In its recent history, Cambodia has suffered from every modern malady that could afflict a developing country: war, terrorism, genocide, foreign occupation, poverty, environmental degradation, human rights abuses and landmines (four million estimated in an area of 181,000 square kilometres.). A small, agricultural country nestled among Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, Cambodia has also been the site of one of the largest and most complex UN peacekeeping operations ever: The United Nations Transition Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC).
But the successful, if faltering, completion of UNTAC was only the beginning of what promises to be a long process of reconstruction and rehabilitation for Cambodia and its people. It is a process that continues to be dogged by political instability, armed violence, and the presence of murderous Khmer Rouge guerrillas, who control some 10% to 15% of the territory.

Added to these are the daunting development challenges facing Cambodia. The economy and social services, including health, water, and sanitation, are in ruins; environmental problems, including massive deforestation and watershed destruction, are exacerbated by the war; commitments to human rights and democracy are fragile; and finally women remain second-class citizens, though they make up nearly 65% of the country's workforce and head 35% of its households.

In the context of a foreign policy that seeks to promote prosperity, security, and Canadian values abroad, Canada's development assistance objectives in Cambodia are simple and straightforward: to support humanitarian efforts and contribute to building the country's institutional and human capacity. To help achieve these aims, the Canadian International Development Agency is funding the six year $7.8 million Canada-Cambodia Development Program (CCDP), run by a consortium of Canadian NGOs working in Cambodia.

CCDP is Canada's largest and most active ODA initiative in Cambodia. Its projects focus on strengthening the management and technical capacities of local and district level Cambodian institutions in the fields of agriculture, health, and education. As a part of its strategy, CCDP also promotes the advancement of rural women in Cambodia and seeks to raise awareness among Canadians of Cambodia's needs. It is a program that seems always mindful of, and attentive to, the special circumstances that prevail in a country whose recent history is notable mostly for violence and atrocities.

Note, for instance the Kandal Agricultural and Development Project funded by CCDP and implemented by World Vision. It is a project that began in a climate of mistrust among people, many of whom had been jailed, tortured or killed due to false reports by their neighbours or relatives while under interrogation by the Khmer Rouge. It is a project that established Rice Banks, Seed Banks, and Farmers Clubs that enabled people to pool their resources to help those in need, all this in an environment where the term "cooperative" had come to mean forced labour on projects where thousands died of exhaustion and hard labour.

In short, the tradition of helping each other at the village level had been shattered by the wars. This changed in the Kandal Stung District of Kandal Province where the Agricultural and Development Project was undertaken. In the four year life of the project the people began to work together to increase rice production. The success of the project is evident by the fact that after the Mekong River overflowed recently, flooding the area, the farmers of Kandal not only had food to eat but seeds for replanting after the floods subsided. They had become self sufficient and in the process had begun to trust each other again.

A similar example of people caring for each other anew is the story of a widow in Tramkok District of Takeo Province where the Mennonite Central Committee implemented a project funded by the CCDP called the Community Forestry Project. The project was designed to enable the people of the district to establish village nurseries to reforest their denuded land. Village Development Committees (VDCs) were established to manage both nurseries and rice banks.

The woman had land that was not sufficient to meet her family's needs; moreover a portion of that land was being held by a relative against a $7 debt. Unable to pay back her last instalment to the VDC, she was refused a further loan of $7 to clear her debt with the relative and reclaim her land. The villagers then raised the $7 for her at the request of the VDC, and the widow was once again able to fully use her land, raise enough food for her children and proudly pay back the loan to the VDC. To paraphrase one of the CCDP's members, as the land is being reforested, so are the people beginning to renew their care for each other.