Lom Orng was established in 1994 to provide vocational training to landmine survivors and other disabled people. Over that time we’ve evolved the skills offered in line with a changing employment market. We’ve also enlarged our target group beyond ‘disability’—to include any poor, young, vulnerable Cambodians who have not had the chance of training through which they could find a decent job, and generate an income for themselves.
In this project, LO will provide training in four courses:
- Plumbing
- Masonry / brickwork
- Welding
- Electrical
We will start in Pursat and Battambang provinces. LO will select vulnerable young women and men (aged 17 to 35) from poor smallholder families, and train them in one of the above skills. On completion of training, they’ll be sent to work as apprentices with experienced tradespeople, to improve their skills and give them work experience. LO will broker this arrangement, as young graduates may lack the initial confidence to do so. We will negotiate a fair salary for them in this ‘bridging’ period, till they’re confident to work independently.
The above-listed skills have been chosen because they’re in high demand. This is because the Cambodian construction sector continues to boom, even in the countryside. Demand for brickwork, metal work, concreting, and electrical and plumbing work, continues to grow throughout the country. Cambodia is developing. Many Cambodian rural villages have electricity, piped water and good access roads, which all contribute to raising living standards.
The trend in construction in Cambodia is for metal to replace wood. We envisage it will continue this way, as wood is getting scarce. Across the Cambodian countryside can be seen: new home building; home improvements; installation and repair of toilets; homes being connected to water and sewerage; improved walkways, and concreting around houses; building of workshops, warehouses, etc. A Cambodian middle class is emerging.
With all this going on, employment demand in the construction sector is very high, and the country is running short of skilled workers. So big companies are importing them from China, India, Nepal, Thailand and other countries. Meanwhile, low-skilled locals are migrating to Thailand to work in the agriculture or fisheries sectors (often to get exploited).
This project is partnership with local contractors, who have guaranteed jobs for our trainees on completion of their training.
To get the ball rolling, LO has set up its own subcontracting teams in Pursat and Battambang to take on small- and medium-sized construction projects. This is to (i) respond to the shortage of local subcontractors; (ii) provide workplaces that will soon be needed by our graduates; and (iii) generate income for the scheme.
This is the training planned for year 2022-2023:
- Plumbers: 60 persons (30 men and 30 women)
- Masons / bricklayers: 200 persons (130 men and 70 women)
- Welders: 100 persons (50 men and 50 women)
- Electricians: 40 persons (20 men and 20 women)
This is a total of 400 young Cambodian men and women.