BUNGE and Habitat for Humanity Cambo-dia inaugurated a new Aqua Tower at Kouk Dong Primary School in Angkor Chum dis-trict, Siem Reap. The Aqua Tower will pro-vide more than 600 school children and over 600 villagers access to safe, clean water to help improve their health, productivity and wellbe-ing.

The Angkor Chum District governor, Mr. Roth Chum and Mr. Frans Mol, Representa-tive of Bunge Asia Executive Committee at-tended the inauguration. “Bunge is proud to sponsor this Aqua Tower and to help provide a source of clean and safe water for the residents of Kouk Dong,” said Mr. Frans Mol. “As a major agri-business company, Bunge acts in a responsible way with respect to its own water consumption

and is engaged in improving conditions in the communities where we operate. Too many people in rural Cambodia suffer from health problems related to poor water quality, so im-provements like this Aqua Tower make a big difference in their wellbeing and daily lives,” he added.

“The Aqua Tower is able to produce 10,000 li-ters of clean water every day enough to serve upto 2,000 community children and people in a day. With enough clean water to use, health challenges such as diarrhea, malaria and other kinds of diseases caused by unhygienic water will be reduced,” according to Mr. Chan Sok-hoeun, HFH Cambodia WatSan Project Offi-cer.

Habitat for Humanity Cambodia has been promoting water, sanitation and hygiene be-

I ssue 40 | 1 | May 2012

havior changes for 5 years in villages in An-gkor Chum district to help increase villagers’ productivity and improve their health and wellbeing.

This is the second year Bunge is sponsoring the provision of Aqua Tower to a school in rural Siem Reap in collaboration with Planet Water Foundation and Habitat for Humanity Cambodia.

Apart from the Aqua Tower hand-over, the team also conducted a hand washing training along with HFHC to school students to teach them the importance of proper hygiene and sanitation. Students were taught proper use and maintenance of their toilet. They were also taught how to cut nails, how to brush their teeth, and how to keep their body clean.

This initiative is part of the Bunge 10 cam-paign, the company’s celebration of the 10-year Anniversary of the listing of its shares in the New York Stock Exchange on August 2, 2011. Employee-led Bunge 10 community projects continue throughout 2012, “Help-ing Our People Help Their Communities” around the world.

Bunge Team headed by Frans Mol joins the school children during the ribbon cutting

BUNGE and HFH Cambodia: Providing 10,000 Liters of Clean Water to 1,200 Rural Children and Families

As the first phase of the EHOPHHS (Enhanc-ing HIV/Orphans and Vulnerable Children Programme with Holistic Housing Solutions) project draws to a close, independent reviews of the houses were carried out by the construc-tion team in Phnom Penh, Kandal Province and Prey Veng Province.

During the inspection, sixty houses were se-lected and inspected over a seven-day period. The inspection team which consisted of Mr. Sok Chandarith, HFHC Construction Team Leader and Kelvin Au, Construction Advisor from Engineers without Borders, drew a list of recommendations and presented these in a meeting to the rest of the construction team for further consideration and to apply lessons learned to all active construction projects of HFHC.

The entire construction team was present dur-ing the meeting and had an open and lively discussion to examine ways of improving ex-

isting designs and the quality of construction. Members of the construction team were able to share their experiences and views on impor-tant construction issues.

To strengthen its initiative of improving con-struction outputs, HFHC construction team agreed to conduct training with skilled workers in Trapaing Anchang on May 10 and 11. The aim of the training was to teach skilled workers to carry out thorough and effective inspections on Habitat houses. Eight skilled workers were present during the training. Checklists were created to allow skilled workers to inspect the houses in a systematic method.

One of the recommendations of the inspection team was that every house should be reviewed independently. During the training, skilled workers were taught how to identify construc-tion and repair needs and to discuss these with home owners to determine how it may affect their lives. Skilled workers were also taught

how to estimate the cost of repair for some of the houses. A practical session was held to guide the workers through the process to ensure they have a clear understanding of the inspection process.

