Poverty and Wellbeing Before and During Covid-19 in Cambodia: an Assessment of Trends and Correlates
This study investigates factors affecting welfare prior to and during Covid-19. It employs analysis of the Cambodia Living Standards Measurement—Plus Survey 2019/20 data, alongside five rounds of the Covid-19 High Frequency Phone Surveys between May 2020 and March 2021 to assess socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic.The results point to a range of...
'Worn Out’: Hunger, Debt Discipline, and the Gendered Contingencies of the COVID-19 Pandemic Amongst Cambodian Garment Workers
Drawing on 203 quantitative surveys with women workers in Cambodia and a further set of semi-structured interviews with 60 original participants, this paper is one of the very first to present empirically grounded research from garment workers on the financial challenges of navigating the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. We show how in the maki...
Types and Implementation of Social Assistance under the Context of COVID-19: A Case of Garment and Textile Manufacturing in Cambodia
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted most aspects of socioeconomic development, with the garment, manufacturing and textile industry being no exception. Decreased demand for orders has led to factory closures, and workers being suspended or laid off. The empirical evidence in this policy brief captures the impact of COVID-19 on the livelihoods of 20...
The Effectiveness of COVID-19 Social Protection in Cambodia: Perspective and Experience from Female Garment Workers on the Wage Subsidy
COVID-19 has heavily affected Cambodian female garment workers’ economic security and personal well-being. The impacts are on employment, household income and expenditures, mental and physical health, remittances, investment, and savings. Recognizing this as a threat, the Royal Government of Cambodia has rolled out a new measure of temporary wage s...
Upper Secondary School Tracking and Major Choices in Higher Education: To Switch or Not to Switch
This study explores the phenomenon of academic major switching among Cambodian students transitioning from upper secondary school to higher education. Despite a high proportion of students enrolling in the science track at secondary level, only a minority pursue STEM majors at university. Using survey data from 1,338 students across 21 higher educa...
Opinion: Cambodia’s bid for industrial power needs a stronger workforce
As it looks to meet its development goals, the Cambodian government can develop a holistic road map informed by lessons learned from success stories in advanced industrial economies.Nobel Memorial Prize winner Gary Becker theorized that investing in human capital through education and training is central to the socioeconomic development of al...
Cambodian Post-Secondary Education and Training in the Global Knowledge Societies
The emergence of global knowledge societies makes it necessary for Cambodian Post-Secondary Education and Training (PSET) system to: accelerate its knowledge-creation function, leading to academic excellence and intellectual prowess; cultivate vocational value, professional quality, and workplace learning habits in its students; build a robust...
Challenges of Targeting Poor and Vulnerable Groups to Reduce Climate Change Vulnerability: The Case of a Water and Sanitation Project in Kampong Svay...
The escalating climate change-related disasters around the world are a serious threat to human existence and human livelihoods. Rural people living in developing countries, especially those of the poorest, are believed to be particularly vulnerable to climate change. As the number of climate change programs designed to help the poorer households ha...
Cambodia's Agri-Food Trade: Structure, New Emerging Potentials, Challenges, and Impacts of COVID-19
This study provides overall analysis and informs readers about Cambodia’s agri-food trade regarding recent structures of trade flows, new emerging potentials, main challenges, and impacts of COVID-19. The main data source is BACI datasets produced by Centre d'Études Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales (CEPII), the French leading centre...
Policy Recommendations: Impact of Climate Change Programs in Cambodia: Vulnerability, Poverty, and Gender
To address the vulnerability to floods of five Mekong islands in Kampong Cham and Tboung Khmum provinces, the Ministry of Rural Development (MRD) implemented the Strategic Program for Climate Resilience (SPCR) – The Five-Year Mekong River Island Connectivity Project (2016–2020) in Kampong Cham and Tboung Khmum provinces. This program involved the c...