Kampong Speu

Kampong Speu is situated west and south of Phnom Penh, with the provincial capital of Chbar
Mon city less than one hours drive from Phnom Penh. National Highway 4 bisects the province,
connecting Phnom Penh to the coastal resort of Sihanoukville. The highway has one lane on each
side but is currently being expanded to two lanes on each side. There are few other paved roads
in the province, outside Chbar Mon city. As of 2008 the population was about 750,000 people,
with about 43% under 18 years of age and more than 1 in 7 families headed by a single mother
(15%).
The provinces total land area is 653,396 ha of which less than one-third is used for farming.
Almost all households (94%) list rice farming as their primary source of food and income. The
number of farmers using mixed farming techniques is too small to be accounted for in statistics.
Because farmers are reliant on rain, they have only one crop per year. (Only 154 hectares of
farmland has access to irrigation.) Yields average 1.8 tons per hectare (among the lowest in the
region) and about half of all farming households (51%) have less than 1 ha of farmland. About
6% of households are landless. Landlessness is increasing and plot sizes decreasing
incrementally as the population expands.
Poverty:
The government has not yet extended its poverty identification program, which identifies two
classes of poverty (ID Poor 1, and ID Poor 2) to Kampong Speu so it is difficult to gauge the
depths of poverty in the province. Moreover, because the identification cards for ID Poor 1 & 2
have yet to be issued, those who would qualify are ineligible for the free medical services they
would be entitled to. Poverty rates, based on reports from commune councils, vary according to
district (there are 8) but have been falling from 2006. The rates are at their most extreme in
western districts, where up to 44% of all households fall below the poverty line of about 50 US
cents a day. Poverty rates are at their lowest (27-30%) in the provincial capital of Chbar Mon.
Health:
The province has 31 public health clinics (about 1 for every 24,200 people), but four times as
many private pharmacies, which dispense medicines without prescriptions are staffed, almost
exclusively, by untrained pharmacists. Clerks often dispense medicines by asking customers
what their symptoms are and then comparing them with the labels on pharmaceutical products,
which are sometimes fake and often improperly stored. Maternal and infant mortality rates have
fallen dramatically since 2006, but remain among the highest in the region (excluding
Myanmar).
Education:
The ratio of students (6 11) to teachers averages 34:1 province wide, and 39-1 for those aged
12 to 14. However, the ratio is as high as 100 students (aged 12-14) per teacher in one district
(Aoral). The ratio of secondary students per classroom ranges from 55 (in the provincial capital)
to 130 per class room in Aoral district. About 17% of all schools have no access to water and
about 12% have no toilets. About one-fifth of all classrooms have dirt floor and about one-third

do not have libraries. Parents also report that at some schools absenteeism is a bigger problem
among teachers than it is with students.
School registration rates decline as children age, with 23% of those 15 to 17 years old no longer
attending school. (These figures, however, can be misleading as the registration rates do not
necessarily mean the students are attending school.) The illiteracy rate is calculated at 6% for
those aged 15 to 60, though doubts have been expressed about how literacy is measured.
Baseline surveys have shown that the three most common reasons Cambodian children do not
receive an education are:
1) there is no school in the village or the school is too far away;
2) the school has no teacher, or the teacher does not show up often; and
3) the parents are too poor to afford school supplies and uniforms, or food for their children.
Water and Sanitation:
The number of people per wells (year-round wells) ranges from 46 to 111, according to the
district. Almost half of all people, 48%, obtain drinking water from unsafe sources. The
percentage rises during the dry season, to 73% in one district. Just 8% of families have access to
water filters, while 44 percent report boiling water before drinking it.
Province-wide the ratio of people to latrines is showing significant rises, from 43.6 per latrine in
2006 to 29.1 in 2008. However, the rates in some districts remain far above the national average:
in 5 of the 8 districts the rate is above 30 to 1, and above 80 to 1 in Basedth district.
Migration & Trafficking:
The province has a high rate of work related migration, with about 12% of residents leaving to
find seasonal or year round work. The provinces proximity to Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville,
draws men from villages to construction sites, and women to garment factories and entertainment
venues. Both Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh have a high demand for sex workers, in brothels,
karaoke bars, massage parlors and guesthouses. Kampong Speus proximity to the Cambodias
financial and resort capitals makes its poorest residents highly vulnerable to trafficking networks,
both formal and informal ones.
Opportunities:
Commune councilors and district officials are well aware of the challenges faced by their
constituents, and have identified key areas for increasing income generation activities as well as
rice yields by improving irrigation. Raising rice yields to levels comparable to Thailand or
Vietnam would result in significant reductions in food insecurity and indebtedness. Crop
diversification schemes, home gardens, and livestock-raising have been identified as sustainable
solutions to alleviating poverty. Proximity to Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville also provide
residents access to markets to sell produce and other products, though the lack of adequate roads
(especially during the rainy season) hampers access to Highway 4. The three main methods of
transportation are: bicycle, ox cart and motorcycle.
There are significant opportunities to develop micro businesses, form village business
associations and enhance links to markets that can be integrated into existing commune and

district development plans. Parents are also eager to ensure their children receive an education,
but the lack of adequate facilities and teachers, as well as distance from schools, constrains them.
Proximity to Phnom Penh lessens the difficulty in recruiting qualified teachers that more remote
provinces face, but the meager salaries paid to teachers hinder their effectiveness. Our Learning
Centre, which provides supplementary classes, is a partial solution. Advocacy at the village,
commune and district levels, as well as the formation of parent-teacher associations, will be
required to improve the delivery of educational services to the communities we work in. We are
not alone in this realization and are working with parents, village and commune leaders, to raise
awareness about the need for effective investment in education.