The awarding of land certificates to 115 Social Land Concession beneficiareis has started on August 21, in Battambang City, Battambang. This is indeed an important achievement for the project.

Following the formalization of the extension to another year of project implementation, the project on Strengthening Civil Society and Government Partnership to Deliver Land Tenure Security continues to show good progress in achieving results for the families it serves in Battambang after successfully re-ceiving support from the Provincial Governor of allowing the 256 families to formally settle within the urban area of Battambang City. The families are currently being relocated to their equally allocated land plots. The land area was re-blocked and divided into 648 plots in five main blocks. The re-blocking map was submitted and officially approved by the Pro-vincial Governor.

The project is also focusing on the site infra-structure. The design and estimated cost of cross roads, drainage system and community centers were completed and now officially ap-proval by the Provincial Governor.

A public meeting was conducted on January 2012 to announce the progress of the Social Land Concession application to people on the project site. To date, 117 land plots have been measured, 115 out of the 117 land plots have already undergone soil filling, and 55 of the 115 families have completed building their houses.

Aside from the housing and infrastructure support, the project puts emphasis on the im-provement of community livelihood through the formation of Saving Groups (SG). To date, the SG has increased from 3 to 7 groups and each of them by now has drafted their business plans. The BTB Project aims to provide loans

I ssue 43 | 1 | August 2012

to SGs based on their business plans and the return payment will be used within the com-munity as revolving fund.

On its extension, the project aims to complete the provision of land certificates to at least 256 families (as targeted by World Bank), the procurement of infrastructure including the construction of 8 lines of streets and 16 drain-age systems (along 8 road lines) and building of 3 community centers in 3 villages. This is also the year when the project will launch housing loan service through a partnership with an MFI, and the provision of water and electricity connections to around 200 fami-lies and housing kit (zinc for making roof). A documentary video will also be produced as a learning tool for civil society, government and NGO practitioners about the proper fa-cilitation of Social Land Concession within urban areas in Cambodia. The project will continue to raise awareness amongst families about complying with requirements needed in order for them to receive their permanent land title after 10 years of residing in area.

The Battambang project aims to develop and test community-based mechanisms and procedures for civil society and government collaboration for land tenure security, shelter improvement and livelihood support. This project is currently working on three differ-ent villages including 13 Markara, O-Kcheay, and Camcar Russy villages, Prek Preah Sdach Commune in Battambang City, Battambang Province, and caters to 334 families living on the site. The project started in 2008 and sup-ported by Japan Social Development Fund through the World Bank.

House moving activities by community members in BTB

Families in Battambang Receive Land Certificates

A short course on Housing and Human Settlements was conducted by Habitat for Humanity International in the Phil-ippines from July 24 to 27. Representa-tives from over 25 Habitat country of-fices attended the training.

The course presented current trends in housing low-income families, sustain-able livelihoods framework and how to successfully use it as a tool in developing sustainable housing program in various country contexts. The course highlighted the link between housing development theory and HFH Housing Support Ser-vices initiatives. Participants were also provided a practical one-day field trip to Payatas, Quezon City; a location with about 2,000 informal settlers living around a mountain of garbage to enable participants to put into practice tools they have learned.

Mr. Kheng Virak, HFH Cambodia Proj-ect Officer shared, “I learned a lot from the training sessions. I was refreshed about the data collection process, de-veloping solutions to housing problems, understood global issue related to infor-mal settlements. I especially appreciate the knowledge shared about livelihood framework which I can use in assessing issues and opportunities within infor-mally-settled communities.”

Housing and Human Settlements Course

Habitat for Humanity Cambodia prepares for the creation of new partnerships with MFIs in order to expand its reach in housing micro-finance.

July 26 to 31, HFH Cambodia and HFH Asia Pacific met with different Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) including, Thorneakea Phum (TPC), Angkor Microheranhvatho Kampuchea (AMK) and Cambodia Business Integrated in Rural Development (CBIRD). The series of meetings set the venue for ex-ploring collaborations in providing housing

Habitat Cambodia Micro Build on the Move support services to MFI clientele.

