The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the agency representing the Republic of Korea for development cooperation, has provided packages of food and infectious disease prevention equipment to vulnerable people in Cambodia who face difficulties in their daily lives and study due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
According to a KOICA’s press release AKP received this afternoon, between June 7 and 11, KOICA Cambodia Office provided the emergency relief packages to partner host organisations where former WFK volunteers have been dispatched with the aim of supporting students with food and strengthening the prevention of the transmission of COVID-19 for Cambodians who are facing difficulties in daily life such as losing their jobs and posing challenges to their studies. There are 16 organisations in 9 provinces and city: Phnom Penh, Battambang, Siem Reap, Banteay Meanchey, Kampong Thom, Pursat, Kampot, Takeo and Prey Veng, and a total of 627 families (about 3,400 people).
World Friends Korea (WFK) is a collective name for overseas volunteers operated by KOICA to dispatch Korean volunteers to developing countries to support human resource development and technology transfer in various sectors such as education, vocational training, agriculture, health and social welfare, etc.
KOICA Cambodia Office provided locally produced food to institutions in 9 provinces and cities where former WFK volunteers have been dispatched to distribute to vulnerable people (students with poor ID card, orphans, the disabled and families with many children, etc.). In addition, KOICA also provided thermometer with alcohol dispensers to the institutions to make the environment safer.
Recently, there has been a recurrence of COVID-19 in Cambodia, with a significant increase in the number of cases, leading to the implementation of night curfew, lockdown of areas, citizens losing their jobs and the temporary closure of schools, etc. which has resulted in many families facing difficulties in daily life and affected the study of students. This donation thus focuses specifically on institutions where volunteers have been dispatched by providing practical support to students whose families face extreme difficulties and who are at high risk of dropping out of school. In addition, KOICA has provided materials and helped to raise awareness in the prevention of COVID-19 as well.
In this donation project, in collaboration with the institutions, priority was given to those in extreme difficulty, and the actual distribution is carried out with respect to the sanitary measures of the partner institutions.
At an online ceremony on donation of emergency relief kits with the participation from partner institutions that used to have KOICA volunteers previously on June 14, Mr. Rho Hyun-Jun, Director of KOICA Cambodia Office hoped this donation will be able to support families of students living in the areas or institutions who are living under poverty and to encourage students not to drop out of school. On the other hand, to help the Cambodian economic market, KOICA has tried to organise the packages using all domestic products. “By purchasing products produced by unions and social enterprises, it is regarded as contributing to the revitalisation of the local market,” he said.
Each package includes mask, hand sanitising gel, instruction poster for personal hygiene and local products such as 25kg of rice, canned fish, eggs, milk and palm sugar. Rice is a necessity purchased from local Cambodian farmers’ cooperative, while eggs and palm sugar are the products of Cambodian farmers through KOICA’s private and public partnership programme. These are contributions to increase the income of local Cambodian farmers as well as provide them with employment opportunities. In addition, instruction poster for personal hygiene is a poster prepared by KOICA volunteers and distributed to individual students and institutions for guidance and can be put at entrances, exits and other areas in each institution as well.
KOICA Cambodia Office not only provides this emergency relief kits to prevent students from dropping out of school and strengthen their personal understanding of the disease in the institutions, it also encourages volunteer activities to be taught through E-volunteering, which has started since July 2020 and has been continuing to the present.
Source: Agency Kampuchea Press
