Overseas Fieldwork Report 2012:

Kampong Thom Province, Cambodia

Graduate School of International Development
Nagoya University

Overseas Fieldwork Report 2012

Kampong Thom Province, Cambodia

March 2013
Graduate School of International Development
Nagoya University
Nagoya, Japan

Introduction
The twenty-first Overseas Fieldwork (OFW 2012) of the Graduate School of International
Development (GSID), Nagoya University, was carried out in Kampong Thom Province, Cambodia
from August 26 to September 9 in 2012.

Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) kindly accepted

the OFW this year, putting aside the past OFWs in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Based on the longcherished relationship, the OFW 2012 was managed smoothly and it contributed to further
strengthen our tie with this prestigious university in Cambodia.
Considering the relevance of topics to the Kampong Thom context and the expertise of GSID
professors, we divided 23 students into four working groups, i.e., (WG1) economy, (WG2)
education, (WG3) migration, and (WG4) health, for the purpose of studying rural developments of
the area in an integrated manner.

This year, students conducted their research in villages of Sambor

Commune, Kampong Thom Province. On September 8, before the departure from Phnom Penh, theyshared their research findings with professors and students of RUPP.
Reflecting comments and advice received at the presentation and on other occasions, participants
tried to elaborate their work in the final product. The present volume is a collection of the working
group reports.

Acknowledgements
The committee of OFW 2012 is indebted to many people and institutions both in Cambodia andJapan for the successful completion of this year’s program.
Our appreciation must be directed first to the people of Sambor Commune in Kampong Thom
Province. We are especially grateful to local authorities including the provincial governor, village
chiefs, staff members of government offices and other relevant organizations for their generous
assistance and cordial hospitality. We also would like to express our sincere gratitude to all of those
who kindly provided us precious information in the interviews. We could not have accomplished the
OFW successfully without their kind supports.
Next, our appreciation goes to the students and advisors of Royal University of Phnom Penh
(RUPP). We would like to express our sincere appreciation to Dr. Ngin Chanrith, Dr. Seak Sophat,
Prof. Hoy Sereivathanak Reasey, Prof. San Vibol and Ms. Hak Sochanny. Participants of the OFW
2012 received tremendous support from staff and ten students of RUPP during the field research. We
are grateful for their dedicated cooperation not only as advisors and interpreters but also as joint
researchers.

iLast but not least, we are very grateful to those who provided valuable lectures to ourparticipants in the preparatory seminar of OFW 2012: Prof. Koung Teilee of the Graduate School ofLaw, Nagoya University, Prof. Satoru Kobayashi of Kyoto University, Prof. Kenjiro Yagura ofHannan University and Mr. Touch Sorana of GSID.

We also would like to thank Ms. Erin

Sakakibara for the English editing of this volume.

Committee on OFW 2012
Takeshi Higashimura, Associate Professor and Chair
Koichi Usami, Professor
Naohiro Takizawa, Professor
Collaborating faculty member
Kimiaki Takahashi, Professor
Office of OFW
Ngov Penghuy, Assistant Professorii

Table of Contents
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... i
Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................................ i
Table of Contents .........................................................................................................................iii
List of Participants .......................................................................................................................... 1
Preparatory Seminar ............................................................................................................................................ 3
Interim Presentation of Research Findings in Cambodia .................................................................................... 3
Presentation of Research Findings in GSID ........................................................................................................ 3
Overall Schedule for Fieldwork in Cambodia ..................................................................................................... 4

Background Information of Kampong Thom Province, Cambodia .............................................. 5

Working Group 1
Livelihood Improvement Under Community Forestry in Cambodia: A Case in Sambor
Commune, Kampong Thom ……………………………………………………………………. 8
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 10
2. Methodology ................................................................................................................................................. 11
3. Characteristics of the Sample Village ........................................................................................................... 17
4. Findings ......................................................................................................................................................... 19
5. Conclusion..................................................................................................................................................... 33
6. Acknowledgement......................................................................................................................................... 33
7. References ................................................................................................................................................... 33

Working Group 2
Factors Affecting Students’ Willingness to Pursue Lower Secondary Education: A Case Study
at Sambor Commune, Prasat Sambor District, Kompong Thom, Cambodia ……...……… 36
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 37
2. Research Background.................................................................................................................................... 40
3. Research Questions and Objectives .............................................................................................................. 42
4. Hypotheses .................................................................................................................................................... 43
5. Methodology ................................................................................................................................................. 43iii

6. Research Findings ......................................................................................................................................... 44
7. Conclusion..................................................................................................................................................... 53
8. Scope and Limitation .................................................................................................................................... 54
9. Acknowledgement......................................................................................................................................... 54
10. Reference ................................................................................................................................................... 54

Working Group 3
Migration in Sambor Commune, Kompong Thom Province, Cambodia …………...………56
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 57
2. Methodology ................................................................................................................................................. 58
3. Findings and Discussion ............................................................................................................................... 60
4. Conclusion..................................................................................................................................................... 78
5. Reference....................................................................................................................................................... 78
6. Annex ............................................................................................................................................................ 80

Working Group 4
The Current Situation for Selection of Health Treatments: The Case of Sambor Commune.81
1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 82
2. Methodology ................................................................................................................................................. 86
3. Health Care Providers ................................................................................................................................. 89
4. ID Poor Program ........................................................................................................................................... 93
5. Findings from Questionnaire......................................................................................................................... 94
6. Data Analysis of General Situation ............................................................................................................. 96
7. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 98
8. Acknowledgement....................................................................................................................................... 100
9. References ................................................................................................................................................. 100

List of Individual and Company Donors to the Overseas Fieldwork Fund ........................................................ 101
海外実地研修基金に拠出いただいた個人・企業一覧 ................................................................................. 102

iv

List of Participants
Faculty Members (9)Advisors from
GSID, Nagoya University

Working Groups

Advisors from
Cambodia

WG1

Koichi Usami

Seak Sophat

WG2

Naohiro Takizawa

Hoy Sereivathanak Reasey

WG3

Takeshi Higashimura

San Vibol

WG4

Kimiaki Takahashi

Hak Sochanny

Logistics/Coordination Penghuy Ngov

Seak Sophat/Phat Chandara

Students from Royal University of Phnom Penh (10)
WG

WG1

WG2

Name

Sex

Phat Chandara

M

Kong Sopheak

M

Leang Sovichea

M

Theng Keovoitey

F

1

WG

WG3

WG4

Name

Sex

Cheb Hoeun

M

Min SovannrothF

Eng Lay Koy

FSuon Sopiseth

M

Sem SomadalinF

Sen Rineth

FGSID Students (23)
Name

Dept.

Sex

Nationality

MAOULOUD TALLAFALLDID

M

SENEGALESEBAWAR SERAN

DID

M

AFGANISTANESEDIDFCAMBODIAN

NAW THIRI MAY AYE

DIDF

MYANMARDAISAKU NISHIMURA

DICOS

M

JAPANESEVALERIO MENDOZA OCTASIANOMIGUEL

DID

M

HONDURANBENJAMIN DAVID HUFFMAN

DID

M

USA

ZHANG SHASHADIDFCHINESELU SHA SHADIDFCHINESEDID

F

VIETNAMESEDIDFKOREAN

DID

M

CAMBODIAN

LEE HSIAO YUN

DICOS

F

TAIWANESESISOUK BOUALAPHIANE

DICOS

F

LAO

YANG YING

DICOM

F

CHINESEBEN HADJ LARBI GHASSEN

DICOS

M

TUNISIAN

TRAN THI LOAN ANH

DICOS

F

VIETNAMESE

DEEWESH PRASAD

DICOS

M

INDIANDICOSFJAPANESE

DICOS

MJAPANESE

TRAN HONG PHUONG

DIDF

VIETNAMESE

YANG XINDICOSMCHINESEDICOSFJAPANESEVONG RYLIDA
WG1
Economy*WG2NGUYEN HUYEN ANH

Education

YOONJUNG HWANG
CHAN PHAKKDEY

WG3
Migration

**

**

*

*

**

TOMOKO OGURA
MOTOMI MIZUTANI
WG4HealthYOSHIDA REIMI***** Group leader, * Sub-leader,
DID: Department of International Development;
DICOS: Department of International Cooperation;
DICOM: Department of International Communication.

2

Program of OFW 2011
Preparatory Seminar at GSID
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Date

Title of the Lecture and the Lecturer

May 9 (Wed.)“Introduction to the Year 2012 OFW” by Prof. Higashimura and Prof. Penghuy of GSID.

14:45-16:15

Presentation by OFW 2011 participants.

May 16 (Wed.)“Introduction to Contemporary History and Administration System of Cambodia” By

14:45-16:15

Prof. Koung Teilee, Graduate School of Law, Nagoya University

May 23 (Wed.)“Research Sites Introduction”

14:45-16:15

By Prof. Seak Sophat, Royal University of Phnom Penh, Visiting Researcher to GSID.

May 30 (Wed.)“Research in Cambodian Village” (Socio-cultural aspect of community)

14:45-16:15

By Prof. Satoru Kobayashi, Kyoto University.

June 6 (Wed.)“Introduction to Cambodian Education”

14:45-16:15

By Mr. Touch Sorana (M2 student at GSID)

June 13 (Wed.)“Village Economy in Cambodia”

14:45-16:15

By Prof. Kenjiro Yagura, Hannan University.

June 20 (Wed.)

Guidance on Research Proposal Writing.

14:45-16:15

By Participants and Group Advisors

June 27 (Wed.)“Introduction to Cambodian Macro Economy”

14:45-16:15

By Prof. Ngov Penghuy, GSID.

July 4 (Wed.)“Natural Resource Management in Cambodia”

14:45-16:15

By Prof. Seak Sophat, Royal University of Phnom Penh, Visiting Researcher to GSID.

July 11 (Wed.)“Research Ethics”

14:45-16:15

By Prof. Koichi Usami, GSID

July 18 (Wed.)
14:45-16:15
July 25 (Wed.)
14:45-16:15

Presentation of Research Plans by WGs (15 min presentation by each WG)
Finalization of Research Plan by Students

Interim Presentation of Research Findings in Cambodia
The interim presentation of research findings was held at the Royal University of Phnom Penh on
Sep. 8th, 2012.

Each WG presented for 20 minutes and followed by Q&A session by theparticipants.

Presentation of Research Findings in GSID
The presentation of research findings was held at GSID by each working group to disseminate andto collect feedback from colleagues on Oct. 10, 2012.

3

Overall Schedule of Fieldwork in Cambodia
Date

Activities
8:30 Meeting at Chubu International Airport
11:00 Departure from Nagoya (TG645)

Aug. 26 (Sun.)

15:45 Arrival at Bangkok (transit)
18:25 Departure from Bangkok (TG584)
19:40 Arrival at Phnom Penh

Aug. 27 (Mon.)(Accommodation:Mondulkiri Boutique Hotel)

Moving to Kampong Thom Provice (All WGs); Courtesy Visit to Kampong Thom
Governor (All WGs), Get-to-know-each-other Gathering (all WGs)

Aug. 28 (Tue.)

Director of Forestry Cantonment, Sambor Commune Chief (WG1); Director of Departmentof Education, Chramah Primary School (WG2); Director of Department of Labor &Training and Social Affairs (WG3); Director of Department of Health, Sambor Commune
Chief (WG4).

Aug. 29 (Wed.)

Sambor Villagers (WG1); Prek Primary School (WG2); Kompong Chheur Teal migrantfamilies (WG3); Sambor Village Chief, Villagers (WG4)Aug. 30 (Thu.)

Koun Kaek Villagers (WG1); Cher Chrum Primary School (WG2); Kompong Chheur Tealand Atsu Villages’ migrants’ families (WG3); Kampong Chheur Teal Health Center,
Traditional Healers, etc (WG4).

Aug. 31 (Fri.)

Chramah Villagers (WG1); Kampong Chheur Teal Primary School (WG2); Atsu Village
migrant families (WG3); Kampong Chheur Teal Villagers (WG4).

Sep. 1 (Sat.)Free Activities

Sep. 2 (Sun.)

Free Activities

Sep. 3 (Mon.)

Tropang Chruk Villagers (WG1); Or Kruke Primary School (WG2); Char Village
non-migrant families (WG3); Koun Kaek Village’s traditional healer, drug retailers, etc(WG4).

Sep. 4 (Tue.)

Community Forest in Koun Kaek, Chramah, Tropang Chruk Villages (WG1); Atsu Primary
School (WG2); Chhra Mas Village’s non-migrants’ families (WG3); Koun Kaek Villagers(WG4).

Sep. 5 (Wed.)

Moving to Phnom Penh (All WGs)

Sep. 6 (Thu.)

Preparation for Findings Presentation

Sep. 7 (Fri.)

Preparation for Findings Presentation and Farewell Party(AM): Finding Presentation at RUPP

Sep. 8 (Sat.)

20:40 Departure from Phnom Penh (TG585)
21:45 Arrival at Bangkok (Transit)
01:05 Departure from Bangkok (TG644)

Sep. 9 (Sun.)

07:30 Arrival at Nagoya

4Background Information of Kampong Thom Province, Cambodia
Seak Sophat *A. Geography
Cambodia, officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the northernhemisphere, a portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. Its total landmass is 181,035
square kilometers, couched by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the northeast, Vietnam to the eastand the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest. Covered by 24 provinces/cities, Kampong Thom
province is situated in the central Cambodia, southern part in Tonle Sap floodplain, northern one in
the upland evergreen dipterocarp forest. Kampong Thom lies along the Stung Sen River and islinked to Phnom Penh, the national capital, by highways. Kampong Thom province (Figure 1)
borders the provinces of Siem Reap to the northwest, Preah Vihear to the north, Stung Treng to thenortheast, Kratie to the east, Kampong Cham and Kampong Chhnang to the south and the Tonle
Sap to the west.

Source: The Official Website of the Royal Government of
Cambodia, Website of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) and Wikipedia

Source: NIS, 2008

Figure 1: Map of Cambodia

Lecturer at Department of Environmental Sciences, Royal University of Phnom Penh and also avisiting scholar to the Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University, during May –July 2012.
*5Kampong Thom is Cambodia's tenth largest province by area (NIS, 2008) covering an area of
13,814 km2. There are a number of significant Angkorian sites in the area including Prasat Sambor
Prei Kuk and Prasat Andet temples. Kampong Thom is one of the provinces that border the Tonle
Sap Lake and is in Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve. Beside the Tonle Sap Great Lake, the topographyof the Kampong Thom province is typically covered by flooded forest in the floodplain area ofTonle Sap Great Lake, paddy field and upland cash crop field (Chamkar), and dipterocarp forest on
the upland area where economic land concessions and mining concessions are being established.

B. Political Subdivision
The province is subdivided into 8 districts with 81 communes and 737 villages (see figure 2).
Management on administrative system in Kampong Thom is governed by the central government
as the whole Cambodia. Province is the first subdivision with a link to the national level.
Additionally, districts are the secondary subdivision, which are further subdivided into communes
controlling over the villages. The villages are the smallest of the local government units, in term ofadministrative system in Cambodia. Head of district is allotted by the Provincial Governor, while
the commune chiefs and councilors are selected through elections of every five year. The commune
is believed to be the grassroots assembly organization of Cambodia. By 2010, commune councilors
are required by law to vote for district and provincial councilors and governors.

http://www.laroute-angkor.com/images/stories/
Kampong_Thom_Map.jpg&imgrefurl

Source: NIS & Ministry of Planning, 2008
Figure 2: Map of Kampong Thom Province and Prasat Sambour District6

C. Demography
Kampong Thom is located in the center point of the Kingdom of Cambodia. The rural area of theprovince has an estimated population of over 700 thousand households, equal to 630,803 persons,
52% of which is female. The total landmass of Kampong Thom province is 13,814 km2, with thetotal population density is 51/km2 compared on average population density of 46/km2 for
Cambodia (NIS, 2008). Annual growth rate of Kampong Thom province is 1.03%, with the growth
rates in urban population during 1998-2008 by province is 0.19. However, the growth rates of
population during 1998-2008 by province, in rural areas, Kampong Thom is 1.08% (NIS, 2008).

D. Livelihoods
The report released by National Committee for Sub-National Democratic Development (NCDD)
showed that 89% of the total population of Kampong Thom province is engaged in agriculture,with 84% conducted rice farming as primary occupation. Beside agricultural dependency, local
hamlet in Kampong Thom province is involved in fishing, livestock raising, NTFP collection, andsignificant number of population own cashew nuts field as secondary occupation for theirlivelihoods. With this regard, dependency of forest is a crucial actor for local hamlet in Kampong
Thom province to be survived for their livelihoods, especially those who live in the upland area.
Revenue derived from forestry-related trade includes handicraft and furniture made from ‘rattan’,an elastic and water-resistant vine plant which is important, even; it is regarded as a secondary
occupation. Kampong Thom has around 400 family-run businesses operating in rattan handicraft
and a few specializing in furniture, mainly beds, with trade going to local markets as well asneighboring countries, including Vietnam and Thailand (Cambodia's Foreign Trade Statistics
1996-2009). Beside this, many people in rural Kampong Thom migrate to urban area like Phnom
Penh and neighboring countries for jobs. They are non-skill laborers, being as construction worker,
house mate, etc.

References
1.
2.
3.

4.
5.

National Institute of Statistics (NIS), 2008. General Population Census of Cambodia
2008. National Institute of Statistics, Ministry of Planning. Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
National Committee for Sub-National Democratic Development (NCDD), District andProvincial Data Books (Kampong Thum Data Book 2009), http://www.ncdd.gov.kh/.
Cambodia's Foreign Trade Statistics 1996-2009. Trade Promotion Department Trade
Statistics. The Trade Promotion Department, n.d. Web. 03 July 2012.
<http://www.tpd.gov.kh/trade_statistics.php?cid=23>.
Gazetteer Database Online. http://db.ncdd.gov.kh/gazetteer/view/index.castle.
Official Website of the Royal Government of Cambodia. Wednesday, 21 November
2012. http://www.cambodia.gov.kh/.

7

Working Group 1
Livelihood Improvement Under Community
Forestry in Cambodia: A Case in Sambor
Commune, Kampong Thom

1. Introduction
2. Methodology
3. Characteristics of Sample Village
4. Findings
5. Conclusion
6. Acknowledgement
7. References

Group Advisor
Professor Koichi Usami

Written by
Ben Huffman**,Vong Rylida*,

Maouloud Talla Fall,

Valerio Octasiano,

Naw Thiri May Aye,

Bawar Seran,Daisaku Nishimura** Group leader*Group Sub-leader

8Acronyms
ANOVA: Analysis of Variance
CF: Community Forestry
CFMC: Community Forestry Management Committee
CDHS: Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey
FA: Forestry Administration
HH: Household
MAFF: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
NGOs: Non-Governmental Organizations
NTFP: Non-Timber Forest Products
Oxfam: Oxford Committee for Famine Relief
RECOFTC: Center for People and Forests
RGC: Royal Government of Cambodia
UNDP: United Nations Development Program
US$: United States Dollar
WFP: World Food Programme (United Nations)9Livelihood Improvement Under Community Forestry in Cambodia:
A Case in Sambor Commune, Kampong Thom
1. Introduction
The rural poor in Cambodia depend on natural resources for their livelihood; moreover, 85% of theCambodian people living in the countryside depend on forest resources for their livelihood. Additionally,
90% of the people whose income is below the poverty line of US$ 0.53 are living in the rural areas (Ito &Mistugi, 2010). According to the Center for People and Forests (RECOFTC), in Cambodia, almost half ofthe rural poor depend on forests for 20 to 50 percent of their total income while 15 percent of them earnmore than 50 percent of their income from the forests (RECOFTC, 2011). Therefore, any decrease inaccess or quality of the natural resources substantially affects the poor in Cambodia (University ofGothenburg, 2009).
In order to respond to the natural resource degradation, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC)
and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have implemented community based natural resource
management (Hansen, 2006). Community forestry (CF) has been implemented as a tool to stop forest crisisand reduce poverty by including the role of local people in forest resource management and governance.
(RECOFTC, 2011 & Hanney, 2010).
In Cambodia, there were 237 CF initiatives in 2004, which covered 70,000 to 80,000 ha andaffected approximately 410,000 people (Hansen, 2006). Two-thirds of the CFis located in heavily
deteriorated forests, little, or no forests (NGO Forum on Cambodia, 2007). According to the figures of the
CF regions vs. population, a person can benefit from 0.2 ha of the forest area. However, these benefits are
not derived from timber, as the forests do not immediately yield them and furthermore, nor are benefits
derived from non-timber forest products (NTFP), as there is neither a high demand nor enough NTFP fromthe deteriorated forests (Hansen, 2006).

1-1. Problem Statement
There is a general agreement that one of the purposes of promoting CF is to reduce the poverty byproviding more income to the local people. However, as it is mentioned above, in Cambodia it is almost
impossible for people to obtain benefits from the forest from both timber and NTFP, thus the notion that
CF can improve the livelihoods of people in the lower social stratum seems to be unclear. Are there othersources of profit from CF that the people can obtain in order to improve their livelihood besides extracting
those timber and NTFP? In actuality, income generation activities supported by NGOs through CF
initiatives, such as raising livestock and vegetable planting, can provide many benefits to the rural people.
However, to what extent those benefits are realized by the people in CF depends heavily on whether or not
the CF can secure those benefits. There is still no legal documentation or standard mechanism for equal
benefit sharing, thus it depends on negotiation and facilitation between stakeholders and government
10

institutions. Therefore, whether or not these benefits can reach the people in the low social stratum is stillin doubt (RECOFTC, 2007 & Mahanty et al, 2007).