During this five-day meeting, HFH Cam-bodia and MFIs discussed the mechanisms involved in the implementation of Institu-tional Technical Assistance (ITA), Housing Support Service (HSS), and Construction Technical Assistance (CTA) with the aim of piloting the service in one Habitat project site in Battambang. The project aims to implement housing mi-crofinance in the Social Land Concession area in Battambang. The meeting was sup-plemented by field visits to MFI target areas within Kandal Province.

Looking ahead, HFH Cambodia is hopeful that MOUs and Loan Agreements will be signed alongside partner MFIs to move the project implementation forward and serve more low income families in Cambodia through housing micro finance.

I ssue 43 | 2 | August 2012

Highlights

Meeting with MFIs

Site visit in Kandal Province

Global Village Wrap Up

June 27 to July 09: 13 Global Village volun-teer members from Northern Ireland helped in building for the Water and Sanitation Project in Siem Reap.

After a week of building in Angkor Chum and Pouk Districts, Siem Reap Province, the team was able to complete two rain wa-ter tanks, two family latrines and completed repairing the flooring and fencing of one house.

Beside the build work, the team took the op-portunity to visit children in Kruosar Thmey and donated some study materials. They also experienced riding the ox-cart throughout the village.

Jeanine Becks, the Team Leader shared, “This is the very first time for Northern Ire-land team to work in Siem Reap. The team really enjoyed being in Siem Reap! We are all happy with the chance to build and help and to learn and understand about the lives in the communities. When we reach home, we can share our build experience to others and things we have learned and understand about this beautiful country. We will also promote more teams to come and support the WATSAN project in this area.”

On the final day, the team was invited to in-augurate the latrine facility in the as well site. They food and drinks with the students and villagers.

Make a difference. Join Habitat for Humanity Cambodia as a Global Village volunteer, visit this site for

more information:

http://www.habitat.org/gv/

It’s heavy!

GLOBAL VILLAGE TEAMS

Viva VolunteersViva Volunteers

Issue 43 | 3 | August 2012

Women are work

Playing with children in school Simply proud! Level up the brick laying

Drawing session Proud to build Jeanine on toilet foundation

Girl power! David digging dirt

Experience the ox-cart Showing their groove! Ribbon cutting

I ssue 43 | 4 | August 2012

Volunteers’ Voice

All the boys and staff enjoyed the experience very much. Although they may not have enjoyed getting up early each day and leaving their hotel at 7.30pm, they soon got into the routine and each group knuckled down to the tasks at hand with much enthusiasm. They had tasks to complete and they bonded together in great spirit to achieve tasks on each of the build days. The mounds of sand/soil slowly disappeared as tasks were accomplished. The concreting of the floors and finishing was a very pleasing achievement. Many of the boys had not laid bricks before so this was a great experience. Although the weather was unpredictable and the rain made access to and around the site difficult, the boys pressed on regardless. Meeting the homeowners and the skilled workers gave us some insight into normal life in Phnom Penh for many people. Travelling to the worksite gave us an appre-ciation of the lifestyles of people on the fringes of a large city - something many tourists never see. Scotch College

Our build gave us an opportunity to help both a primary school and a village under Habi-tat for Humanity Cambodia’s water sanitation project. Water sanitation is an important element in development, especially in a country like Cambodia where the water supply changes dramatically with the season. Everyone on the build site was friendly and happy to be working with us, a group of university students from Australia, and they didn’t mind that our lack of building skills meant that it wasn’t so pretty!

