DanChurchAid
Cambodia
The right to food
As member of the United Nations all Cambodians are given the right to food as stipulated by Article 25 of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights .
The Food Security Programme is central to DanChurchAid's work. The livelihoods of rural poor people in Cambodia depend heavily on having access to, and use of, natural resources, especially land (mostly for growing rice), fisheries, (for fish, but also other aquatic resources) and forests (for a whole range of products).
| What is food security? |
|---|
| DanChurchAid defines food security as: "The right to adequate food is the right of all individuals, alone or in community with others, to enjoy physical and economic access to adequate, safe and nutritious food or the means for its procurement to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life." |
DanChurchAid will ensure that these livelihood strategies continue to help bring about food and income security to those living in poverty.
We aim to:
- Enhance the fulfilment of the consitutional right to food and sustainable livelihood systems for rural communities, particularly vulnerable groups and the disadvantaged (women-headed households and children).
Nutritious food and clean water
On an aggregate level, Cambodia's farms produce enough rice to sustain the population, yet access to food is seasonal and not assured for everyone (especially the very poor).
During the final 5 months before the rice harvest, families reportedly experience a “lean period,” and often households’ rice stocks dwindle to a point where they are forced to buy back rice that they had sold to the market after the previous harvest – a practice that many rural Cambodians view as the definition of poverty.
At the national level, however, the problem of most concern is not that Cambodians do not have enough food to eat, but that they do not eat enough nutritious food. There is also a significant lack of access to clean water resources. Only 70% of the population has adequate access to clean water and diarrhoeal diseases and gastrointestinal infections are common (and potentially deadly) illnesses among poor and remote communities.
The intervention areas
DanChurchAid's Food Security programme work in Cambodia is thus focussing on four intervention areas:
- Promotion of sustainable livelihood systems
- Nutrition
- Empowerment of the poor through organisation and awareness raising
- Advocacy on land rights.
More information about food security
Cambodia
RSS feed
