Aid Ownership Goes Beyond Government: Official

By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Washington
29 June 2009

Demands from the donor community for “ownership” of development assistance go beyond the government, in order to ensure the proper use of aid money, a leading health organizer said.

“Country ownership means that citizens, civil society organizations, the private sector and the government must be the owners and work together to make sure that international assistance is effectively used,” Sin Somuny, executive director of Medicam, an umbrella group of health agencies, told VOA Khmer.

Oxfam America reported last week on effectiveness of US aid to Cambodia. The nine-page report, released in Washington, encourages ownership in Cambodia for US assistance.

Since the Paris Declaration, which was endorsed on March 2, 2005, by ministers, heads of agencies and other senior officials to demonstrate adherence and commitment to increased efforts in harmonizing, aligning and managing aid, in reality the practice has been slow, Sin Somuny said.

“What decisions, or what we really receive, is still moving forward slowly and requiring a lot of alteration. For instance, we have seen that some assistance goes wholly to the public sector, while other, like that of the US, goes to civil society organizations working in the health sector,” he said. “The question is, how we can link and harmonize engagement between beneficiaries and the service provider that is still not active?”

Doctor Outlines Methods to Prevent Bird Flu

Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer
Washington
27 September 2007

Authorities in Mondolkiri province held a community forum Thursday to educate remote communities on bird flu, a doctor said Thursday.

The forum sought to educate villagers on how they can protect their poultry—and their families—from catching the deadly virus, said Dr. Rith Bunroeun, the avian influenza coordinator for Medicam, an umbrella organization of more than 100 health organizations in Cambodia.

Bird flu has killed seven Cambodians since 2005. There have been 22 poultry outbreaks in that time.

Newly purchased poultry should be kept separate from an existing flock for at least two weeks, Rith Bunroeun said, speaking as a guest on "Hello VOA."

"Keep birds that appear to be or are sick away from the rest of the flock," he said.

"Avian influenza can enter your farm when you introduce new poultry," the UN Food and Agricultural Organization warns on its Web site.

The disease "can be transmitted between different species," like chicken to pig, the agency says. "Ducks can become infected with avian influenza without showing any symptoms, and then transmit it to chickens."