1-2. Research Questions
Main research question: Does CF improve the livelihoods of the people in the Sambor Commune?
Sub-research question 1: What kinds of activities in CF contribute to livelihood improvement in the
Sambor Commune?
Sub-research question 2: What are the benefits obtained from CF?

1-3. Objectives
Main Objective: To identify whether or not CF improves the livelihood of people in Sambor Commune.
Objective 1: To identify the activities of CF that can contribute to the livelihood of the people (bothdirectly and indirectly) in Sambor Commune.
Objective 2: To identify whether or not those activities influenced the livelihood improvement (livelihood
assets).

1-.4 Hypothesis
Our hypothesis is that CF improves the livelihoods in the Sambor Commune.

2. Methodology
2-1. Literature Review
2-1-1. Concept of Livelihood“A livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets (stores, resources, claims and access) andactivities required for a means of living: a livelihood is sustainable which can cope with and recover fromstress and shocks, maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets, and provide sustainable livelihood
opportunities for the next generation; and which contributes net benefits to other livelihoods at the local
and global levels and in the short and long term” (Chambers and Conway, 1991).
Livelihood assets can be categorized into tangible assets, such as a tree, water, land, livestock andresources; and intangible assets, such as access to materials, knowledge, information and access to services,
etc. In order to make the livelihood approach operational on the ground, livelihood assets are identified ascapitals. Potential livelihoods can be grouped into five categories of capitals: human capital, social capital,
natural capital, physical capital and financial capital.
Livelihoods can be influenced by social and economic or political circumstances, such as:intervention or transformation of markets, government systems, kinships between ethnic groups; or
effectiveness of service, such as education and health that can affect people’s ability to use and accessresources. A change in livelihood context can create more opportunities as well as obstacles (UNDP,UNSDIR and IRP, 2010). For example, a natural disaster or a conflict can create obstacles, while providing
11more access to certain resources that can create more opportunities.

2-1-2. Livelihood Improvement through Community Forestry in Cambodia
Cambodia has many forest resources, which are one of the most important resources for local
people. CF is essential for rural people to maintain and improve their lives. The forest areas in Cambodia
decreased from 73% before 1900 to 58% now. This is due to extensive commercial forest exploitation,
agriculture expansion, inappropriate resource use, uncertain resource tenure, rapid population growth andpolicy failures.
The government established the legal framework and CF networks to prevent the deforestation andto improve the situation. The establishment of CF network meetings is not only at the national level, but at
the provincial level, as well. They also try to resolve the conflicts related to CF (Beang and Sethaphal).
CF is well understood as an umbrella term for a wide range of activities, which link rural people
with forests, trees, and the products and benefits to be derived from them. Gilmour and Fisher (1991)
define CF in terms of control and management of forest resources by the rural people who use them,especially for domestic purposes, and as an integral part of their farming systems.
Chea Sam Ang, Sok Heng and Park Marina (2005) describe that CF is an effort to support andempower communities to continue their traditional uses of forest resources and to encourage sustainable
practice; they also mentioned that CF can play an important role in the reform of the forest sector, which isalso the strategy for poverty reduction of the Royal Government of Cambodia.
CF in Cambodia is contributing to livelihoods in many ways. These include fulfilling the basic
needs of local communities, investing money in supporting income generation activities of the poor andproviding access to the forestland for additional income or employment. Participation of households inforest activity is another important element, which helps the communities to increase the outputs, incomes
and improve their lives.
In the article two of the Sub-Decree on Community Forestry Management, objectives of producing
regulation for CF management are stated as “to establish procedures to enable communities to manage, use
and benefit from forest resources, to preserve their culture, tradition and improve their livelihoods; tosupport the Royal Government of Cambodia’s policy of poverty alleviation and decentralization;” (RGC,
2003).

Therefore, CF management is established to promote livelihood improvement and poverty

reduction.
A conceptual diagram, Figure 1.1, is developed based on the concept of sustainable livelihood andits linkage to the CF management. Livelihood improvement is defined here as improvement of assets andcapabilities. The diagram explains how the community is influenced by CF. Through empowerment
activities, community members can improve their livelihood by producing more income, investing on
assets and consuming goods and services.
12

Figure 1: Tentative Conceptual Diagram of Livelihood Improvement though Community Forestry

Source: Authors, 2012

2.1.3. Overview of Roles and Responsibilities
Forestry Administration (FA) Staff
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) should act as a lead authority on the CF
and have general jurisdiction over the community management. CF staff at the central level should play rolein the CF development such as:-

Develop technical guidelines and strategic planning-

Prepare policies and legal documents-Collect, manage, and distribute the information-

Look for support from other stakeholders and organize teams-

Enhance public awareness related to reforestation and create nursery-planting areas
The CF staff at the local level also play role and are responsible for CF development to:-

Revise and approve agreements with a community-

Review and approve plans for the CF management-

Monitor and evaluate
13-Assess and make demarcation for forest areas in order to establish CF-

Decide to recognize, reject, and terminate any CF projectIn addition, local FA staff may act as facilitators in supporting supplemental CF related to livelihood
activities.

CFMC
The main role of the community forestry management committee (CFMC) is developing andimplementing regulations regarding CF and overseeing agreements and management plans in compliancewith the CF Sub-Decree and Prakas. Some of the specific roles include:-

Help to manage the forest resources in compliance with regulations, create agreements and plans for
the CF management and other forest-related legislation-

Manage mechanisms for benefit sharing-

Participate in monitoring the use of resources by secondary users and conserving, protecting, andplanning the forest in order to make sure that there is sustainability for the environment and forest
resources-

Conserve and protect wildlife-

Open a bank account and manage the finances transparently-

Develop and implement the mechanism for monitoring and evaluation-

Look for financial and technical support from the Forestry Administration and other related
stakeholders-

Immediately report any offences to the nearest Forestry Administration Official.

NGOs
The main role of NGOs is providing various support and technical assistance activities for thegovernment and community to assist in facilitating the development and implementation of recognized CF.
Some of those specific roles include:-

Raise awareness and extend the CF at both local and grassroots level-

Provide assistance for the establishment and implementation of programmes according to the laws,
regulations, and plans-

Provide support and develop the organizational and technical capacity of the community by training
and giving hands-on support-

Support or facilitate network building between and among service providers and the community.

Commune Council
The Forestry Administration and others have recognized that commune council plays a vital role inthe development of the recognized CF in Cambodia. In order to clarify the role of the commune council in
14

regards to enforcement of the forestry sector, some of the following main points should be understood:-

The commune council should inform about any forestry offence as soon as possible to the nearest
Forestry Administration officials or office-

They should also detain the offenders, temporarily confiscate evidence and send it immediately to
the Forestry Administration officials with the authority, like judicial police, to take legal action-

They should not collect fines or confiscate any evidence directly-

They should exercise their authority in accordance with the Commune Deika to recognize the CFMC-

They should participate in the environment and natural resource protection by facilitating CF
establishment-

They should support and encourage the local communities to establish a CF programme and provide
financial support for the establishment-

They and their staff can support, as well as participate, in CF meetings-

They can include the CF in their plans for commune development.

2-2. Survey and Data Collection
The research started by defining the sample (nine households) on which the preliminary survey
was conducted. Additionally, information about stakeholders and the households involved in CF
management were gathered through interviews with some selected households.
Three research teams were formed to collect data and two of these teams had the task to assesseach objective with a defined number of households that covered our research sample. Structured andsemi-structured interviews were used to collect data about assets, household-level income, the household’s
access to forest resources, the impact these had on the household’s livelihood at the low stratum and otherimportant data necessary for our research.
In this research, the term ‘lower social stratum’ is defined as a group of people who are in low social rank
due to low income, low education and low position or title.
The interviewees are as following and were interviewed in different villages (Boeng Totuel, Preah Sophea
and Srey Yol).
①. Members of CF Committee from different villages②. Members of CF communities from different villages③. Local authorities (Kampong Tom)④. NGOs, especially Mlup Baitoeng (Sambor Commune)
The interviews with 36 households (CF Community members) mostly focused on the assets andthe management of the CF. Each household had been asked about its participation in CF activities (treeplanting, patrolling, meetings etc.). Information was also conducted on NTFP collection for eachhousehold, including the amount collected per month or year, and the use of those products. The
information about family size was important in order to measure the income level of each household.
15

Another set of interviews was conducted with the committee forestry members to provide
information about the CF management, group savings, activities and members’ involvement. The
information helped to define the general and specific problems encountered in the management of the CF,
the degree of involvement of the members in the different activities and specifically the skills development.
To find the balance between the different information, one NGO was consulted to gather precise
details concerning the CF function, the management, and the contribution of the NGO in helping toovercome difficulties, conflicts, or to empower the CF members. Some historical and administrative
information was collected from local authorities.
Upon returning from the field after each round of fieldwork, each research team entered data into the
database, a process which helped in data cleaning. Analysis was done using Microsoft Excel 2007 and SPSS
Statistics 17.0. After finalizing the data analysis and drafting the present working paper, the results were
presented in the study area and suggestions included in this final report.
The core data analysis focused on the different capitals: social, human, environmental, economicaland physical. For example, human capital development was analyzed through the number of members who
received training and had used that skill or knowledge. Social capital implied participation in patrolling
activities, meeting and saving groups and level of interaction among villagers after the establishment of the
CF program.
Figure 2: Summary of the Research Objective
Identifying the Extent of Livelihood Improvement Through Community Forestry (CF)Objective 1:

Objective 2:

Community Forestry Activities

Benefits from CF
Financial benefit from CF

Participation

Non-Financial benefit from CF

Position in CF

Access to Forest resource (before and after CF)

Income generation through CF
Source: Authors, 201216

2.3 Scope and Limitations
Our research covered one site, the Sambor Commune in Kampong Thom, Cambodia. Household
surveys were conducted in four villages. Due to time constraints, sampling of our questionnaire surveys
could only be done in one village, Sambor. Our preliminary sampling consisted of nine households. Our
final survey consisted of 36 households interviewed over a 3-day period.

Based on the number ofhouseholds interviewed, the findings of this paper should be considered exploratory. Moreover, our results
may not correlate to other CF sites and the small sample size may impact our findings, thus decreasing thesignificance of our analysis. In addition, no village in the Sambor Commune has fully implemented the CF,
further limiting our study. Finally, we did not perform a survey of the forest to check the condition of thenatural assets before conducting our research. This limits what we are able to infer regarding physicalcapital improvements.

3. Characteristics of the Sample Village
3-1. Background of the Study Area: Kampong Thom
Located in the geographical center of Cambodia, the rural province of Kampong Thom has an
estimated population of over 700 thousand, 52% of which are female, and has been a significant producerof wild fish and cashew nuts in Cambodia. With the recent concessions of social land concession given to
Kampong Thom villagers development officials expected, not only to lessen exposure to deforestation, but
to provide additional income opportunities for the residents (MAFF, 2011).
Table 1: Child Malnutrition in Kampong Thom (2000 and2005)
Malnutrition
Indicator

Rate
percent
2000

Wfp rate
category
2000

Number ofchildren affected
2000

Rate percent
2005

Wfp rate
category 2005

Number ofchildrenaffected 2005

Population
Children
Aged Under 5
years

100%

-

91,523100%-

90,101

49.4%

Very High

43,19941.1%

Very High

37,03249.4%

ExtremelyHigh

45,212

37.4%

Very High

33,69824.5%

ExtremelyHigh

22,423

3.4%

Low

3,063

Stunted(moderate &severe <2SD)
Underweight(moderate &severe <2SD)
Wasted(moderate &severe <2SD)

Source: Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey 2000 and 200517

Different economic and social indicators can be used to measure livelihood improvements for
those participating in the CF. Malnutrition in Kampong Thom, measured by child and infant mortality rates
and protein-energy malnutrition in children, is an indicator of low food security and availability. Tables 1
and 2 show the prevalence of different malnutrition indicators in Kampong Thom and its rank compared to
all the other provinces in Cambodia:
Table 2: Malnutrition Indicators in Kampong Thom: Ranking(2005)
Rank of this province compared to all 24 provinces:
1= the worst
24 = the best
Population of Children Aged Under 5 years
10
Number of Children Stunted
7
Number of Children Underweight7
Number of Children Wasted
14
Rate of Stunting
8
Rate of Underweight
11
Rate of Wasting
24
Malnutrition indicator

Source: Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey 2005

The prevalence of malnutrition among children varied depending on the indicator, with the numberof stunted and underweight children being among the highest ranked compared with the other provinces.
Revenue derived from forestry-related trade includes handicrafts and furniture made from ‘rattan,’an elastic and water-resistant vine plant, which is abundant near forests and flooding areas. Kampong
Thom has around 400 family-run businesses operating in rattan handicrafts and a few specializing infurniture, mainly beds, with trade going to local markets as well as neighboring countries, including
Vietnam and Thailand (Cambodia's Foreign Trade, 2010).
Uneven land distribution and access to land are also correlated to household wellbeing.
Households that are landless are not able to produce their own staple foods and those with less than ahectare of land, as shown in Table 3, can only produce a part of their staple food needs (MAFF, 2011).

Table 3: Agricultural Land in Kampong
Agricultural land per rural
householdNo
agriculturalland(landless)Less than 1.0 hectare (0.01<1.0 ha)
1.0 -< 3.0 hectares>= 3.0 hectares% of rural hh this province% of rural national

7%

15%

44%

49%

40%
10%

30%
6%

Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries 2004

3-2. The Sample Village: Sambor Village
In order to hone our questionnaire survey, we did one day of sampling in the Sambor Village in the18Sambo Commune. The occupations of households in Sambor Village consisted primarily of rice farming
and cashew nut production, with casual labor and livestock breeding as secondary sources of income. It
should be noted that most households in the Sombor Village had more than just two sources of income.
The four main CF activities were collecting NTFP, patrolling, tree planting, and inventory/mapping of theforest; similar to the activities of the three villages we conducted our final research in. We would
characterize the level of CF activities as moderate.
The characteristics of the nine households surveyed consisted of 5.77 CF members per household;while the average farm size ranged from 0.5ha to 5ha. Participation in savings groups organized throughCF participation could also be classified as moderate.
CF income mainly came from NTFP activities, which included collecting vines, mushrooms,
firewood and wild berries. While most NTFP activities were for daily consumption, the average
income/household derived from NTFP equaled $15 (US$). In addition, the average income/household wasto $92.46 and the average savings/household was $38.33. Overall, the characteristics of the sample village
would be defined has typical among villages in Sambor Commune. Financially, households in Sambor
Village tended to be slightly better off, based on the average savings per household.

4. Findings
4-1. Overview of Community Forestry in Kampong Thom
In Kampong Thom, there are 93 forestry communities. The total area is 87,411 hectares. There are13,337 households involved in CF, accounting for 34,917 people with 18,107 being female. There are 120
villages, 29 communes, and 7 districts in Kampong Thom that have established a CF program.

4-2. Current Situations in the Surveyed Community Forestry
According to both primary and secondary data related to the surveyed area managing CF, it was
shown that they have been actively protecting and restoring forest conditions by patrolling and planting
trees in degraded forests. Moreover, there is strong support from the local people for the establishment of a
CF initiative, evidenced by the fact that most of them have voluntarily become CF members andparticipate in most of the activities related to the project. The CF often gets financial, facility and/or
capacity building support from the local and central government and some key NGOs like Oxfam British
and Mlup Baitong. It is important to emphasize that the forest conditions in the CF have been improving
day-by-day and illegal logging or other forestry offences have reduced significantly.
However, there are still some problems occurring with the CF. First, there is only training related
to how to protect and improve the forest conditions and minimal training related to livelihood, in particular,
for the CF members. Therefore, the people find it hard to improve their livelihood after the establishmentof a CF initiative. What is more, although there is support from NGOs related to patrolling, the support is
not enough for patrolling members and those people sometimes have to spend their own money to pay for19the gasoline and/or buying food when they go on patrol, resulting in a loss of motivation to continue.

4-3. Activities and Benefits of Community Forestry on Livelihood Assets
4.3.1 Financial Capital
The two main CF activities in Boeng Totuel directly related to improvements in financial capitalare patrolling and the collection of NTFP. The villagers are paid each time they participate in patrolling,
and the NTFP that is collected can be sold for money. Although savings groups are not a CF activity, they
were created because of the CF initiative, with the support of the local NGOs; therefore the benefits fromsavings groups are an indirect result of the CF.
Boeng Totuel
Out of the 13 villagers that were surveyed, 11 (84.6%) participated in patrolling and while all ofthem collected NTFP, only 7 (53.8%) received income for their collections. There was only one overlap,
where one villager did not receive income for patrolling or from NTFP, meaning that 12 of the 13 villagers
surveyed (92.3%) received direct financial benefits from CF activities. Table 4 shows the descriptive
statistics for these activities. The amount of income from patrolling and from collection of NTFP, are $3
and $6, respectively. When compared to the average monthly expenditures for the villagers, they would be
able to finance less than 10% from CF activities. In the best case scenario, if the maximum income of $5
and $19 respectively, was derived with the lowest expenditures of $37, then the highest plausible
contribution to monthly expenditures could be up to 65% for this village.
Table 4: Financial Capital Participation and Benefits (in US$)
Number ofHouseholds(%)
Minimum Maximum Mean

Std. Deviation

Patrolling income permonth

11 (84.6).42

5.00 2.6389

2.05255

NTFP Income permonth

7 (53.8).63

18.75 6.3056

8.28828Monthly Expenditures

8 (61.5)

37.46

163.50 94.4279

49.61939

Source: Authors, 2012
In Boeng Totuel, 38.5% of the villagers surveyed were participating in savings groups as shown in
Table 5.
Table 5: Boeng Totuel Savings GroupFrequency Percent
Yes

5

38.5

Total

13

100.0

Source: Authors, 201220

Analysis
In an effort to find factors correlating to an increase in income from these activities One Way
ANOVA tests were conducted. The ANOVA for NTFP income revealed that NTFP income was dependent
on frequency of patrolling per month, number of years in CF program and the number of CF activities asshown in Table 6. The reason for these results might be that the collection of NTFP can occur during or
after patrolling, therefore the more patrolling a villager does, the more NTFP he may be able to collect.
Years in CF and the number of activities can be an inference for experience, and with increased experience
come more NTFP collections.

Table 6: ANOVA for NTFP Income
F
Patrolling per month
Years
in
Forestry

Sig.

Between Groups

4.571

.043

Community Between Groups

17.538

.001

4.308

.049

Number of CF Activities

Between Groups

Source: Authors, 2012
Number of CF Activities
Sum of Squares

Degrees of
freedom

Mean Square

Between Groups

14.2764

3.569

Within Groups

3.417

8

.427

Total

17.692

12

F

Sig.

8.356

.006

Source: Authors, 2012
The ANOVA for patrolling income only revealed a significant relationship with the number of CF
activities a villager has; see Table 7. The post hoc Scheffe test of the activities subsets of 1 and 2 activities,
as shown in Table 8, revealed that those villagers that made the maximum income of $5 were equallydivided among the number of activities subsets and that the second largest value of $2.50 US$ and thelargest concentration of patrolling income group only have one activity.
Table 8: Post Hoc for CF Activities Subsets
Subset for alpha = 0.05
Patrolling income per month (US$)

Observations

1

.00

2

.00

.21

2

.00

2.50

4

.25

21

2

5.00

2

.42

3

1.00

1.00
2.67

Sig.

.612

.195

Scheffea,,bSource: Authors, 2012

Preah Sophea
Out of the 12 villagers surveyed in Preah Sophea, 10 (83.3%) were participating in patrolling witha minimum monthly income of $2.50 and a maximum of $7.50 as shown in Table 9. While 11 out of the 12
villagers collected NTFP, only three of them, or 25%, received income from their collections. Again there
was only one overlap, where one of the villagers did not receive income from either activity, meaning that
11 out of the 12 villagers, or 91.7%, are receiving direct financial benefits from CF activities. The
combined means of patrolling and NTFP income would yield a very small percentage of average monthly
expenditures, 4%. Even in the best plausible scenario where the maximum incomes from CFcompared to
the lowest monthly expenditure, the percentage is only 18% of total expenditures, meaning that Preah
Sophea receives a small percentage of its income from community activities.

Table 9: Financial Capital Participation and Benefits (in US$)
Number ofHouseholds
Minimum Maximum(%)

Patrolling income permonth
NTFP Income permonth
Monthly Expenditures

10 (83.3)

2.50

7.50

Mean
3.9583

Std. Deviation
2.49051

3 (25.0)

2.50

3.33

.6944

1.27294

11 (91.7)

59.38

231.58112.4950

59.13561

Source: Authors, 2012
Regarding the indirect benefits that can be attained by participating in the savings groups, Table 10shows that 83.3% of the villagers are participating. This very high value for indirect financial benefits
might account for the high monthly expenditures that are evident in this village and help explain the very
little dependence the village has on income from CFactivities.
Table 10:Preah Sophea Savings GroupFrequency Percent

Yes

10

83.3

Total

12

100.0

Source: Authors, 201222

Analysis
The ANOVA for NTFP income revealed that the number of trees planted was directly correlatedwith the NTFP income of the villagers as is shown in Table 11. This was also confirmed by a Pearson’s
correlation on the same values as seen in Table 12. A possible explanation for this is that while or after thetree planting activity is taking place, the villagers take advantage of being in the forest to collect NTFP,
therefore the more trees they plant, the more NTFP they can collect. There were no significant results in
the ANOVA test for patrolling income.
Table 11: ANOVA for NTFP Income
Trees planted
Degrees of
Sum of Squares Freedom
Between Groups
Within Groups

Mean Square

1.753E711.753E72333971.429

6388995.238

1.986E7

7

Total

F

Sig.

45.060.001

Source: Authors, 2012

Table 12: Correlations
NTFP Income permonth
NTFP Income per month

Pearson Correlation

1

Sig. (2-tailed)
Trees planted

Trees planted.939**.001

Observations

12

8Pearson Correlation

.939

**

1

Sig. (2-tailed).001

Observations**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Source: Authors 2012

8

8

Srey Yol
Out of the 12 villagers surveyed in Srey Yol, 10 (83.3%) were participating in patrolling with aminimum monthly income of $0.21 and a maximum of $7.50 as shown in Table 13. In this village, only
half of the villagers that were surveyed, 6 out of the 12, collected NTFP, and out of these only three ofthem, or 25%, received income from their collections. In this village there were two overlaps, where two of
the villagers did not receive income from either activity, meaning that 10 out of the 12 villagers, or 83.3%,
are receiving direct financial benefits from CF activities. When combining the means of the income
received for patrolling and NTFP and comparing it to the mean of monthly expenditures, it would seemthat CF activities account for less than 3% of monthly expenditures. In the best plausible scenario, where
23the maximum values for patrolling and NTFP income are compared to the lowest monthly expenditure, theresult is 19%.
Table 13: Financial Capital Participation and Benefits (in US$)
Number ofHouseholds(%)
Patrolling income per
month
NTFP
month

IncomeMean

Std. Deviation

10 (83.3)

.21

7.50

2.88192.538893(25.0)

.10

4.29

.6158

1.44056

12(100.0)

61.81

344.46146.3711

78.89382

perMonthly Expenditures

Minimum Maximum

Source: Authors, 2012
Table 14 shows the level of participation in savings groups, which indicates that only 33.3% arereceiving the indirect benefits to financial capital that savings groups provide.
Table 14: Srey Yol Savings GroupFrequency

Percent

Yes

4

33.3

Total

12

100.0

Source: Authors, 2012
Analysis
The ANOVA test for NTFP income revealed that the number of income generating activities was
the only variable related to NTFP income, as shown in Table 15. Table 16 shows the Pearson Correlation
for these two variables exposing the negative correlation. The theory behind these results is that the lessincome generating activities a villager has, the more time they have to collect NTFP, and the more they
depend on NTFP for income. This is illustrated in Table 15, where the person with no income generating
activities has the highest amount of income from NTFP.
Table 15: ANOVA for NTFP Income
Number of Income Generating Activities
Sum of Squares

Degrees ofFreedom

Between Groups

6.000

3

2.000

Within Groups

2.000

8

.250

Total

8.000

11

Mean Square

24

F
8.000

Sig.
.009

Source: Authors, 2012

Table 16: Correlations: NTFP Income per Month

NTFP Income permonth
NTFP Income per month

Pearson Correlation

1

Sig. (2-tailed)Number ofIncomeGenerating
Activities-.856**.000

Observations
Number of Income Generating Pearson Correlation
Activities
Sig. (2-tailed)

12

12

**

1

-.856

.000

Observations

12

12**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Source: Authors, 2012
The ANOVA test results in Table 17 show that the years in CF and the number of trees planted
were correlated with the income from patrolling. Table 18 displays the Pearson correlations showing a
positive relationship between years in CF and income from patrolling, and a negative correlation between
number of trees planted and patrolling income. The deductions are that the more time a villager spends
involved in CF, the more experience in patrolling he receives, which subsequently leads to a higher
frequency of patrolling opportunities. With regards to tree planting, the more time one spends planting
trees is reflected in less time available to go patrolling, and vice versa. Therefore patrolling and tree
planting have a related opportunity cost.

25

Table 17 ANOVA for Patrolling Income
F

Sig.

Years in Community Forestry

Between Groups

5.319

.043

Trees planted

Between Groups

5555.414.000

Source: Authors, 2012
Table 18: Correlations: Patrolling income per month

PatrollingYears
inincomeper Communitymonth
Forestry
Trees planted
Patrollingmonthincomeper Pearson Correlation 1
Sig. (2-tailed)
Observations

Years in
Forestry

12

Community Pearson Correlation .569

Trees planted

Sig. (2-tailed).053

Observations

12

.569

-.774

.053

.071

12

6

1

.a
.000

12

6

a

1

Pearson Correlation -.774.

Sig. (2-tailed)

.071

.000

Observations

6

6

6

Source: Authors, 2012
4-3-2. Natural Capital
The two activities that lead to an improvement in natural capital are patrolling, which is aimed atpreventing deforestation through the illegal cutting of timber, and tree planting.
Boeng Totuel
As mentioned before 11 (84.6%) of the villagers participated in patrolling. For tree planting, there
was only one villager (7.7%) that planted trees among those surveyed. This villager planted around 500
trees and estimates that 40% of the have survived, leaving the village with a net tree increase of 200.
Table 19: Tree Planting
Valid
Missing
Total

500
SystemFrequency

Percent

Survival Rate

1
12
13

7.7
92.3
100.0

.40

Source: Authors, 201226

Table 20 shows the results for answers villagers gave concerning the change in forest conditions
since CF was implemented. The majority of the villagers (46.2%) surveyed reported to have noticed nochange in forest conditions, while 38.5% believe it has improved and 15.4% believe it has decreased.
These views are consistent with the very low participation in tree planting.
Table 20: Boeng Totuel Forest After CF
ValidFrequency

Percent

Decrease

2

15.4

No Change

6

46.2

Improved

5

38.5

Total

13

100.0

Source: Authors, 2012

Preah Sophea
While 83.3% of the villagers surveyed participated in patrolling, 66.7% have participated in tree
planting as shown in Table 21. The total number of trees that have been planted in the village since CF was
implemented is 8,670 trees, with the maximum number of trees for an individual being 5000 and thelowest 20. Since the mean survival rate for the trees in Preah Sophea is 52.22%, it can be said that CF has
improved the natural capital of this village by a net increase of 4527 trees.

Table 21: Tree Planting
NumberofHousehoMaximulds (%) Minimumm8(66.7%)
Survival
9

Sum

Mean

Std.
Deviation

Trees planted

20

5000

8670 1083.75

1684.466

Tree
Rate

.10

1.00

.5222

.29059Source: Authors, 2012
Table 22 shows the results for answers concerning the change in the forest conditions due to CF
given by the surveyed villagers. Surprisingly none of the villagers felt that the forest had decreased, themajority, 58.3%, said it had improved while the rest saw no change. These results are consistent with Preah
Sophea’s longer run at CF than the other villages.

27

Table 22: Preah Sophea Forest After CF
Frequency
Valid

Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Valid Percent

No Change

5

41.7

41.7

41.7

Improved

7

58.3

58.3

100.0

Total

12

100.0

100.0

Source: Authors, 2012
Srey YolOf the villagers surveyed, 10 out of the 12, or 83.3%, participated in patrolling. Table 23 illustrates
the participation level for tree planting being at 50%. Half of the villagers surveyed planted a total of 2,140
trees, with the maximum trees planted by an individual being 2,000 and the minimum was 10. With anaverage survival rate of 57.14%, it can be said that CF has improved the forest in Srey Yol by a netincrease of 1,222 trees.

Table 23: Tree Planting Participation Level
Number ofHouseholds(%)

Minimum

6 (50.0)

10

2000

7

.40

1.00

Trees plantedTree Survival Rate

Maximum

Sum
2140

Mean

Std. Deviation

356.67805.175.5714.19760Source: Authors, 2012
Table 24 shows that, similar to Preah Sophea, the villagers of Srey Yol did not witness any
detrimental effects on the forest since the establishment of CF. The majority, at 66.7%, saw an
improvement to the forest, while a third saw no change.
Table 24: Srey Yol Forest After CF
Frequency
Valid

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

No Change

4

33.3

33.3

33.3

Improved

8

66.7

66.7

100.0

Total

12

100.0

100.0

Source: Authors, 2012
4-3-3 Human Capital
Our conceptual framework is designed to analyze the influence of CF activities on human capitalthrough activities related to skill development and capacity building activities. Thus, we collected data on
skill development activities that were directly or indirectly provided though CF. Human capital28

improvement activities identified in all study sites are shown in Figure 3. The major activities directly
related to skill development through CF were identified as general trainings (training on official reportwriting, dissemination of operational skills and knowledge on CF, etc.), management training (training on
human resource management for patrolling and financial management, etc) and forestry resource
management training. Other minor or indirect skill development activities such as plantation, farming andraising livestock, etc. were identified as well. Attending conferences was also considered as one of the skill
development activities because it disseminates required skills and knowledge. The level of livelihoodintervention in terms of activities on human capital improvement was different among the three CFs. Preah
Sophea received the most human capital improvement among the three CFs, due to thirteen categories oftrainings, including the attendance of conferences. Srey Yol received nine categories of training for humancapital improvement through CF, while Boeng Totuel has received three kinds of training for humancapital improvement activities. Among the three villages, Boeng Totuel received the least number of skill
development trainings. The reason for this distortion of intervention could be related to the difference inlength of participation in CF. Among the three CFs, respondents in Preah Sophea has been participating
longer than the other CFs. Tint (2011) explains CF develops over time; the institutional efforts (livelihoodintervention) slowly increase in early stages of CF and as the benefit increases in later period of time, theintervention decreases. The significance between variables may be low, however, based on the basic logic
of CF. The human capital intervention for the three CF were at different levels because the duration ofparticipation was different.

Figure 3: Human Capital Improvement Activities Identified in 3 Villages

Bookeeping
Conferences2%
2%
Vegetableplanting
5%

Other
9%

Plantation
9%

General Training
18%
Forestry
Resource
Management
Training
20%

Cashew
Nuts
4%
Rice Farming
4%
Management
Training
7%

Savings
4%

Small Enterprise
Development
5%

Livestock Raising
11%

Source: Authors, 201229

The benefit on human capital through the activities were measured by two factors, the number ofpeople who were involved in skill development training and the number of respondent who used theiracquired skills gained through CF skill development training in their daily lives or in CF activities. Table
25 and table 26 shows that 62% of total respondents had participated in CF skill development activities and
41% of total respondents said the acquired skills are useful. From these overall results, we can say thathuman capital intervention through CF had a moderate level of impact.

Table 25: Number of People who had Received Training
Village(Observations)
Boeng Totuel (13)Preah Sophea (12)Srey Yol (12)Total 37

Number of People who had
Received Training
5
10
8
23

%
38%
83%
67%
62%

Source: Authors, 2012
Table 26. Number of People who had Used Knowledge/Skills
Village (Observations)
Boeng Totuel (13)Preah Sophea (12)Srey Yol (12)Total 37

Number of People who Used
Knowledge/skills
2
8
5
15

%
15%
67%
42%
41%

Source: Authors, 2012
Boeng TotuelBoeng Totuel received three types of training for human capital improvement through CF; generaltraining for management of CF training for forest resource management and raising livestock. The study
shows that 38% of respondents received either one or more trainings. The data shows that 40% of
respondents that received the trainings, (15% of total respondents), have practically applied their skills.
The level of human capital intervention in this CF was low and its impact on the livelihood improvement,
both in terms of involvement in training and amount of useful knowledge, was found not significant.
Preah Sophea
Preah Sophea received 13 types of trainings, including attending conferences for human capital
improvement. The data shows 83% of total respondents participated in either one or more trainings andhad attended conferences related to CF. In Preah Sophea, our survey found that 80% of people who
participated in training activities, which was 67% of total respondents, used the skills they acquired
through CF training activities. The level of human capital intervention was relatively high and its impact
on human capital was also high.

30

Srey YolOur survey found that Srey Yol Village has received nine types of training for human capital
improvement through CF. It showed that 67% of respondents received either one or more trainings. The
data shows 63% of villagers that participated in training activities, which was 42% of total respondent, had
used the skills they acquired through CF training activities. This CF had a moderate level of human capitalintervention and a moderate level of impact on human capital.
By comparing the findings between the three CFs, all figures consistently showed an interrelation
between the number of trainings and the amount of used knowledge. We can say that the higher the levelof intervention (human capital improvement activities), the more skills required for the improvement of
livelihood were attained.
4-3-4. Social Capital
The level of livelihood intervention through CF for social capital was measured through figures ofcreation of networks, such as creation of saving groups among CF members and level of interactions
among villagers during participation in patrolling and meetings activities. Figure 4 shows the number ofparticipants involved in patrolling, meeting and savings group activities. It shows that 84% of total
respondents participated in patrolling, 86% participated in CF monthly meetings and 51% participated insavings groups. Surprisingly, all three CFs showed a relatively high level of participation for group
activities such as patrolling and CF meetings, although Boeng Totuel and Srey Yol had low levels ofparticipation in saving groups. According to the figures, it shows that the livelihood intervention for social
capital was high. However, we cannot clearly explain this phenomenon of the high level of participation in
the activities. Has the interaction increased as the outcome of interventions or is it because the level ofexisting social capital was high? Due to the limitations of our survey, our analysis cannot explain clearly.
However, as shown in Table 29, 85% of the total respondents answered that the interaction among
villagers increased after establishment of CF through patrolling and meetings. In addition to this evidence,
all respondents in Preah Sophea CF agreed that the level of interaction increased after the establishment of
CF. Therefore, we can conclude that regardless of existing social capital, CF activities have increased theinteraction among CF members, which enhances social capital.

31

Figure4. Level of Interactions among Villagers

Par$cipa$on in Group Ac$vi$es
Patrolling
85%

92%

83%

75%

MeeAng83%

Savings Group

83%

92%

84% 86%

51%
38%

33%

Boeng Totuel N=13 Preah Sophea N=12

Srey Yol N=12

Total N=37

Source: Authors, 2012
Boeng TotuelOf the total respondents, 85% participated in patrolling, 92% participated in CF monthly meetingsand 38% participated in savings groups. Formation of saving groups was relatively weak in this village due
to lack of knowledge and skill in management. Outside of the formation of saving groups, the overall
participation for patrolling and attending meeting was high. However, compared to Preah Sophea and Srey
Yol, the number of respondents who agreed on the increase in level of interaction was the lowest among
the three CFs.
Preah Sophea
In this village, 83% of total respondents participated in patrolling, 75% participated in CF monthly
meetings and 83% participated in savings groups. In Preah Sophea, the overall figures were relatively highand 100% of the respondents agreed that there was an increase in interaction among villagers after theestablishment of CF. Surprisingly, the overall figures of Preah Sophea show that there was a high level ofintervention and a successful outcome. One of the reasons could be the longer duration since CF
establishment.
Srey Yol
The results show that 83% of total respondents participated in patrolling, 92% participated in CF
monthly meetings and 33% participated in savings groups. Srey Yol Village also had weak participation insavings group. However, 83% of the respondents agreed that there was an increase of interaction among
villagers after establishment of CF. The figures were similar to Boeng Totual, with only a small difference
in increase interaction among villagers.
32Analyzing the data from the three CF, it was found that interrelation between participation insaving groups and increase in interactions was not significant. Although, savings groups worked as a tool
to improve social capital, they have been introduced recently and the impact was still not yet visible. Apartfrom the data for the saving groups, livelihood intervention was considered good and social capital
improved through CF activities.
4-3-5. Physical Capital
Our investigation revealed that with regards to physical capital improvement, CFprovided very
limited benefits. From interviews with government officials and NGOs we were able to ascertain that no
physical capital improvements were given by way of external support from these agencies. Only
households that are very poor can apply to the CFMC for permission to cut timber in order to build or
repair their houses. Therefore, only the very poor receive physical capital improvement due to CF.

5. Conclusion
In conclusion, CF has enhanced certain aspects of livelihood for villagers in the Sambor Commune.
The impact of improvement varies between villages, with an observed relationship between the extent of
CF activities per household and the level of livelihood assets achieved. As our findings show, financial
capital, which mainly consisted of patrolling and NTFP had direct financial benefits resulting from CF
activities. Natural capital, which primarily consisted of tree planting, had significant benefits in Preah
Sophea and Srey Yol, but negligible benefits in Boeng Totuel. Human capital, which was principally
accounted for by training, had modest linkages between training received and the practical application of
the new skills obtained, while social capital, which was measured by interaction among villagers after theestablishment of CF and by savings groups, showed relatively high net benefits across each village. Finally,
three was relatively no change in physical capital with regards to CF – only the very poor could obtainbenefits through CFMC permission to cut timber in the protected areas, but only for dwelling needs. To
summarize the results, the Preah Sophea CF program in the Chramah Village showed the mostimprovement, which can be attributed to the duration of their CF program (6.7 years); whereas the Boeng
Totuel CF program, established 4.5 years ago in the Kun Kaek Village, showed the least livelihood
improvements. In closing, while not all aspects of livelihood improved under CF in the Sambor Commune,
our findings suggest that there is a modest correlation between the duration of CF activities and livelihood
improvement.

6. Acknowledgement
This research would not have been possible without the support and contribution of our professors,
counterparts at RUPP and the people of Cambodia. The members of Group 1 would like to thank Professor
Usami, advisor of our group at GSID, who actively supported our research and offered important advice
33and recommendations. Our deepest gratitude is also to the counterparts and students at RUPP, Dr. Seak
Sophat, Mr. Phhat Chandara, and Mr. Kong Sopheak, for without their knowledge and advice our study,
would not have been successful. Furthermore, we would like to thank all the members of the community
forestry organizations in each village for their commitment to facilitate our study in Cambodia. Finally, wesalute and honor Assistant Professor Ngov Penghuy and Associate Professor Higashimura for the
successful organization of the overseas fieldwork trip. We are grateful for their constant help, guidance andcontribution to the achievement of our research.

7. References
Beang, L,.& Sethaphal, L. (n.d). Community Forestry in Cambodia.
Chambers, R., and Conway, G. (1991). Sustainable Rural Livelihoods: Practical Concepts forthe 21st Century.
Forestry Administration. (2006). National Community Forestry Programme: Strategic Paper
Hansen, P.L. (2006). Community Based Natural Resources in Cambodia.
Ito, K. and Mistugi, H. 2010. Challenges and Prospects of Community Forestry in Cambodia:
From the Perspective of the Foresters’ Performances in the Field. Forum of International
Development Studies 39:41-56.
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries, (2011). Overview of agriculture, forestry andfisheries 2011. Retrieved 2012, June 10, from http://www.maff.gov.kh/en/overview.html
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The Fruit Crops: Agricultural Statistics,
2003-04, Phnom Penh, 2004.
NGO Forum on Cambodia. (2007). Community-Based Forestry Protection: A Case Study
from Krang Skear Commune, Toek Phos District, Kampong Chhnang Province,Cambodia.
RECOFTC. (2007). Sharing the Wealth, Improving the Distribution of Benefits and Costs
from Community Forestry: Policy and Legal Frameworks. Synthesis of Discussions at theSecond Community Forestry Forum, 21-22 March 2007, Bangkok, Thailand, RECOFTC,FAO and SNV, Bangkok.
RECOFTC. (2011). Community Forestry in Cambodia. Retrived 2012, June 05, from,http://www.recoftc.org/site/Community-Forestry-in-Cambodia
Tint, K., Springate-Baginski, O., &Gyi, M. K. K. (2011). Community forestry in myanmar: Progress &potentials.
Trade Promotion Department Trade Statistics (2010). Cambodia's foreign trade statistics
1996-2009. Retrieved 2012, July 10, from http://www.tpd.gov.kh/trade_statistics.php?cid=23
34

UNDP, UNSDIR, & International Recovery Platform (2010). Guidance note on recovery:
Livelihood.
World Food Program. (n.d). Provincial Profile: Kampong Thom. Retrieved 2012, July 20
from, http://www.foodsecurityatlas.org/khm/country/provincial-Profile/Kampong-Thom

35

Working Group 2

Factors Affecting Students’ Willingness toPursue Lower Secondary Education:
A Case Study at Sambor Commune, Prasat
Sambor District,Kampong Thom, Cambodia
1. Introduction
2. Research Background
3. Research Questions and Objectives
4. Hypotheses
5. Methodologies
6. Research Findings
7. Conclusion
8. Scope and Limitation
9. Acknowledgement
10. References
Group Adviser
Professor Naohiro Takizawa
Written by
Nguyen Huyen Anh**,
Shasha,Lu Shasha,

Chan Phakkdey*,
Hwang Yoon Jung,

Zhang
Lee Hsiao Yun** Group Leader, * Group Sub-leader

36Factors Affecting Students’ Willingness to Pursue Lower Secondary
Education:
A Case Study at Sambor Commune, Prasat Sambor District,Kampong Thom, Cambodia
1. Introduction“All children must have the opportunity to fulfill their right to quality education in schools oralternative program at whatever level of education is considered ‘basic.’ All states must fulfill their
obligation to offer free and compulsory primary education in accordance with the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international commitments...” (Dakar Framework for Action,
Adopted by the World Education Forum, UNESCO 2000, p. 15)
In line with Cambodia’s gradual economic growth and rapid progress towards achieving ‘Education
for All’ goals like other developing countries, the enrolment rate for primary schools has dramaticallyincreased and people’s needs for education have also arisen to secondary education, as well as higher
education. Even though the enrolment rate of lower secondary education in Cambodia still remains low
compared with that of primary education, it has been constantly growing, and the importance of continuinglower secondary education is now highlighted in the education strategies of the Royal Government of
Cambodia.
In addition to the governments’ policies to promote the enrolment rate at the lower secondary
education level, we assume that students’ willingness is also one of the important considerations that canpositively influence the enrolment rate. Therefore, in this research we focus on the students who graduatedfrom grade six and have decided to go to lower secondary schools, to find out the factors affecting their
willingness to continue their studies.
To prove our hypotheses, we conducted a case study at five primary and two lower secondary
schools at Sambor Commune in Kampong Thom Province by using both questionnaire survey and interviews.
Based on a six-day field survey, we analyzed the data from the perspective of students, schools, families andsociety. In order to make our findings more concrete, we categorized the variables from each perspective andexpected that the students’ willingness to pursue further education would have strong influence.
In this report, we start with the historical background of Cambodian education, its current education
system, problem statements, and literature review. We then state our hypotheses and present our researchmethodologies, which include information about the research site, and finally discuss our findings from four
perspectives.

