Chilliwack Cambodian Delegation Tours The City

Saturday October 15, 2011

Feature Story

Building Bonds and Better Countries

Chilliwack City staff expertise needed to help rebuild Cambodian municipality

Craig Hill/Voice photos

Mayor Sharon Gaetz is flanked in the centre by CEPCO President John Janzen who accepts a gift from Kampong Cham Governor Hun Neng Oct. 6 at City Hall.

he program is in place, the people are in place. Soon the wheels will be in motion and plowing through fields in Cambodia.

On Thursday, October 6th, Chilliwack City Hall and Chilliwack Economic Partners Corporation (CEPCO) hosted a delegation of mayors and local government representatives from

the Cambodian municipality of Takhmao.

The group had the grand tour of the city, led by CEPCO President John Jansen and Mayor Sharon Gaetz, that included glances at Canada Education Park's Trades and Technology Centre, the RCMP scenario training, Tourism Chilliwack offices, Heritage Park, a dairy farm, greenhouse, poultry farm, manufacturing plant, Minter Gardens and finally back to City Hall which is where the Voice caught up with the fleet-footed group.

The Cambodian delegates with Mayor Sharon Gaetz in the centre. Women have made big inroads into Cambodian politics in recent years whereby in the past, women in local politics was up to the discretion of the Royal Family.

The federal Canadian International Development Agency's Capacity Building Program, which is overseen by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, will run for 2 to 3-years. The project involves shipping off some of the City's top engineers to help design, plan and implement the upgrading of Kampong Cham's agricultural infrastructure, sewage system and help them to develop business centre. Their ambitions also include becoming a tourism mecca.

The program will go a long way to helping the diminutive municipality of 50,000 residents plan for a sustainable future and teach city officials there new trends in self-sufficiency. The Kampong Cham precedent will eventually transform the cities into a model for other communities to follow.

The Asian dignitaries traveled 12,000km to Chilliwack, leaving behind a struggling country decimated by war and straddled with a poor economy, to see and imagine what is possible for their own communities and on November 8th, they'll take those dreams back home.

One of the biggest hindrances to development in Cambodia are land mines. The country was was peppered with them all laid by various regimes, and even other countries, during the tumultuous Khmer Rouge years from 1974-79. Mine maps were never made and many still remain in the ground waiting to unleash their hidden horror on people out toiling in the fields.

Cambodia has one of the highest rates of physical disability in the world. Some estimates say there have been 40,000 amputations, or about 40 a week for the last 20-years.

Nobody wants to lose a limb or die digging a ditch, so much of the city's basic services infrastructure has deteriorated or was never upgraded, and now the health of it's citizens is being compromised because of poor water quality, outdated and undersized sewage treatment facilities and a non-existent dike system holding back the Mekong River.

When 1.7 million Cambodian people tragically lost their lives during those war years, the knowledge and expertise of how rebuild and run cities was lost with them.

The mayor, decked out in full City regalia, exchanged gifts with her Cambodian counterparts, who gushed thanking her and the city throughout the presentation.

Speaking through a translator, Kampong Cham Governor Hun Neng said during his presentation in council chambers that Cambodian women are making big strides in terms equalizing the gender imbalance in politics by adding more female representation to boards and as public. In the past, women in politics was a choice left to the Royal Family.

"The City has 50 staff including 4 women and the board of governors of the City we have 5 members including 1 woman."

Neng said in Cambodian society the rich and poor classes live together harmoniously, but that they've been facing challenges as the city's population grows.

Upgrading the solid waste system and sustainable agriculture projects are high on their "to-do" list, but most urgent of all is the need for dikes.

"While I am visiting your city, my city Kampong Cham is flooded a metre above the ground," said Neng.

The Cambodians have some colossal goals, but it's not pie-in-the-sky. Their objectives of improving the quality of life are attainable. Ideally, they want to upgrade their standard of living to as close as they can get to what we in North America enjoy. Canada wants to help them accomplish that.

