Hello Ronald:

Can you please email more information about the village initiatives and the programs the community is running. Maybe I can be of help in the drafting of proposals.

Cheers!

Hello Ronald,
You have now a list of potential donors operating in Cmabodia itself.
It is now time for you to develop specific project proposals to approach them.
Even in the case of training for the youth, apart for the construction aspect, you need and overall strategy for the training of the youth for gainful employment. Such strategy should take into consideration the present and future demand for employment of the youth as well the area of speciality ( drivers, mechanics, carpenter, etc...). Your bulding for such training will very much depend on the nature and type of training. The buiding for the training will be part of such strategy. Once you have such strategy you can develop specific proposals to reach the various objectives. with cost involved etc...
It is only then that donors will be able to consider your projects.
I would be happy to help you in developing such strategy and specific project proposals.
Regards.
Francis

Hello Francis

Thanks for that clarification. We need to start putting up Project proposals and this should be focused on specific organisations.
At the Moment we have not compiled a list of funding organisations that can help us in constructing the center.
We have not yet put up a list of pontential donors. But when you visit the link below Sukha has already given some important links. The link below is where you can post pontential donors
http://www.nabuur.com/modules/villages_issues/index.php?villageid=71&act...

What we need now is look for pontential donors. we nee altleast four donors to support the project
The longer the list the more chances of getting pontential donors. As Francis said we should have a strategy. Any suggestions on how we should go about it.

Since Sukha has Offered to help us with Project proposal . in the meantime i am going to send him more information about the community .

Best regards

Yours
Ronald

Hello Ronald,
The strategy would aim at ensuring a gainful employment for the rural youth for leading a decent family life.
As you may know in a rural family of many children all the children cannot remain in the land and do farming. Some of the children may make a living from the farm, and other children may have to go to find employment in the cities.
Those who will remain in the village will have to be trained on improved farming, depending on the major crops prevailing in the area, including small animal husbandry(pigs, poultry,) and cattle management. There should be an institution in Cambodia providingTraining on improved farming for young farmers. In such case what would be needed is financial resource as scholarschip for the youth of the village to attend such training. Otherwise you may need to contact an agriculture college and seek their assitance for training. Otherwise you can consider training in the neighbouring country such as Thailand, Laos... where such facility exist and croping condition are similar.
Skill training for youth to find work in the cities. Here again you may need to identify facilities already existing in Cambodia for sucg training.
I do not want to discourage you , but I know by experience that building afresh a new institution through a project with international support by an NGO is not sustainable. First of all you may not be able to find the resources needed in term of building and staff and for their maintenace.
It is not a matter of putting a building alone through some volunteers coming from a develop world during their college holidays.
Ecotourism is a businness of its own which may not be possible for a NGO to run. You may recommand few youth for being employed in such set up...
Hope the above may help you to think over and discuss with your Cambodian collegues and the farmers themselves.
Keep in mind that the donors are not very supportive for institution building: but they may support training in existing Institutions within the country or the neighbouring ones.
I will be happy to know your reaction as well as of your cambodian counterparts.
Regards.
Francis.

Greetings to you all

Francis has put up a very important point
concerning sustainability of our project hope you all have tried to read about his point. I hope we all have to agree that Eco-tourism is can be self sustaining and if well planned for could be a source of livelihood for the community and neighbouring community.

Yours

Ronald

Dear All,

I have here a sample application letter to potential donors of the training center. Please feel free to add or edit the letter. We welcome changes in the content.

Peace,

junjun

funding proposal.doc

Dear Kimsorn,

Please fill up the information regarding the background of your organization. To all the neighbors, you are all welcome to help us finalize the draft of the letter.

Peace,

junjun

Dear Junjun

Thanks for taking the first step in this

I realised that if we look at one organisation at time like IFAD. and we see how we can benefit from it.
I checked on their website realised that there are four approved projects in Cambodia. If you look at those project carefully you realise that this organistaion can be a pontential donor for our project

for example
agricultural Development Support Project to Seila .The strategic goal of this six-year IFAD-initiated project is to increase the food and income security of the targeted population in four north-western provinces.

http://www.ifad.org/operations/projects/regions/PI/des/KH.htm#1261
http://www.ifad.org/operations/projects/regions/PI/KH_all.htm)

Hope to add something on the application soon.

Thanx again

Ronald

Hi Ronald,
I found a few links for you. I hope they might help.

http://www.fundraisingweb.org/tips/

http://www.creativeaction.org/fundraising.htm

Dear Ronald,

Thank you very much too. I really welcome and appreciate the participation of the neighbors in completing the letter of application for the project.

If we can finalize the letter and be able to convince the donor, then it will be a positive development for the people. I really hope we can find organization/s which will help us in our cause.

All the best!

junjun

Dear Ronald,

I have checked the linked you provided below and it seems to me that IFAD should be considered as a donor. We just have to present our case in clear and concise manner and hopefuly we can get their nod on our project.

All the best!

junjun

Dear all,
Hi Reetumz,Thanks for those links they have given some tips on how to do fundarising and hope they would work for us when we start to do some fundarising for the project.

I agree with you Junjun that IFAD should be our first focus. It has supported some projects in Cambodia.

My only concern now is that IFAD is a UN agency. UN Agency usually deal directly with national governments or local governments.

But this should not worry us because Kimsorn and the community can work in coordination with the Local Government or the local governors. That would ease our work though it may tend to be bureucratic.

Ronald

Dear all friends

Sorry for missing for a while I cobated with the community and youth here about what project that will be apply for the current situation. They still convine the training class of English and agriculture technique. The reason of English-computer course because some youth completed in secondary shool and want to get change of employment and some youth want to be farmer with value crop production. Now we are writing project action plan and hope post to morrow with all five project identified.

Thank Junjun and Ronald for focus on IFAD, it was the same Ronald mentioned. IFAD is wrking with government and not support CBO or Local Association, all fund support to agriculture department and used by ADDESS (National project) program with limited target group. I heard from my friend about SKN and Liliend foundation, they both in Nehterland and has project support for school building and scholaship for children in Cambodia. I'm not clear about that but I hope Ronald will help us to find about that

Thank you for your attention and assisitng us

Sa Kimsorn
Tel: 855 12530548
E-mail:012530548@mobitel.com.kh

Hello Sa Kimsorn,
Congratulations for your effort to write specific project proposals for training, in consultation with the youth community.
Already from your last intervention, two areas from training is emerging : english computer course and agriculture techniques.
Regarding agriculture techniques, I am surre there is/are agriculture schools or college in the country? Are these institutions not trainining agriculture extension officers?
If that is the case, you may need fund for obtaining scholarship for such training for the interested youth of your village.
Similar approach could be used for computer classes. Send the youth at places where such course is provided. Evaluate the cost for such attendance including boarding for the period of the training and travel. I do not know how far is your village is located from the place of such trainings would be available.
It is costly to build and maintain a training center for the sake of one village.
Hope this could help you in formulating the project proposals.
Best wishes.
Francis.

Dear Ronald and Kimsorn,

What we need in this project is close coordination, especially with the local government. You were right Ronald when you said about the bureaucratic procedures by different agencies. But bureaucracy has positive aspects that will make transaction in the government/agencies easier. We just need the right people and the right connections to secure approval for our proposal.

If we can do this, together with all the neighbors who are helping us, then the village will benefit from it!

God bless!

junjun