1-1. Historical Background of Education in Cambodia
The Cambodian education system has undergone many reforms in the last three centuries due tochanging political and socio-economic situations of the country. During the period of French colonization37

from 1863 to 1953, the Cambodian education system was modeled on the French system, under which only asmall percentage of people had access to education due to the limited numbers of public schools and verysmall number of private schools (Dy & Ninomiya, 2003).
After the colonial period, Cambodia continued with the French education system and the primaryeducation enrolment rate kept significantly and consistently increasing from 134,506 in 1950 to 563,081 in
1960 (Dy, 2002). Moreover, the education system was considered quite good until the country was plunged
into political crisis during the 1970s. More recently, the French model has still had some influence on thecurrent Cambodian education system, and it was this influence that has been known to be one of the causesof high repetition and dropout rates at the primary education level, as noted by senior education officials (Dy& Ninomiya, 2003).
During the Khmer Rouge, or Pol Pot regime, from 1975 to 1979, Cambodian education came to ahalt and most educational materials, such as teaching and learning materials, were destroyed (The United
Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia [UNTAC], 1992, as cited in Neau, 2004). Schools anduniversities were closed and used for other purposes such as prisons and execution sites. Also, many welleducated people, such as teachers, intellectuals, and researchers, were killed. This critical situation createdsignificant difficulties and challenges for the present government to restore and reform the national education
system after the regime.
After the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime (1975 – 1979), the new regime (1979 – 1989), thePeople’s Republic of Kampuchea was formed and the education system had to be restored almost from zero
(Neau, 2004). This regime was supported by Vietnam and other socialist bloc nations (Dy, 2002). The
education system during this regime was largely based on the Vietnamese model (Martin, 1896).
Additionally, the contents of the textbooks centered on politics and the cooperation and tie between
Cambodia and Vietnam.
In order to meet the urgent need of competent human resources to develop the country, education institutions
were reconstructed and the education system was reformed and expanded. From 1979 to 1986, theCambodian ministry of education executed a ten-year education system (4+3+3). Then, the education
structure was extended to an 11-year system (5+3+3) from 1986 to 1996.

1-2. The Current Education System in Cambodia
Considering the quality of education, and in response to the achievement of the nine-year basic
education for all, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) introduced a new 12-year education
system (6+3+3) in the academic year 1996-1997. With this 12-year system, children are required to spend 6
years for primary education, 3 years for lower secondary education, and 3 years for upper secondary
education level, which accounts for 12 years of general education (See Figure 1).

38

Figure 1 Current Education System in Cambodia

Source: UNESCO, 2006

1-3. Problem Statements
Education is a cornerstone of economic and social development (Lockheed & Verspoor, 1991, p.1).
Equal access to education for everyone is crucial for a country in its sustainable development and seeing this,the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) is of no exception in placing great emphasis on education as amajor tool for social and economic development throughout the whole country. Since 2000, the RGC hascommitted itself to achieving universal enrolment and completion of primary education for all children by
2010, then expanding the equitable access to the completion of lower secondary education by 2015. With theassistance of international agencies and its commitment, the RGC has succeeded in increasing both grossenrolment and net enrolment rates at the primary education level. The gross enrolment and net enrolment
rates reached up to 121.9 and 94.8 percent, respectively, in the academic year 2009-2010. However, the net
enrolment rate for the lower secondary education is still problematic. The net enrolment rate only slightly
increased from 31.3% in the academic year 2005-2006 to 32.6% in the academic year 2009-2010, althoughenormous efforts have been made to increase the number of enrolment.
Cambodian lower secondary education plays a vital role in providing all students with a breadth ofknowledge, skills, Khmer language, mathematics, sciences, social studies, life skills, learning skills,
39

vocational education, moral education and personal development. It enables them to become productive
members of the society to further their studies at the upper grades, participate in other vocational trainings or
to participate in social life for the growth of Cambodian society. Thus, lower secondary education cannot be
neglected.
To ensure the achievements of the goals for Cambodian basic universal education, it is critical toaddress the remaining problems in lower secondary education first, specifically the low net enrolment.
Therefore, the findings of factors affecting the willingness of Cambodian students to pursue lower secondary
education are of great importance to the achievements of Cambodian basic Education for All goals, and thekeys to addressing such a major educational problem (low enrolment rate) in the Cambodian lower
secondary education subsector.

2. Research Background2-1. National Education Strategies
According to Article 68 of Cambodian Constitution (1993, amended in 1999), “The State shallprovide free primary and secondary education to all citizens in public schools. Citizens shall receive
education for at least nine years.”
Since the adoption of the Millennium Declaration in 2000, Cambodia has expressed its fullcommitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In 2003, the global MDGs havebeen localized in Cambodia and called “Cambodia Millennium Development Goals (CMDGs),” which
consist of nine goals: (1) eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; (2) achieve universal nine-year basic
education; (3) promote gender equality and empower women; (4) reduce child mortality; (5) improvematernal health; (6) combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; (7) ensure environmental sustainability;(8) develop a global partnership for development; and (9) de-mining, UXO and victim assistance.
In order to achieve the CMDGs, the Cambodian government has been consistently revising its
Education Strategic Plan (ESP) during the last decade. This implies that the ESP is considered as acornerstone for achievement of CMDGs. The ESP is guided by the long-term vision of achieving the holistic
development of Cambodian young people from the MoEYS. Through the ESP, it is expected that there will
be an expanded provision of easily accessible, good quality of education opportunities for all Cambodians.
So as to embark upon these educational objectives and its vision, MoEYS has defined three main policy
priorities as follows: (1) ensuring equitable access to education services; (2) improving the quality andefficiency of education services; and (3) providing institutional and capacity development for educational
staff for decentralization.
For the lower secondary education level, one of MoEYS’s top policy priorities is to ensure equitable
access and quality/efficiency improvement for nine years, for both formal and non-formal basic education by
2010, with a special focus on:
40−

Increasing enrolment of students in grades 1-6 and in grades 7-9;−

Promoting gender, socio-economic and urban/rural parity in primary education enrolment,alongside improved gender, socio-economic and geographical balances in grades 7-9;−

Improving survival rates across grades 1-6 and grades 7-9 for new and current age cohorts;−

Raising progression rates throughout grades 1-6 and transition rates from grades 6 to 7, etc.
The program, ‘Strengthening of Quality and Efficiency in Secondary Education’, has been revised in

the ESP 2009-2013 in order to reduce the access barriers and to increase grade 7-9 survival and grade 9-10transition rates at the lower secondary education level. It sets up targets and indicators of the program as
follows:−

An increase in net enrolment rate in grades 7-9 from 32% in SY 2009-2010 to 51% in SY 20132014.

−

An increase in transition rate in grade 9 -10 from 73% in SY 2009-10 to 85% in SY 2013-14.

−

An increase in student achievement in standard curriculum for grade 9 Khmer literature from 62%
in SY 2009-10 to 80% in SY 2013-14.

−

An increase in student achievement in standard curriculum for grade 9 mathematics from 32% in
SY 2009-10 to 70% in SY 2013-14.

−

To have 45 fully resourced lycees (secondary schools) in SY 2013-14.

−

An increase in growth enrolment rate for grades 10-12 from 32% in SY 2009-2010 to 40% in SY
2013-14.

−

An increase in completion rate in grades 10-12 increased from 70% in SY 2009-10 to 80% in SY
2013-14.

2-2. Achievements of Cambodian Basic Education
Since the MoEYS articulated the policies in the ESP 2006-2010, significant efforts andachievements have been made during these periods, including the lower secondary sector, although theincrease rate of lower secondary school has been less dramatic compared with the primary sector.
The total number of primary schools, colleges and lycees has increased significantly from 8,628
during the school year (SY) 2005-2006 to 10,115 in SY2009-2010. The increase number at different levels
are as follows: primary schools from 6,277 in SY2005-2006 to 6,665 in SY2009-2010; lower secondary
schools from 911 in SY2005-2006 to 1,172 in SY2009-2010; and upper secondary schools from 252 in
SY2005-2006 to 383 in SY2009-2010. As for the lower secondary education level, the net enrolment rates(NER) has increased from 31.3% in SY2005-2006 to 32.6% in SY2009-2010, which is lower than the targetof 43% NER (Midterm Review Report).
These achievements are attributed to the efforts made by the RGC in providing all forms ofeducation and learning services. In addition, support provided by development partners, as well as the41

participation of communities by encouraging their children to continue education, are additional contributors
to these achievements.
In terms of the promotion of education efficiency, the MoEYS has actively tried to reduce therepetition and dropout rates as well as to increase completion rates at all education levels. The MoEYS has
also organized enrolment campaigns to offer education free-of-charge and to raise the awareness of the valueof education among parents. The completion rate in lower secondary education almost achieved the target,
while the one in upper secondary education surpassed the set target. Also, in order to achieve the third goalof the CMDGs (Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women), many major policies and reform programs
are now transforming to become gender-responsive. Policy-making is also more participatory and inclusiveof women (UNDP, 2010). Additionally, the ratio of girls to boys in lower secondary education increased
from 36% in SY2001-2002 to 77% in SY2005-2006, which means that the reduction in the gender gap
nearly reached the target.

3. Research Questions and Objectives
This research will seek answers to the following question "What are the factors affecting students’
willingness to pursue lower secondary education at Sambor Commune in Cambodia?"
The objective of this study is to identify the factors that affect students’ willingness to continue theireducation at lower secondary schools, particularly those in the rural areas where poverty is more prevalentand dropout rates of lower secondary education are higher than urban areas in Cambodia. Moreover, it will
provide more literature on the existing issues facing Cambodian lower secondary schools and useful
information for policy makers to find ways to increase the net enrolment rate for lower secondary education,enhancing competitiveness42

4. Hypotheses
Given the review of the educational background and problem statements about lower secondary
education in Cambodia, we assume that the students’ willingness can be influenced by factors from fourmain perspectives as follows:

Family perspectives
A family’s economic situation, the parents' background and gender attitudes affect student’s
willingness to continue on to lower secondary schools.

Student perspectives
A student’s academic performance, interests and health are the factors influencing their
willingness as well.

School perspectives
Textbooks, scholarships, sanitation, teachers’ ways of teaching, facilities and relationships withclassmates or teachers influence their willingness to pursue lower secondary education.

Society perspectives
Community ideology, distance from school and impact from their working friends are also
important factors.

5. Methodology
5-1. Research Site
About 25 kilometers northeast of Kampong Thom Town, Sambor Commune is one of ten
communes in Prasat Sambor District, Kampong Province, which is located at the geographic center of theKingdom of Cambodia. According to the Provincial Department of Planning, the commune’s population in2010 was 13,818 in 2,685 households, 448 of which were headed by females. Of the total population, 47.9%
was between 18 and 60 years old, and 94.66% of the households depend on agriculture for their income.
According to the statistics from District Education Office, in Sambor Commune there were twelve primaryschools with 83 teachers and three lower secondary schools with 10 teachers. In the academic year 20122013, there were 2,252 primary school students and 348 lower and upper secondary school students.

5-2. Research Methodologies
We conducted the interviews at the Provincial Department of Education and District Education
Office. In addition, five primary schools and two high schools were selected from among twelve primary43

schools and three high schools in Sambor Commune. The selection was made based on the high number ofstudents in each school. The five primary and two lower
secondary schools are: Chramah primary school (PS), Prek PS,
Char Chrum PS, Kampong Chheu PS and Or Kruke PS,
Kampong Chheuteal High School and Prasat Sambor Lower
Secondary School.
A combination of qualitative and quantitative
approaches was applied. A questionnaire was distributed to 70
students from the five primary and 9 from the two lower
secondary schools. The interviews were conducted with thechief of the Provincial Education Department, the deputy chief of the Sambor Commune Education Office,7 school principals, 8 teachers, and 30 parents (See Table 1).
Table 1 Field Research Schedule
Date

Research Site
Kampong Thom
Town (AM)
Chramah Primary
School (PM)Respondents
Director, Dept. of
Education
Grade 6 graduates/
Teachers/ School
Principal/ Parents

Research Tools
Interviewquestions
Questionnaire/
Interviewquestions

Prek
SchoolPrimary

August 29

Grade 6 graduates/
Teachers/ School
Principal/ Parents

Questionnaire/
Interviewquestions

August 30

Char
Chrum
Primary School

Grade 6 graduates/
Teachers/ School
Principal/ Parents

Questionnaire/
InterviewquestionsKampong Chheu
Teal
Primary
SchoolGrade 6 graduates/
Teachers/ School
Principal/ Parents

Questionnaire/
Interviewquestions

Or Kruke Primary
SchoolGrade 6 graduates/
Teachers/ School
Principal/ Parents

Questionnaire/
InterviewquestionsKampong
ChheutealHigh
School and Prasat
Sambor
Lower
Secondary School

Grade 7 graduates/
Teachers/ School
Principal/ Parents

Questionnaire/
Interviewquestions

August 28

August 31

September 3

September 4

RemarkOne director- 14 students- 5 parents- 1 teacher- 1 director- 14 students- 5 parents- 1 teacher- 1 director- 14 students- 5 parents- 2 teachers- 1 director- 14 students- 5 parents- 2 teachers- 1 director- 14 students- 5 parents- 2 teachers- 1 director- 9 students- 2 teachers- 2 directors

6. Research Findings
Based on the data collected from the questionnaire survey to students and interviews with the chiefsof Provincial Education Department and District Education Office, school principals, teachers and parents at
5 primary schools and 2 lower secondary schools, we found several significant factors affecting the students’44willingness to continue their studies at lower secondary schools. As we hypothesized, the factors weredivided into the four perspectives as follows:

Students

Family

FACTORS
affecting students’
willingness
COME FROM

Schools

Society

6-1. Student Perspectives
According to our research findings, five factors were found to have a strong influence on students’
willingness to pursue lower secondary education.

Expectation of education level: According to the findings, 41% of the respondents expected to finish atleast upper secondary schools and 34% university (See Figure 2).
Figure 2 Expectation of education level attainment
Lower Secondary
Education

10.0 15.0

Upper Secondary
Education

34.0
41.0

University
Graduate School

Self-confidence or the ability to do something as well as others: Based on research results, 54% and 27%of the sample strongly agreed and agreed that they are able to do things as others can do (See Figure 3).
Figure 3 Students’ self-confidence

3.0
1.0

15.0
54.0

Strongly disagree
Disagree

27.0

NeutralAgree
Strongly agree

Relationship with classmates: According to our findings, 46% of the respondents had a very good
relationship with their classmate and 33% good. No students reported having a bad relationship with their45

classmates (See Figure 4).

Figure 4 Relationship with classmates

21.0

46.0

Very good
Good

33.0

NeutralRelationship with teachers: According to the research results, 59% of the students liked their teachers
very much and 32% liked their teachers. The relationships between students and teachers were very good(See Figure 5).
Figure 5 Relationship with teachers

5.0 3.0 1.0
Very much
Like

32.0
59.0

NeutralNot so much
No, not at all

The distance from home to school: Based on our findings, 86% of our respondents did not live far fromschool. In addition, there were three lower secondary schools within the commune (See Figure 6).
Figure 6 The distance from home to school

Less than one to one
km

5.0
9.0
30.0

More than one to two
km

56.0

More than two to
three kmMore than three46

6-2. School Perspectives
From school perspective, actions by the school principals and teachers have a profound influenceon students’ willingness to pursue their studies at lower secondary schools.
Principal’s Action
Based on the results of the interviews with principals in five primary schools, we found that the principal’s
action – improving school management, enhancing teachers’ responsibilities and increasing awarenessamong students and parents – affected the students’ willingness to pursue their education.
•

Improving school management: Through the improvement of the school management system,
principals are able to influence the willingness of their students. To achieve better school management,
principals set up goals that have to be achieved by both teachers and students. At the beginning ofschool year, all five primary schools set targets to promote a specific number of students to lower
secondary schools and these targets have almost been achieved. In addition, the principals try to seek
funds from NGOs to support the students. One of the principals we interviewed said that hesometimes writes proposals to ask for support from NGOs to make a contribution to a better school
environment. Moreover, principals themselves actively participate in the educational management
trainings conducted by international agencies so that they can upgrade their school management skills.

•

Enhancing responsibility of the teachers: Principals are requiring the teachers to be more
responsible for their duties. They request teachers to be on time and to spend more time on theirlesson preparation. Consequently, the enhancement of teachers' responsibility positively affects school
environment and improves their teaching performance, which in turn influences the students’
willingness to continue their studies. Among our interviews, one of the principals reported that heholds weekly/monthly meetings with teachers and encourages them to exchange their classmanagement experiences with each other.

•

Increasing the awareness of the students: During the interviews, one of the principals stated that inorder to encourage students to pursue a higher level of education he sometimes invites alumni toschool to talk about the importance of education and share their successful life experiences. In
addition, he tries to persuade the school dropouts to come back to school through visits to the students'
homes.

•

Increasing the awareness of the parents: Principals also make efforts to raise the awareness among
parents about the value of education through meetings and home visits. Now, the majority of theparents have changed their perception and decide to send their children to further their education.

Teachers’ Actions
Teachers’ actions can affect the students’ willingness to continue their studies at lower secondary47

schools. According to the interview results, we summarize those actions into three parts as follows:•

Knowledge improvement: The general situation at the research site is that most of the teachers at
primary schools have graduated from high school and attended two-year teacher training program
called 12+2. However, when interviewed, some teachers said that they were continuing theirundergraduate programs on weekends to broaden their knowledge and skills. Moreover, they also
actively participate in teacher training programs, run by international agencies, to upgrade theirteaching skills annually, such as training programs on children’s special needs, nutrition improvement
and library management. They attend these even though the training venues are far from theirworkplaces.

•

Pedagogy enhancement: Two of the teachers we interviewed said that they often employ a childcentered approach to teach their students. For example, they encourage students to work in groups toinspire them to think of interesting topics by themselves through discussion. Mistakes are welcome
and later corrected by teachers. Since the economic condition of the research site is less developed
compared with that of other communes, the school facilities are not well equipped. Most of theschools lack teaching materials, thus teachers try to find ways to improve teaching quality. For
example, some teachers donate their own books to the school libraries so that students can read as
many books as possible. Moreover, one of the teachers we interviewed said that she sometimes buys
teaching materials by herself. Another teacher stated that when he teaches mathematics, he encourages
students to use natural resources in order to make up for the lack of teaching materials. For example,
he let the students go out of the classroom and count the leaves to help them have better understanding.

•Raising awareness of parents and students: The awareness of parents and students about the valueof education play a very important role in influencing the willingness of students to continue theirstudies. Most of the teachers say that they have good relationships with the students’ parents because
they usually visit their homes and talk about their education situation with their parents. One of theteachers explained that she has a student who dropped out but she tried several times to persuade his
parents to send him back to school. Eventually, he came back. Furthermore, teachers always try toemphasize the importance of education at school by explaining that if the students have a higher levelof education, they will be able to get a well-paid job and have a better future.

