Rural Development Homework 1

Homework No 1
Due date 08 June 2014
By consulting Handout 1 and 2:

1) Identify the key issues and challenges in the article. Describe why do you think it is issues or challenges
2) If you were a team of rural development specialists, how do you address the issues and what kind of intervention should be provided?
3) Please provide your key recommendation to policy and decision makers for them to include in the policy frameworks.
Cambodian Poverty
Cambodia's census conducted in 2008 recorded a population of 13,395,682 (6,516,054 males and 6,879,628 females). The annual population growth rate declined from 2.49% in 1998 to 1.54% in 2008. 80.5% of Cambodians live in rural areas. The average household size is 4.7 people. 20.8% of Cambodians live on less than $1.25 (purchasing power parity) per day.
The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite measure of achievements in three basic dimensions of human development—a long and healthy life, access to education and a decent standard of living. The HDI score for Cambodia in 2011 was estimated at 0.523. The country with an HDI rank of 1 (Norway) is considered the most developed; the country with an HDI rank of 187 (Democratic Republic of the Congo) is considered the least developed. Cambodia's HDI rank was 139.
The infant mortality rate for the five years ending in 2005 was 65 per 1,000 live births and the under-5 mortality rate was 83 per 1,000 live births. According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, under-5 mortality fell from 105.4 in 2000 to 59.7 in 2010. Maternal mortality rate is 124 per 100,000 in urban areas and 288 per 100,000 in rural areas.
26.4% of Cambodian households use electricity as their main source of light; 33.7% have a toilet facility within their premises; 47.0% have access to improved water sources (including piped water, tube/pipe well , protected dug well and rain water; 83.6% use firewood as their main type of fuel for cooking.
In 2011 there were 2.88 million foreign tourist arrivals in Cambodia, a 14.9% increase over 2010. 320,734 people, of whom 293,664 are women, are employed in 269 garment factories in Cambodia. In 2009, garment exports were valued at US$2,385 million. The adult literacy rate for Cambodian men is 85.1%; that for women is 70.9%.
Although the Kingdom of Cambodia is rich in natural resources, decades of war and internal conflict have left it one of the world's poorest countries. The legacy of strife includes social and economic scars. Many millions of land mines were sowed throughout the countryside, where millions of them still lie, hidden and unexploded. Mines are an enduring menace to the eight out of ten Cambodians who live in rural areas, and they are an obstacle to agricultural development.
Cambodia's poor people number almost 4.8 million. Most of them depend on agriculture for their livelihood, but at least 12 per cent of poor people are landless. Small-scale farmers practice agriculture at the subsistence level, using traditional methods. Productivity is low.
Two thirds of the country's 1.6 million rural households face seasonal food shortages each year. Rice alone accounts for as much as 30 per cent of household expenditures. Rural people are constantly looking for work or other income-generating activities, which are mainly temporary and poorly paid.
Landlessness is one of the causes of a strong trend of internal migration that is also driven by the pressures of rapid population growth and the desire to evade from recurring flood and drought in lowland areas. People are moving from the more densely populated provinces in the south and west to the more sparsely populated provinces in the north-east, which include some of the country's poorest districts.
Who are Cambodia's poor rural people?
The country's poor people include subsistence farmers, members of poor fishing communities, landless people and rural youth, as well as internally displaced persons and mine victims. Tribal peoples and women are generally the most disadvantaged.
Women in particular do not have equal access to education, paid employment and land ownership and other property rights. For many women, reproductive health services are inadequate or non-existent. Many women had to assume the responsibility of heading their households after male family members were killed in conflict.
Where are they?
Poverty rates are highest in upland areas. The poorest people live in the districts close to the borders with Thailand and the Lao People's Democratic Republic in the north and north-east, and with Viet Nam in the east. Poverty is less severe in the districts around Tonle Sap Lake and those in the Mekong River basin in the south.
Cambodia's poorest people are isolated. They live in remote villages, far from basic social services and facilities. Many have to travel more than 5 km to reach a health clinic, and still others live more than 5 km from the nearest road.
Why are they poor?
The pressures of a fast-growing population contribute to poverty. Because of a lack of education and skills training, people have inadequate employment opportunities and low capabilities. They are insecure, excluded and vulnerable. They have limited access to natural resources. Poor health, lack of education, poor infrastructure and low productivity lead to deeper poverty. The cycle of poverty, ill health and high health care expenditure cripples poor Cambodian families economically.
Rural poverty and lack of opportunity in rural areas have contributed to the spread of HIV AIDS, as young women migrate to urban factories and become sex workers in neighboring countries. Although HIV prevalence rates have shown a decrease, the impact of the infection continues to be strong.

Answer:
1) Identify the key issues and challenges in the article. Describe why do you think it is issues or challenges war and internal conflict a long and healthy life access to education a decent standard of living.