of armed conflict and the resulting increase in people with disabilities, Cambodia is one of the AbilityAP’s target countries in the region. The ILO has undertaken several activities and projects related to disability in Cambodia and many of the ILO non-disability projects are inclusive of disabled persons as well.

Alleviating Poverty through Peer Training Project
With funding from the Finnish Embassy in Bangkok and more recently from the AGFund, the ILO operates a project called Alleviating Poverty through Peer Training (APPT). Based on informal and village-based apprenticeships, the project uses a methodology called Success Case Replication (SCR). According to this methodology, successful entrepreneurs train others to replicate their businesses by imparting practical skills in both the technical and business aspects of setting up the micro business. After training, the project provides small grants, loans and business development services to project beneficiaries so that their dreams for a better life become reality.

For example, in Siem Reap former beggars are now book vendors and a self-help group of disabled people weave baskets for export. In Pursat, rice farmers with disabilities supplement their incomes with activities such as broom making, pig-raising and incense stick production. Other people with disabilities have started businesses after learning more complex skills such as motorbike repair, cement jar making and soymilk production. Initially, people with disabilities learned from their nondisabled peers but now a group of disabled trainer/entrepreneurs are also available to help others.

With the new funding from the AGFund, the ILO is adding a component to emphasis the special needs of women and families with a disabled member. Thanks to the extra resources, the project is able to train more women, extend the project to another province, provide staff training on gender issues and conduct other activities to provide better services for women affected by disability and to ensure that children with disabilities attend school.

For more information about the APPT project, consult the following:

• Alleviating Poverty Through Peer Training
  Transferring Skills Villager to Villager---Alleviating Poverty Through Peer Training in Cambodia (pdf)

• Case studies (pdf)

Disability Resource Team
The APPT project emerged from an earlier project funded by the Government of Japan and operated by the ILO from 1998 to 2001, called the Disability Resource Team (DRT) Project. The DRT assisted people with disabilities to enter mainstream training at provincial training centres and to find jobs or start businesses after the training was complete. It also built the capacity of Government personnel and trainers to address the needs of people with disabilities by providing training in disability awareness and strategies for incorporating disabled trainees into the classroom. Additionally, the project provided funds to make training centres accessible and skilled field staff to provide outreach and support services to trainees with disabilities.

As the project gained success, the number of people on waiting lists for entry into training programmes became quite long. The DRT project introduced the SCR component so people could learn skills in classrooms “without walls”, which led to the APPT project described above.

Many aspects of the DRT project have continued relevance for Cambodia and other countries, since it was an early effort to foster the integration of disabled persons in mainstream training.

For more information about the DRT project, consult the following:

• Disability Resource Team (DRT) Project

Artisans’ Association of Cambodia
In 2001, the ILO assisted the World Rehabilitation Fund develop an association called the Artisans' Association of Cambodia (AAC), which promotes the development and marketing of handicrafts through associations and organizations of producers. Originally, the producer groups were only those that focused on people with disabilities. Today, the AAC represents more than 30 of the country’s top handicraft producer groups and association; people with disabilities are represented among them.

More recently, the ILO provided direct financial and technical assistance to help the AAC grow, through its Informal Economy, Poverty and Employment project, simply referred to as the IE project. The activities involved funding a study on business registration, strengthening the organizations representation and participatory governance, initiating a 15-month intervention to improve marketing, design and training approaches and supporting trade fairs and knowledge-sharing activities.  

To learn more about the ACC project consult the following:

• Artisans’ Association of Cambodia (AAC)

Business Advisory Council
From 2001 to 2002, the ILO provided technical assistance to facilitate the development of the Business Advisory Council (BAC) in Cambodia. The BAC is a volunteer group of representatives from business, industry and business associations, which helps improve vocational training and employment opportunities for people with disabilities. The model is based on the Projects With Industry programme in the United States and the adaptation of the model by the ILO in two African countries. The BAC project is executed by the World Rehabilitation Fund, an international nongovernmental organization that has used various sources of funding to maintain the BAC training and job placement activities.

While the ILO’s support was mostly technical, it did provide financial resources to co-sponsor an employer awareness and awards seminar in May, 2002 that was presided over by His Excellency, the Prime Minister. It also funded the participation of a BAC contingent at ESCAP’s High-Level Intergovernmental Meeting to Conclude the Asia and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 1993 to 2002. The WRF country representative, a BAC member from Mobitel and the ILO’s Senior Specialist in Vocational Rehabilitation made a presentation describing employer partnerships.

Recently, ILO technical assistance has been requested to upgrade the BAC functioning and activities.

For more information about the Business Advisory Council, consult the following:

• Business Advisory Council
  Partnering with Employers --- Improving the Skills and Job Opportunities for Workers with Disabilities in Cambodia (pdf)
• The BAC in Cambodia
• The BAC Fact Sheet

Support to MoSVY and other activities in Cambodia
The ILO has provided and will continue to provide technical assistance and other support to the Government’s rehabilitation programme in the Ministry of  Social Affairs, Vocational Training and Youth Rehabilitation (MoSVY), its provincial offices, and the Disability Action Council, as well as various NGOs.

For example, as part of its past and current projects, the ILO provided training in success case replication, disability awareness, small business development, mainstreaming people with disabilities, gender awareness and a variety of other topics to Government and NGO participants at national and provincial levels. The ILO worked with other agencies to produce a disability awareness training kit that is used throughout the country and has translated many training and employment materials into the Khmer language. Most recently, it is translating the Achieving Equal Employment Opportunities for People with Disabilities through Legislation: Guidelines into Khmer.

The ILO works with MoSVY and local NGOs to upgrade staff capacity in other ways, For example, a representative from Cambodia was sponsored to participate in the ILO/ESCAP Multinational Roundtable on Disability and Employment. The ILO also sponsored a Cambodian national to attend an international training course in vocational rehabilitation and for two years has provided resources to the Rehabilitation Department of the MoSVY to train provincial social workers on disability rights and related issues.

Cambodia was one of the countries featured in the ILO’s video production, AbilityAsia and was one of the 14 countries in the ILO research project (see Regional Activities under Our Activities).

For more information about training and employment for people with disabilities in Cambodia, consult the following:

• Training and Employment of People with Disabilities: Cambodia 2002. Part of the AbilityAsia Country Study Series, 2004.
• AbilityAsia Video

For more information about disability related laws and policies and the country consult our National Laws and Information pages.

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