Although it was hard work, we finished our project in just a few days and this was very rewarding. We learnt new skills, like laying bricks, and met new people. It was great to have the dedication ceremony at the end, and to meet members of the community whose lives would be changed by our project. Thank you Habitat for Humanity! Charlotte Mills

Our build in Cambodia was superb with HFH Cambodia looking after us excellently. We got to work on two houses; building foundations and walls with the homeowners and the very helpful foremen and skilled workers. It was hard work but great fun, especially with the local children coming round to help and play. We loved helping these two lovely families and we also learned a lot about ourselves whether it was building skills or how to get on with people from another culture. It was a measure of how well HFH Cambo-dia looked after us that so many of the team loved the experience and how few of them fell ill during the trip, bearing in mind how difficult it was to build in such hot, humid conditions. I have been on builds to four countries worldwide and HFH Cambodia is definitely the best organised of all. I highly recommend a trip to Cambodia with Habitat for Humanity! David Scott

What do you think about your build in Cambodia?

“It was very difficult to move to different schools. I needed to spend a lot of time to adapt with the new school environment, new friends and new teachers,” said Phon Pisey, while he assembled rugs with his sister, Phon Sopheak, 8 year-old. Pisey is 12 years old.

Pisey, is a student at Arey Korsob Primary School, Oudong, will be in sixth grade after the school vacation. “He is a very smart stu-dent. He started from number six in his first month in school to being the number one student in class,” said Chea Sopheang, Pisey’s grandmother.

Pisey moved to live in the New Holistic Community for almost a year now and his parents enrolled him to school right after they moved. “I felt uneasy moving to an-

Pisey’s Life in Oudong

other school, but I do not have this feeling anymore. I very much enjoy this school now with lots of new friends and kind teachers who teach us well in class. I love my school, and I am very thankful that I do not need to move around anymore as we used to move a lot in his parents search for decent jobs.My parents finally managed to build us our home,” said Pisey.

We asked Pisey about what they do while their school is on a break and he happily shared that they do many things while at home. He and his sister spend two to three hours in a day helping their grandmother in making rugs, while their parents are at work. Every afternoon on Thursday and Friday, they go to the nearby community to take English and Computer for free. I also now

Khmer Harvest Build

Issue 43 | 5 | August 2012

have the sixth grade literacy and mathemat-ics books, which I read to prepare for the coming school year, and then we spend the rest of the time playing with other kids in the community.

Pisey aspires to succeed in his future. He promises to study hard in order to find a good job. In his young age, he already knows the importance of returning the gratitude to his parents. He looks forward to seeing her mother and father relaxing and not needing to work hard. “I will study hard to help my parents in the future and I wish to work in tourism since this is my parents’ wish, and I also like it as I will be able to meet lots of new people from different places,” Pisey hap-pily shared.

Making rugs with sister Sopheak Play time

I ssue 43 | 6 | August 2012

23 AugustConsultation Workshop on Quality Low Cost Design in Phnom Penh

24 August – 04 September Global Village Team from Australia in Phnom Penh

30 AugustInternal Consultation Workshop in Phnom Penh

03 – 06 SeptemberTraining of Trainers on Financial Eduation by HFH Asia Pacific in Phnom Penh

19 – 25 SeptemberGlobal Training Workshop in Peru

24 SeptemberConstitution Day

18 – 31 OctoberGlobal Village Team from USA in Phnom Penh

Special Feature

Upcoming Events and

Legal HolidaysSarith starts his day early. He has to be up at 5 in the morning to help his wife and in laws carry and move merchandise to sell in the market. His family shares a house with his parents-in-law and other relatives from his wife’s side.

His first mission for the day is completed by around 6:15am. After sharing breakfast with his family, Sarith is on his bike and off to work. Office starts at 7:30am. Once there, he checks with his colleagues and completes paperwork before heading out to the field, which is usually situated about 30 kilometers from Phnom Penh.

On site, Sarith is usually faced with a variety of tasks such as monitoring the skilled workers in their building technique and quality. He is very particular in making sure that work is on schedule. Sarith enjoys interacting with skilled workers during lunch breaks and would use this opportunity to get to know each one of them and to make them comfortable in sharing their ideas during builds. Work resumes after an hour. Sarith completes his day’s work on site at around 4:30pm and heads back to the office.

