SHELTER-FACTORY OPENS IN CAMBODIA

December 12, 2003 – (BBC) A soya milk factory opened this week in Cambodia, with the twin aims of employing disadvantaged women and providing a valuable food source.

It is part of a new initiative aimed at supporting job creation in one of South East Asia's poorest countries.

The project in Phnom Penh has been launched by the World Bank, in partnership with the Swiss-based charity Hagar.

The factory has so far provided 40 Cambodians with jobs. Most are women who have been living in shelters.

Hagar has been operating such care programmes for the last nine years, but the soya milk factory marks a much more ambitious attempt to combine shelter with economic productivity.

It aims to produce 12,000 litres of soya milk a day, and as a new business, its sponsors hope that it will help reduce unemployment and plough profits back into the community.

"It will turn locally grown soya beans into a nutritious, delicious drink that is affordable for Cambodia's poor and often malnourished populations," said Hagar Director, Pierre Tami.

Technological transfer

The Cambodian government has welcomed the opening of the factory as a boost to the country's economy.

"The soya beans, which are the factory's major raw material, will all be locally grown, thereby creating a new market for rural farmers," said Suy Sem, the Cambodian Minister of Industry.

"Providing jobs for rural people is very important as this will reduce the flow of people to the city and ensure economic stability."

The project will also bring what is known as "technological transfer" - in this case, the introduction of a state-of-the-art packaging system, which will help develop the local industrial infrastructure and expertise.

Those involved in developing the factory say it is a pioneering project which offers a boost to a number of strands of development.

"There are strong technological, economic, and social aspects of this ground-breaking project that all come together to benefit Cambodia and its people," said the World Bank's Rob Wright.

"The model is one that deserves to be considered carefully for possible re-use in other economies where the poor and marginalized are often unable to find employment in the mainstream economy," he said.

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3314005.stm