Chan Tha Becomes a Community Leader
Thirty-one year-old Chan Tha didn’t consider herself a leader.
The young mother of four worked as a farmer to grow food for her two sons and two daughters. Her husband, forty-two year-old Nong Vie, worked in construction and also unloaded trucks at Odong market.
Together, they got by, but didn’t think of themselves as role models for others in their Cambodian community.
Then CRWRC’s partner, Communities for Transformation (CFT) began working in Svay Pork Village where Chan Tha and Nong Vie live. They encouraged people to meet and work together to improve their community. One of the important first steps was to identify community leaders who could receive training and also ensure that initiatives were meeting the needs and involving all community members.
"In 2005, CFT conducted a community meeting to select community leaders. My fellow villagers nominated me to stand for election and I was one of the five people elected to lead and develop our community," recalls Chan Tha. "I am committed to doing this work well."
Her commitment is evident. After long days of working in her fields and caring for her children, Chan Tha often spends her evenings talking with her neighbors to organize a meeting or mobilize support for a new initiative.
Under the leadership of community leaders like Chan Tha, the community is using its own resources to improve health, start savings-based loans, and increase agricultural production.
“It is sometimes difficult for me because people do not understand the benefits of development and say unkind things to me. I just keep smiling and working on it until I see success,” said Chan Tha.
After five years in this role, others began noticing the community improvements as well. In June 2010, the commune chief called a village meeting and appointed Chan Tha to be the new deputy village chief.
"With this new job I am even busier. I need to know what is happening in the village, be involved in community meetings and solve conflicts in the community," said Chan Tha. "But I am very happy to work for my community and to see people living in improved conditions with less sickness, violence and other problems. I am grateful that CRWRC and CFT came to provide hope to my community and help us to develop."
This story is the last of four stories this month about CRWRC's work in training local leaders - a key aspect of CRWRC's work in community development. To view all of the stories, visit the CRWRC’s newsroom at Leadership stories.
Chronicling CRWRC’s development of leaders around the globe, the stories come in the wake of the CRWRC learning that its proposal for $1.1M of funding from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) was turned down; this funding was a crucial part of CRWRC's budget each year. CRWRC's community development programs - which include capacity-building - could be adversely affected now and in the future. Help communities reap the benefits of CRWRC's programs, now and in the years to come.
Join the harvest today and help many Chan Tha's and their families reap the benefits of CRWRC’s programming.
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