Voucher Training

Mushroom Growing

2010-12-25T21:01:00.000-08:00

Mrs. Touch Sovanna lives in Beng Village, Anlong Vil Commune, Sangkae District. She’s 45 years old and has a daughter and her mother living with her. She has no land other than the site of her house, for like many others, land has been sold to pay for funerals and other events. Before the VSTP training, Sovanna provided childcare in her house and was paid 25$ per month by her neighbor to do this.

Her Commune Council worked with the Community Development Specialist from the Provincial Training Center to choose training activities that would do the most to improve family income. With a number of village markets close by, the Council chose vegetable and mushroom growing as well as fish breeding and a variety of small trades such as bicycle repair and wedding outfitting.

The PTC found a trainer in mushroom farming and put together a one week training package that included sufficient mushroom growing stock for each graduate to get started. The training took place in a nearby village that was reasonably central for the 25 individuals who were interested. She learned how to prepare her own growing mix and has a very clean and well organized growing operation as you can see in the picture. The trainer came back after a month to make sure that all the graduates were being successful.

Sovanna now earns between $7 and $8.75 per day selling her mushrooms at $8.75 per 10 kilos in the market about 2 kilometers from her house. She goes there herself, each day, with her mother or daughter rather than selling to a middleman. As her production increases, she is considering using middlemen for more distant markets but she will loose about 15 percent of her revenue if she does this. She hopes her daughter can help her decide the longer term prices she needs to charge as she expands her business. Like many of 60,000 villagers who have now completed VSTP, her life has changed, her family is living well and she is prepared to teach others how to do mushroom growing….in other villages!

The next step for the Touch household is learning how to dry the mushrooms or package them so they can reach the larger Provincial market. There is no one in the area now who knows how to do this so she has asked her Commune Chief to make a request to the PTC for this skill.

Success in Voucher Skills Training Program in Cambodia

2009-09-23T00:06:00.000-07:00

The Voucher Skills Training in Cambodia The Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training (MOLVT) in Cambodia has made significant progress in developing an informal TVET model that delivers training to communes and villages in skills that they request from the Provincial Training Centers (PTCs).

By using participative community planning and hiring local trainers with the necessary skills, the Voucher Skills Training Program (VSTP), implemented under Asian Development Bank 2122-CAM, has been continuously adjusted as a Pilot and the lessons learned will form the basis of a national program with a stronger balance between enterprise based skills and agriculture skills. VSTP was completed in June 2010 in the 7 pilot Provinces and a revised model will soon be implemented in the 24 provinces.

Under VSTP, 161,389 got training, 93,718 of these are women and 67,671 are men. This process will remain the largest single skills entry mechanism for at least the next decade.

Cabbages of Cha Theurn

2009-09-20T18:28:00.000-07:00

Cabbage is the one vegetable that most people in Samrorng Commune, Soutr Nikom District, Siem Reap province prefer to grow. In Angkuhn Village, 90 percent of villagers grow cabbage because it is one crop the rather thin soil seems to support.

Ms. Chan Theurn is 36 years old and like many local farmers, received some very general introductory training to crops from the provincial Agriculture Department. Last year, her Commune became part of Voucher Skills Training Program and when the Council selected compost fertilizer making as an option, she was quick to indicate her interest. The soil is very thin and production of cabbage has been falling. Even worse, crops are now being imported to Siem Reap and it is difficult to compete with them in price as productivity falls. Composting worked. The quantity of cabbages increased. But now, the competing products had taken away part of their market and the price of fuel had led to middle men demanding that farmers share the transport cost. So by doing better, the trainees were actually not better off and many decided to reduce production and try to find another crop they could grow. Theurn was told that only cabbage can grow on her land even with compost and, in any case, she cannot take the risk of a crop failure with an unknown crop.

One of the Minitry of Labor and Vocational Training staff had done her graduate work in Germany and Russia and remembered well the pickled cabbage and “sauerkraut” that was so popular there. Others immediately remembered the Kim Chi so favoured by many of the Korean Volunteers. If the cabbage could be processed to make pickle or relish, Theurn and her neighbour, Mr Seurng Thaing were certain they could sell the product all year round in the local market and maybe even replace some of the expensive pickle imports coming from other countries. The Provincial Training Center (PTC) has no capacity for this training and there is no expertise available from other Ministries in the Province. But for Theurn, if there is no way of preserving her cabbage crop, she really does not see an alternative. So the Commune and the PTC need to build a Post Harvest Technology capacity as quickly as possible. This dream is now a reality with the Asian Development Bank managed Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction having approved a post harvest and bridging program for the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training in Cambodia.

Reported by Tung Sopheap

VSTP Consultant

Heng Pheap's Hair Cut shop

2009-09-20T03:18:00.000-07:00

Mr. Heng Pheap is 22 years old, living in Kok They village, Pourk commune, Pourk District, Siem Reap Province. Pheap, because of lack of opportunity to continue learning, only finished Grade 9. He dropped out from school to find a job to help his family. He cut grass for a company for $60 per month.

After working for a year in the company, he decided to register at Siem Reap Provincial Training Center, Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training, for a four month course in Hair Cutting. After completion, he opened his shop in front of the Pourk market, on average, earning 50,000 riel per day ($150/month). He not only can support his family but also save for himself. Pheap thanks the ADB and Government, especially the PTC that provided the opportunity for him to receive skills training. He is now able to give his family better food, clothing and other necessities. Nowadays, he has two trainees studying Hair Cutting. He charges one trainee $100 for unlimited study time.

Reported by Tung Sopheap

VSTP Consultant

Miss Chourn Soa's Success

2009-09-20T03:16:00.000-07:00

Miss Chourn Soa Yin is 21 years old. She finished Grade 8. Family problems made further financing for education impossible. Fortunately, her Commune Council had just completed a VSTP training plan with the Battambang Provincial Training Center, now the Polytechnic Institute of Battambang Province based on skills that could be taught to out-of-school youth to help them improve family income. With her family depending on her, she needed to move quickly and she joined the training.

Sewing cannot be learned quickly as the expectation now is the combination of the traditional with the more modern fashion. Soa Yin joined the center based training program where she worked hard for 6 months combining the theory with daily practice making modern style for young ladies. She had to drop out for a while to help at home and sell some oranges to help her family, but Ministry of Labour Vocational Training Provincial Training Center' have an adult learning orientation and understand the realities of supporting families. So, after a short while, she was able to come back to the Center, pick up where she left off, and finish the course.

Financing a sewing machine was not a problem. She got capital from a relative living in the USA ($200) for a sewing machine and materials. From her aunt, $200 to build the shop, and she was off and running. Her shop is at the land of a neighbor who rented this to her for $5 per month. Per month, she started to earn around $140. In fact, every day she gives her family 5,000 Riel for food. Graduates like Soa can eventually strengthen the enterprise based training component of Voucher Skills Training Program (VSTP).

Soa Yin is now very happy with the new income from her self employment, because it helps her live better than before and enable her to have some savings. In the future, she would like to expand her business by buying more machines for her work because she now has many customers. What is clear is that VSTP opens windows not just for the trainee, but also for the community around her.

Reported by Tung Sopheap

VSTP Consultant