Development and Partnership in Action (DPA) is a continuation of the programme of Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité (CIDSE), which began its involvement in Cambodia in 1979 immediately after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime. DPA began community management and development activities in Stung Treng Province in 2006, the previous proposal which outlined a programme to gain recognition for and implement community management rights and improve livelihoods in two communes (Sre Kor and Kamphun) in Sesan District, Stung Treng Province.

The first project phase will be completed in 2008. During the first phase, DPA has included natural resource management, community organisation, agricultural training and technology transfer, and capacity building of Village Development Committees (VDCs), Project Committees (PCs) as well as Village Volunteer Specialists (VVS). Increasing emphasis has been placed on encouraging project committees and village volunteers to manage their own development activities, health education, formal and non-formal education, indigenous people’s culture preservation and advocacy activities.

A survey done by DPA’s Stung Treng team and the DPA Expatriate Volunteer to assess the village situation examined village governance, agriculture, natural resource management, health and education issues and included participatory problem analysis with communities during village development planning workshops at village and district levels. The survey found that major problems faced currently include:

• High incidence of land-grabbing
• Loss of community forest due to forestry concession
• Scarcity of fish due to upstream dam building and illegal fishing (such as electrocuting fish, using hand-grenades and chemical poisons, etc),
• Food insecurity and vulnerability of poor households to agricultural impacts due to lack of access to appropriate agriculture technologies, lack of irrigation facilities and marketing issues.
• Low-level of access to health care facilities
• Children of poor family don’t have access to education
• Gradual loss of Prov and Phnong culture and tradition due to lack of documentation and influence of other cultures such as Khmer, Vietnamese, etc.