An important factor in the Cambodian planning, is a balanced approach to development and conservation such as preserving the riparian areas along the Mekong River, developing eco-tourism as well as improving food safety and hotel services.

Leang Reathmana, who is the Capacity Building Advisor and National Program Coordinator for Municipal Planning and Economic Development said they picked up a truckload of ideas concerning core development, conservation and sustainability.

"Local participation is the key, when we do something, we need to involve our people. We need to see long-term and we need to do it together harmoniously and friendly in order to achieve our goals," said Reathmana.

"The support and friendship of the Canadian municipalities is really amazing and creates opportunity for Cambodian municipalities to learn and support and experience in order to develop Cambodian society."

Speaking about his experiences in Canada, Reathmana said the country is wonderful and he'd love to bring his family here to live.

"We miss Cambodia but we want to stay here as well. We have great friends who really welcome us and make us feel that Canada is like our home," he said. "We had a very good time and enjoyed visiting the places, also taking a great opportunity to talk with the people and learning from them."

John Jansen, President of Chilliwack Economic Partners Corporation (CEPCO) said that there's lots of issues to be dealt with that they have to work out, but he calls it a "tremendous opportunity to help out."

Jansen said that poverty in Cambodia is "extreme".

"The poverty level is measured by what you earn in a day and how many calories you can buy. So for $2/day, you can buy 1500 calories. So, 27 per cent of their population can't have (afford) that."

Two months ago Jansen went to Cambodia for the second time to brainstorm with planners and officials attempting to identify the type of help they'll need. On the first visit, Jansen met with and spoke with the two cities that the FCM selected to partner with Chilliwack.

"I really think there's great potential for the country and appreciate the opportunity to help out wherever we can."

Cambodia Project Background

The (FCM) has embarked on a new five year capacity building program. With direct involvement of Canadian municipalities and municipal associations, Municipal Partners for Local Economic Development (MPED) will focus on supporting and managing sustainable and equitable economic development in selected developing countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas.

Its specific purpose will be to support local governments and local government associations in Vietnam, Cambodia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Nicaragua and Bolivia to enable them to provide more effective services that advance sustainable and equitable local economic development. MPED will also support the engagement of program partners in regional knowledge sharing and in global policy development and program coordination.

"CEPCO was asked to apply for an opportunity to provide its economic development expertise to several different countries through FCM," said CEPCO President, John Jansen. "We are honoured to have been selected from a number of municipal applicants across Canada to participate in the Cambodia project."

The themes of the program are environmental sustainability and equality between women and men.

Program Benefits:

Travel, accommodation and meal costs for participants are covered by FCM through funding from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA); municipalities contribute staff time to participate in technical missions.
The project involves two or three technical missions per year to the partner country and hosting one or two technical missions in our community.
Great professional development opportunity for staff.
Helps create global connections for Chilliwack which can facilitate business and trade links to assist with CEPCO's foreign direct investment goals.
Helps Chilliwack to participate in a global municipal network.
Helps develop local responses to borderless issues.

In the spring of 2011, representatives from Beaumont and Newell, AB, and Chilliwack, traveled to Cambodia to participate in the selection of local authorities that would be best suited to participate in this program. Participating local authorities were chosen through a competitive selection process between all the districts and municipalities with the two provinces of Kampong Cham and Kandal. All twenty eight municipalities/districts expressed interest in the project. Common themes immerged such as difficulties with irrigation, poverty reduction, organizational capacity development and a lack of capital for projects. As a result of the selection process, four Cambodian communities were selected and are working with the following Canadian partners:

Municipality of Kampong Cham and Municipality of Takhmao are working with the City of Chilliwack
District of Kongemas is working with the County of Newell
District of Kohthom is working with the Town of Beaumont

In August, the City of Chilliwack undertook a project mission with the Municipalities of Kampong Cham and Takhmao. From October 4th to October 8th, the exchange mission is for our Cambodian partners to see examples and strategies being utilized to promote local economic development. Mission objectives include the following: