IWEP II (Integrated Women Empowerment Project, Phase II), Siem Reap, Cambodia
The first four years with the women empowerment project, normally known as IWEP, have been a success, and a second phase was approved by DANIDA starting the 1st of April 2009. It has brought great joy in Cambodia that the project will continue 
for four more years. A success in IWEP phase 1, has been the large amount of Self Help Groups (approximately 75% are women), which made the participants more confident and strengthened their beliefs for the future.
The participants in the project have tested new growing and production methods and with luck. They have improved their household economy, learned to save up money and to corporate with other participants in the project. The production of food has increased as well as the sale which has I contributed to an increase in the income per family.
In the second phase of IWEP running from 2009 to 2013 the Self Help Groups (SHGs) from phase one will continue. Besides the existing 100 SHGs, an additional number of 60 new SHGs will start operating in new villages in Siem Reap province. The new SHGS are recruited from more than 30 new villages. The women are first attending the popular Farmer Field Schools and after graduation they continue in SHGs. Eventually these groups are expected to create a starting point for cooperatives, so called farmer associations similar to what Danish farmers successfully created in Denmark more than 100 years ago. As something new, focus in phase II is also put on the poorest groups, typically women without land, who through integrated Farmer Field Schools will learn more about how to optimize the use of their homegardens. An intensive 3 month long course, the so called Training of Trainers (ToT), has been running in the summer/fall of 2009 for IWEP II, where the new “Village Extension Workers” were trained to implement training activities (farmer field schools) in the villages.
New partner of cooperation in IWEP II
ADDA and the Cambodian NGO, READA (Rural Economic and Agriculture Development Agency)
have signed a contract of cooperation concerning the implementation of IWEP phase II. READA is a very competent partner of cooperation based in Siem Reap. READA has a lot of experience with agricultural projects and especially Farmer Field Schools and the establishment of SHGs which are specific areas where IWEP phase II have a focus on.
READA will gradually carry out implementation of the project, and secure the sustainability of the project and the exit strategy after 2013, when the DANIDA funding terminates.
ADDA also cooperates with the Banteay Srei Organization, who will provide the trainings to Women leaders on Women’s leadership etc.
The idea behind the women project
The yield is in general too low. There are several causes.
The lack of education and knowledge concerning effective and sustainable production methods is one of the most important causes. Other causes could be traced back to the unexploited market shares. It is necessary for the producers to organise themselves concerning the market. The unexploited marked is mostly based on vegetables and meat. Such commodities are to a large extent being imported which is not necessary. Focus should be put on products which can be produced and sold in Cambodia and eventually be exported in the future.
The area and way of agricultural production were analysed as well. There are obvious problems with the nutritious status of the soil after many years of continuous production. This leads to the fact that newly introduced technologies such as new varieties, production of graftings, plant protection are not being exploited to an optimum extent. It is therefore necessary for the producers to have adequate knowledge about how to optimize the most basal production including irrigation systems. Cambodia does not have an export market for rice, and therefore it is difficult to increase the production of rice since enough rice is being produced for the local markets. An increase of production will only lower the price.
There are many widows and families headed by women in Cambodia. The present situation is a consequence of the war and it is heavily contributing to high poverty index in Cambodia. The economical active part of the population consists of 48% men and 52% women. The majority of these women live in the rural areas and their income is based on agriculture. During the war many women took 
over the traditional man roles related to agriculture such as e.g. soil tillage activities, irrigating, threshing etc. At the same time the women were also working with their traditional household work such as e.g. producing vegetables, selling products at the markets, production of food for their family and general care taking of the household. These women took over a number of assignments but they did not have adequate knowledge on how to solve the assignments. These assignments are still present but the women’s access to knowledge to solve the assignments and improve the production is very limited i.e. a majority of the producers producing agricultural products are women and they do not have sufficient knowledge/education to optimally use the agricultural potential of Cambodia.
In the later years the number of girls and women involved in the sex industry and the number of beggars have increased quite a lot and are contributing to a part of the large amount of the beggars and prostitutes arriving to Phnom Penn. Another aspect which affects the families in Siem Reap province, is that many of the young men find jobs in the biggest cities nearby or in one of the neighbouring countries. This leads to problems for the family structure in the poor villages where a majority of the households are female headed households.
The objectives of the IWEP II project in Cambodia
The development objective for IWEP phase II is to fight and reduce poverty among female headed households in five districts in Siem Reap province. One of the important indicators is the number of women actively contributing to the social community in the target areas. The indicator is measured through success stories based on interviews with group leaders and local leaders. The project will contribute to the described development in the following ways:
- Building social and continuous capital among women by supporting an establishment of local Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and SHGs.
- Enabling women to increase their household incomes through knowledge on improved agricultural techniques, support to raise the price of their agricultural products by selling at local markets and through agribusiness activities.
- To strengthen the women’s position and recommend them to take leadership of many different positions present in their local communities.
The target group in IWEP II
The primary target group in IWEP II is the poor and very poor women headed households in five chosen districts in Siem Reap province. At least 75% are women.
The strategy of the IWEP project
The chosen strategy to reach these objectives is first of all to
focus on the production of vegetables, chicken and pig raising, and at the same time a strengthening of the women’s position. It is not advisable to only focus on increasing the rice production since the rice production already is sustaining the local markets and the prices are low. Several national programs focus on increasing the rice production. All networks working with women, women positions and their situation is gathered in the project. The project focuses on increasing the production of vegetables, chickens and pigs as it does not require heavy investments and is aimed at the local markets and in the future on exporting.
The key to an increased production is to train the women. The training method is the participatory “Farmer Field School” (FFS) principle, which focuses on the participants’ natural curiosity and their in plenum discussions. In order to conduct successful FFS, it is necessary for the trainers to have a relevant education. The strategy focuses on:
- It is very likely that women whose families have better living conditions – based on improved agricultural production and successful small scale business initiatives – whose children receive food and attend schools, whose husbands and parents are well adapted have time and strength to participate in the civil society and local governance.
- The SHGs provide the social mechanism for women (and men) so that synergies arise in everybody’s struggle for improved conditions – the social capitals as well as the social changes are depending on this.
- Women with developed leadership and communication abilities will achieve higher status and responsiveness for their participation in the local governance as leaders of robust civil society organisations. They will be even more effective as leaders in their grass root organisations (SHGs and CBOs) and better agents for change of the local authorities.
These changes are self-reinforcing and self-developed with effects far beyond IWEP and the target groups in the target areas.
Partners of cooperation in the woman project
The project is implemented by the two NGOs Bantey Srey
and READA together with ADDA and in close cooperation with local advisors from MAFF (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) and MWVA (Ministry of Women’s and Veteran’s Affairs). As a result of the cooperation capacity building will take place in the organisations of ADDAs partners and they will be able to continue the development of the rural areas. An example is MWVAs whose role will be to recruit women to work in the provinces and districts, assist in the training of the women, exchange of knowledge regarding monitoring and evaluation. The training of employees is a major part of the project.
The sustainability of the project is among other things visible in the autonomy of the SHGs and in the capacity building of the partners of cooperation. The groups will continue to exist after the project ends and they will access to and administrate credit funds.
A number of skilled trainers will be working in the partner organisations and they will be able to facilitate participatory training of farmers and facilitate local based organisations that will strengthen the civil society in the local area. Helge Brunse is the project coordinator on the project. There are though periods where there is no project coordinator from Denmark as we have not been granted with the possibility for employment during the entire project period. The employees of IWEP II consist of very experienced employees who have been trained during IWEP I and they contribute to and secure that the project is moving forward at high speed. Read more about the project in ADDAs newsletter “News and Views”.