6-3. Family Perspectives
According to our questionnaire to students and interviews to their parents, we discovered that afamily’s environment, which includes parental relationship, encouragement from the parents, parental
expectation and awareness, all have a significant influence on a student’s willingness to continue lower
secondary education.
48

Parental RelationshipAmong the responses from student questionnaire, one of the variables, which was aimed atinvestigating the students’ “parental relationship,” corresponded to the question, “How often are there
arguments in your family?” Of the students that responded, 41% and 48%, stated that, arguments within
their families, never and rarely happen, respectively (See Figure 7). The results imply a positive correlation
between a relatively harmonious parental relationship and good family environment, which further
influence on the student’s choice to pursue their further education.
Figure 7 Parental Relationship

10.0

1.0
41.0

Never
Rarely48.0

Sometimes
Often

Parents’ Encouragement
In addition, “parents’ encouragement” was also found as a significant factor which makes acontribution to constituting a good family environment to influence a student’s willingness to pursue
further education, through supporting evidence from both the student questionnaire and interviews with theparents. By answering the question “Do your parents encourage you to go to school and study hard?” in thequestionnaire, students showed a prominent commonality in that most of their parents were very
encouraging.. Based on the results, 29% and 47% of the parents always and often encourage their children
to study further (See Figure 8).

Figure 8 Parents’ Encouragement

3.0
20.0

1.0

Always29.0

Often
Sometimes

47.0

RarelyNever

49

From interviews with parents, we found some consistency to support this point through the parents’narratives. Encouragement mainly included ways of:•Oral encouragement: Parents always inspired their children to pursue further study by saying, “youmust study hard, then you may get a good job and earn a lot of money”; “if you go to university, you
could find a job in the office, not like farmer, who work very hard but earn little”; “you have to work
hard and do not like your parents who have low education and were always looked down by others”
and so forth.

•Material encouragement: In most of our interviews, the financial condition of the families were notso healthy; however, parents all insisted in supporting their children to receive education as long as
their children wanted to or they still had the ability. Some families even borrowed money or did extralabor work outside, selling snacks to earn supplementary income to support their children’s study,
including payment for books, transportation,1 additional classes and snacks to eat at schools.

•

Model encouragement: Some families also encouraged their children to study hard by citing the
successful story of themselves or relatives. For example, in one case, the mother’s fourth child hadfinished upper secondary school. He now works in Phnom Penh as a photographer for a TV company
and still continues to study at evening classes at a university. The mother stated that she always
encourages the rest of her children to study hard with the case of fourth child as a good model.

Parents’ Expectations
Similarly, the parents of our sample students who already decided to go to lower secondary school
all demonstrated a relatively high expectation towards their children’s education level and future.
According to the results from student questionnaire, 56% of the respondents reported that their parents
expect them to study until they finish Grade 12 and 29% parents hope that their children receive higher
education in the universities (See Figure 9). Consistent with the interviews from parents, all respondents
expect that their children can finish at least Grade 12, and if they can continue to afford and their children
study hard enough, they are willing and proud to send their children to universities. Moreover, theseparents have high expectations about their children’s future as well; most of them want their children tofind decent jobs, such as medical doctors, teachers, government officers or NGO staff, instead of being
farmers. All in all, the high expectation will seems to translate into daily encouragement and real actions to
impact their children to continue further study.

1

In our study, transportation mainly refers to bicycles. Most respondents stated that they needed to buy bicycles fortheir children to go to lower secondary school.
50

Figure 9 Parents’ Expectation

5.0
29.0

Lower Secondary
Education

10.0

Upper Seondary
Education
University

56.0

I do not know

Parents’ AwarenessBased on parent interviews, a very important factor, which directly affects the family’senvironment to influence their children’s willingness to pursue further education, is the increase inawareness about the importance of education.
•

Some narratives from parents regard education as a way to promote their life standard and social
status, such as “If my children can have higher education, they would find better jobs and would getgood salary”; “I wish my children could receive higher education and get good salary, then they could
help to support family”; “I hope my children to study hard and have better jobs, then people would
respect them, not like us, we are farmers.”•

Some parents realized the value of education as an engine for the development of their community bysaying, “I want at least one of my children to be a teacher in the village. I have no chance to receive
education and if my children can be teachers, they would make a valuable contribution to help
educate other children. I know that children are the future of the village”. In one case, the mother
wanted her child to become a doctor, as there are not enough doctors in their village. “I hope mychildren can be doctors in the village, there is no health center in our village, and it is too difficult for
us to see doctors. I wish my children would improve the health situation of our village.”
In addition, according to our interview results, we found less gender discrimination among the

respondents. Many parents hold the same ideas about keeping their daughters at home to help withhousework and get married early. They also have concerns that it might be more dangerous for daughtersthan their sons to continue their studies outside. However, they still share the common agreement that if
their daughters want to continue their studies, they are willing to support and it doesn’t matter between,sons or daughters, they should have more education. This kind of awareness is increasing to establish avery crucial foundation that affects a student’s willingness to pursue further education.

51

6-5. Society Perspectives
Government Support•

Scholarships: The Cambodian government supports poor students with a scholarship allowance of
180, 000 riel/a student/year. All principals interviewed at the five primary schools stated that around3-5 students per school get a chance to receive scholarships for three years at lower secondary schools.

•

Short-term workshops for teachers: 3-5 day workshops are held by the Provincial Department of
Education during summer vacation. Teachers receive training services on topics of librarymanagement, skills, and support for disadvantaged students, etc.

NGOs Aid
NGOs have been implementing their own activities effectively in Kampong Thom province inCambodia. Their activities support students, especially those who come from poor families. This support is
not only financial, but also food, clothes, bicycles and learning materials.
•

Since 2005, the World Food Program has provided rice, beans, canned fish and rice cookers for poor
students to prepare daily breakfasts•

Since 2008, World Vision has constructed toilets and wells, supplied uniforms, tables, and clean water;•

UNICEF constructed school buildings such as classrooms and libraries;•"Room to Read” program, sponsored by local NGOs, provides library services for students. At
Chramah PS, the program donated a number of books, two bookshelves, four reading tables for the
students and one table and one chair for the librarian. In addition to the facilities, NGOs also holdlibrary training in the province for school principals and librarians. By 2012, this program had beenrunning for four years;•

A program sponsored by the local organization Mlob Bay Toeng (Green Shadow) provides one set ofschool uniforms/per year/per student for 35 students for 3 years. With the purpose of educating
students about how to protect environment, starting in 2010, the Green Shadow program formed aclub in Chramah Primary School choosing one principal and 2 teachers as coordinators.

Kampong Chheuteal High School
The Thai royal family has been supporting Kampong Chheauteal High School. Every year, 252
students are enrolled. As one of the three schools providing secondary education, Kampong Chheauteal
High School, which is considered as a promising school for students living in Prasat Sambor District andbeyond, has become a significant factor to attract students to pursue their studies at lower secondary school.
•

Kampong Chheuteal High School attracts students due to well-equipped facilities supported by theThai royal family such as computer labs, laboratories, and dormitories for teachers and students fromremote areas;52•It has a program to support students to study in Thailand after grade 12, to continue on toundergraduate education or vocational training. Because the school helps students with living
expenses and scholarships when they go to Thailand, helps to motivate them to continue theireducation after basic education.

7. Conclusion
In order to complete the mission of EFA and improve the quality of national education, theCambodian government has made a great effort to overcome obstacles at the lower secondary level. By
nature, the main partner of the education process is the student. Thus, identifying factors affecting thestudents’ willingness to continue their education at lower secondary schools was the objective of this groupresearch. Without necessarily analyzing the external factors, which might depress a student’s eagerness tolower secondary school, this research was aimed at providing push factors for the stakeholders to findways to enhance the willingness to continue education. It has been found that the factors that come fromthe students themselves, the schools, their families and society, positively influence a student’s willingness
to further their education. Beyond the hypotheses, the most interesting finding is the attractive influence of
Kampong Chheauteal High School. The well-equipped secondary school and high school turned out to be apull factor to attract students.
To summarize, in the case study of Sambo Commune in Kampong Thom Province in Cambodia,
in addition to the students’ willingness, strong support from school principals, teachers, family members,
the government, and NGOs is also playing a vital role in encouraging students to further their education.

53

8. Scope and Limitation
There are two main limitations in this study. First, this study was conducted in five primary andtwo secondary schools in one commune in Prasat Sombor district in Kampong Thom province. In thisregard, the results of the study can be generalized, to a certain extent, within the district, and not for all
lower secondary school students, their parents, teachers and school administrators. Furthermore, all aspectsof school factors could not be thoroughly examined due to the time constraint.

9. Acknowledgement
We would like to express our sincere thanks to the chief of Provincial Education Departments,
chief of the District Education Office, school principals, teachers, parents and students for spending theirvaluable time answering our questions, providing us with valuable data and completing our questionnaire
surveys.
We would also like to profoundly thank RUPP professors and students for providing us with usefuldata for our research preparation, designing the research site schedule, making appointments for interviews,
performing vital translation jobs and giving us constructive comments and suggestions. Without theirsupport, our group would not have successfully completed the research mission in Cambodia.
In addition, we would like to express our deep gratitude to Prof. Takizawa for his kind supervision
during the oversea fieldwork. It was not an easy time for him to accompany all the group members,
everyday, to all the research sites.
Finally, we extend our sincere thanks to the OFW professors, especially Prof. Penghuy, for giving
us their priceless academic advice. Moreover, they were extremely enthusiastic and encouraged us to stayhealthy and strong during the trip.

10. References
Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. (2010). Education Strategic Plan 2009-2013. Phnom
Penh. Author.

Cambodian Ministry of Planning. (2007). Progress in Achieving Cambodia Millennium Development Goals:
Challenges and Opportunities. Phnom Penh. Author.

Dy. S. S. (2002). The impact of UNESCO on basic education policies in Cambodia. Unpublished
Master’s Thesis. Hiroshima: Hiroshima University.
Dy, S. S., & Ninomiya, A. (2003). Basic education in Cambodia: The impact of UNESCO on policies in
the 1990s. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 11(48). Retrieved on July 1st, 2012, fromhttp://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v11n48/v11n48.pdf
Engel, J (2010): Cambodia’s Story: Rebuilding Basic Education in Cambodia: Establishing a More
Effective Development Partnership, Overseas Development Institute.
54

Lockheed, M. E., & Verspoor, A. M. (1991). Improving Primary Education in Developing Countries.
Washington, D.C: Oxford University Press.
Ministry Of Education, Youth and Sport Cambodia (2010). Education Strategic Plan 2009-2013.

Neau, V. (2004): Ongoing Professional Development for In-Service Cambodian Teachers of English in
Secondary Schools: Contemporary Issues, Needs, and Future Direction. Doctoral dissertation.
Hiroshima: Hiroshima University.
Prasat Sambor District Education Office (2012). Education Statistics. Prasat Sambor, Kampong Thom,
Kingdom of Cambodia.
Provincial Department of Planning (2011). Information about Sambor Commune. Kampong Thom,
Kingdom of Cambodia.

UNESCO Cambodia (2010): National Education Support Strategy Cambodia 2010-2013, UNESCO.

(The End)
55

Working Group 3

Migration in Sambor Commune,
Kampong Thom Province, Cambodia

1. Introduction
2. Methodology
3. Finding and Discussion
4. Conclusion
5. Reference
6. Annex

Group adviser
Professor Higashimura Takeshi

Written by
Deewesh Prasad,

Ghassen Ben HadjLarbi,

Tran Thi Loan Anh,Yang Ying

Sisouk Boualaphiane,** Group leader, * Group Sub-leader
56

Migration in Sambor Commune, Kampong Thom Province,
Cambodia
1. Introduction
BackgroundCambodia is a small county in Southeast Asia with a population of nearly14 million. Approximately
85-90% of the population live in villages and depend primarily on agricultural activities. Though overall
poverty level has trickled down from 47 % in 1993 to 30 % in 2007, a third of Cambodians still live below
the national poverty level. Poverty in rural areas is widespread and as much as 92% of the total rural
population lives in poverty. As per the data published by Ministry of Planning (2005), internal migrants in
Cambodia are approximately 35% of the total population (NIS, 2005).
Population migration in Cambodia is not a new phenomenon, but in the beginning of the 21st
century, it has emerged as a top policy issue for the government (Review of Migration in Cambodia, Dec
2008). However, Cambodia is still in the early stages of labor migration management. As per the reportpublished by International Organization for Migration (IOM) 2006, Cambodian migrants view migration
itself as a short-term coping strategy to overcome unexpected problems and not as a long/medium-term
process aimed at increasing the socio-economic status of the family. Those who decide to migrate from
Cambodia are often driven from their home communities by an overwhelming predominance of push factors
as opposed to pull factors. These push factors include chronic poverty, landlessness, lack of employment,
lack of access to markets, materialism, debt and natural disasters such as droughts and floods (IOM, 2006).
These migrants often find employment in 3D jobs (Dirty, Dangerous and Disliked), which only allows themto maintain the status quo, rather than improving their standard of living. Other factors involved in the rapid
increase in the internal migration, especially in the case of rural to urban migration, include such reasons as asurplus labor force, lower income and a drive by the youth population. The growth of the migration
movement is caused not only by the decision of the individuals, but is influenced by globalization and a neworganization of labor that has seen many manufacturing activities moved to third world countries. For
example, the garment industry in Cambodia is a major pull factor for the migration of women. There are also
certain trends that have been observed in the pattern of male and female migration in Cambodia. According
to the 1998 census, male migrants were slightly more likely to have moved to rural areas and femalemigrants to urban areas. Several reasons for migration are raised in the census including family ties, therecent turbulent history of Cambodia and natural resource insecurity.
In 2005, there was an increased awareness about the relevance of migration at the national andinternational level. Even the Cambodian government has recognized that migration provides opportunity forfamilies and individual workers to realize an improvement in their economic well-being (Ministry of Laborand Vocational Training, 2010). Since then lot of work has been done by the Cambodian government topromote safe and legal migration at the national and international level. In the 2006-10 strategic plan of the57

Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training, the government set out a mission statement stressing migration’srole in contributing to economic growth, equity and improved living conditions among the Cambodian
people. The ministry has adopted four strategic areas: promotion of local and foreign employment,
improvement in rights at the workplace and better working conditions, creation of a national social security
system and development of technical and vocational skills for local and foreign labor markets. The strategic
policy also focused on improved management of foreign employment, expanded protection of migrant
workers, strong inter-ministerial coordination and intimate international cooperation.
Apart from policy framing at the national level, the Cambodian government has ratified all eight
ILO(International Labor Organization) conventions and has been a signatory to the to the UN Convention on
the ‘Protection of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families,’ as well as a member of theCommittee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The government is also asignatory to the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers
adopted by the Head of States on 13 January 2007. In the recent past, the Cambodian government has been
actively involved in bilateral talks with neighboring countries in the promotion and legalizing ofinternational migration, resulting in such accomplishments as the recognition of migrant workers in Thailand.
Purpose of the study
Like many other areas in Cambodia, Sambor Commune is also experiencing labor migration to otherprovinces and areas in the country. The study, therefore, will try to:Investigate the phenomenon of migration in Sambor Commune, focusing on the difference between
migrant and non-migrants households.
Examine how migration can help local people to improve their standard of living.
Research questions and main hypothesis
The research questions can be divided into three question groups including migrant-families, nonmigrant-families and the relationship between migration and poverty reduction as follows:
1. Who are the migrants? What are their destinations? What is their decision-making process for
migrating? What kinds of jobs do they do?
2. Why do non-migrants not migrate? What are their main sources of income? What is theirdecision-making process for not migrating?
3. How does migration contribute to poverty reduction?
The main hypothesis is that in overall, migration has a positive effect on the livelihoods of thevillagers. Migrants send remittances to help their families while they are away and contribute to the local
economy of the village when they return from their migration. Non-migrants also benefit from migration
thanks to the flux of remittances and improvement of the local economy.

2. Methodology
Introduction of the field site
58

Fieldwork was conducted in Sambor Commune among four villages: Kampong Cher Teal, Atsu,
Char and Chhar Mas. The fieldwork was conducted by a combination of students and professors from
Nagoya University Graduate School of International Development (hereafter referred to as GSID) and fromthe Royal University of Phnom Penh (hereafter referred to as RUPP). The village chief introduced themigrants to the research team. According to the village chiefs, migration started around 10 years ago in thiscommune. The following table contains the statistics of population and migration destination countries forthe four villages in the commune. The village chiefs provided this information.

Table 1: Total population, number of households and migration destinations for the four villages in
Sambor Commune

Data collection
Data collection was done mainly through in-depth interviews. For migrant families, we tried tointerview the migrants themselves but in cases where they were not present, we interviewed their relatives
about the migrant person(s). We divided our group in two subgroups of three members from the GSID plus
two members from the RUPP. Each day, each group interviewed 3 to 4 households. With a total of 6 to 8
interviews per day, with five days in the field, we interviewed a total of 35 households. Other than the
migrants, we also interviewed the local director of the Department of Labor and Training as well as the local
director of the Department of Social Affairs. The following table is the working schedule and the number ofinterviewed households.

59

Table 2: Working schedule on the site and the number of interviewed households

DateInterview schedule on the field
Time
Village

28-Aug-12

29-Aug-12
30-Aug-12
31-Aug-12
03-Sep-12
04-Sep-12

No. ofhouseholdMigration

Non-migration

Morning

Afternoon
Morning
Afternoon
Morning
Afternoon
Morning
Afternoon
Morning
Afternoon
Morning
Afternoon

RemarkDirector,Dept.
Labor&Training
Dept. of Social Affairs

Sambor Commune
Kampong Chher Teal

4
4
2
2
2
1
6
0
2

0

Kampong Chher Teal
At Su
Char
At Su
Chhar Mas
At Su
At Su

4
4
5
4
4
3
5
2
4

Total:

35

23

12

3
2
2
1
0
2
2

One illegal

One middleman

3. Findings and Discussion
3-1. Phenomenon of migration
3-1-1. Migrant families-Educational background of migrants
As the following graph shows, all of our respondents’ had low educational qualifications, no one
obtained a tertiary education and it was the same for both sexes. Only two female respondents had attained a
12th grade education, one 9th grade and only one male had attained a 7th grade education. The majority ofthem did not go past 5th grade. ‘Unknown’ in the graph indicates that the information could not be obtained,
because, in more than a few occasions, we did not manage to interview the migrants themselves and thus had
to interview their relatives instead. In such cases it was difficult to obtain information regarding educationlevel, as they were not always aware of it. However, in all cases, the relatives made clear that the migrant did
not have a strong educational background.

60

Figure 1: Educational background of migrants
9
8
7
6
5

Female

4

Male

3
2
1
0
0

1

3

5

7

9

12

unknownHence, in the Sambor Commune, migration is common among people who do not have a high levelof education.
-Age range of migrants
It was quite interesting to note that the majority of the migrants ranged in age from18 to 25 years.
The following chart shows that 19 of 31 migrants (11 males and 8 females) were of that age group, while
only 6 migrants ranged in age of 26 to 35, and very few were 40 and above. The trend shows that migrationis quite common in the younger population. However, we can see a clear difference in the sex repartition:
female migrants are quasi-nonexistent over the age of 40, which seems to indicate that older women tend tosettle down when they have a family of their own.
Figure 2: Age range of migrants
12108Female

6

Male
4
2
0
18‐25

26‐35

over 40over 50

61

unknown

-Reasons of migration
There were various reasons, that were invoked by the migrants, which led them to migrate either
internationally or to nearby provinces within the country. These reasons included parental health issues,
unemployment, poverty, job opportunities, the will to improve their living standards and recommendations
from friends. Among all the reasons, it was found that poverty and the will to improve living standards werethe major motivating factors that led the people to migrate. As shown by the chart, 35% of the respondents
said they migrated due to the poverty, whereas approximately 42 % of the respondents migrated in order toimprove their living standards. It is important to note the difference between these two reasons: when
migrants told us they migrated because of 'poverty,' they meant that they could no longer support themselvesor their families under their current situation, even if they had a job. Those who responded 'will to improveliving standard' meant that although they were leading a relatively decent life before migrating, they chose tomigrate in order to improve their living standards. Another reason was parental health condition, with12 %of respondents forced to migrate due to parental health issues. We found very few who migrated due tounemployment, better job opportunities and recommendations from friends.
Figure 3: Reasons of migration

parent health issues

Reasons

unemployment
povertyjob oppotrunity
improve living standard
Friends
0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Percentage-Destination of migration
In the case of external migration, Malaysia, Korea and Thailand were the three favored destinations
for the migrant workers of Cambodia. The migrants, when migrating within Cambodia, preferred Phnom
Penh, Siem Reap and other neighboring provinces. Among the international destinations we found that the
majority of migrants went to Thailand. Twenty-one migrants went to Thailand and worked mainly in theconstruction and garment sectors. Other jobs, though in small numbers, included fishery, work at a glass
factory, vegetable/pork sales and work on a sugarcane plantation (seasonal). In Malaysia, three migrants
worked as domestic workers and one as a receptionist. There was only one respondent who was working in
Korea and that was in a plastic manufacturing factory.
62

In the case of domestic migration, the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, was the most favored place.
Our three respondents who migrated to Phnom Penh were working in a garment factory and in construction
work. In other provinces, they go to work as drivers and sellers.
As per the above findings, we can say that Thailand (External) and Phnom Penh (Domestic) were thefavored destinations for the migrant workers of Cambodia.

external

markeDng

Phnom Penh

Siem
Reap

construcDon worker

sugarcane plantaDon

tractor driverotherprovince

garment factory

Thailandsell pork and vegetables

glass factory

garment factory

Malaysiaﬁshermanhousework

Korea

construcDon worker

plasDc manufactory

9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

recepDonist

Figure 4: Types of job at destination areas for both internal and external migrationinternal

Types of jobs at the migration destination
In the analysis we found that migrants do a variety of jobs. For example, they work as construction
workers, fishermen, in garment factories, in glass factories, as domestic workers, in marketing, etc. However,there are certain occupations where migrants work in larger numbers, such as construction (9 persons), in thegarment industry (8 persons), as seasonal workers on sugarcane plantations (4 persons) and as domestic
workers (3 persons).

