Cambodia

iDE has been growing prosperity in Cambodia since 1994 by building value chains and business models in agriculture, clean water, and sanitation that promote beneficial, affordable products and services.

Featured Project

Climate-smart farming pays off

Innovative program focuses on increasing profits for small-scale farmers

Tork Noeurt made a living working as a laborer across the border in Thailand. Like many Cambodians, he and his wife Vorn Loeurm would leave their children with relatives while they traveled back and forward.

But when COVID-19 broke out and the border was closed, the 37-year-old father of two was forced to look for another way to earn a living and provide for his family.

Why we’re here—

Out of Cambodia’s population of 15 million people, nearly 3 million are classified as poor and as many as 8 million others teeter just above the poverty line. One bad crop or one expensive illness will pull them back under. About 90 percent of the poor live in rural areas where farming is difficult because of increasingly unreliable rainfall, water scarcity, poor infrastructure, weak institutions, and poor market linkages. More than half the rural population is still without a toilet.

What we do—

Resilient Market Ecosystems

For developing world entrepreneurs to succeed they must participate in market ecosystems that are economically competitive, inclusive of all people, and resilient to shocks such as conflict or changing climates. By listening to every stakeholder—producers, suppliers, retailers and customers—we can overcome critical bottlenecks and develop lasting solutions.

Learn more about iDE’s approach to resilient market ecosystems.

Poor people can, and do, pay for toilets

Building momentum toward open defecation free status in Cambodia

iDE is expanding sanitation coverage to everyone in Cambodia through an innovative program that makes toilets attractive and affordable to all people, including the rural poor.

How We Do It —

Agriculture

iDE increases small-scale farmers’ incomes by using a market-based approach to promote manual well-drilling and household irrigation technologies. iDE collaborates with the Ethiopian government to connect farmers to agricultural extension services, technical support, and improved seed varieties. Additionally, iDE supports and encourages farmers to diversify into high-value commercial crops, livestock products, and other high-value agricultural commodities such as honey. These activities are changing Ethiopian farmers’ perception of farming, in that they begin viewing and practicing farming as a business, rather than as a way of life.

Learn more about iDE's commitment to Agriculture.

WASH

iDE seeks to improve health outcomes by providing access to safe drinking water through low-cost and affordable household water technologies and by promoting rural sanitation through iDE’s sanitation marketing approach. In both cases, iDE encourages the adoption of improved products and practices among the rural poor, while simultaneously creating both profitable and sustainable enterprises. iDE also trains sales agents to sell to rural consumers directly. These agents receive a commission on their sales, ensuring the sustainability of the model.

Learn more about iDE's commitment to WASH.

iDE Theme Climate Resilience Illustration

Resilience to Climate Change

Cambodia is ranked as one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. Climate scientists predict hotter, drier dry seasons, shorter wet seasons with more intense rainstorms, and less overall predictability. With 80 percent of the population relying on rural agriculture, these climate change effects have a severe impact on many people.

iDE researches farming strategies that increase rural people’s resilience to climate variability and extreme weather. iDE helps farmers to spread their risk by growing more diverse crops in shorter cycles with water-saving technologies and climate-smart agricultural practices.

Learn more about iDE’s commitment to Smart Technologies.

Gender Equity

In Cambodia’s hierarchical society, women experience cultural barriers to accessing quality training, new technology, and government services. Women also face disparities in workload, decision-making power, and control over income and expenditures.

Focusing on women as customers and entrepreneurs, iDE strengthens their participation in rural value chains by increasing their access to technology, know-how, finance, and markets. Success in commercial farming also increases women’s self-confidence and standing in the community.

Learn more about iDE’s commitment to Gender Equity.

Nutrition

More than one in three Cambodian children under five are stunted, with approximately 45 percent of all child deaths attributed to malnutrition.

By promoting high-value, nutritious crops, iDE empowers farmers to earn more income and provide their families and communities with a more varied diet, improves access to safe water and sanitation, and helps people to avoid the gut diseases that prevent them from absorbing the nutrients gained from an improved diet. Better nutrition provides the fuel for families to move out of poverty today and ensures that the next generation reaches its full developmental potential.

Learn more about iDE’s commitment to Nutrition.

Infiltrating the market with clean water

iDE’s social enterprise, Hydrologic, won the 2018 Unilever Global Development Award!

Having safe water improves the situation of women and children, who are often responsible for fetching and boiling water.

Design for humans by humans

Farmers are more likely to invest their money in a solution that comes from their own ideas, and from their true aspirations. iDE uses Human Centered Design to engage with the market to reveal those needs and desires to design solutions that people want to buy and entrepreneurs want to sell. Those solutions are more likely to be sustainable and cost-effective, too.

Cambodia results to date—

1,179,115

Households Impacted

5,895,541

Individuals Impacted

148.00

Annual Income Increased in Dollars

6.40

Social Return On Investment (SROI)

iDE IN CAMBODIA

PO Box 1577, #97A, Street 19BT (Ta Phon)
Boeung Tumpun, Khan Meanchey,
Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia
Phone: +855 923 540 or +855 923 541
E-mail: Cambodia@ideglobal.org
Hours: 8:00am-5:00pm

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