| [00:00.10] |
From VOA Learning English, |
| [00:02.74] |
this is the Education Report. |
| [00:05.76] |
Cambodia has about 3,000 recognized non-profit groups. |
| [00:11.96] |
Some work on issues such as violence |
| [00:15.47] |
against women and human trafficking. |
| [00:18.49] |
But few Cambodians are trained for such work. |
| [00:22.75] |
That is now changing with the country's first |
| [00:26.57] |
university-level degree program for social workers. |
| [00:30.93] |
Yoeung Kimheng grew up near the city of Phnom Penh, |
| [00:35.19] |
he saw troubling social problem, |
| [00:38.39] |
but few people were in a position to help. |
| [00:41.73] |
Now, thanks to the university program, |
| [00:45.14] |
he himself may soon be equipped to help. |
| [00:48.46] |
He has finished a four-year program |
| [00:51.32] |
in the Department of Social Work |
| [00:53.38] |
at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. |
| [00:56.28] |
His class is set to graduate later this year, |
| [01:00.59] |
it would be the second graduating class for the department. |
| [01:04.95] |
23-year-old Heng Puthika was part of the first graduating class. |
| [01:11.12] |
Now, he has found a job at Transitions Global, |
| [01:14.97] |
a non-government organization |
| [01:17.38] |
that works with victims of human trafficking. |
| [01:21.07] |
Social workers often work with people |
| [01:23.92] |
who have suffered emotional damage. |
| [01:26.68] |
Yet, until the University started the department in 2008, |
| [01:31.83] |
there was no degree-level program in Cambodia |
| [01:35.80] |
for training social workers. |
| [01:38.19] |
Outreach groups have traditionally depended on foreign experts |
| [01:43.46] |
or largely untrained local staff who learned on the job. |
| [01:48.98] |
Ung Kimkanika is a faculty member in the department. |
| [01:53.54] |
"So I think to have the situation is Cambodian, |
| [01:57.18] |
and only Cambodian or Khmer people |
| [01:59.10] |
would understand well about the situation," said Kimkanika. |
| [02:02.10] |
The Department of Social Work |
| [02:04.50] |
at the Royal University of Phnom Penh |
| [02:06.95] |
has a partnership with the School of Social Work |
| [02:10.46] |
at the University of Washington in Seattle. |
| [02:13.97] |
Through that partnership, |
| [02:15.77] |
Ung Kimkanika and other Cambodian students |
| [02:19.46] |
went to the United States to study and earn Master's degrees. |
| [02:24.08] |
Now, they've come back and are teaching other students. |
| [02:28.44] |
Kim Chanravey was part of the first graduating class last year, |
| [02:34.40] |
now she works with Hagar International, |
| [02:38.05] |
a group that helps abused women and girls. |
| [02:41.95] |
Her supervisor at Hagar, Wei Wang, |
| [02:45.42] |
praised the graduates working for her group. |
| [02:48.42] |
"I think that with a four-year degree behind you, |
| [02:53.39] |
you have more of the theoretical foundation. |
| [02:55.54] |
You have a better understanding of how to look at things holistically |
| [03:02.51] |
and assess things from a community strength-based approach. |
| [03:07.61] |
Whereas if you have to train on the job, |
| [03:10.51] |
a lot of time it's fairly haphazard |
| [03:12.22] |
because you're trying to get somebody to do something fairly difficult |
| [03:16.37] |
but you only have two trainings, |
| [03:18.33] |
rather than four years of solid foundation," said Wei Wang. |
| [03:21.13] |
The social work program at the Royal University of Phnom Penh |
| [03:26.16] |
will likely become even more important in the coming months. |
| [03:30.21] |
A war crimes court is nearing the end of one part of a case |
| [03:36.07] |
against former Khmer Rouge leaders. |
| [03:39.22] |
Faculty member Ung Kimkanika says the decision of the court |
| [03:44.65] |
could bring back bad memories among survivors of the Khmer's rules. |
| [03:50.52] |
And that's the Education Report from VOA Learning English. |
| [03:55.97] |
I'm Avi Arditti. |