The photo of Oxfam in Cambodia on Internet access centres for rice farmers was selected as one of the finalists by the World Summit on the Information Society Forum (WSIS) for its photo contest 2021. This forum is co-organized annually by ITU, UNESCO, UNDP and UNCTAD, in close collaboration with all WSIS Action Line Facilitators/Co-Facilitators. The Oxfam’s activities in Cambodia as shown in the photo are in line with the WSIS Action Line 3 ‘Access to information and knowledge’, and Action Line 4 ‘Capacity building’.
Oxfam in Cambodia has established Internet access centres with its partners to help farmers to increase agriculture yields, access to markets, and knowledge. The photo was chosen and submitted to the WSIS secretariat with the intention to inspire further activities by using information and communication technologies to develop the capacity of local farmers.
The farmers in the picture are participants in the Oxfam’s project, which was developed with our partners, RACHANA and SRER Khmer. In partnership, we have established the Community Innovation Centres in Pursat and Takeo province of Cambodia.
These innovation centres are equipped with computers, LCD projectors, and Internet access. They are managed by farmers and intend to unlock access to the Internet and digital technologies to help farmers, rural women in particular. Since their set-up, these centres have provided a relatively affordable means for women to learn new business skills, get market information, and improve their income.
With more information and training, rural women in Cambodia can increase their ability to participate in economic activity, and play a more active role in economic decisions for their family and community.
A woman farmer, Oun Noun, says she intends to use the Internet to promote her business of selling the rice seeds. “I am very interested to learn to upload, post, search… I especially want to use Facebook to promote my product, the rice seeds that I produced in Sareng village,” says Noun, “so I won’t necessarily have to go from village to village to advertise the product.”
Here is the story about the Community Innovation Centres.
For more information, please contact Info.Cambodia@oxfam.org.
“The photo of Oxfam in Cambodia on Internet access centres for rice farmers was selected as one of the finalists by the World Summit on the Information Society Forum (WSIS) for its photo contest 2021.”