Income Generation:
Improving food security and alternate source of income...
Youths, adults and in particularly women from disadvantaged
family backgrounds are enabled to increase food security through the
application of knowledge on technical agriculture training, and the
promotion of micro financial services for employment and income generation
in the communities.
The Program provides agricultural and other village economy-related
technical training to adults above 18 years (most of them are women)
to improve food security to vulnerable households in a first step
and generate additional income in a second step. The farming organic
system is introduced to improve natural and economical environment
of the communities. The model farmers are promoted to ensure sustainability
of the qualified human resources in the communities.
The Program also supports management training and seed-capital to
Social Welfare Fund Committee (SWFC) for the establishment of a community-owned
financial service system, facilitating household-based savings and
offering credit for income-generating purposes. To help focus group,
"Fund for Social Welfare" promotion among disadvantaged
families, especially women is set up. Loans from these funds enable
such families to join a Development Activity Group (DAG) that runs
community-owned income-generating activities under the authority
of Community owned SWFC. The SWFC manages and allocates credit from
social welfare funds to individuals or groups as loans for generating
income. To qualify for a loan people must undergo skills training
and business plan. The interest from social welfare fund loans is
used for social welfare of the community, especially for children
in difficult circumstances. The farmer associations are established
in the communities for the local economic development.
The program also provides money to help community build rice bank.
These enable families to borrow rice during time of food shortage
and avoid the high interest rates charged by private lenders. Training
in bookkeeping is provided to support this activity.
Furthermore, the Program facilitates the leasing out of workshops
at its district-based Development Service Centers (DSC) to craftsmen
/ women who have graduated from Wathnakpheap training courses and
who wish to establish themselves as entrepreneurs and run a private
workshop. These private workshops and DSCs impart training to applicants
proposed by Wathnakpheap in the same way workshop owners in the market
offer such opportunities to the Program.
As the result, for the year of 2004:
- 97% of 503 families in difficulty circumstance
(FDCs) have applied for least 3 types of agriculture training for
increasing and diversifying agriculture production.
- 279 cash saving groups (35 groups newly added in 2004)
with members (66% FDCs) have accumulate the saving amount of 65
million riels (USD16,250) and taken the amount of 48 million riels
as loans to 1,150 members with monthly interest rate 2% to 3%.
- 98 community rice banks (22 groups newly added in 2004)
with 1,296 members (67% FDCs) could save stock of 61.8 tones of
rice and taken 47.6 tones of rice as loans to 607 members during
food shortage.
- 1,892 FDCs have taken loans from
SWCs of 101 villages the amount of 187,2 million riels (USD 46,800)
for generating incomes. The individual yearly income average was
between 100,000 riels to 2,850,000 riels.
- 460 FDCs have increased food security above 9 months, resulting
from the above alternatives source of incomes.
- Capacity building to self-help groups:
| |
Group |
Members |
Capacity building on |
| Model Farmer |
|
105 |
TOT/Extension trainers |
| Cash saving leader |
279 |
837 |
Bookkeeping/ loan management |
| Rice bank leaders |
98 |
294 |
Bookkeeping/ loan management |
| Social welfare committee leaders |
101 |
303 |
Bookkeeping/ loan management |
|
|
Income Generation |
Less cost and high productivity of SRI
Additional income from home gardening after consumption
learning on animal raising
Access loan from SWC for generating incomes
Food Processing for selling
|
|
