Case Study on HVCA and Hygiene Promotion Training

Project’s Name: Community Mobilization Environment and Improvement (CMEI)

Project’s Area: Kosh village of Sangkat Loloksa, Pursat Town, Pursat Province.

Author’s name: Mr. Him Saroeurn , CMEI Project Coordinator

Interview Agreement: Yes

TARINING IS AN IMPROVED SOURCE OF NEW INITIATIVES

Kosh is a village where locates in the southern of Pursat Town and it takes about 15-20 minutes trip by car or
motorbike. It was a former flood prone area and it is currently drought prone location in Pursat province of
Cambodia.
Because of the key issues encountered and is encountering, CMEI conducted the assessment for selecting 3
targeted village areas in Pursat. Through the rapid assessment results on DRR/CCA, WASH and TNA so far,
we found the key needs that must be fulfilled on soft and hard ware supports, especially the knowledge on
DRR/CCA and WASH. Thus, within the project implementing so far related to the low knowledge of
community people, those problems were identified as the key intervention and depend on those needs, the
CMEI Consultants on WASH and CCA experts had provided the training courses on WASH and DRR/CCA to all
3 CMEI targeted village and Sangkat leaders in Pursat.
To find out and make sure that those training courses are in quality and efficiency, we conducted field visits
and developed a case study on the improvement of their knowledge after the courses, through this case
study we interviewed individually and groups of community people in Kosh village, Sangkat Loloksa. They
are as the following:
 Mrs. Sam Sitha is a farmer who age around 57 years old and are playing roles as the vice village, she
said that she did not have any knowledge on DRR/CCA and WASH, she just realized slightly about
them through saying by one person to others because she never got any training course about
DRR/CCA and WASH. She added that just knew about flood, drought and storm but she could not
separate them to the types of DRR/CCA and WASH, especially about the involving with the affects.
She also expressed that she has increased her awareness on
DRR/CCA and WASH after she got the training courses from
CMEI prject staff supported by Padek and WEDC in very close
collaboration with MPWT funded by ADB Project. She
counted the types of DRR/CCA such as flooding, drought,
storm, strong winds, lightening, insects destroyed crops,
fired and disease spread out…etc. With simple face, she said
that she was also known that before she did not understand
why the fires, plastic burnt, the deforestation and spry uses
caused the heat increasing and greenhouse gas. Mrs. Sam
Sitha added that those issues above are strong affected to
human, animals, crops, agricultural productions and
livelihoods improvement and disease spread out…..etc.
Whereas the knowledge on health, she mentioned that after
the training courses ended before she did not know that
virus can transfer from the flies to food, water bone diseases
can transfer from water into the human bodies, which are
able to cause diarrhea, or stomach warms, it is good that I
know about them, said Mrs. Sam by Sitha.
  To ensure that the village leaders' knowledge is improved, we also interviewed the trainee teams
who were trained such as Mrs. Nheuk Channy, Mrs. Vann Phorn, Mrs. Nhem Kung and Miss. Hun
Mary about DRR/CCA, HVCA, WASH, Health and Hygiene promotion as well. They told us that in
previously, they did not have any knowledge on DRR/CCA, HVCA, WASH, Health and Hygiene
promotion, they just knew from their parents as the traditional awareness and were not clear.
With the limited knowledge above, they were in high risk
with health and disaster/CCA problems in the past, said by
those trainees, but they also mentioned that they are lucky
to get training courses on HVCA/DRR, WASH, Health and
Hygiene promotions from CMEI Project that made them
have more awareness with basic initiatives to reduce the
vulnerability from disasters, health challenges, the climate
change impacts, the diseases spread out, insect destroying
crops ……..etc.
Regarding to the training course so far, they hope they will
receive new support on soft and hardware trainings in the
future that make them stronger and stronger from day to
day. Mrs. Nhem Kung and Miss. Hun Mary said that they
remembered clearly from the courses about keeping
hygiene before and after eating food or got off the latrines
and keep cleaning hands by washing hands with soaps
because it can deduct the health maintaining cost of
expenditure or it is able to save some money for daily
livelihood expenses.
On the other hand, they reminded us that PADEK and ADB
should consider speeding up the latrine constructions and
clean water support programs sooner because they don't
want to get sick or get any affecting from the climate
change/ disaster impacts and recently the alerts from
MoWRAM is about the heat increasing from 40- 52 degrees,
they also are worry about the lack of water shortage during
dried season from March to May or a long drought takes
longer period more.

Through our interviews and observation as individual and team of the trainees, we remarked that their
knowledge is increased medium speeds because they just got the real training courses first times from CMIE
project on CCA, WASH, Health and Hygiene promotions and DRR. To summarize the individual and team
interviewing results, it is indicated that their awareness and knowledge are better than before based on the
quotations from them by saying that they are able to have better knowledge on their planning or preventing
to the disaster or CCA impacts. They are also able to keep clean sanitation too. We also questioned them
that why the plastic burnt or greenhouse gas and deforestation were caused to the heat increasing on the
earth? They responded that those issues make pollutions in the air and have no rainwater balance to keep
cold atmospheres on the earth.

Otherwise, they proposed Padek that poor families really need latrines and cleaned water for their daily
uses in order to reduce the vulnerabilities and should provide more training and disseminations widely to
communities. Within the interview, they took chance to thank Padek, MPWT and ADB that had plans for
latrines constructions and build clean water system in their village to more poor households who faces with
health issues, especially women headed households.
During interview process, we observed around their homes and play-ground was showed that those
locations are better on sanitation (no much of plastic bags and mixed-wastes, they boiled water, washing
hand before eating food) and as well as personal hygiene is better done.
Mrs. Sam Sitha and Miss Hun Mary showed their personal expressions with a nice smile “we would like to
thanks to CMEI project for allowing the poor households in getting the training courses on DRR/ CCA and
WASH, Health and Hygiene Promotion and they are able to share information and experience to whole
community villagers where they are living with vulnerable condition and they hope that CMEI project will
help them in good environment with sustainable life conditions standard in the future.