crdt 2013 annual report web

8/12/2019 CRDT 2013 Annual Report WEB

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ANNUALREPORT2013


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The Cambodian Rural Development Team (CRDT) is a Cambodian Non-Governmental

Organisation which aims to lif communities out o poverty in support o conservation through

participatory, community based approaches.

Founded in as a voluntary initiative by university students, CRDT has grown into an

organization working to deliver community and rural development projects to more than

, amilies in support o the conservation o critically endangered Mekong River Irrawaddy

Dolphins in Kratie and Stung Treng provinces, and the protection o tropical orest biodiversity

in Mondulkiri Province.

OUR VISION

A Cambodia ree rom poverty and environmental degradation

OUR MISSION

To improve ood security, incomes, and living standards o poor rural communities in support

o environmental conservation in Cambodia.

OUR VALUES

about CRDT

Independent, non political and not or proit.

Committed to working in partnership.

We value our team members and commit to supporting and empowering them through

collective decision making.

We respect the rights and dignity o Cambodias impoverished rural people by living and

working within our beneiciary communities.

We value Cambodias natural environment; it is important to protect it or present and uture

generations.

Committed to transparency and aid effectiveness.


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Over ten years o experience, CRDT has developed its ownapproach to working with Cambodias impoverished ruralcommunities. This approach has uelled the organizationsrapid growth and contributed to the success o manyprojects.

CRDT Addresses Poverty by Focusing on the Following SixProcesses:

LIVING & WORKING IN THE FIELDWe are unique in that our staff resides in target villages or extended periods o time, in order to ensureactivities are successul and to build relationships with communities.

LEARNING BY DOINGTo ensure effective transer o knowledge, all beneiciaries implement project activities themselves. A rippleeffect ensures experience spreads through each village

LINKING DEVELOPMENT & CONSERVATIONPoverty alleviation and environmental sustainability are our two intertwined goals. Working in high priorityareas or conservation, we support alternative livelihoods to reduce natural resource dependency.

LEARNING & GOOD PRACTICECRDT is always adapting and learning. Methods o implementation, acilitation and participation arecontinually reined, as well as being revised to suit differing environments.

SUSTAINABLE ENTERPRISEWe are orward looking, taking an enterprise-wide approach to community development. Using conceptso stewardship and sustainable income, we plan or the long term.

GOVERNANCE AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICEThe NGO Certiicate o Governance and Proessional Practice (GPP),administered by the Cooperation Committee or Cambodia (CCC), is a

collective response by NGOs working in partnership with donors/undingagencies and other stakeholders to proessionalize and strengthenthe NGO sector in Cambodia by encouraging and promoting theiraccountability. Since receiving this award in , CRDT has maintained ahigh standard, monitored by ollow-up visits rom the CCC GPP Team.

CRDT's Approach

Siem Reap

Phnom Penh

Kratie

Mondulkiri

Stung Treng

We work in the north-east of Cambodia, in the

Mekong provinces of Kratie, Stung Treng, and in

the tropical forests of Mondulkiri.


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FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OR CHANNY:

has been the critical year or CRDT where it reacheda crossroads, and it has also been the most challengingso ar or me as Executive Director. With support rom theBoard o Directors, I decided on changes in managementand program structure. The reorm plan has beenintroduced and put in place or implementation over a-year period. The management reorms have introducedchanges in top management, increasing the number omanagement committee members and bringing in newskills and competencies, better decision making andchanges to management style. The program restructurewas made in order to clearly identiy priorities, deinethe scope o activities, improve strategies and developmodels o implementation. We are now organised intothree main programs: Livelihoods, Microinance (SelHelp Groups) and Social businesses.

Key achievements o the year include:

Livelihoods: the implementation strategy has been updated to be more effective and relectreal practice. This year we were able to support CBOs, with , members including theestablishment o nine new CBOs. This makes the total number o CBOs up to , with morethan , members, since the strategy was originally launched.

Microinance (Sel Help Groups (SHGs)): Phase I has been remarkably successul andcompleted in June . By the end o the year, SHGs had been established and basicgroup management and skills training had been provided to SHGs members. Phase II began in

July, conident o even greater success. By the end o the year, the project team had receivedthe complete set o training in the SHG model and credit operation systems. Thanks are due toour partner Hand in Hand, India (HiH) or providing the support to bring about this success.

