Investing in Cambodia’s Youth: A Path to Progress

Investing in Cambodia’s Youth: A Path to Progress

The Cambodia Herald 29-09-2013

By William E. Todd

Thanks once again for taking the time to read my weekly column.  I continue to be impressed with the questions you send me because they demonstrate a keen concern for the future of Cambodia.  In the past week, one reader pointedly asked, “How can Cambodia stay focused on progress?”

In the past few weeks, I have shared with you my ideas about the road ahead for reform and peaceful democracy in action.  I think those are two key components of the answer to this reader’s question.  Also critical for progress are investing in Cambodia’s youth, reducing poverty, and improving health care and nutrition for children.  Raising the living standards of average Cambodians and providing opportunities for young people will drive Cambodia’s future development.

As you may know already, I am the father of four children, and promoting the welfare of young people is an issue that I care deeply about.  That’s why I am so pleased that Cambodia will be a focus country for the U.S. government’s Action Plan on Children in Adversity.  Just last week, I sat down with several important partners to discuss this initiative which will implement a strategy to improve children’s health, promote their care within the family, and help to protect them from becoming victims of trafficking, labor exploitation, violence, and abuse.  As the strategy recognizes, meeting the developmental needs of children in their earliest years gives them the best chance to be happy and productive as adults. 

To support children as they grow into adulthood, we also need to focus on people’s basic needs, like health care and nutrition.  That is why the U.S. government continues to support Cambodia through programs like Feed the Future.  The prevalence of underweight Cambodian children under the age of five dropped from 45 percent in 2002 to 36 percent in 2005.  Building on that success is the objective of Feed the Future, President Obama’s global hunger and food security initiative.  One component of Feed the Future is the Harvest program which is helping Cambodian families to learn new farming techniques and grow more food, thus increasing their incomes and improving their nutrition.

The United States has also invested more than $150 million in HIV/AIDS funding in Cambodia to help primarily young adults.  Cambodia’s young adult HIV infection rate has been reduced by half since 1998, and more Cambodians are now living productive lives with HIV/AIDS, in part due to the expertise and resources provided through the U.S. government.  U.S. government health programs also have helped to lower child mortality rates by more than 50 percent since 2000, and helped to reduce deaths of mothers related to childbirth by 56 percent from 2005 to 2010.  These remarkable achievements are contributing to the future success of average Cambodians.

Ensuring a safer working environment is another way Cambodia can improve the quality of life for its people, especially young adults.  On September 6 in my blog, I wrote about the Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) program which has made a dramatic impact on workplace safety in the garment industry and helped improve livelihoods for Cambodians by combining worker safety with access to U.S. markets.  BFC was created in 2001, and by 2012 the United States purchased $2.6 billion worth of Cambodian garments and footwear and accounted for nearly 20 percent of Cambodia’s GDP.  These numbers reflect the success of the program.

The U.S. government is working to help make the daily lives of all Cambodian people safer, more secure, healthier, and more prosperous.  But like all effective partnerships, success only comes from working together and listening to each other’s needs.  Our commitment to progress is a direct response to the needs and aspirations of the Cambodian people.  As they have repeatedly reminded us, for the country to continue its progress, reform is essential.  In recent weeks, leaders from both major parties have spoken to the importance of reform.

As I mentioned in my previous columns, I am an optimist about Cambodia’s future.  The great American business pioneer Henry Ford summed it up best when he said, “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.”  Working together by investing in Cambodia’s youth today will reap rewards for generations to come.  I wish everyone a happy, healthy, and safe Pchum Ben holiday.