In sum, the team will use the lessons learned from the recent construction activities to fur-ther enhance the existing construction tech-niques and designs employed by HFHC. The items that the team discussed include ways to improve quality of construction, the quality of building materials and ways to strengthen the buildings in case of natural disaster.

As a result, all of the new houses in Phnom Penh and Kandal Province have been thor-oughly reviewed. One hundred and eighty houses were built and an additional one hun-dred and fifty-eight houses were repaired un-der EHOPHHS project between January 2011 and April 2012.

I ssue 40 | 2 | May 2012

Building Skills, Improving Quality

Two Volunteer Program-Global Village (VP-GV) workshops were conducted among HFH Cambodia staff in Phnom Penh on April 26 and27 and in Battam-bang on May 4 to strengthen participants’ capacity in hosting Global Village volun-teers and in articulating HFH mission and the role of VP-GV program in HFH mis-sion.

The workshop created a venue for mem-bers from Volunteer Program, Resource Development, Construction and Pro-grams to exchange ideas on how GV host-ing and implementation can be improved. Through the workshop, the group was able to reinforce their understanding of the VP-GV program, systems, procedures, standards, and requirements. They also shared valuable VP-GV related experi-ences, learning, and challenges, and most importantly, identify solutions to usual challenges encountered during builds and resolve other significant issues raised.

“From my observation, the training helped clarify the roles of each department involved in preparing to host volunteer teams. The other good thing, for the Bat-tambang session, was that we had commu-nity leaders join the training. So we will have fantastic support from the commu-nity when teams build in Battambang next year,” Hanzel Sarceda, Volunteer Program Marketing Coordinator from HFH Asia Pacific shared after the workshop.

VP-GV Program: Working to Improve Hosting Standards

Ms. Bernadette Bolo-Duthy, HFH Cam-bodia Country Director joined representa-tives from World Bank, Ministry of Inte-rior of Cambodia (MOI), and Ministry of Land Management Urban Planning and Construction-LASED Project in a 2-day exchange project visit to HFH Cambodia project on Social Land Concession (SLC) in Battambang, Water and Sanitation Project in Siem Reap, and LASED project in Kompong Thom.

With the aim of increasing the capacity of all project stakeholders, relevant staff from the national, provincial and municipal govern-ments, members of the commune council and community representatives including HFHC Battambang staff took a 4-day ex-posure visit to Oudong Kandal, Kampong Speu, and Sihanoukville, May 8 to 11.

The study tour had 28 participants from the Battambang Municipal Technical Working Group (MTWG), the Prek Preahsdach com-

mune council, staff from HFHC Battambang Office and community members of savings groups formed with the project. The main purpose of the trip is to understand more about housing loan, Social Land Concession (SLC), livelihood improvement and saving group facilitation through other development projects.

Mr. Heng Bunny, Project Manager for HFH Cambodia Battambang project shared, “through this study tour, the team has learned more practically about urban resettlement projects. We are able to look into different ways of offering loans for house construction. We also gained, understanding on SLC imple-mentation in rural areas, and understand the problems faced by other Saving Groups and what has been done to solve relevant issues.” The team concluded their exposure visit in Sihanouk Ville to discussed the lessons learnt and evaluate their experience before heading back to Battambang.

Project Exchange Visit with World Bank and LASED

Battambang Team on a Field Exposure to Increase Capacity

The purpose of the project exchange visit is to look deeply into worthy lessons learned and take note of experiences shared by direct project implementers and apply learning for further project improvement.

“I learned a lot of new things in this trip such as new and low price technology created by villagers and how loan projects are efficiently and effectively handled by other projects. All in all, it was a successful trip,” Dr. Sareth Boramy shares after the visit.

I ssue 40 | 3 | May 2012

Highlights

Visiting WATSAN Project in Siem Reap Team checks project map of Battambang project

The construction of 100 toilets in Blue Tent Community was launched on May 25 in Ponnhear Leu district, Oudongm Kandal Province.