Social Businesses: (CRDTours and the Tourism Training Center Le Tonl). Le Tonl, which hasbeen taken over rom Swiss organization Tourism or Help, has been operating well, with aclear model and better business structure. Le Tonl has extended its operation to Kratie andexperienced urther growth. CRDTours has become sel-sufficient and able to make proits tosupport the rest o CRDT.

The challenges appeared critical though. Fund security became the main concern throughoutthe year, and a heavy workload has arisen due to budget constraints that orced us to workwith a limited number o staff. This threatens our ability to progress.

However, the irst year reorms reached their goals successully. The most remarkableachievements o the year appeared rom the implementation o SHGs microcredit models,and the growth o CRDTs social businesses, both CRDTours and Le Tonl. The strengthenedpartnerships with Hand in Hand and Tourism or Help are also signiicant.

Tackling the challenges throughout the year has been rewarding to me and to CRDT too.Coming through such a difficult situation provides us with a promising uture. We have

become more resilient; we have better plans and effective strategies to cope with suchcritical challenges and to push or uture growth. I thank my colleagues on the ManagementCommittee and all the staff o CRDT who have maintained their commitment and continuedto work hard or CRDT during this difficult time. I am grateul to the Board o Directors whoplay active roles and support the management o CRDT; I thank especially our Chairman, Mao


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Savin, who is my indispensible partner or his intellectual support and diligence in driving orchanges. I thank our donors, partners and riends who provide continued support to CRDT.

CRDT is working towards sel- sustainability. The goal we are seeking is to sustain bothorganizational operations and beneiciaries incomes. In this regard, we will strive to promotesocial enterprises both to create revenues to support our operations and to improve localsocial economics through creating jobs. CRDT will also try to diversiy its unding sourcesthrough generating its own revenues and approach its extended network such as the privatesector to undraise, rather than just reliance on traditional donors.

It is my privilege to work with CRDT; I am committed to ully completing the reorm plan, andseeing a signiicant growth o CRDT in , and look orward to cherishing the continuoussuccess o CRDT in the years to come.

FROM THE CHAIR OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, MAO SAVIN:

Much o the Boards attention in has been ocusedon restructuring the executive management team. CRDTstarted as a group o riends: the way we have managedthe organisation has been inormal in nature with manydecisions being taken collectively by the co-ounders.In the Boards view, the organisation had reached a sizeand sophistication where sadly these practices werehampering its urther development. Thereore CRDT hasbegun to proessionalise its management, because webelieve that this institutional building is critical to the

success o the organisation going orwards. The mostpainul part o this process has been the changes we havemade in the executive management team but that hasbeen managed well my congratulations to Or Channy,the new Executive Director, and the other managementteam members and staff or supporting and managingthe changes.Internal matters aside, I would like to draw your

attention to the uture direction o CRDT sustainable solutions to alleviating povertythrough incubating social business enterprises. CRDT has long been inching in this directionbut we now have it as a clear ocus. You can read elsewhere in this report about the successo Conversations with Foreigners, CRD Tours, Le Tonl, Mekong Credit Association and themany community-based enterprises we have supported through our Community BasedOrganisations and Sel Help Groups. The key direction or the uture is to make these existingsocial enterprises viable as sel-sustaining businesses and to start and grow new ones.Finally, I am stepping down now as Chair o the Board afer years. As one o the co-ounders,I am very pleased with how CRDT has evolved over the years and very proud o our team. Itis time now or me let a new leader take over at the top o CRDT. I would like to express mysincere thanks to my ellow board members and ounder advisors, management and staff

or their enthusiastic support o CRDT. CRDT is an amazing achievement, coming rom thecollective ideas and actions o a group o students. I will be staying around and I am sure I willremain involved in some capacity.


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In , nine new Community-Based Organisations (CBOs)

were established and CRDT supported in total CBOs with

, members (, women) out o the CBOs that

CRDT has helped to ound. Fewer CBOs received support

this year as several projects ended, but some CBOs have

been able to run without the support o CRDT as they have

reached the last stage o their implementation strategies.

Almost all o the committees and members o CBOs havebeen highly committed to investing their time in the

CBOs activities. But the capacity o CBOs committees or

group operation, participation o members in group and

commune meetings, and understanding o process and

objectives o Commune Investment Plan were still limited

and thus need urther improvement to strengthen the

sustainability o their projects.

