Clear Path International Project Report: 

Job Placement, Personal Stories and Benefits

 

The following is excerpted from a 2003 report from Clear Path International about its Vocational Skills Training Project conducted in partnership with its Cambodian implementing partner, Cambodian Volunteers for Community Development…

Job Placement

At the time this report was written, CVCD was still in the midst of gathering information about job placement from the urban graduates. However, early reports from the students indicate that at least 40 percent of the urban graduates have already found some form of employment despite the competitive job market in Phnom Penh, where discrimination against the disabled and the unemployed runs high. 

Course graduates reported they have found jobs in restaurants, at non-governmental organizations, garment factories and other local offices. Several graduates found employment opportunities at a nonprofit data-entry firm in Phnom Penh, as a result of CPI’s networking on graduates’ behalf. In addition, Clear Path is in discussions with the Phnom Penh-based Business Action Council (made up of mostly foreign companies interested in placing vocational graduates) to advocate for job placement of course students.  Other graduates have been referred to the National Center for Disabled People (NCDP) database of skilled candidates for job placement.

Mr. Dovorn Kim, an English-course graduate who emerged as a leader in the first Phnom Penh course, was recruited by CPI/CVCD to help set up and coordinate the Kompong Cham training program. As a below-the-knee amputee and trained nurse, he plays a vital role in representing people with disabilities, advocating for the students, needs and providing medical treatment and referrals. 

Mr. Bou Korn, 30, uses his English and computer training in his new job as an administrative assistant in Sun Tex garment factory in Phnom Penh.  He earns $100 per month in his new position. 

Mr. Um Yarn, 31, studied English and sewing in the first training course.  He used his English training to find a job at the Peace Restaurant in Phnom Penh, which caters to a foreign clientele. He now earns approx $120 per month. 

Twenty graduates of the first skills training session in Kompong Cham received in-kind start-up grants to set up their own micro-enterprise applying their newfound skills in sewing, electronics repair and mechanics. Six graduates from the mechanics course, six graduates from the electronics course and eight graduates from the sewing course were given grants and some additional loans to start their own business in the Stoeung Trung District.  The course trainers have conducted five follow-up visits thus far, to motivate, encourage and assist the students, and monitor their progress. This encouragement is essential for the long-term success of the survivors’ businesses and their socio-economic reintegration into their community.

After three months of business implementation, fifteen graduates are successfully running their businesses as well as making their loan payments. 

The other grant recipients did not start their business for several reasons. Ms. Ghuon Chanda, for instance, became the cook for the trainees at the center. Her grant material was returned to CVCD and was redistributed to one of the graduates in the second course.  Two grant material recipients sold their goods and defaulted on their loans.  To prevent this in the future, CPI/CVCD will work more closely with the village chiefs to inform them about the grants offered and the responsibility of each of the graduates to respect, use or return the materials.  Finally, the businesses of two grant recipients are struggling because of their shops’ unfavorable location.

Personal Stories

Mr. Chea Meng Kieng’s disability and poverty can be attributed to a landmine accident in 1987. Shrapnel remains imbedded in his right leg, preventing him from doing hard labor. Before the training course, Chea and his wife used to rent a small piece of land to grow rice and beans.  He was unable to walk long distances, carry heavy loads or remain on his feet for long.  Farming was too strenuous for him and it did not provide a regular source of income so they rarely had enough food to feed his family. His self-esteem was very low. Due to the fragmentation in his leg, he often seeks medical attention at the village medical post, but could not regularly afford the prescribed medicines, so he had to buy it on credit. 

Since completing the electronics training course, Chea opened the first electronics repair shop in his village (located about 17 km from the center in Stoeung Trung). His service is in high demand among villagers. Even customers from neighboring villages come to seek his skills.  Now he earns approx $80 - $90 per month.  His wife prepares three full meals a day for her family. He is able to afford medicine and is paying back his debts (including the loan from CPI/CVCD), and keeps investing in his business.  He is grateful to have “a second chance in life”.

Mrs. Lim Phy was born with polio and was widowed in 1987 when her husband was killed by an accidental landmine explosion. As a single mother of three, she was concerned to leave her children with their grandparents to study sewing skills at the center for six months.  However, it’s a decision she says she will never regret.  At the center she made friends, ate delicious food and felt very encouraged by her teacher.  She now runs a small tailor shop in her home, and has introduced new styles and models of clothing to her village.  This gives her the competitive edge over the other tailors. At this point, her new income is providing more nutritious meals for her family and more investment into her business.  Her income is $40 - $45 per month.

Ms. Huy Phang, 18, and Chin Vanna, 18, both daughters of mine victims, lived in the same village, but never knew each other before the training.  After completing the sewing course, they pooled their resources and opened up a small tailor shop in their community. Their hard work, skill and location have resulted in good profits, which they have used to start repayment on their loan and have reinvested into their business. 

Mr. Ros Sarath, 29, was trapped at his workplace in Koh Kong Province, a sawmill located in the line of fire between the Khmer Rouge and the Army, when a rocket tore through the window and exploded in the mill.  He was injured in the abdomen, where fragmentation remains and continues to trouble him physically. He tires easily and could not earn enough to take care of his parents and siblings, which was expected of him as the eldest son.  Instead, he was dependent on his younger brother and ostracized by his community, seriously affecting his self-esteem.

After his training, Sarath has used his start-up grant to open up a mechanics repair shop in front of his brother’s house, where he has been living for years.  Sarath is particularly skilled in grass cutter repairs and has had regular business since opening his shop. His business provides his family with more nutritious meals, affords him regular medical treatment for a liver ailment and has gained him a reputation as the best mechanic in town. In the eyes of his parents and siblings, he is once again the capable eldest son and his self-confidence has recovered as a result.

Other Benefits

As some of these examples show, the changes in the graduates’ lives go well beyond the acquisition of marketable skills. It was obvious from reactions in the rural community where the training center was established, that the survivors gained more social acceptance among local residents as a result of their enrollment in the courses, as a result of the attention received from an international organization and, in the cases of the earlier graduates, as a result of the enterprises they began through the tools grants program.

For the first time, most survivors also found an opportunity to gain peer support and bring them out of self- or community-imposed isolation. The courses allowed them to form strong bonds, which alongside newfound esteem as survivors with economic productivity to offer, helped raise the graduates’ overall self-confidence. As examples of these lasting ties, two marriages and numerous friendships have resulted from the courses.

Mr. Ith Komsoth’s participation in the training course ended more than 12 years of self/community-imposed isolation in his home since becoming a below-the-knee amputee in 1990.  Though he did not succeed in the course, he is rarely found at home anymore because he enjoys fishing for a living now.  Clear Path and CVCD have made several follow-up visits to his home to encourage him to address his continued lack of physical mobility by securing a prosthetic leg through Handicapped International.

Clear Path and CVCD also added a retroactive medical treatment component to the project, allowing physicians at the district and provincial hospitals to address lingering physical obstacles to mobility or economic independence. Through one of Clear Path’s many medical shipments to Cambodia, we were able to provide vitamins and medicine to the training center as well as 10 pairs of light-weight aluminum crutches for students in need.  In cooperation with Handicapped International’s Provincial Rehabilitation Center, twelve students received new prosthetics.  Several other graduates are candidates for follow-up medical care, particularly those still suffering from the debilitating effects of shrapnel injuries.