63

Figure 5: Types of job for external migration

Tractor driver
Sugarcane plantaDon
Sell pork and vegetable
RecepDonist
PlasDc manufactoryMarkeDng
Housework
Glass factory
Garment factory
Fisherman
ConstrucDon workers
0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

-Means of migration
Migrants chose various means to migrate internationally. For example, they went through a
middleman (legally and illegally), through special company examinations and through private companies
who regulate short-term migration. In our observation, we found that 20 migrants went through such privatecompanies. In Cambodia there are many private companies that facilitate the process of migration andprepare all the necessary documents for the migration. These companies take all the responsibility andinitially finance all the expenses. Once the migrants reach the destination country and start working, they
typically have to start paying back the company. A large number, 8 persons, preferred to migrate through a
middleman by legal means. These middlemen are usually working for the aforementioned private companies
and consist of a local person in remote villages. But there were two cases where migrants chose to migrate
through a middleman illegally. The reason why migrants chose a middleman to migrate in both cases isbecause the middleman is either from their village or a neighboring village and they have a strong sense oftrust. There was only one migrant who migrated through a company examination. We learned that this typeof migration is common in the case of Korea, although in this particular case the migrant went to Thailand.
There are companies in Phnom Penh that conduct examinations and maintain a website of the names ofqualified applicants for those who want to migrate to Korea.

64

Figure 6: Means of migration in the villages

Middleman, legal

Middleman, illegal

Company examinaDon

Company
0

5

10

15

20

25

-Problems of migration
In our analysis, we found that 52% of our respondents said they had faced problem during migration
while 48% said they never had any problem while working abroad. On asking about the problems they listed
several: five of them said they felt homesick, four complained about exhaustion and tough working
conditions, three were not happy because of the low salary, five migrants faced problems such as healthissues, being arrested by police, suffered electric shock in the workplace, had trouble with their boss andemployer abuse. The last two problems typically meant the employer held the salary of the employee until
the end of the contract, which seemed to be quite common in Malaysia, while being arrested by police
happened typically to illegal migrants.
Figure 7: Percentage of migrants who faced problems/types of problems during migration period

Problems during
migra3on

Problems

No48%

trouble with bossYes
52%

salary too low
health problems
arrested by police
0

2

4

6

-Current status of migrants
The majority of the migrants interviewed were still working in their place of migration. And those
who had come back did so mainly because their contract ended or because of health problems. The typicalcontract with a private company is two years, after which the migrant has to return to Cambodia. However,65people can apply indefinitely to renew such contracts, so most migrants who had finished their contract
period stated that they wanted to migrate again.
Figure 8: The current status of migrants
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
end of end ofsDll
end of healthsDll
end of
sDll
sDll
sDll
contract contract ongoing contract problems ongoing contract ongoing ongoing ongoing
Korea

Malaysia

Thailand

Phnom Penhexternal

otherprovince

Siem
Reap

internal

3-1-2. Non–migrant families-Reason for not migrating
In order to get a holistic perspective, non-migrant households were also interviewed to know theirperception about the phenomenon of migration, and especially the reason behind their decision not to
migrate, despite living in a community where a large number of people migrate every year, for one reason or
another.
Among the respondents of this study, we found that the non-migrant families did not migrate
because of various reasons: four had a good family situation; two viewed migration as a loss of self-respectin the host community; two did not migrate because they had family responsibilities; one person was saving
money to migrate internally, while another was saving money to migrate internationally; one said theirpartner does not want them to migrate; and the last person was in the process of migration.
Here we found a major shift between migrants who had a stable source of income and those who did
not. For example, non–migrants who had a stable source of income generally felt that migration was an
attack on their personal status. But in some cases we also found that these non-migrant households had apositive opinion in the case of domestic migration. On the other hand, those who did not have a stable sourceof income were always thinking about migrating and in some cases they had even started the process of
migration and were waiting for the authorization.

66

Figure 9: Reasons why villagers decide not to migrate
waiDng for migraDon proceduretake care of familysaving money to migrate internally
Saving money to migrate
loss of respect for migrant womenpartner doesn't want
health problems
good family situaDon
0

1

2

3

4

5

-Type of jobs
The non-migrant families engaged in many occupations such as teaching, farming and working in a
cement company. Nine of the non-migrant families said their primary source of income was farming
activities, two from teaching in primary school and one in secondary school. However, many of them had
more than one occupation. In order to better show the diversity of occupations, we assigned different weights
to their occupations, depending on whether it was their main or secondary occupation. The graph below
shows that farming still is the main source of income with (58%), but there were other activities helping
families with their income, such as fishing, tailoring and driving.
Figure 10: Types of jobs of the non-migrant families

Main occupa3on

Weighted occupa3ons
drivertailoringﬁshinggrocery store
secondary school
primary school teacher
cement company
farmingsecondary school
teacherprimary school
teacher
cement company
farming
0

2

4

6

8

10

0

2

4

6

8

10

3-2. Migration and poverty reduction
3-2-1 Perception about migration-Opinion about migration
To examine the perception of villagers about migration, we also asked them to express their opinions
about migration.
67

In our analysis we found that there is a common trend in both migrant and non-migrant households.
Sixty-eight percent (68%) of migrant households have a positive opinion about the entire concept of
migration because it helps them come out of poverty, improves their living standards and economicallyempowers them as well. Nineteen percent (19%) of our respondents had mixed feelings while 3% had
positive opinions only in the case of internal migration because they think that migrants can visit homefrequently and communication is easier. Another 10% of the respondents abstained from making any
judgment on the issues of migration.
On the other hand, 39% of non-migrant households showed a positive attitude towards migration.
Twenty-three (23%) showed mixed opinions, 23% had a totally negative opinion of migration and 15 % had
a positive view of internal migration.

Figure 11: Opinions about migration

Opinion on
Migra3on (migrantOpinion on migra3on(non‐migrant households)

households)

PosiDveinternal
3%

posiDveforinternal
15%

No Mixed
opinion 19%
10%

mixed
23%

OverallposiDve
68%

overallposiDve39%
overallnegaDve23%

3-2-2. Remittances and the uses of remittances-Remittances by gender
We have analyzed the data, splitting into two parts, and taking into consideration both genders.
Approximately five women and four men never sent any remittances home, while twelve women and ninemen did. If we generalize this finding, we can say that female migrants tend to send remittances more thanmale migrants. We have also tested this theory during interviews. We asked our respondents whom theywould prefer to migrate and the majority of them said they would prefer a woman because they always send
remittances, while in some cases, the men do not(they typically cited reasons that men tended to spend more
and go out drinking often). Therefore, we can conclude that there is strong preference for females to migrate.

68Figure 12: Remittances by gender90.00%
76.47%

80.00%
70.00%

57.14%

60.00%
50.00%

Female42.86%

40.00%

Male

30.00%

23.53%

20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
yes

no

Figure 13: Remittances by gender, amount and destination countries
4
3
2
Female1Male0over $300$100‐150$50‐100

Korea Malaysia

Thailandexternal

irregular$50‐100
otherprovince

Phnom Penhinternal

69

Figure 14: Comparison of remittances between internal and external migration and among different
overseas countries
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
over 300 50‐100
Korea

100‐150

10‐50

Malaysia

50‐100 under 10 irregular irregularThailandexternal

otherprovince

50‐100irregular

Phnom PenhinternalThis graph gives us a clear picture about the frequency of the remittances sent to home country fromthe destination country. In our analysis, we found that migrants who migrated to Thailand sent remittancesquite frequently compared to other countries like Malaysia and Korea. The frequency is also higher whencomparing with internal migrants. But interestingly, migrants who migrated to Korea, though they sent
remittance only once, typically sent an amount much higher than migrants of Thailand and Malaysia. As forinternal migrants, it seems that most of them prefer to take the money back directly instead of sending it as aremittance. Some of

migrants who went to Thailand also have this tendency, which is indicated inthe‘irregular’category in the graph. The irregular category also includes sending money back irregularly orcases where the interviewee didn’t remember the time and the amount.

-The uses of remittances
Migrant households and migrants themselves (when they returned) used remittances for various
purposes, such as to buy jewelry, land, motorbikes, other labor for agricultural activities, pay back loans,repair or build a new house, savings and support of other activities like children’s education fees. For the
majority of interviewees, the remittances were mainly to improve their living conditions, either by buying
land or by repairing or building a new house.

70Figure 15: Main Use of remittance

Support family
SavingRepair and improve house
Pay back loan
Hire workforce for agriculture
Motorbike
Buy landJewellery
0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

-Remittance sending
In the case of how remittances were sent, both internal and external migrants favored bank transfer.
However, three international migrants brought the money back by themselves and two of them chose aperson they trusted to take the money back. In the graph below, however, the ‘unknown’ category is thehighest since the interviewees didn't respond very clearly or they didn’t know how the remittances were sent.

Figure 16: How remittances were sent back to migrant home
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
bank

personby themselves
external

unknownbankunknowninternal

3-3. Comparisons between migrant-households and non-migrant-households
3-3-1. Decision-making process
For the decision-making process, we categorized them as decisions made by “father,” “mother,”“wife,” “husband,” “personal” and “common.” “Personal” means it was the migrant who made the decision
to migrate. “Common” means that the decision was reached by the consensus of father, mother (or wife andhusband) and other members of the family.
71

Figure 17: Decision-making process for migration of both migrant and non-migrant family
Migrant / Non-migrant families
Wife

3

Personal

6

Parents0

Personal

0

Parents

0

MotherHusbandCommon6

8

1
9Common7
40Father4
2

2

Husband3

Father1

Mother

8

0

Wife

10

0

2

4

6

8

10

:

In the case of migrant households, we found that in eight (8) cases, the highest amount, the decision
was made by the mother, followed by common decision (7), personal (6) and father (4), respectively. The
wife or husband made the decision in the same number of cases (3 each). Meanwhile, for the case of nonmigrant households, in nine (9) cases the decision was common, in two (2), the mother had the final say, one(1) case it was the father and another case both parents refused to let their child migrate.
It is interesting to point out that the mothers in migrant families have an important role in deciding tomigrate or not. During our interviews, there were many cases that the women or the wife/mother encouraged
or forced their husband/children to migrate to seek a job and earn money. This reality reveals that the
women, or mothers, have powerful voices in the decision making process of their family in these local
villages. We realized that Cambodian society is different from other Asian societies, in that the parents often
live with their daughter rather than their son. Indeed, after marriage it is the groom who often moves in andstays with the family of the bride. The daughter is responsible for taking care of their ageing parents. In bothcases of migrant families and non-migrant families, the mother has the stronger voice than the father (8 cases
compared to 4 in migrant families and 2 cases compared to 1 for non-migrant families).
In addition, when we asked the interviewees whether they want their children to continue living andworking as a migrant, most of them wanted their children to live with them in the village, if they could findjob. However, many of them said that it depended on their children’s decisions. They will respect theirdecision to keep migrating or to return home. This fact shows that to some extent, young people in
Cambodia have freedom to decide their own lives.

3-3-2. Visual properties
Though there weren’t a large number of rich and successful migrants in the four villages, still
differences between rich and poor migrants, as well as between migrant families and non-migrant families
were seen. The discussion about these differences is based on their visual properties such as houses andvehicles.
72Houses are the most observable items. We found that there are differences between the houses ofpoor non-migrant families and migrant families (both poor and rich). The differences can be seen in thematerials used for the houses, the area and furniture. While many poor non-migrant families’ houses are
small cottages, made of bamboo or wood that tend to look very unstable, the migrants’ houses are made ofcement or wood and look much stronger. In addition, the poor non-migrant families’ houses seemed to besmaller in stature. Photos1 and 2 clearly show these differences.
However, for many of the wealthy, non-migrant households, they already had houses that weresimilar to the successful migrant households. In a few cases, some wealthy non-migrant families had betterhouses than the normal migrant houses. These non-migrant families usually had good ways of earning aliving in their village. For example, one family ran a small business of milling rice and raising pigs, while
another family sold groceries (the wife) and the husband was a primary school teacher.

Photo 1: Non-migrant family

Photo2: Migrant family

73Photo 3: Wealthy migrant family
Photo 3 shows the house of a wealthy migrant family. The three daughters of the family migrated toThailand. Two of them returned home, got married and now run their own business. This is the only case wefound in Sambor Commune where a migrant family had a very big and nice house. They even owned a car.
Some migrant families said that they used remittances to buy motorbikes, though the investment fora motorbike is not very popular and people preferred to use remittances for daily consumption, education
expenses or savings. Common household items such as TVs, fans and so on, were not that prevalent for bothmigrant and non-migrant families in these villages. However, we found some migrant families who had TVs
and/or electronic fans. The wealthy migrant family in pictured in Photo 3 owned TV, electronic fan, car andhad beautiful interior decoration.
At the time of the research there was only a few wealthy migrant families in the village but thismight be explained because the period of time for migration was not long and most migrants worked inlower-skilled or un-skilled jobs. However, for some families that have more than one member who migrated,their lives seemed to be better than non-migrant families or those with only one member who migrated.

74

3-4. In-depth interview with key informants
3-4-1. Migration and the perspective of the governor of Kampong Thom Province
We had the chance to interview the director of the Labor and Vocational Training Department of
Kampong Thom Province. He explained the government’s opinion about migrants in Cambodia. In thisprovince, there are approximately 40,000 legal migrants and 30,000 illegal. Migrants are all over 18years old.
Basically, poverty is the main factor that instigates both internal and external migration. Most of the migrants
lack education and are involved in human trafficking or through informal agencies, which makes them illegal.
The government tries to promote legal migration and stop the illegal migration.
Regarding external migrants, he said migration reduces the possibility of finding excellent leaders,which indicates that he believes migration causes bright people to leave Cambodia. However, conditions aredifferent in different countries. For example, the government thinks it is good that people migrate to thedeveloped countries, like Kuwait and South Korea, where they can obtain more technological skills and thewages can enhance their living standards. He especially mentioned South Korea and stated that theyencourage people to go to Korea to learn new technologies in the electrical and agricultural fields. The
government is negotiating with South Korea to extend visas from the current three years to five. On the other
hand, the government is not encouraging migration to Thailand and other developing countries. In Thailand,
migrants work illegally as construction workers and fishermen and in Malaysia, they work as domestic
workers. All the jobs are low pay, low skill. Many measures are being taken to educate the people about thework in the foreign countries and issues related to migration. The government is now thinking to put an end
to migration in 2015because of internal labor shortages, and they are trying to increase the wages in
Cambodia.
Regarding internal migration, a lot of women migrate to Phnom Penh to work in garment factories
The government is working on vocational training for rice planting and fishing and every province has acenter like Kampong Thom. The center promotes job training for poor people, dropout students, retired
military men, women and disabled persons as priorities. In 2015, the government plans to lend 10,000 ha to a
private company for a plantation that can employ approximately 20,000 workers.
NGOs contribute to help the issue of illegal migrants. Sufficient support like food, schools, andhealth centers are being provided to tackle the problem of migration in Cambodia.
In conclusion, according to the interview, the government doesn’t want people to migrate and istrying to reduce the number of migrants through supplying more jobs and encouraging people to run
businesses in Kampong Thom Province to prevent illegal migration.

75

3-4-2. Migration and the perspective of the director of Kampong Thom Province’s Department ofSocial Affairs
As with the governor, the head of this department also mentioned that poverty is the main reason forpeople to migrate. She wasn’t supportive of migration at all. She stated that migration creates a lot of
problems, especially for illegal migrants. For internal migrants, high wages in big cities also means highexpenditures and for external migrants, she stated that drug, and sometimes mental, problems can be an issue.
This office works to support the returning migrant with their mental problems and tries to educate people
through word of mouth. Even though they realize it is impossible to stop people from migrating, they try to
educate people on how to migrate legally. However, they are often short of staff and have a limited budget.
The TPO (Trans-cultural Psychosocial Organization) from UNICIF has helped with the mental issues of
migrants but this funding is also scheduled to stop in Kampong Thom Province.

3-4-3. Migration and the perspective of a village chief
Fortunately, we had the opportunity to interview the chief of Atsu Village. He has been a chief of
this village for almost 30 years and was recently promoted to commune chief, but refused to accept theposition. He says that migration has both good and bad points. In his opinion, he feels it is not good tomigrate abroad, but Phnom Penh and other provinces may be better because the families can contact
migrants easily. In addition, he does not want his children to work abroad because he is afraid that they may
face some difficulties. He did not feel that way, however, if it was going abroad to study.
During the interview, there was a discussion about migrant companies and he stated that, at first, he
did allow such companies to come in the village. This caused difficulty, however, and later one company
returned to village with a permission document from the Ministry. As the chief of the commune, he had to
discuss the issue and there was a resultant reconciliation. Presently, he can see that it is better to have thecompany because people can migrate through the company legally. For example, there were 4-5 migrantsarrested at the border with Thailand and they asked the company for assistance. The company successfully
brokered a solution and later helped them to migrate again to Thailand. However, many people still use
middlemen because their costs are cheaper. Thus, when there are organizations that come to meet villagers
for migrant purpose, he takes care to check their documents before they can work in his community.
In addition, there was talk of vocational training for a limited amount of people but in reality,
nothing has been implemented to date.
There is a regular monthly meeting at which he proposed that poverty reduction and migrant
reduction as big issues. After discussions it was agreed that the community should do something to reduce
migration in general, the chief wants to stop migration altogether in his village. In order to do that, there has
to be job creation. Since this is difficult, he is only able to provide some advice, while the others realize it is
step-by-step process.
76

3-4-4. Interview with a middleman
We also had the opportunity to interview a migrant who also happened to be a middleman in thevillage he lives in. Originally a migrant in another province in Cambodia, he found a job in Thailand, also
through a middleman. His job consisted of planting and harvesting sugar cane on a plantation. Althoughconsidered as a seasonal job, he explained to us that the planting season was from April to September and theharvesting was from November to March, meaning he spent most of the year in Thailand, except for
September, October and the Khmer New Year. With the company expanding and always needing seasonal
workers, he began to offer to introduce the villagers to the company if they paid him a fee. He justified thefee by saying that he acts as a guarantor of the villagers, organizes the trips and helps his fellow villagers ifthey have problems during the work. However, he made it clear that the company he works for is not
involved and has no idea about him doing this service. In addition, the villagers he introduces are notnecessarily hired, but in case they are, they have to pay him the equivalent of a day’s work every month for 2
years. At first, the villagers were not very happy with this arrangement but little by little, they noticed an
improvement in their livelihood and more and more villagers started to contact him for the job. He says thatthe villagers trust him more than the private companies because they know him and he has never cheated orwronged anyone (this was also confirmed by interviews with some of the villagers who went through him).
However, he says he was once arrested on grounds of human trafficking and was jailed for 20 days. He only
had to pay a fine and there was no trial. He thinks it might be the work of some jealous neighbors. With themoney he makes from both his job and his role as middleman, he managed to build a house, which is inbetter condition than any other in his village. He also acquired some farmland that is administered by his
wife, who hires villagers to work on it. From his example, we can see that trust is a very strong incentive togo through middleman, first because he charges less than private companies, and also because they actuallyknow him and can go and talk to him in case of problems.

3-4-5. Interview with a local representative for a recruiting company
It was a coincidence that we interviewed a woman whose husband and son migrated to Thailand andshe also works as a local representative for a recruiting company in Phnom Penh. She showed us the leafletof the company. According to her, she has introduced around 50 people in her village to the company. For
each person, she gets$10as commission. In front of her house, there was a big poster about the recruiting
company she is working for. Her husband and son also migrated through this company. She strongly
supports people to migrate in spite of the possible complications involved in the process. In her opinion,migration is a good strategy for generating income. It is she who urged her husband to migrate to Thailand,though her husband was reluctant to go. Her son, who migrated with her husband, was married and left his
own family behind.

