| CWARS Projects |
 |
 |
 |
|
VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTRES Bantheay Meanchey Centre Bantheay Meanchey is the province second most affected by landmines in Cambodia. There are over 3000 landmine victims and other disabled people living in this province. Due to the prolonged civil conflict spread over the region by many different political parties, many landmines were planted indiscriminately during the conflict. These mines have maimed and killed thousands of civilians performing their daily activities. Many thanks must go to the Halo Trust and Mine Action Group for reducing the number of landmine casualties day by day, by clearing the vast landmine affected areas, making the region a safer place for every one to live. In order to meet the demand of huge number of landmine victims, and reduce the time spent by victims waiting to start training, CWARS, with the financial support of the Kadoorie Charitable Foundation and MOSVY, have invested in their largest training centre yet, where 600 landmine victims will be trained each year. Due to the strong dedication and commitment of our resourceful staff, the long awaited training centre was successfully completed in less than 4 months. The centre is rated as the biggest vocational training centre that serves landmine victims in Cambodia. The inauguration was officiated by His Excellency Sok An, Deputy Prime Minister of Cambodia. During this time, 10,000,000 Riel was donated to CWARS by the Council of Ministers to be used as micro-finance loans for the graduates. As of September 2007, the Bantheay Meanchey Training centre has trained 2344 landmine victims and disabled people. Amongst this number 1828 are successfully operating micro enterprises, earning a living in their communities. Thanks to our supporting partners in Bantheay Meanchey without which the project could not be successful.: International Labour Organisation (ILO): for providing micro enterprise management to our pre and post graduates. Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation (TPO): for training CWARS staff in counselling courses and providing counselling to our new arrival trainees International Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC): for providing custom made prosthetics and orthotics to our trainees Provincial Hospital: for providing special treatment and places for our trainees when necessary Step- Safe Australia and Daniel Weiner: for providing the funding for some bicycle repair graduates and water wells to post agriculture graduates AusAID: For funding extensive training to amputees from the Oddar Meanchey Province Battambang Training Centre Vocational training is one of the first sustainability afford of CWARS Project, the vocational trainingcentre in Battambang is quite special in comparison to those in the other provinces. CWARS is piloting a semi-autonomous, charitable and business oriented project, constructing a tapioca starch factory on the Thai border. Not only will the factory provide job opportunities to local villagers, but the majority of funds generated by the factory will be used to sustain the CWARS training projects in Battambang. Once again Kadoorie have provided the funding needed to continue the vocational training project for the next 12 months whilst the factory is becoming operational, and provide the necessary financial support to complete the remaining work on the factory. CWARS is expected to generate between US$300,000 and US$350,000 each year from the tapioca factory’s turn over, and the funds will be used to continually provide training jobs to the remaining landmine victims in the Battambang Province. At least 3,500 people with a disability still need assistance in this province. The beautiful landscape of Kratie is what typically stays in the minds of most visitors to this upper Mekong river province. Regular tourism is only now possible due to the newly sealed road. The CWARS staff has devoted extensive time, resources and commitment to construct an outstanding vocational training centre just outside Kratie’s town centre. The many hours of travel did not affect the workmanship and enthusiasm devoted to constructing vocational training centre. None of which was possible without the financial support of our long-standing donor - Kadoorie Charitable Foundation. As a result of this project, 1273 landmine victims and disabled people have been trained and mainstreamed into Cambodian society. This long neglected region of Cambodia is finally beginning to flourish, and since the implementation of our training centre, stigma and discrimination against people with a disability has been greatly removed from the province. Beggars are no longer seen on the road; instead more amputees and disabled entrepreneurs are widespread across the province. They can now be seen on almost every busy corner in the communities. As is the nature of developing any projects, some problems have occurred. Some of these problems are still fresh in our memory today. When first starting up the project, the Managing Director of CWARS has been held at gun-point, surrounded by groups of armed militia, and threatened to not develop any projects on their land. They had just resettled on this land, which legitimately belonged to the Ministry of Social Affairs. Thankfully the situation was resolved after intervention from the authorities. Kampong Thom Training Centre Kampong Thom Vocational Training Centre is the second vocational training centre constructed by CWARS. The centre was established in 1999, initially funded by Cambodia Canada Development Program. Following the termination of the financial mandate, Kadoorie Charitable Foundation and the California Khmer Association (Oung Sophon Legacy) have take over the financing. They will be providing funding for the continuation of the project for a further five years. As the result of six years implementation, 1923 landmine victims and disabled people have been placed in the vocational training centre in the following skills: 1. Motorcycle Repair (6 Months) 2. Bicycle Repair (3 Months) 3. TV/Radio Repair (12 Months) 4. Agriculture (1 Month) 5. Sewing/Tailoring (6 months) 6. Barbering (5 Months) At least 1654 graduates have been proven successful in their micro enterprises, and have been fully integrated into their society. CREDIT LOAN PROGRAM The Credit Loan program is designed to provide start up capital to all CWARS graduates who experience critical problems obtaining start up capital. Generally, to receive a loan in Cambodia the beneficiary must own property or assets worth 50% more than the requested loan. Otherwise the applicant is denied. Less than 10% of CWARS graduates would be suitable to such a loan. Therefore, it was necessary to set up our own Credit loan project that provides loans to only disabled graduates, with little or no interest. The loan is often provided in the form of clusters and groups, which consist of at least 5 members. These groups are a form of ‘self help’ groups which not only provides monetary loans, but serves as a disabled networking mechanism. The groups meet once a month or once every other month. CWARS have created 83 self help groups in the provinces where CWARS is formerly and currently operating. Over 500 graduates are members of these groups, and over US$68,000 has been loaned. So far more requests for loans have been received, but due to limited resources many graduates remain on a waiting list. Our sincere thanks go to our donors for this project: Terre des Hommes Germany, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) CABDIC Step-Safe Australia Private Donation, especially Mr. Daniel Weiner Other Projects: · Angkor Arts by Disabled Project · Primary and High School Construction Project · Corrective Surgery Project · Buffalo Breeding LANDMINE RISK REDUCTION PROJECT: · Tapioca Starch Factory · MEEM Project · Cow for Cambodia Project
|
