The Challenge

Harsh Conditions: Cambodia’s violent history and the landmine-laden countryside alongside a poor health care system and high poverty rate impaired the development of the whole population but especially the opportunities of people with disabilities. Nearly 80 % of Cambodia’s population lives in rural areas and is mostly engaged in subsistence farming.

A Challenging Intersection: Women with disabilities who live in rural areas experience a triple marginalization and discrimination due to gender, disability, and poverty. The effects of this marginalization have become more severe due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic which bears the risk of leaving people with disabilities behind on the agenda of recovery and development. A study from the UK Department for International Development (DFID, now FCDO) shows that most people with disabilities in Cambodia were among the poorest and faced more hurdles to escape poverty, even before the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a study on the impacts of disabilities published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (2020), disability is likely to trigger a vicious circle, leading to reduced work and earnings as well as a limited accumulation of both social capital and productive assets.

The Objective

The project aims at strengthening the resilience mechanisms of rural farmers with disabilities, improving their livelihoods, and cushioning the negative consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. The project empowers farmers with disabilities (particularly women) by building skills, capacities, and confidence to engage in agricultural production. Moreover, the development of assistive farming technology to improve livelihoods and strengthen resilience mechanisms are at the core of the project.

The Target Group

The project focuses on farmers with disabilities (of which 75 % are women) – including those with hearing, visual and intellectual impairments – from rural areas in the three provinces Pursat, Battambang and Siem Reap in Cambodia. The project will furthermore benefit provincial trainers who receive a master training on creative capacity building (CCB). All participants are supposed to spread their knowledge in their communities and self-help groups, hence on the long run, the project is expected to unfold a positive impact on the lives of many more farmers in the area. This positive impact will be amplified by the collaboration with three local organizations, government bodies and international institutions to raise awareness.

The Approach

Multi-Level Approach: The project applies a multi-stakeholder approach, making use of existing resources and capacities to anchor the project on both the community and political level. To assure that women with disabilities in rural areas have access to agricultural production and are enabled to improve their livelihoods, the project engages relevant stakeholders throughout the whole planning and implementation phase. Besides local actors, the project will approach governmental institutions, international organisations, and engineering institutions.

Comprehensive Support: Capacity building is offered to women with disabilities. Applying a human-centered creative capacity building approach, participants jointly identify challenges encountered in their daily lives and develop coping strategies. Moreover, the issue of discrimination against female farmers with disabilities and perspectives of inclusive agriculture will be brought to political awareness through political advocacy.