77

4. Conclusion
The results show that our first hypothesis was right in that migration in Sambor Commune provides
its villagers with more job opportunities and higher paid jobs. However, there is still a limitation on thevarieties of jobs. Most of the migrants work in the low-skilled positions, such as construction workers,
garment factory workers, fisherman, grocery sellers and so on. The other side of this situation is that the
migrants have a chance to earn more money than before.
The second hypothesis about the relationship between migration and poverty reduction cannot be
verified because of the lack of sufficient data. Though we found that the remittances created certain effects
on the local economy, our current data is not enough shed light on this issue. However, at the household
level, we can come to the conclusion that migration has some positive impact due to the remittances.
In addition, regarding the reasons for migration, we found that a lack of jobs and low incomes are
the push factors leading to migration in the local commune. Therefore, those who have a stable source ofincome tend to stay at the village, and those who do not tend to migrate.
However, from the different interviews we held with government officials and the middlemen, we
can see that there two opposing dynamics. On the one side, the government is trying to curtail the number of
migrants across the board by financing social programs and trainings, and by raising awareness about thedangers of migration, all the while trying to improve local working conditions and opportunities. On theother side, we can see that people are still very eager to migrate because they get tangible rewards fromdoing so. The added example of the neighbors who migrated with their success stories continues to attract a
lot of people. However, in the case of Sambor Commune, we could see that the efforts of the government toraise awareness about the dangers of illegal migration had paid off because most of the migrants had
migrated through official channels.
The phenomenon of migration also had some interesting repercussions on the social sphere offamilies and we noticed the considerable role and empowerment of women, who often migrated and took astrong role in the family, which reflected some of the results of the research recently done by the governmentof Cambodia.

5. References-AnnuskaD. 2005. Khmer Women on the Move: Migration and Urban Experience in Cambodia.
-Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI). 2007. Annual Development Review 2006-07.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia-Chan, S., Tep, S., andAcharyaS..2001. Land Tenure in Cambodia - A Data Update, Working Paper
No. 19, (Phnom Penh, Cambodia Development Resource Institute)
http://www.ncpd.gov.kh/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=139:a-review-ofmigration-in-cambodian&catid=40:migration&Itemid=56-International Labour Organization. 2010. Policy on Labour Migration for Cambodia
78

-International Organization for Migration. 2005.Internal Migration and Development:A Global
Perspective, No. 19, Switzerland.
-Lim S. 2008. Youth Migration in Cambodia. Cambodia Development review, Vol. 12, No. 4-Maltoni B. 2007. Migration in Cambodia: internal vs. external flows. Conference paper. Fuzhou,
China-National Committee for Population and Development (NCPD). 2010. Migration anddevelopment.Conference paper. Available at
http://www.ncpd.gov.kh/images/stories/bulletin/1%20migration%20and%20developmentenglish.pdf-National Institute of Statistics (NIS). 2004.Cambodian inter-censal population survey 2004, generalreport, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
-Phillip M. 2010. Improving labor migration processes and protection of migrant workers from
Cambodia to Thailand: Issues and recommendations

6. Annex
Guidance sheet used for interviewing migrant families:
Date:

Time:

Place:

Interview questions (Migrant families)
Personal information/general conversation/ice-breaker for all households/interviewees:-Family name, how should we call them
-Number of family member, children-What do they do for a living?
-How many children in the family still go to school?
-How many children go to work?
-What do you think about migration?
-Is there any family members/relative migrate?
Detailed questions:a. Before migration: (reasons for migration and decision-making process)-Why do you/your family member want migrate?
(Decision-making process: no money to go, family constraints, do not want to go, bad experience ofprevious migrant)-How did you decide to migrate?
-How did you find your job?
-How many people migrate in your family?
-Who migrate in your family?
79

b. During migration: (types of jobs, difficulties/problems, adaptation process, future prospect)-Where did you work?
-What kind of job did you have?
-How long have you been migrated?
-How many job have you done during your migration?
-Do you have any difficulty such as homesickness, health issues, and adaptation to newenvironment/culture, difficulties with family members?
-Do you often send remittance home? How often? How much?
-Do you often go back to visit your family?
-Do you want to go back during your migration time?
c. After migration: (reasons to come back, re-adaptation process, current life, future prospect)-Why do you come back to the village?
-What are the problems when you came back such as adaptation with life in your home village orwith family members or neighbors? Do you want to migrate again?
-What do you do now?
Additional information/questions:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Guidance sheet used for interviewing non-migrant families:
Date:

Time:

Place:

Interview questions (Non-migrant families)
Personal information/general conversation/ice-breaker for all households/interviewees:-Family name, how should we call them
-Number of family member, children-What do they do for a living?
-How many children in the family still go to school?
-How many children go to work?
-What do you think about migration?
-Is there any family members/relative migrate?
Detailed questions:-Do you want to migrate?
-Why don’t you want to migrate? (Decision-making process: no money to go, family constraints, do
not want to go, bad experience of previous migrant)-Do you have different job?
-Additional information/questions:80

Working Group 4

The Current Situation for Selection of
Health Treatments-The Case of Sambor Commune1. Introduction
2. Methodology
3. Health care providers
4. ID Poor Program
5. Findings from the questionnaire
6. Data analysis of general situation
7. Conclusion
8. Acknowledgement
9. References

Group Adviser
Professor Kimiaki Takahashi
Written by
Motomi Mizutani**,

Reimi Yoshida*,

Tran Hong Phuong,

Xin Yang,

Tomoko Ogura**Group Leader, *Group Sub-leader

81

The Current Situation for Selection of Health Treatments-The Case of Sambor Commune1. Introduction
1-1. Health situation in Cambodia
Cambodia is situated in Southeast Asia. According to The World Factbook by the CIA, the total
population in 2012 is about 15million and 80% of total population lives in rural areas. The average life
expectancy at birth is 63.04 years, ranking 177th among 193 countries (2012). The infant mortality rate is
54.08 deaths/ 1,000 live births, ranking 38th among 193 countries (2012). Judging from these data, thehealth situation in Cambodia is less than satisfactory.
Moreover, in regarding to infrastructure, there is a huge gap between urban and rural areas. The
rate of population that can access improved drinking water sources in urban areas is 81%, while it is only
56% in rural area (2008). In addition, those who can use improved sanitation facilities in urban areas is67%, but only 18% in rural areas (2008). These facts show that rural areas have a higher potential forserious health problem than urban areas because the major infectious diseases in Cambodia are waterborne and vector-borne diseases (CIA 2012).
The largest cause of physical impairment in Cambodia stems from disease (36.9%). These
impairments are largely caused by poliomyelitis and other debilitating illnesses. The second most common
cause of impairment is birth defects (18%), and the remaining common causes are accidents (16%),
landmines (14%), and guns (11%) (DHS 2000). Furthermore, in Kampong Thom Province, the site of thisresearch, the most serious cause of impairment is disease (37.1%) (DHS 2000).
It can be said that development of the health care system to treat disease is strongly required inrural areas. However, it was pointed out that the proportion of public health spending captured by the poor
is very low and efforts so far to improve the equity of the health sector have not been effective (NPRS
2002). In the next section, we will see the current situation of the health care system in rural areas.

1-2. Health care system in rural areas
The lack of medical facilities is a serious problem in Cambodia. Hospital bed density was 0.1
beds/1,000 people (2004) and physician density was 0.227 physicians/1,000 people (2008) (CIA 2012),
leaving a serious situation for medical facilities in rural areas. Indeed, there is only one hospital in Sambor
Commune where we conducted fieldwork. In addition, it has only one physician and some midwifes. Since
Sambor Commune is formed of fifteen villages with a total population of 13,818 (2010) (DPHI 2011),
there are not enough medical facilities to effectively treat disease.
On the other hand, the health care system is not only constructed of medical facilities like hospitals,
but there are also many other health care providers in Cambodia, allowing multiple options for health care,
especially in rural areas. B. Meessen et alia. (2011) said that today, the health systems of many low82

income countries are highly pluralistic and households use a vast range of public and private health careproviders, many of which are not controlled by national health authorities. Table 1 shows a variety ofhealth providers and their technical degree1, ownership and formality.
Table 1: Criteria to distinguish health care providers

Source: B. Meessen et alia. (2011).

1-3. Health-care-seeking behavior of the villagers
Villagers can choose a variety of health care providers when they become ill. According to B.
Meessen et alia. (2011), villagers have a certain tendency to choose providers. Table 2 shows villagers’
first selections of health care providers. According to the table, drug retailers (29.3%) and private
practitioners (21.6%) are popular health care providers. However, these two types of providers are privateand don’t have a high degree of technical ability, according to Table 1. As a public health care provider,public first-line services rank third (14.4%), demonstrating that almost all villagers select private providers
in rural areas.

1

A ‘low’ score was given to providers for whom there is no guarantee that the personnel has professional biomedical
training. A ‘basic’ score was given if no medical doctor is working full-time in the facility. The distinction
between ‘medium’ and ‘high’ scores refers to a mix of dimensions of the inputs (beds, staff and technology),
processes and outputs (types of services) of health care delivery.
83

Table 2: Health service utilization in rural Cambodia

Source: B. Meessen et alia. (2011).

1-4. Criteria
We set criteria of health care providers, referring to the former research by Messen (cite). In thisformer research, there were nine providers: public hospitals, public first-line services, non-profit healthfacility, private clinics, private practitioner, pharmacies, other drug retailers, traditional healers, andtreatment abroad. We selected five providers from these nine because our research site was a local
commune that did not have the variety of providers compared to the area of the former research. Our
measure of research was mainly based on interviews and the fieldwork time was limited, resulting in a
simpler, more easily understood criteria. Hence, the criteria of providers in our research are hospitals,
health centers, private clinics, drug retailers, and traditional healers. In our criteria, private clinics included
private practitioners and were ranked as the second popular provider in the former research. However, we
combined them because it was difficult for the villagers to identify the difference between visiting a doctor
at a private clinic and visiting a private practitioner.

1-5. Objective
Our objective was to examine the villagers’ behaviors of seeking health care and find out
influential factors regarding their attitudes in Sambor Commune. There are three reasons why our research
is important. First, we can identify the role, how important the health care system is and reveal, thesituation of private health care providers, who are very popular in rural areas. However, the degree of theirtechnical skill is not high and therefore, it is very important to know the reason why villagers use them.
Secondly, we can point out what kind of demand there is for an improved health care system. Finally,
policy makers could find this information useful to improve rural health care system.

1-6. Research questions
Based on the objectives, we endeavoured to find the answers to three main questions as follows:84

1. What is current situation of health care system in Sambor Commune?
2. What is the current tendency of villagers’ selection of treatment in Sambor Commue?
3. What are the factors that influence their selection?
Villagers in Sambor Commune can choose a variety of health care providers when they become ill,such as: public sector providers, including public hospitals and health service centers, and private sector
providers, including private clinics, drug retailers, private practitioners and traditional healers. Thus, ourfirst related question is: “What are the health care providers chosen by the villagers as their first choice?”
We chose three factors that we assumed would affect the villagers’ selection of treatment in
Sambor Commue: financial resources, accessibility, and their beliefs. We tried to determine which factors
most affected the villagers’ choices. Therefore, the second related research was, ”What are the reasonspeople at the research site chose their health care provider?” Following is our research framework(Figure1).
Figure 1: Research framework
Supply Side
Public hospital
Health service center
Private Provider-Private clinic-Drug retailer

Villagers’ Selections of Treatment-Private practitioner
Traditional healer

Demand Side
Villagers

1-7. Hypothesis
We hypothesized that most people in Sambor Commue would chose private providers for theirfirst choice. There are three reasons. First is that the villagers think that it’s cheaper than others:, second is
the lack of hospitals and health center:, and third is they tend to be more reliable than others.

85

2. Methodology
2-1. Basic line
We collected data and information through the Internet, research papers and books before travelingto Cambodia to learn about the current situation and general condition of Cambodia. In Cambodia, weconducted a questionnaire and held interviews as the main research methodologies, while, at the same time,
we made a careful observations of the medical treatment system. Our research procedure is as follows(figure 2):
Figure 2: Research procedure

INTERVIEW• BASIC INFORMATION• DETAILED TREATMENT METHODQUESTIONNAIRE• VILLAGERS' CHOICES• INFLUENTIAL FACTORSDATA ANALYSIS• COMPARISION

2-2. Interviews
In order to collect data from the supply size, we conducted interviews. Visiting the provincial
health department, the local hospital, the health center, private provider (private clinic, private practitioner
and drug retailer) and a traditional healer’s house. In addition, we interviewed the commune chief, village
chief, volunteer staff, and NGO staffs (Action for Health and GIZ). Interviews with commune chief andvillage chief were to obtain knowledge of the present situation of the village. To understand about ID poor,
we interviewed two NGOs. Our aim for the questions to the supply size was to understand the facts of thehealth service sector in Sambor Commune. The framework of the interviews is shown in Figure 3 below.
Figure 3: Framework for interview
1. Location
2. Function

Describe

3. Facilities

situation in Sambor Commune

4. Size (bed density, physician or mid-wife density…)
5. How many patients come per week or per month
6. What kinds of diseases are treated?
7. Who usually goes for treatment?

86

the

healthservice2-3. Questionnaires
We utilized a questionnaire as the main method to understand the villagers’ selections in theirtreatments. The questionnaire was aimed at households in villages of our research site. We planned to visit
2-3 villages to collect data through 30 questionnaires.
We mainly divided the questionnaire into 4 sectors based on the service provider of treatment:
hospitals, health centers, traditional healers, private providers (private clinic, drug retailers and private
practitioners) (Figure 4). In each sector, we included several questions to ask the villagers’ attitudes
towards disease treatment, and also specific questions aimed at finding influential factors for the selectedsources of treatment. Finally, we included several questions aimed at finding generally evaluating overall
medical system from the villagers’ viewpoints, leaving the last question open with hopes of collectingsome suggestions to improve the current medical system. In addition, we decided our target percentage of
ID poor for the study. For example, if ID poor card was 30% in an area, our goal was to include 3 ID poor
households of a total of 10.

2-3-1. The structure of questionnaire
Section I of the questionnaire was about the basic information of the interviewee, including the age,whether or not they are considered ID poor, occupation, family members, choice for last treatment andreason, and level of satisfaction for last treatment. We wanted to find the different reasons for choosing
service providers, such as those affected by economic factors (occupation and number of family members,
identification of ID poor), accessibility (reason of last choice) and degree of trust (reason of last choice).
This section also aimed to determine the general information of the villagers’ opinions. Subsequent
sections focused the specific service providers.
Section II to Section VII were almost similar to each other, with slight changes. Each section had
five questions including “Have you ever been to xx?”; “How many times within the past one year?”; “Howlong does it take from your home?”; “What is the degree of reliability?”; and “What is the degree of cost?”.
The last two questions in each section gave six options for ranking from 0-5. in which 0 equals “not at all”
and 5 means “extremely.” In each section, questions were designed to find certain possible influential
factors. The “how many” questions were aimed at showing the frequency of utilization. “How long”
questions helped to determine information of distance between the house and service provider, which
represented accessibility. The last two questions were aimed at the degree of reliability and cost of therelated services. These five similar questions in each section were designed to compare the differencesamong different service providers in frequency of utilization, accessibility, reliability and cost.
The last section raised three questions to determine the general opinion of the medical system andone open question to ask comments or advice regarding the current medical system.

87Questionnaire

Figure 4: Respondents

Hospital
Health center
Traditional healing

Private clinic

Private Provider

Drug retailer
Private practitioner

2-4. Observation
We also be utilized observation in our research. We carefully observed hospitals, health centers,
traditional healers and private providers we visited to get a general impression, especially in regards to theattitude towards work for each provider.

2-5. Data analysis
We created a comparison among the four sectors in order to get a clear view of the different
attitude of villagers and also to determine the most influential factors in each sector. The data frominterviews formed the basic information for whole study and provided powerful support to thequestionnaire results.

2-6. Limitations
The study had limitations. First, due to the limited research period of seven days, we were only
able to include 30 households. The limited research period, itself, was also a limitation. Finally, ourresearch site was limited. We were only able to conduct research in 3 villages and all three were in thesame commune. From these limitations, it was difficult to analyze from a quantitative approach. However,it was possible to analyze from a qualitative approach because we focused on interviews and when we
conducted the questionnaire we were able to follow up with open dialogue. Analysis, though limited, wasdone to the best of our ability given the limiting circumstances.

88

2-7. Schedule
Date

Site to visit

Who to ask

Questions

Sample(AM) move to Kampong Thom Town
Mon 27Aug

Chief of Health Depertment(PM) In Kampong Thom Town
(AM) in Kampong Thom Town

Director of Dept. of Health(PM) Sambou Village

Discussion with Commune
Chief&Village Chief

Interview

Interviewhouseholds(Optional)

Wen 29 Aug (AM)/(PM) Sambou Village

Village Chief/Private
Clinic/Tranditional
Healer/Drug retailer/10
households

Questionnaires and interview

10 households

Thu 30 Aug (AM) Kamphong Chheour Teal Village

Volunteer Staff/Private
Clinic(2 people)/Traditional
Healer/Drug Retailer

Questionnaires and interview

Interviewhouseholds(Optional)

Fri 31 Aug

Chief of HealthCenter/Action for
Health(NGO)/10 households

Questionnaires and interview

10 households

Tue 28 Aug(PM) Kampong Chheour Teal Village

Sat 1 Sep

DAYOFFSun 2 Sep

DAYOFFMon 3 Sep

(AM) ChraMas Village

Tue 4 Sep

(PM)ChraMas Village(AM) Kampong Thom Town
(PM) Move back to PP

Wed 5 Sep

Traditional Healer/Private
Clinic/Drug Retailer(2people)/Private Practitioner
10 households

Interview

Iinterview
Questionnaires and interview

Interviewhouseholds(Optional)
10 households(AM) GIZ(NGO)

3. Healthcare providers
3-1. Health center
The health center was located in Kampong Cheour Teal Village. The average distance from thecenter of the villages to the health center was about 7.2 km. For the other two villages at the research site,
the distance from Sambor to the health center was 2.5 km and 12km from Koun Kaek. In the health center,
there were 3 midwives, 12 nurses and 1 cleaner that were providing health services to the villagers. Care
included maternal health care, antenatal care, provision of a birth space and immunization. There was nodoctor. The rate of health center staff per population of the commune was 1: 864.
89

The health center was opened from Monday to Friday, 8 to 11 am. According to the chief of thehealth center, all staff was available during office hours. In addition, there were three members of staffs onstandby during non-business hours. However, when we visited on August 31st 2012, there was no staff
there. The chief explained that it was a Khmer holiday and people and the staff needed to stay home toperform some rituals. Most of staff lived around the health center, so in emergency, they could get there
fast.
About the facilities, there were 22 patient beds, including 20 beds for inpatients who needed tostay at the health center for treatment, 1 bed for giving birth and 1 bed for antenatal care.
According to health center report, this table shows the number of patients per month (average forthe first half-year of 2012):
Kinds of health care
Outpatient Consultation
Antenatal Care
Birth Spacing
DeliveryInpatient(for those who get malaria, serious diarrhea andtuberculosis)

Number
600 – 800
30 – 40300
6 – 10100

In addition, the health center provided abortion care for a fee. This fee is supported by Global
International Fund. Moreover, in order to improve health system in this area, the health center also
provided outreach service to 15 villages during 15 days per month (1 village/1day/1month). In thisprogram two health workers provided vaccines for children and necessary medications for the villagers.
The fee was set up by the community, including the commune chief, the three village chiefs fromthe villages near the health center and one respected elder from Kampong Cheour Teal with support ofhealth center personnel. The list of fees was submitted to the Provincial Health Department for approval.
For example, the cost of treatment at the health center was: general disease consultation, 0.25$; check up
for pregnant, 0.5$; and birth control, 0.5$. ID poor were exempt from payment at the health center.
However, the health center was still in poor condition because the staff did not stay even though
they may have been needed and patients had to wait for treatment for long periods of time. Nurses andmidwives could open a private clinic if they were allowed by the provincial office. This detracted from theservices at the health center, leaving insufficient health services in the area. The chief of health center
reported that four nurses own their own private clinics and some of them do not go to the office on time.
They need to do other work to support their livelihood because they receive such low salaries from thehealth center.
Despite this, the chief of the health center said that, the quality of the health service system has
improved a lot and more people are utilizing it. However, the staff was always working overtime at low
salaries. They were hoping for an increase in income. They also need doctors to improve the health service
90

system in Sambor Commune.

3-2. Private providers
3-2-1. Private clinic
There were 18 private clinics in the three research villages, mostly located in Kampong Cheour
Teal which was more developed than the other two. Under the condition of a lack of public health service,private clinics are important providers. The provincial office allows people to open private clinics eventhough most have no medicine licenses. Of the three private clinics we visited, only one person had a
medicine license and another person was a member of the health center.
Private clinics give medical treatment and medicine for mid diseases such as, stomachache,headache and high blood pressure and are, sometimes available for injections. But in case of serious
diseases, they recommend patients to go to the health center or a public hospital.
A private clinic can accept patients on a 24-hour basic and provide more services and medicine
than the health center. Many patients require IV for various diseases, rehydrating them and helping them tofeel better. They can receive IV fluid injections at private clinics, but not at the health center. Furthermore,when patients go to private clinics, they reported that they do not have to wait a long time and receive
friendly service from the nurses. Some even receive free treatment at the health center with their ID poor
status. House visits are one more service provided by private clinics. Some patients cannot physically go to
the clinic, but if they telephone, nurses will come directly to the patient’s’ house. Thus, many villagers
prefer private clinics.
The fee for treatment varied for each private clinic and it depended on the patient and what kind oftreatment. According to a private clinic in Kampong Cheour Teal, the charges were 0.25$ for simple
diseases and 0.75-1.25$ for injections.
The number of patients was also different among private clinics. According to our interview
results, villagers trusted private clinics where the owner had a medical license over those who did not.
Comparing two private clinics in Kampong Cheour Teal, a private clinic with no license provided
treatment for about 50 patients per month, while the other with the license treated an average of 300
patients per month. This private clinic was not free for ID poor people.

