Asia

In CAMBODIA, even more schools adopted career counselling as career counsellors who had received training from Finn Church Aid went on to train new counsellors in Battambang province. Career counselling has made it easier for students to make study plans and choose future careers. In addition, there have been improvements in the interactions between students and teachers as well as the cooperation between schools and parents.

There were 3,600 participants in training dedicated to land rights and family law and alternative dispute resolution (ADR). As a result the community members have become more active in participating in the ADR mechanism, and 84 per cent of the 728 conflict cases that were submitted by community members to Commune Mediation Committees were solved.

A total of 304 events were organised to reduce poverty, where members of the community engaged in discussion with local authorities on how to develop their communities.

Livelihoods and entrepreneurship were promoted through women’s agricultural cooperatives, savings groups, collective business groups, rice banks, water committees and producer groups. Poor girls and women living in remote areas received training in entrepreneurship and marketing.

Young volunteers from FCA’s Cambodia Changemaker Network campaigned about the importance of education.

In MYANMAR, two peace workshops brought together youth from different ethnic groups from the Shan and Kachin states. The Kachin and Muslim youth spent time together for the first time. These positive encounters changed how the youths felt about members of the other group. The peace workshops offered them a chance to study the fundamentals of peace work as well as negotiation and mediation skills. The aim is to consolidate the role of youth in the peace process, facilitate the collaboration of youth networks and strengthen the voice of women in peace work.

FCA continued supporting village groups and women’s groups and expanded operations to Rakhine State.

The Education in Emergencies (EiE) project in the internally displaced persons camps made it possible for 7,700 children to keep attending school. The project also promoted inclusion, meaning children with disabilities were able to access education.

FCA successfully initiated a workshop to create a common framework with the Ministry of Education and EiE sector partners for contextualizing and operationalizing the INEE Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies in Myanmar and to develop EiE capacity among stakeholders.

In NEPAL, the reconstruction of schools destroyed in the 2015 earthquake continued. In 2017, a total of 320 classrooms were built, and the school construction project was completed. All in all, FCA built 334 schools and 170 temporary school spaces in the areas affected by the earthquake. FCA also provided teachers with further training and psychosocial support for pupils.

FCA supported the realisation of the rights of freed bonded labourers and Dalits by organizing discussions between the groups and authorities and by providing access to services, identity documents and children’s education.

FCA continued providing assistance to women’s groups and cooperatives. Due to these efforts, last year 557 new small business were established, 287 of which were led by women.

Heavy monsoon rains caused devastating floods in Nepal’s low-lying tropical area in autumn of 2017. FCA initiated a project to repair school toilets and hand-washing facilities and distribute school supplies in the schools affected by the floods.