VFI Land Contract to Implement the Ecosorn Rural Water and Sanitation initiative in Battambang, Siem Reap and Bantey Meanchey Province

In 2008 and 2009, with support from the European Union, VFI has been awarded a contract to build 65 shallow wells, 24 deep wells, distribute 1,700 rainwater collecting systems, dig 5 large village ponds, and construct 6,000 latrines, with the leadership and participation of beneficiary communities in decision-making and planning.  For detailed information about all aspects of the Ecosorn initiative (which has many more components), link to http://www.ecosorn.org/.

The Ecosorn project is now underway in Cambodia; we have opened offices in two more provinces; Bantey Meanchey and Siem Reap. Three permanent staff members use the offices as accommodation and the working base. Ten more staff, graduates from VFI’s youth fellowship programme, are employed to carry out surveys and training in the villages. The surveys take a month each, followed by training and developing a village development plan. The partners – in this case contractors – move in next and build latrines, wells and ponds as per the plan.

The project totals $1.5 million over 30 months.