3-2-2. Drug retailers
There were 13 drug retailers in the area of the three research villages. Drug retailers have fulfilled
an essential role in health service system. Drug retailers provide medicines for simple and mid-level
diseases such as flu, headache and contraception. Drug retailers’ business hours are very flexible, withnormal hours from 6am to 6pm but consumers can often have 24-hour access. Some drug retailers sellother goods along with medicines, such as daily foods, hygiene products and produce. Not all shopkeepers
91have a license to distribute medicine. Some of them have been trained about basic medical knowledge by
the health center staff; some of them get expertise from other people to learn about what medicine is used
for what disease.

3-3. Traditional healer
There were eight traditional healers in the area of the three research villages. They provided a quite
different view of treatment approach. Together with other health providers, traditional healers make up apart in the picture of health service system in Sambor Commune.
On 29th Aug, we held an interview with a traditional healer in Sambor Village. The traditional
healer's name was Sokchea and she was 42 years old. In daily life, her husband helps her with theirfarming and she focuses on treating patients. She has been a traditional healer since 2008. She often treats
liver cancer, stomach disease, digestive diseases, and typhoid and sometimes even helps women bring theirhusbands back home if they’ve been unfaithful. Most patients in the final stage of cancer have lost hopeand come to see her. There are about 20 patients every month. She sells traditional medicine and also
provides physical treatments. Most of them have been taking traditional medicine and stay at their homes.
Some people with serious diseases like lung cancer or liver cancer stay at her home for physical treatment.
However, at the time of the interview, her new house was under construction, so patients were justreceiving medicines from her. The patients are required to stop drinking, smoking, eating beef and someother specific kinds of meat. During this period of abstinence, only ‘clean’ foods are acceptable.
In some cases, she conducts physical treatments. She prays to the sacred spirit and the spirit comes
into her body. After that, she uses a special cream which is made from coconut oil and honey that she
makes and puts it on the stomach of the patients. She does not set standard fee for this type of treatment,with some patients paying $5 per time and others paying $8 per time. Those who are poor are not required
to pay any fee; they just prepare bananas and incense sticks for her spirit.
She also provides medicines for patients. It is made from the tree she collects in the forest. One
pack of this medicine (0.5 kg) costs $3 and a patient can drink it for 5 days. Typically, patients buy 15
packs for treatment and then they become well. Most of patients come from other villages and cities,
including Phnom Penh. She does not do any promotion for her services, but rather, patients find her byword-of-mouth from those who have received her treatments. She reported that many patients become
healthy after drinking her medicine and taking her treatments, and even though she is illiterate, shereported that she has spirit power
We did not conduct interviews with any of her patients to ask about the efficacy of her treatment
approaches. We also found out that traditional healers are not as popular as other health care providers;
however, they are still used by villagers whose serious disease is in final stage.

92

4. ID Poor Program
4-1. Donor and implement agency
The Identification of Poor Households Program was established in 2006 and implemented by the
Ministry of Planning (MOP) in collaboration with the Department of Local Administration (DOLA) of the
Ministry of Interior. This program is funded by the Federal Republic of Germany, the European Union,
AusAID, UNICEF and the Royal Government of Cambodia. The ID Poor Program mainly receives
technical cooperation from the German government through Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale
Zusammenarbeit, (GTZ). The daily management is conducted by Action for Health (AFH), which is a local
NGO in Cambodia.

4-2. Objective
The purpose of the ID poor program is to provide poor households with free medical service in thehospital and health center. It enables them to receive better treatment without charge of services andmedicine and also provides limited money for transportation. The program is implemented to lift them outof poverty and to protect them from the impact of disease, which may deepen their poverty. In addition, thedata of ID poor can also be used for calculating comparative poverty levels of villages, communes, districts
and provinces.

4-3. Targeted areas
Targetprovinces 20072009:

Banteay Meanchey, Oddor Meanchey, Siem Reap, Kampong Thom,
Kampong Cham, Kratie, Steung Treng, Svay Rieng, Prey Veng, Pursat, andKompot provinces.
Banteay Meanchey, Oddor Meanchey, Siem Reap, Preah Vihear, Kratie,
TargetPailin, Battambang, Pursat, Kampong Chhnang, Takeo, Kandal provinces
provinces 2010:(whole provinces, rural areas).
Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri, Kampong Speu, Prey Veng, Svay Rieng, Kompot,
Kep, Preah Sihanouk, Koh Kong provinces (whole provinces, rural areas).
Target
NB: Kampong Thom and Kampong Cham provinces, and some areas ofprovinces 2011: Phnom Penh, were also planned for 2011, but implementation has beencancelled due to funding bottlenecks. Implementation in these locations
will be rescheduled as circumstances permit.
Source: Ministry of Planning (MOP). http://www.mop.gov.kh/Projects/IDPoor

4-4. Procedure
According to interviews with several NGOs related to the ID poor program and official data, theprocess for identification of poor households consists of four steps:
Step 1: Establish and train the Planning and Budgeting Committee Representative Group (PBCRG) at thecommune level and Village Representative Groups (VRGs).
Step 2: The VRG compiles the first draft list of poor households in the village based on household
93interviews and questionnaires. The VRG revises the first draft list considering the villager’s requests andsubmits the list to the Commune Council.
Step 3: The Commune Council reviews and approves the final list of poor households, sends data to theProvincial Department of Planning; and distributes Equity Cards to poor households.
Step 4: The Provincial Department of Planning enters all data and household photos into the Provincial
Database of Poor Households

5. Findings from questionnaire
5-1. Questionnaire data analysis for each village
Data was analyzed by first comparing among the three villages---Sambor Village (V1), Kampong
Cheour Teal Village (V2) and Chra Mas Village (V3), and then showing the general situation by averaging
the data of three villages.

5-2. Frequency of utilizing each provider within past one year

How many times did villagers consult each provider
within past one year?
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

16
13

12
V1

8.2
5.3
2.9

DR

6.1

2.5 1.7

H

5.2

4.6
1.7

V2
V3

1 0.6
0.2

HC

TH

PC

The chart above shows the data for the question of frequency to the various providers for eachsection. Contrasting the data of each village, it is not difficult to find the same tendency in each village
among the providers.
Checking the frequency for use of the health center, the number was not expected when we
consider the distance factor. In one commune, the only health center is located in Kampong Cheour Teal
Village (V2), but the frequency of visiting from Sambor village was higher. It might be affected by numberof ID poor. The proportion of ID poor in Sambor Village is 47%, while the other two villages is
considerably less (Kampong Cheour Teal Village=11.3%, Chra Mas village=22%). For free treatment andmedicine, Sambor villagers may have ignored the longer distance.
For the private clinic section, Kampong Cheour Teal Village was recorded as the highest94frequency and furthermore, much higher than the other two villages. It could be explained by the amountof providers. In Kampong Cheour Teal Village, there are 13 private clinics, while the Sambor Village only
has 5 and there are no private clinics in Chra Mas Village. Villagers of Chra Mas have to find private
clinics in other villages. That may be related to the high frequency of using drug retailers of Chra Mas
Village.

5-3. Reliability of each provider

Do you think it is reliable to treat diease each provider?
5
4
3
2

4.3

4.25
3.2
2.7

Not at all 0-1-2-3-4-5 Extremely
3.9
3.4
3

4
3.3
2.9

V1
1.8

2

V2
1.2 1.2

V3

1

1
0
DR

H

HC

TH

PC

The score of each village in regards to reliability was respectively, hospital (V1=4.25), private
clinic (V2=3.4) and hospital (V3=4.3). Kampong Cheour Teal Village (V2) marked a lower score on
hospital but instead, gave a higher score to private clinics. It suggests that the competition among the15
private clinics may lead to better service and higher ability. The interviews with personnel at the private
clinics also gave this assumption. The only private clinic with a license was located in Kampong Cheour
Teal Village and seemed much more professional.
In the health center section, Kampong Cheour Teal Village gave the lowest score, which is lower
than private clinics and hospital. Villagers here had the most convenient access considering the distance,
and therefore the evaluation by villagers here is thought to be convicting. The comments regarding thehealth center in the open question of questionnaire showed that the people considered a need for improved
attitude in the service and they want longer business hours like the private clinics. This suggests that if thestaff were the same, they would choose the provider that is offering better service. Better service was also
related to reliability.

95

5-4. Cost of each provider

Do you think it is expensive to treat diease by eachprovider?

5

Not at all 0-1-2-3-4-5 Extremely

4.5
3.5

3.9

3.8

4

3.4
3

3

4.5

3.1

3

3

2.4

2.5

1.9

2

1.8

1.75
1.3

1.5

V1

1.9

V2

1.3

V3

1
0.5
0
DR

H

HC

TH

PC

There was a definitive conclusion across the villages that came from the results of the question
about cost of treatment. The most expensive of the providers were the private clinics. However, thedistinction among villages is hard to understand. The Sambor villagers considered private clinics to becheaper when compared to other villagers, while almost half of the villagers were registered as ID poor. ID
poor do not pay for treatment fees except at the health center and hospital and are deemed as having a lackof financial ability to pay. Therefore, there was no reasonable explanation for the link between low
economic condition and the evaluation that it was ‘not so expensive’ in Sambor village.

6. Data analysis of general situation
6-1. Frequency of utilizing each provider within past one year

How many times did villagers consult each provider
within past one year?
16
14

13.6

12
10
8

6.5

6

3.9

4

2.4

2

0.6

0
DR

H

HC

TH

PC

As for the ranking by the frequency of use of each provider, the conspicuous result was that the96

traditional healer was least utilized, followed by the hospital, health center, private clinic. The drug retailer
was most popular. In general, the public options, which includes hospital and health centers, were notalways utilized by the villagers, while the drug retailers and private clinics were very popular.
According to the information received from interviews, the high frequency of consulting drug
retailers was mainly caused by the special role they play in disease treatment and the convenience of use.
People do not always trust the effect of a medicine and at times when they are suggested new medicine,they prefer to buy them in smaller amounts, such as the amount for only one day or even for one time, totry the effects. The convenience of access was also a reason that influenced people to buy small amounts ofmedicine at a time. Other reasons noted is that there was at least one drug retailer within the village and it
usually only took less than 10 minutes on foot.

6-2. Reliability of each provider

Do you think it is reliable to treat diease each provider?
4.5

Not at all 0-1-2-3-4-5 Extremely

3.9

4

3.4

3.5

3.4

3
2.5

2.2

2
1.5

1.1

1
0.5
0
DR

H

HC

TH

PC

From the view of the villagers, according to their treatments within the past one year, the mostreliable way of treatment was go to the hospital. The health center and private clinics were ranked second.
The score of drug retailers was under the median which may suggest that villagers do not completely trust
them. The traditional healer got the lowest score at 1.1, it means most of villagers do not believe theefficacy of traditional healers.
The results of the questionnaire were in accordance with our assumptions. Reliability was decided
by the scale or capacity of each provider. Certainly, the hospital had the most equipped facilities, followedby the health center and private clinics.

97

6-3. Cost of each provider

Do you think it is expensive to treat diease by eachprovider?

4

3.3

3.5
3

3.8

Not at all 0-1-2-3-4-5 Extremely

2.8

2.5
1.9

2

1.6

1.5
1
0.5
0
DR

H

HC

TH

PC

As for the cost of each service provider in Cambodia, villagers thought the private clinic was the mostexpensive, followed by the hospital which was almost the same price level. Drug retailers were thought asnormal. The traditional healer, which does not charge a service fee but is instead paid according to
gratitude, was evaluated as not so expensive, but still more expensive than the health center. This result
might be influenced by the combination of data with the ID poor that are free from payment.
Generally, the results of cost were in line with our assumption. We supposed that the hospitalmight be the most expensive provider for the various kinds of possible examinations and charged a higher
rate for expertise. In reality, the private clinic was ranked as the first. Possible reasons could be theinfluence of the ID poor and frequency of their visit.

7. Conclusion
According to the results of our questionnaire and interviews, our hypothesis that most of people in
Sambor Commune choose private providers to treat disease seems correct. Actually, more than 75% ofvillagers choose private providers to treat disease in the three villages where we conducted the research.
We assumed three reasons to support our hypothesis. First, private providers are cheaper than otherproviders. Second there is a lack of hospitals and health centers in the commune. Finally, private providers
are more reliable than other providers. We try to verify these three assumptions based on the findings ofour fieldwork.
The reason was proved to be wrong because we found that private providers are not always
cheaper than others. According to the result of our questionnaire that collected the villagers’ opinion on
cost of treatment, the health center is the cheapest provider. There are two possible factors that influenced
this result. One is that villagers who have ID poor status can get free treatment from the public facilities.
Therefore, private providers seem relatively expensive. Although the hospital is a public provider, villager
98evaluated it as the second most expensive provider because it included the cost of transportation andaccommodation fees in the hospital. The other is that villagers may have considered cost effectiveness ofprivate providers, especially the drug retailer in this context. If villagers don’t get better after taking
medicine received from the drug retailer, they might think the cost for a drug is expensive. Almost all drug
retailers lack medical knowledge and they sometimes sell the wrong medicine to villagers. Actually, somevillagers complained of useless medicines that they purchased from the drug retailer.
The second reason we raised to support our hypothesis may also be incorrect. Although, Kampong
Cheour Teal Village is the only village that has a health center in Sambor Commune, private providers
were still more frequently used compared to the health center. A possible reason why villagers scarcely use
the health center, even though there is easy access, could be the inconvenient service. The health’s hours ofoperation are center is very limited; only 3hours, from 8AM to 11AM. Although four personnel aresupposed to be on stand by 24 hours a day, many villagers complained that it was usually closed and they
could not get treatment when they visited there. In addition, they also complained that they had to wait fora long time to get treatment and some of the staffs were unkind to patients. One problem is that the healthcenter staff is required to work hard because the number of outpatients typically exceeds 600 per month,though there are only 16 on staff and their salaries are not so high. Their incentive to work is not very high,which leads some of them to set up their own private clinics in order to earn more salary. These factors arelikely the cause of the decrease in quality of services in the health center.
Our final reason was proven wrong because the data showed that public providers have higher
reliability than private providers. We verified the reasons focusing on the characteristics of the private
clinics and the drug retailers separately. The private clinics had relatively high reliability as much as thehealth center. Although only a few personnel in the private clinics had license to open a clinic issued by thegovernment, almost all had work experience in a medical institution. The staff of private clinics has
medical knowledge and some skills of treatment. In some cases, the staff of the health center and the staffof the private clinic were the same. On the other hand, drug retailers typically do not have licenses ormedical knowledge. Therefore, they did not proven to have a high reliability in the study.
Considering the circumstances mentioned above, we can point to two reasons why most of thevillagers (75%) choose private providers when they become ill. First, there are problems of accessibility
with public providers. In Sambor Commune, there was no hospital and only one health center whose open
hour is very limited. On the other hand, there were many private providers with very flexible hours, selling
medicine or giving treatment when villagers demanded them. Second, the villagers could receive
comfortable treatment from private clinics compared with the health center. In a private clinic, villagers do
not have to wait for a long time to receive treatment and could easily receive intravenous injection thatmany villagers want.

99

8. Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to Professor K. Takahashi for supervising our activities through OFW
program. We especially would like to express our deepest appreciation to Ms. S. Hak for her elaborated
guidance, considerable encouragement and invaluable discussion that helped us to achieve our researchgoals. We are also very grateful to Piseth, Rineth Sen, and Sem Somadali for their valuable cooperation in
our field work, and to everybody who contributed to our research as interviewees including Mr. Theam Ly,
commune chief, Mr. Ros Phon, Chief of the health center, and the village chiefs of ChraMas Village,
Kampong Cheour Teal Village, and Sambor Village. Moreover, we are very grateful to the Japan Student
Services Organization for making our fieldwork in Cambodia possible with their financial support.

9. References
B. Meessen et alia. 2011. Composition of pluralistic health systems: how much can we learn fromhousehold surveys? An exploration in Cambodia. Health Policy and Planning.
http://heapol.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/suppl_1/i30.full (July14, 2012)
Measure DHS. 2006. Health Status and Utilization of Health Services.
http://www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/FR124/03Chapter3.pdf (July14, 2012)
Itagaki Tomomi. 2003. Iyashi-to Noroi-no Zinruigaku [The Authoropology of a cure and a curse] .
Shumpusha. Yokohama.
YoshidaMasaki.

2000.

Minzoku-Iryou-no

Zinruigaku:

Tounan-Azia-no

Iryou-Shisutem

Authoropology of Folk Medicine]. Kokon-Shoin. Tokyo.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cb.html (July14, 2012)
http://www.mop.gov.kh/Projects/IDPoor (July14, 2012)

100

[The

List of Individual and Company Donors to the Overseas Fieldwork Fund
(In order of receipt)

Year 1991
Otake Corportaion
Tsushima Kogyo Co., Ltd.
Tomita Co., Ltd.
Showa Seiyaku Co., Ltd.
Hotta Setsubi Kogyo Co., Ltd.
Sankichi Kondo, CPA
Nakamo Sun Route Co., Ltd.
Hayashi Yaokichi Co., Ltd.
Kazuo Oguri
Matsukazeya Co., Ltd.
Toyota Motor Corporation
The Kitankai
Hoyu Co., Ltd.
Daito Sanshin Co., Ltd.
Yamasei Sangyo Co., Ltd.
Tachibana Shouten Co., Ltd.
Asahi Kako Co., Ltd.

Taguchi Fukujukai Foundation
The Aichi Bank, Ltd.
The Bank of Nagoya, Ltd.
The Chukyo Bank, Ltd.
Aichi Steel Corporation
The Daisan Bank, Ltd.
Toyoda Machinary Corporation
Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc.
Okaya & Co., Ltd.
The Tokai Bank, Ltd.
Central Japan Railway Company
Nagoya Railroad Co., Ltd.
Toyota Industries Corporation
Japan Transcity Corporation
Takisada Co., Ltd.
The Hyakugo Bank, Ltd.
Shikishima Baking Co., Ltd.
Chuo Seisakusho, Ltd.
Toyoshima & Co., Ltd. Nagoya
headquarter
Toho Gas Co., Ltd.
Matsuzakaya Co., Ltd.
Maruei Department Store Co., Ltd.
Muto Shoukai Co., Ltd.
Yoshiyuki Hattori, CPA
Nagoya Mitsukoshi, Inc.
CPA Mitsuoka Akira Office
Howa Setsubi Kogyo Co., Ltd.
Kowa Company, Ltd.
Daido Steel Co., Ltd.
Sankyo Kasei Sangyo Co., Ltd.
NGK Spark Plug Co., Ltd.
NGK Insulators, Ltd.

Year 1992
Sintokogio, Ltd.
Dai Nippon Construction
TOENEC Corporation
Aichi Toyota Motor Co., Ltd.
The Tono Shinkin BankThe Juroku Bank, Ltd.
UNY Co., Ltd.
The Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank, Ltd.
Pacific Industrial Co., Ltd.
Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd.
Nippondenso Co., Ltd.
Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd.
Toyota Tsusho Corporation

101

海外実地研修基金に拠出いただいた個人・企業一覧 （受け入れ順）
平成 3 年度
株式会社大竹製作所
津島興業株式会社
富田株式会社
昭和製薬株式会社
ホッタ設備工業株式会社
公認会計士 近藤三吉
株式会社ナカモ・サンルート
株式会社林八百吉商店
小栗和夫

財団法人田口福寿会
株式会社愛知銀行
株式会社名古屋銀行
株式会社中京銀行
愛知製鋼株式会社
株式会社第三銀行
豊田工機株式会社
中部電力株式会社
岡谷鋼機株式会社
株式会社東海銀行

株式会社松風屋
トヨタ自動車株式会社
社団法人キタン会
ホーユー株式会社
大東三進株式会社
山清産業株式会社
株式会社立花商店
朝日化工株式会社

東海旅客鉄道株式会社
名古屋鉄道株式会社
株式会社豊田自動織機製作所
日本トランスシティ株式会社
瀧定株式会社
株式会社百五銀行
敷島製パン株式会社
株式会社中央製作所
豊島株式会社名古屋本社
東邦ガス株式会社
株式会社松坂屋
株式会社丸栄株式会社武藤商会
公認会計士 服部義之
株式会社名古屋三越
公認会計士 光岡朗事務所
朋和設備工業株式会社
興和株式会社
大同特殊鋼株式会社
三協化成産業株式会社
日本特殊陶業株式会社
日本ガイシ株式会社

平成 4 年度
新東工業株式会社
大日本土木株式会社
株式会社トーエネック
愛知トヨタ自動車株式会社
東濃信用金庫株式会社十六銀行
ユニー株式会社
株式会社大垣共立銀行
太平洋工業株式会社
豊田合成株式会社
日本電装株式会社
アイシン精機株式会社
豊田通商株式会社

102