This year, beneiciaries were observed not only to have a

better ood security and variety but also to improve theirnutrition and health. More signiicantly, as ood sources

have been diversiied, the beneiciaries have spent less time

ishing (%) and exploiting orest resources (%) to make

their living.

Members o CBOs have shown a high degree o commitment

to continuing their existing alternative livelihood activities

o rice, chicken, and pig production. The increased ood and

livelihood security rom non-natural resource dependent

sources is also remarkable; % o beneiciaries reported

home consumption o alternative livelihood produce.

Livelihood Development


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By ostering networks and providing access to markets, CRDT is supporting local communities

to generate income to raise their standards o living. Farmers are able to identiy value chains

and become part o a co-operative that enables them to get better prices or their products.

For instance, in Stung Treng Province, the

income rom rice sales o the CBOs in

Ramsar Site increased rom $, to

$, a year. Another aspect o income

improvement is the capacity to save and

budget. In Mondulkiri, saving groups

consisting o members ( women)

have saved $, which generated

$, in interest.

In , thanks to a unding rom the

KUSANONE program rom the Embassy

o Japan, a water supply system was built

in Koh Phdao village, Kratie Province or

communities to have access to cleanwater or daily consumption, improving

agricultural activities such as home

gardening, rice intensiication, ish and

livestock raising as well as enhancing the

services o ecotourism in Koh Phdao.

So ar, households have beneited

rom the system. This project is

contributing to the conservation o

the Mekong River as the villagers have

reduced time washing the clothesand cleaning themselves in the river. A

community canal o m and water

storage were built in Samphin village,

Kampong Cham Commune, Kratie

Province to help beneiciaries irrigate

their rice ields.

In kratie, 90% of the beneficiaries

increased their rice production.

60% reported a positive impact onhealth, hunger or food availability.We believe demonstrating how livelihoods are so crucially linked tosustainability will enable communities to value their environment,

reduce exploitation, and manage their natural resources responsibly ata time of climatic uncertainty. Overall the natural resource exploitationfrom communities has been reduced by 35% as the illegal fishing, wildlifetrade and timber trade activities decreased.


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Mrs. Hem Sareth, , lives in Khe village in Stung Treng province. She has two daughters and three sons.

Landlessness orced her to relocate rom her homeland in Kandal Province to Stung Treng Province in

. When she irst arrived, her amily temporarily stayed with her brother because she had only $ to

support her amily. To earn more or her living, she started growing cucumber and corn. With increased

income over the years, in , she bought a plot o land

o m x m in size which cost her $,.

Being a armer, she is strongly motivated to learn how

to improve her agricultural techniques. Since , with

unding support rom WWF and the Critical Ecosystem

Partnership Fund (CEPF), CRDT selected Extension

Workers (EWs) and provided them with training to

enable them to transer their sustainable agriculture

skills and knowledge to the other armers in their

villages. Being one o the EWs, Mrs. Sareth said I have

applied my skills and I could see the improvement in

my vegetable and corn growing. I learned the technique

o making liquid compost. Putting the compost onto

cucumber plants or a ew days, they became green,

then soon produce lowers and yield ruit.

Mrs. Sareth added with a smile that this year by

November, I earned $,, and I am expecting to earn

$ more rom cucumbers and $, more rom corn.

My income increased % compared to last year, thanks

to improved agricultural techniques provided by CRDT

and having enough rainwater. With this income, I couldsend my sons to school and bought materials or house

construction. I am happy because soon I will have a

house.

A successful farmer

in 2013 My income increased 10%compared to last year, thanks to improved

agricultural techniques provided by CRDTand having enough rainwater.


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facilitatingentrepreneurship

"133 Self-Help Groupshave been created with1,507 members of whom85% are women."

Moving one step urther in its strategy, CRDT through a partnership with Hand in Hand

India (HiH) and the Asian Institute o Technology (AIT), launched in a project o Sel

Help Groups (SHG). The objective o orming SHG's is or the members to come together

and help each other to empower themselves; improve their socio-economic status by

enhancing livelihoods; improve their inancial management through micro-credit and

contribute towards community development and natural resource conservation.

The irst year implementation o the project successully

ended in June . As o December , the project

is implementing activities in the two provinces o Kratie

and Stung Treng, in villages in communes across

districts.