The latrines will be constructed by Habi-tat for Humanity Cambodia and granted to the relocated families living in the Blue Tent Community living without access to proper sanitation facilities through Sihanouk Hos-pital Center of Hope.

The donation of the latrines is an initiative of

100 Latrines for Blue Tent Community Launched

Eunice Olsen, Miss Singapore 2000, who is now an actress, writer, and a film producer in Singapore. She assembled individual do-nors from Singapore. “I used to visit Cam-bodia and did some small projects such as providing books and clothes for children in public schools. This time, on my return, we want to do something more sustainable and more useful for people’s daily lives. I decided to support this toilet project, and I believe after the toilets are built, the sanitation and hygiene condition in this community will definitely improve. Partnership with other

Khmer Harvest Build

Issue 40 | 6 | May 2012

NGOs is key to filling-in the gaps,” Ms. Ol-sen said.

The project allows HFH Cambodia to prac-tice further Construction Technical Assis-tance to worthy cause such as this. Families in the Blue Tent Community will contribute to the project through sweat equity during construction. Project is targeted to finish on July 2012.

The Blue Tent Community is located nearby the Khmer Harvest Build Community.

I ssue 40 | 7 | May 2012

01 June International Children’s Day

03 June Cambodia Prakas Commune Elections

04 – 07 JuneMarket Training Workshop in India

05 JuneWSSS Meeting at Ministry of Rural Development

11 – 12 JuneHousing Finance Training in India

11– 15 JuneGOAC WATSAN Project Training in Siem REap

15 – 24 JuneGlobal Village Team from United States in Siem Reap

Special Feature

Upcoming Events and

Legal HolidaysOne of HFH Cambodia’s unique program themes on Strengthening Civil Society Govern-ment Partnership to Deliver Secure Land Tenure in Battambang is preparing to host Global Village volunteers in 2013. With the on-going infrastructure work – roads, drainage system, families are also getting ready to move to their newly allocated land plots.

After receiving solid support from the government of formalizing land ownership of over 300 families within the project area, HFH Cambodia is now in the process of dividing legal land plots for families to build their formal houses. This boundary mark activity is expected to reach its completion this year, paving the way to building activities that also opens the project’s doors to hosting international volunteers.

Taking this opportunity, HFH Cambodia would like to announce the opening of GV slots in Battambang. The project area will be ready to host volunteers from different parts of the world by 2013. “We hope many volunteer teams will come to Battambang to help families build their homes in secure land. We are already excited to activate the program’s hosting capacity,” says Bernadette Bolo-Duthy, HFHC Country Director.

The Battambang project is an innovative partnership between the Government, World Bank and Habitat Cambodia which aims to deliver secure land tenure to families informally settled in urban area.

Battambang Opens Global Village Volunteer Slots for 2013

HFHC welcomes another Finance and Ad-min Assistant based in Takeo. Please join us in welcoming Sok Ratanak. Ratanak has worked for Oxfam and other local NGOs in the same field.

Please contact Ratanak at sok_ratanak@habitatcambo-dia.org

We welcome another Finance and Admin Assistant, Chheng Horl. He joined HFHC’s Chab Pdoem Chivit Thmey Project based in Phnom Penh. Horl has six years of experi-ence working with SCC, a local NGO.

Please contact Horl at chheng_horl@habitatcambo-dia.org

The pole boundary installation in Battambang project area

Please join HFH Cambodia in welcoming Sao Penh our new Finance Manager. Penh brings with him years of experience work-ing with NGOs like Care and Rhacc in both Administration and Finance.

Please contact Penh at sao_penh@habitatcambodia.org

Welcome So Sokunthea who joins HFH Cambodia as Finance and Admin Assistant. Sokunthea has three years of experience working with a local company and an NGO as a Finance and Admin Assistant.

Please contact Sokunthea at so_sokunthea@habitatcam-bodia.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

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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

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