Cambodia is located in Southeast Asia bordering Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, with a population of 15.2 million (CIA, 2013). The country has been subjected to a turbulent history, most notably with the 1975 takeover of the Khmer Rouge who forced the people from the cities and towns to abandon their homes and lives and move into the countryside. It is estimated that 1.5million Cambodians (nearly 1/3 of the population at the time) were executed by the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot.

After a decade of stability and development, Cambodia remains one of the poorest countries in the world- around 1/3 of people survive on less than $1 per day. Due to unstable energy supply, shortages of labourers with specific skills, financial constraints and government regulations over industry, agriculture and tourism remain as the two main supporting industries of this country.

Today, there is still over 80% of the population living in rural areas; the majority of workforce is employed in subsistence farming. However, the lack of skills, knowledge and physical techniques on crop variety farming highly restricts the possibility of poverty alleviation to the farmers.

50% of people in rural areas are not able to access to safe drinking water; over 8 million people do not have access to sanitation in this country. The shortage of cleaning water equipment and water access infrastructure forces people to drink collected rainwater or contaminated water directly. Furthermore with the poor standards of hygiene, over 10,000 children die of diarrhoea diseases every year.

Natural disasters attack Cambodia every year. Flooding and drought cause agricultural losses of 100 to 170 million USD per year. Tens of thousands of people were forced to evacuate by the loss of their houses, facilities damages and farmland submergence. Cambodian local communities are examining different approaches of disaster risk management however the improvement is constrained by limited financial investment and increasing damages from climate change.

Even in such circumstance, people in Cambodia are still trying hard everyday to fight against the poverty, to improve their lives. They work hard; they study hard; they run on the street with bare feet, also with laughter; they grin in happiness; they weep in sorrow; they animate in excitement - they are same as you and me. They believe that they will have a brighter future. THEY DESERVE BETTER.