SHG's have been created with , members o

whom % are women. Altogether the amilies deposited

,,($,) and saw their savings increase by

%-% per month. Loans were distributed in the amount

o ,,($,), and the current outstanding loans total ,, ($,) to

borrowers who are SHG members. Internal lending among the amily members

led to the creation o amily based enterprises. Others are using the money or health

care and emergency needs. The project is also

operating two training centers: one tailoring

training center in Kratie Province beneiting

amilies as a irst trial and a beautician

training center in Stung Treng Province

beneiting amilies. CRDT aims at creating

, jobs by or low income members o

the community. The SHG members will overtime substantially strengthen their inancial

management, credit discipline, relevant skills

and motivation to create enterprises.


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TRAINING

MARGINALIZED YOUTH

The Le Tonl Tourism Training Center, ounded

in Stung Treng Town, is a vocational training

institute ocusing on tourism and hospitality.

Eighteen students were selected rom Kratie

and Stung Treng or the school year

. Afer one year o training, % o students ound

employment; two were promoted as supervisors, one

in a guesthouse and the other in a restaurant. The training provides both direct beneits

(employment opportunity) to young vulnerable people and contributes to the well-unctioning

o the local tourism industry where skilled staff are employed.

For the year -, the net income rom business operations o Le Tonl in Stung Treng

was $,. This income helped set up a new training center in Kratie Town.

One trainee said I have become a new person who can work sel-independently. Everyone at

the center displayed kindness and concern towards me. I commit to use what I have learned

here and will work very hard or my uture

A second Le Tonl was set up in Kratie Town

to expand the practical work opportunities

with tourists to more trainees.

The opening ceremony o Le Tonl Kratie

took place on the th o December

attended by the President o

Tourism or Help, CRDT Board members,

CRDTs Management Committee and

staff, representatives rom national and

international NGOs, government agenciesand local authorities.I have become a new person whocan work self-independently

95% of students foundemployment; two werepromoted as supervisors

Visit www.letonle.org to learn more


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Developing

tourism businesS

CRDTours is a sustainable enterprise whose

income directly supports the work o CRDT.

CRDTours shows that there is more to this

stunning part o the Mekong than just the

critically endangered Irrawaddy Dolphins by

employing local knowledge and community

relationships to take people or a truly

authentic Cambodian experience.

In , CRDTours organized several tourist group tours through

various villages around the Mekong River, to enjoy the culture

and meet with the local people. Some o the tourists were

involved in community development projects by helping local

amilies to set up livelihood activities. These tours contributed

around $, to communities along the Mekong River, $

to dolphin and turtle conservation projects and $, to the

local tourism industry. In , CRDTours itsel made a proit o

$,, which was reinvested in the business.

The community head o Koh Phdao stated that this year, tourists visited the village, and some

even stayed or a long time. However, Koh Preah did not host a lot o tourists so CRDTours considers

this will be one o next year challenges. Koh Preah only hosted tourists, providing $, income

to the community.

Mr. Men Vichka bought a new motorbike by combining his savings and his salary as a community

based ecotourism committee member o Koh Phdao. This motodop is important or me: I will use it

or carrying tourists around my village, I will take my children to school when they are older and I will

drive my wie to the rice ield.

CRDTours itself made aprofit of $7,665 which wasreinvested in the business.

tours contributed around $28,419 to communities along the Mekong River.

Visit www.crdtours.org to learn more


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Sustainable business

Conversations With Foreigners (CWF) is anEnglish language training center in PhnomPenh. Founded as a social enterprisein , CWF generates sustainableunding or CRDT to improve livelihoodsin rural Cambodia. Based on a modelo volunteering and cultural exchange,

volunteers experience Cambodian lie and gain

teaching experience. CWF has hosted more than volunteers, teaches around , local studentsper year and has raised $, or CRDT. This year we had returning volunteers and CWF alsoprovided scholarships to help poor students.

In CWF began to roll out its new curriculum, designedto empower Khmer students. This approach differs to thetraditional method o teaching in developing countrieswhich usually uses an American based curriculum. Byteaching our students to be proud o their backgroundand to talk about their lives they can share inormationon Cambodia with other nationalities. Focusing on

conversational English we aim to build the conidence o ourKhmer students in a un and inormal setting. Our coursesnow also teach the students about the work o CRDT.

