After I worked for six months as an intern for the ILO’s Project to Promote ILO Policy on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples (PRO 169) in Geneva I am lucky enough to get a new assignment for the same project. For five weeks I will work as a consultant in Cambodia, with the objective to facilitate the establishment of an ILO technical cooperation project that aims at promoting the rights of indigenous peoples there.
The appeal of living in Geneva and working almost exclusively in front of a computer is completely exhausted for me and I am very happy to have the privilege of getting to work in the field again. And not just anywhere, but in Cambodia, the country which I fall in love with while working for the GTZ more than one year ago. I am also very satisfied with my assignment, which, while challenging, involves a wide range of activities that I like much better than anything I can do on a desk. Before I travel to Cambodia I have a few days off, which I use to visit my home in Potsdam, spending time with family and friends and for a short trip to the Baltic Sea.
On my way to Cambodia I will spend a week in Thailand for consultations with ILO staff in the sub-regional ILO office in Bangkok and with a number of international and regional NGOs working on the promotion of indigenous rights in Chiang Mai.
Hello Stefan,
I just red some things on your web-log and it seems you did an interesting job in Modulkiri. Do you think Sustainable Tourism can benefit the minorities in Cambodia?
I study Rural Development with a specialty on Sustainable Tourism at a University of Professional education in the Netherlands and I want to write my final thesis in Cambodia. For almost a year now, I am delving into Cambodia and trying to get in contact with useful partners. However, it is very hard to get in contact with the right people. Do you have any suggestions for me? Could you please reply to t.m.stevens@hotmail.com? Thanks in advance. Good luck with your carrier and enjoy life.
Greetings, Tim.
Hi Tim,
Good to hear from you and thanks for your kind message.
While this has not been the focus of my work I do think that sustainable tourism can benefit Cambodia’s minorities. However, this would be conditional on their rights being secured and respected. Since this is not the case and, to the contrary, these rights are trampled on, the net effect of tourism on minorities, sustainable or not, has been pretty negative by all standards.
Again, I am by no means an expert in this field, but it seems that Yak Lom Lake in Rattanakiri was at one point in time considered an early and fairly successful example of how sustainable tourism can benefit indigenous peoples, but this seems to have changed dramatically since then.
Anyways, a good starting point for getting in touch with the right people could be NGO Forum, an umbrella organization of NGOs operating in Cambodia:
http://www.ngoforum.org.kh/
They should be able to direct you to those of their member organizations and individuals with relevant activities and expertise.
Don’t hesitate to ask further questions if you think I could be helpful.
From your message, it is not clear to me whether or not you are already in Cambodia? Anyways, maybe I meet you there sometime next year, will arrive around March 2007.
Best of luck,
Stefan
PS: T.M. Stevens is also the name of a famous bass player I used to admire, but most likely that is not a relation?