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From VOA Learning English, |
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this is the Education Report. |
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Cambodia has about 3,000 recognized non-profit groups. |
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Some work on issues such as violence |
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against women and human trafficking. |
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But few Cambodians are trained for such work. |
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That is now changing with the country's first |
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university-level degree program for social workers. |
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Yoeung Kimheng grew up near the city of Phnom Penh, |
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he saw troubling social problem, |
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but few people were in a position to help. |
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Now, thanks to the university program, |
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he himself may soon be equipped to help. |
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He has finished a four-year program |
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in the Department of Social Work |
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at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. |
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His class is set to graduate later this year, |
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it would be the second graduating class for the department. |
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23-year-old Heng Puthika was part of the first graduating class. |
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Now, he has found a job at Transitions Global, |
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a non-government organization |
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that works with victims of human trafficking. |
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Social workers often work with people |
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who have suffered emotional damage. |
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Yet, until the University started the department in 2008, |
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there was no degree-level program in Cambodia |
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for training social workers. |
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Outreach groups have traditionally depended on foreign experts |
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or largely untrained local staff who learned on the job. |
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Ung Kimkanika is a faculty member in the department. |
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"So I think to have the situation is Cambodian, |
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and only Cambodian or Khmer people |
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would understand well about the situation," said Kimkanika. |
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The Department of Social Work |
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at the Royal University of Phnom Penh |
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has a partnership with the School of Social Work |
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at the University of Washington in Seattle. |
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Through that partnership, |
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Ung Kimkanika and other Cambodian students |
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went to the United States to study and earn Master's degrees. |
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Now, they've come back and are teaching other students. |
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Kim Chanravey was part of the first graduating class last year, |
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now she works with Hagar International, |
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a group that helps abused women and girls. |
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Her supervisor at Hagar, Wei Wang, |
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praised the graduates working for her group. |
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"I think that with a four-year degree behind you, |
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you have more of the theoretical foundation. |
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You have a better understanding of how to look at things holistically |
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and assess things from a community strength-based approach. |
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Whereas if you have to train on the job, |
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a lot of time it's fairly haphazard |
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because you're trying to get somebody to do something fairly difficult |
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but you only have two trainings, |
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rather than four years of solid foundation," said Wei Wang. |
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The social work program at the Royal University of Phnom Penh |
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will likely become even more important in the coming months. |
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A war crimes court is nearing the end of one part of a case |
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against former Khmer Rouge leaders. |
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Faculty member Ung Kimkanika says the decision of the court |
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could bring back bad memories among survivors of the Khmer's rules. |
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And that's the Education Report from VOA Learning English. |
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I'm Avi Arditti. |
