Final End of Project Evaluation Report here.

COSIS

Title: Cooperative and Civil Society Development in Siem Reap, Cambodia (COCIS)

Period: 01.01.2014 – 31.12.2016

Grant: 4.300.000 DKK

Donor: Civil Samfund i Udvikling (CISU)

Partner: READA – Rural Economic and Africultural Development Agency

Background and target group:
Poverty in Cambodia is considerable in rural areas, but there are big differences between the regions. Siem Reap Province is one of the three poorest in the country. The families in the area are confronted by problems such as food shortage, lack of cultivatable land, poor health, limited loan possibilities for new investments, lacking education, lack of influence on decision makers and lack of access to markets and marketing services. In order to improve living conditions for the poorest, there is focus in this project on creating income and food production.

The primary target is 175 self-help groups which correponds to 3, 000 people in all spread over 130 villages in Siem Province. Furthermore, 10 small cooperatives participate.

Objective and working method:
The project’s aim to improve living conditions for vulnerable and poor – especially women – in the rural areas of Siem Reap Province. Self-help groups and cooperatives must be prepared, so that they can, on their own initiative, expand business activities that generate income, and/or establish village projects that benefit the community. At the same time, the groups’ democratic and organisational capacities be strengthened, so that they can exert more influence on local political priorities than before, and so contribute to a healthy development of the civil society.