Social development: Improving access to good food by saving and investing together
In Cambodia, a healthy diet and social protection go hand in hand.
We’re in Mean Rith, a village in the province of Kampot in southern Cambodia, and it's feeding time in the back yard. 39-year-old farmer Tak Chanthy is surrounded by chickens and ducks. Just a few years ago, she wouldn’t have believed she could make a living for her family through poultry farming.
The support she needed to set up the business was provided by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, which is working to improve the nutritional situation of the Cambodian population on behalf of the German Development Ministry (BMZ). Unfortunately, many Cambodians do not have a balanced diet. There are many reasons for this, for example insufficient knowledge and lack of money to buy food. In order to bring about a lasting improvement, GIZ has teamed up with the NGO Reproductive and Child Health Alliance (RACHA) to address some of the underlying factors. The focus is on women. If women can access healthy food with the right nutrients, the whole family benefits.
Driving change through community-based saving
The fact that Tak Chanthy and her family now have enough money coming in is mainly due to a Saving for Change (SfC) group set up by GIZ. Around 20 women in her village have joined the group. Each one regularly puts in a small amount that she doesn’t need at the time. GIZ shows the women how to keep a set of accounts and how to develop their business. Every member of the group can borrow money from the communal savings when they need it – and on better terms than they would get from the bank. The group sets its own rules, and the interest earned from the savings is used to help fund projects that benefit the village as a whole.
There are now 53 savings groups like the one to which Tak Chanthy belongs. By helping each other to invest, the women also benefit in terms of economic self-determination. Their savings provide a social safety net in case of flooding and other natural disasters. As they also reduce the risk of poverty, the women can afford to buy more and better food, leading overall to a greater sense of food security. To date, over 1,300 members have saved and invested around 165,000 euros, supporting a total of 840 business ideas.
Tak Chanthy joined her savings group in October 2021 and borrowed roughly 400 euros to invest in her poultry farm. Within six months, the amount she earned went up considerably. That meant she could pay off the loan quickly and give her children a better education. She now runs the savings group and still thinks it’s a great idea: ‘I want to go on encouraging other women to join a group like this one. Not just to save money but to learn from each other, too - to support each other and that way to make life better for their families and communities.’
Improving food security through community-based investing
Food banks were another idea to emerge from discussions between savings group members. GIZ encourages the groups to invest their money jointly in start-ups that process surplus food and then sell the products. To help new businesses become established, GIZ also runs training courses on how to prepare this kind of food. The women now play an active role in ten start-ups. They began production in May 2023 and by December had made 17 tonnes of banana chips, mango leather and buffalo milk yoghurt, thus avoiding approximately 21 tonnes of food waste.
The products made by the start-ups are offered at a reduced price to families in the greatest need, to parents with children under the age of two and to pregnant and breast-feeding women. In this way, the food banks ensure that people in Cambodia can access cheap and nutritious food. All in all, it's a sustainable and holistic approach that benefits everyone.
Last update: February 2024