The money that CWF provides to CRDT acts as anunrestricted und. The model o partnership was originallyconceived to address the problem o unpredictability inunding rom donors and to cover costs that donors areunwilling to und. So ar the money rom CWF has mostlybeen used to meet the running costs o CRDT including staff

insurance, salaries and investment in social businesses.

In 2013 CWF began to roll outits new curriculum, designed toempower Khmer students.

...3,000 local students per yearand has raised $114,309 for CRDT.

Visit www.volunteerincambodia.org to learn more


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fINANCIAL REPORT

In the iscal year , Cambodian Rural Development Team (CRDT) received grants and other

assistance to operate all its activities amounting to a total o $, (unaudited) whilst gross

income rom unrelated business activities (CRDT business activities is development/livelihood

and unrelated business activities here reer to CRDT's social business) and other income

in came to a total amount o $,. Adding these igures together CRDT revenue

was $, in . However, expenses as detailed under ive headings: Project Activities,

Administration/overhead costs, transportation & subsistence and assets & equipment totaled

$,. Thereore, CRDT ended with net ordinary income o $, (because this

igure does not include the balance carried orward).

REVENUE & SUPPORT

Funds Brought Forward , ,Grants , ,Generated Incomes , ,

Other Incomes , ,TOTAL REVENUE & SUPPORT , ,

EXPENSES

Project activies/Operations ex-penses

, ,

Personnel , ,Administraion/overheads , ,Transportation & Subsistence , ,Assets & Equipment , ,

TOTAL EXPENSES , ,


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Board of Directors

EDOr Channy

Business Development ManagerHuy Sambo

Micro-enterprise/MarketingProgram Manager

Sut Samedy

MCA RegionalManager

Ty Ratana

Kratie TeamMondulkiri

TeamCRDToursCWF

Admin /Finance

Team

Stung TrengTeam

Kratie TeamStung Treng

TeamLe Tonl

Finance/Admin ManagerSann Soprey

Partnership ManagerUl Socheat

Program ManagerHean Pheap

ODAGen Collett

Funding CoordinatorColine Ganz

Governance

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Mr Mao Savin (Chairman), Investment Manager at Emerging Markets Investment Pte., Ltd

Dr Alex Diment, Senior Technical Advisor, Wildlie Conservation Society (WCS) Cambodia

Mr Peter Horn, Executive Chairman - Asia Paciic, Institutional Investor / Director, CIE, Australia

Mr Tuy Sereivathana, Country Representative, Fauna & Flora International Cambodia

Ms Chun Sothany, Chie Finance Officer at First Finance Plc Cambodia

Mr Marc Wancer, Vice President, CDFI Assessment and Rating System, Inc. (CARS)

CURRENT STAFF

CRDT currently has over ull time employees including management, technical and

supporting staff, volunteers and graduate interns/trainees.

ORGANISATIONAL CHART AS AT


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In , CRDTs Global Giving project: Supporting local community basedorganizations (CBOs) with the alternative livelihood training and materials necessaryto transform their own communities has been funded. donations totaling $,allowed CRDT to undertake this project.

CRDT now has a new project on Global Giving aimed at helping rural women andtheir families to improve their income generation through job creation and sustainable

livelihood activities.

Establishing CBOs in comunities has proven to be an effective model, giving people theskills and confidence to change their own lives.

Visit our GlobalGiving page at http://goto.gg/ to learn more and donate.

If youd like to support CRDT and contribute directly to transforming the lives of ruralCambodians you can make a donation directly to CRDT:

Account Number: Account Name: Cambodian Rural Development TeamBank Name: ACLEDA Bank Plc.SWIFT CODE: ACLBKHPP

Cambodian Rural Development TeamStreet , Daun Chroim Village, Sangkat Kratie,

Krong Kratie, Kratie Province, Kingdom of CambodiaPO Box , Phnom Penh CRDT Registration No.: S/C/N (S.CH.N)

Phone: + () E-mail: [email protected]: www.crdt.org.kh www.facebook.com/CRDTKratie www.twitter.com/CRDT_Cambodia

Financial statements provided in this Annual Report are as on December , .Unless otherwise noted, all figures are in US Dollars ($) or Cambodian Riel ().

Logos used within this report are copyright of their respective owners.Photography used with permission of the copyright holders and may not be reproduced without permission.Photography by:Paul Hagemanwww.paulhageman.comLa ChamboncelLa Chamboncel PhotographyL t & D i t E i B k id ik

http://goto.gg/

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