Speeches Shim
Healthy families are critical for Cambodia’s development and improved productivity. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Royal Government of Cambodia and the Ministry of Health for making significant progress in increasing access to health services for the Cambodian people in the past few years. The expansion of social health protection programs for the poor and vulnerable populations, improvements in infrastructure and human resources for health, and increases in financing and leadership at all levels have contributed substantially to this success.
It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Inception and Learning Event on “Sustainable and Effective Management of the Prey Lang Extended Landscape”. USAID is thrilled to begin this constructive dialogue with civil society, community members, private sector, and national and sub-national government officials. You will have a chance to share information and knowledge about your work and strengthen your commitment and efforts to conserve the forests and biodiversity. Today’s event marks the start of an exciting new partnership between the U.S. government and the Royal Government of Cambodia through USAID’s Greening Prey Lang program. This partnership will bring all stakeholders together to preserve and sustainably manage its forests and biodiversity in Cambodia.
Today, local and international representatives from the public and private sectors joined together for an inception and learning event held by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) new Greening Prey Lang program. The event convened more than one hundred partners working toward sustainable and effective management of the Prey Lang Extended Landscape (PLEL). Participants discussed findings from an extensive period of research and consultations undertaken by the program and shared information and better practices related to law enforcement, protected area zoning and management, and sustainable financing.
Globally, TB is the top infectious disease killer worldwide. Every year, over 10 million people are infected, and nearly 2 million lose their lives to this disease. Over 4 million cases are undiagnosed or without proper treatment and care – in fact, 40 percent of TB cases are undetected. This can lead to drug-resistant forms of the disease. Those strains are expensive to treat and subject patients to potential side effects. The high cost of medication and loss of income during a patient’s illness can lead to catastrophic expenditures and poverty.
WE Act aims to harness the unbounded entrepreneurial potential of Cambodia’s young businesswomen and help them find partnerships, provide key resources, and strategic advice. These and other tools will help them grow their businesses and engage with associations that can help magnify the voices of women entrepreneurs in civic life and channel their interests in the policy arena.
This project reflects a global strategy. USAID has funded similar entrepreneur-strengthening projects with great success in many countries and regions around the world. Our efforts have concentrated on strengthening the eco-system for female entrepreneurs, from reforming the policy framework to allow women to compete on equal footing with their male counterparts, to providing access to finance and venture capital. It includes mentoring and coaching by businessmen and women, integration with business associations, business incubation, and a host of other elements.
Comment
Make a general inquiry or suggest an improvement.