The
Pursat Provincial Resource Center was created with the financial support of
Canada within the Pursat Provincial Program (PPP) of the Canadian Cambodian
Development Program (CCDP). The 1st phase was from 1993-1997 and was
supervised by OCSD-Oxfam-Québec. The 2nd phase from 1997-2002 is now
in the hands of Bois-de-Boulogne College. The college is the lead agency
responsible for human resources in the PPP. The PPRC is considered a local,
non-governmental organization. The newly formed Board of the PPRC is fully operational
and includes the governor of the province of Pursat.
The head of the Art and Culture
department, Mao Sophorn, serves as President of the Board and is quite involved
in its activities. The center is conveniently located at the intersection of
the main route, going from Phnom Penh to Battambang, and the river. It is
surrounded by a lovely garden and is a pleasant place to stay.
Sectors
of intervention 
The
PPRC offers some specific training in fields such as computers, English, and
sometimes accounting and management. Also, the center offers general
documentation on diverse subjects like health, history, religion, agriculture,
and management. The literature is offered mainly in English and Khmer, and a
few are in French. They also offer a section for students, containing books on
topics such as mathematics, writing skills, geography, etc. Cultural activities
in traditional domains such as music, poem reading, and dance are also taught
by the PPRC every week.
The Staff members
The PPRC has few employees: a director, the
director’s assistant, and a librarian. They put so much effort into their work,
however, that there is little need to have a larger staff, as the customer’s
needs are more than adequately met.
Mr. Benly Bong has been the director of the center since its creation.
Being quite a leap from anything else he had done, he was determined to do the
best possible job, thus took numerous courses on the side to continually
improve his performance.
The two other people, a gardener
and a maid, are also part of the permanent personnel. The center hired teachers
in fields such as computers, English, and management. The director and his
assistant also teach computers. With regards to the cultural activities,
employees of the ministry of Arts and Culture offer their services to help and
do their part for the center and for their community.
The
building 
The PPRC’s building belongs to the ministry
of Arts and Culture and contains three different rooms, one of which is divided
into a library section and a computers section. The smallest room is used for
English training and the 3rd is large enough to play host to the
cultural activities.
Computer science
To accommodate the people of the region who
cannot go during the week, the center offers more personalized data processing
classes after which a certificate is handed out to the students who have
successfully achieved the learning objectives of the class. The young adults of
the region seem to get the most out of the classes, because it is they who are
the civil servants of the 20 ministries of the Pursat region and who are the
employees of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of Pursat.
The English courses
These are
given to both young children and adults, and have been taught by the same
dynamic teacher since the start.
The
documentation section 
The center has around 14,000
books; they are mostly in English, some in Khmer, and very few are in French.
The PPRC is the only institution that offers library-like services to the
region. Furthermore, this sector remains under-developed and can be improved in
the future. The clientele that uses the documentation services are mostly young
adults, the NGO staff, the women of the region, the employees of the
ministries, and the students.
The
cultural sector
The director of the ministry of Arts
and Culture supplies the equipment required for the activities. The young ones
come to have fun while they learn to dance and play traditional music.
Recently, the youngsters have given small shows, which have made them more
respected in the Pursat community.
The center’s goals
First, they help
develop people’s basic skills in English, computers, and data processing.
Second, they provide pertinent documentation to the population of the region to
improve their knowledge and to find answers to their questions. Third, they
expand academic skills and augment the reading capacities of the students.
Finally, they diminish the youth crime rate by drawing young people into the
cultural milieu such as Khmer dances, music, and poems in order to guide them
in the right direction.
The Revenues
The sectors of the cultural activities and
documentation have almost no income because of the minimal fees that are
required to obtain a “library” card. The main source of income comes from the
training sector. However, for the English courses, the income barely covers the
center’s costs (hiring teachers). The classes in computers give the PPRC their
net income. The students can pay the expenses in several payments. The PPRC is
considered to be very lenient towards those that have minimal family income.
The PPRC is a local NGO and does not expect
to operate like an enterprise with a lucrative goal, since it would lose
clientele.
Until March 2002, Canada will continue to financially support the
PPRC, especially in terms of paying staff salaries. Bois-de-Boulogne College
and CIDA will both continue to act as the bridge between Canada and the PPRC.
New
experience
From the start, the PPRC has been supported by Canada, with the
help of CIDA. In the fall of 1998, supplementary funds were obtained from
UNDP/Carere following the acceptance of a project that had been proposed by the
PPRC. These funds enabled the employees of the ministries to pursue a training
program in English and in computers without the obligation of paying fees.
This, of course, attracted new clientele and helped to boost the PPRC’s
reputation even higher.
The
income of the PPRC is estimated at a near $9,400 US. The expenditures are close
to $21,000 US. The Canadian help provided by Bois-de-Boulogne College and CIDA
filled their deficit.
The development
plan 
The following
few suggestions may help to improve the PPRC in the future:
a)
the center could increase its local
publicity
b)
it could hang banners and posters on public
grounds to make the PPRC’s activities known to everyone
c)
the center could improve ties between
itself and the local schools
d)
it could be useful to organize a symposium
on the development of human resources in order to better inform the population
of the importance of training programs
e)
the center could develop ways to research
topics on the Internet to make information more accessible than just in books
f) it could allow young students who obtain
exceptional school marks and who’s family does not have a high income, to
follow basic training in computers
g) the center could offer English conversation
workshops in which a guest speaker would deal with current topics and issues
The importance
of the PPRC in the community
The PPRC has played an importance role in
the development of human resources of the region.
1) The PPRC plays a vital role in the propagation of knowledge either by its
sector of documentation or by its training sector
2) Around 60 people receives specific training in computers each semester
and about the same number also receive English training for a year
3) The proposed development projects of the future could allow the PPRC to
play an even bigger active role in the community
The PPRC has a very good
reputation
The threat imposed by the absence of funding 
In order to continue its activities, the
PPRC needs exterior help. The Pursat community is not ready to take charge of
the PPRC’s development; it is impossible to manage a training center and to
make it autonomous in a corner of the world where the development is low.
Furthermore, the budget of most families is insufficient, and consequently they
don’t see their education as a priority. No public organization is capable of
offering the same services. Until March 2002, Canada assures the survival of
the PPRC.
Without sponsors, and without financial help, the PPRC will not survive.
We could manage the PPRC in an effective manner, but the PPRC is an NGO and, as
such, cannot have as its goal to make money. It must adjust itself in order to
answer to the needs expressed by the people.
If you would like to help the PPRC continue
to provide essential services for the Pursat community, please click on the
image bellow