Aside from working on the Phnom Penh Housing and Community Development program, Sarith also actively supports Global Village team builds. He would normally prepare the site in advance, the building schedule, follow up with the building plan to assure the target is reached. Sarith believes that a Construction Supervisor is key to making the build experi-ence worthwhile for all volunteers.

In a month, Sarith would be given a target of completing 6 houses and providing technical support to other projects.

By 6pm, Sarith makes time for his family where they usually would have dinner together. Some days during the week, Sarith would bring his wife and his two-year old daughter, Kea Mouyheang to visit relatives, the riverside and sometime have dinner outside.

“I like my job here in HFH Cambodia. I get to meet and learn from different cultures through the Global Village experience and from Habitat colleagues during special projects. I also ap-preciate learning and getting to know families in the communities that we work with, I am able to understand the way they live, how they can adapt to the situation and their dreams of living in a better situation,” shared Sarith. Mr. Kea Sarith joined Habitat for Humanity Cambodia as a Construction Supervisor in July 2009. His passion towards well-planned, quality construction work and support is a result of his years of dedicated service.

A Day in the Life of a Habitat Construction Supervisor

Kea Sarith cutting the ribbon in one special build Sarith and his family

Welcome Chhun Sona who joins our Chap Pdeum Chivit Thmey (CCT) and Building Houses Building Positive Lives Project, as the Program Manager. Sona brings with him 15 years of experience working with local and international NGOs with a special focus on programs for vulner-able groups.

Please contact Sona at chhun_sona@habitatcambo-dia.org

New Faces

Or Kun!

Join HFH Cambodia’s Social Media Network! Become a Fan or join our Cause on Facebook http://www.causes.com/causes/260473-habitat-for-humanity-cambodia

Follow Habitat Cambodia Tweets http://twitter.com/#!/HabitatCambodiaVisit our website http://www.habitatcambodia.org

HFH Cambodia address: #35Bis, St. 478, Phsar Duem Tkov Commune, Chamkar Mon District, Phnom Penh City, P.O Box: 2452 Phnom Penh 3Tel/Fax: (855) 23 997 840

E-mail: info@habitatcambodia.org

Habitat for Humanity AUSTRALIA

Habitat for Humanity GREAT BRITAIN

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Habitat for Humanity Cambodia says thank you to our corporate and international partners and our affiliate tithe donors.

Together, we will continue improving lives and building communities in Cambodia.

The Charitable Foundation, Elton John AIDS Foundation,

International Children’s Care Australia, World Bank,

Japan Social Development Fund, Asian Development Bank,

Paul and Aileen Munn and World Vision Cambodia

Pannasastra University of Cambodia, Norton University,

Build Bright University, Royal University School of Social Work,

Logos International School, Northbridge International School,

University of Cambodia, Collaborative Studio

U N I V E R S I T I E S A N D S C H O O L P A R N T E R S :

A F F I L I A T E D O N O R S :

I N T E R N A T I O N A L P A R T N E R S :

C O R P O R A T E P A R T N E R S : ANZ Royal Bank, Khmer Solar, Davies Paints Philippines, Hotel

Cambodiana, Korea Cadastral Survey Corporation, BUNGE

Habitat for Humanity GREATER LOS ANGELES

Habitat for Humanity GREATER LOWELL

Habitat for Humanity GREATER BOSTON

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Habitat for Humanity OAKLAND COUNTY, MI

WEST PASCO Habitat for Humanity

ST. JOSEPH Habitat for Humanity, MO

Habitat for Humanity GREATER BIRMINGHAM

Habitat for Humanity GUAM

Daimler Financial Services, GERMANY

Habitat for Humanity CINCINNATI

Habitat for Humanity of EAST KING COUNTY

L O C A L P A R T N E R S : Khemara, Maryknoll, Sharing Experience for Adapted Experi-

ence, Sihanouk Hospital Center of Hope