UNIAP's Rapid Response Alliance in Cambodia

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The Rapid Response Alliance | Increased Vulnerabilty | RRA Activities

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Rapid Response Alliance Activites

Networking
A key to the RRA's effective response is the ability of member groups to refer the people we're helping to the right service at the right time.

Regular meetings of Alliance members are held to remove referral barries. These meetings provide a forum for members to keep one another informed on individual initiatives and services as well as the scope of the problems they are seeing.

The Rapid Response Alliance relies on cooperation to be effective. The network is continuing to expand as partnerships are developed with government, agencies, and private sector. A broader network allows the Alliance to expand effective delivery of servies offered to vulnerable populations.

Micro-credit | Micro-finance
Low-interest person-person loans to cover costs while enrolled in RRA vocational training programs (micro-credit / partnership signed between AMK and Vittana Foundation). As a result of this partnership the first student loans have been made available as of December 2009.

GFC Hotline
Since the GFC Hotline was initiated in September 2009, word has spread among factory workers and by the beginning of December 2009, over 350 callers have een assisted with:

• information and referrals to vocational training programs offered by Yejj, Open Arms, Hagar (including child care, IT, computer, cooking, beautician, housekeeping, interpersonal skills courses, typing);
• one-one service and often including meeting with callers to help them overcome fears of asking for help
• referrals to other hotlines, such as Anti-human trafficking, HIV/AIDS, and Child Safety
• tips and techniques that cover some basic financial education to assist vulnerable people with coping in a difficult financial time;
• information on alternative livelihoods which involves referring callers to the Ministry of Labour, National Technical Training Institute (NTTI) Regional job Centre where they are provided training and job assessments
• referrals to private sector partners interested in their corporate social responsibility and who have commited to hiring those referred by the Hotline
• GFC hotline information sheet distributed to organizations to provide organizations with information about the hotline

Precious Girl Magazine
In 2009, 100,000 issues of Precious Girl Magazine were distributed to garment factory workers as a means of reaching out and providing specific, targetted information on reducing spending, alternative livelihoods through vocational training, and true stories;

Planning has already begun on a second edition of Precious Girl Magazine with the same distribution of 100 000 issues where the magazine's themes cover financial education, safe migration, alternative livelihood options, safety in the city, and how to access health care.

Multi-media & radio
A television talk show has been broadcast 4 times on 3 different channels all prior to Cambodia's Anti Human Trafficking Day on December 12.

In addition to television broadcasts, 14 radio talk-shows were organized, 12 of which have been rebroadcast. Each show focussed on family financial literacy on topics like:

• the cycle of the financial needs in a family
• steps and priorities of financial needs in a family
• overall income sources and expenditures of a family
• root causes of rich and poor family
• potential risks that a family always faces
• common risk coping mechanisms of the rich and the poor