The Girl-Child and Government Service Provision.pdf - Tanzania ...

facility but also with staff members who work directly withchildren (for example, teachers, community health workers,staff from the district Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Ministryof Social Affairs).SamplingLocation ABanan district is one of 12 districts of Battambang, a provincelocated in northwestern Cambodia. 4 Currently, theBanan Area Development Programme (ADP) targets threeout of eight communes of Banan district, Snoeng, Takreamand Kanteu I, with a population of 35,779 in 7,007 families.From 2001 to 2005 the number of project targets will beincreased to six communes, which will reach a populationof 54,053 people in 10,709 families, 66 per cent of the totaldistrict population. 5 Prolonged civil war, which ended in1996, political unrest, and recent drought have adverselyaffected the area. Land mines are one legacy which, besidesfrom the human cost, reduce opportunity for farming. Soilsbecome less fertile because of long abandonment and/orinappropriate uses. Irregular rainfall and drought have alsocaused agricultural production, particularly of the rice crop,to be desperately low.Infrastructures such as roads, irrigation systems, schoolbuildings and health clinics are in poor condition. Socialservices are inferior. The situation has adversely affectedhealth, education and the economic and social developmentof the whole community. For example, over 40per cent of school-age children are out of school for reasonsthat include poor financial support from their families;lack of or poor school facilities; and poor services availablefrom teachers. Immunisation has also been inadequateamong children under five years of age. 6Location BPrasath Ballang district, located in the north of KampongThom province, has a population of 45,200. Its 129.96 hectaresis divided for use into 11.696 hectares for agriculture,27.292 hectares for resettlement and 90.972 for forestry.The district was directly affected by the civil war whichcaused widespread poverty and devastated its human resourcesand infrastructure. World Vision Cambodia hasbeen working in Kampong Thom province since October1993, initially providing emergency assistance to internallydisplaced people (IDP). Now, there are three ADPs, includingPrasath Ballang. The heavy logging of the forest lands hasresulted in deforestation, causing increased soil erosion;depleted forest resources for local use; and destroyed thehabitat. The area is also susceptible to flooding, and in 1999there was a major flood which destroyed rice and vegetableproduction and infrastructure, such as water gates,canals, dams and roads. Flooding in 2000 also destroyedrice seedling, roads and dams in a large area. The district issubject to the effects of drought and flood more than theother two locations and accessing markets to sell producebeyond the province is a greater challenge.Location CIn 2002 Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, had an estimatedpopulation of 1.2 million; it is about 16 times the sizeof the second largest city, Battambang. The population ofPhnom Penh is growing at a faster rate than the populationin the country overall, with an estimated 8 per cent perannum (3 per cent migration rate and 5 per cent naturalincrease). Of the estimated 1.2 million persons in PhnomPenh in 2002, approximately 19 per cent were classified asurban poor (or approximately 215,000 people). 7 SangkatSteung Meanchey, the location of the survey sample, containsa significant concentration of urban poor families. In2002 it consisted of seven villages with a population of37,138, including 5,590 permanent and 797 temporaryfamilies. There were 18,979 children under the age of 18;11,372 are girls. An estimated 44 per cent of the populationwas under the age of 15 in 2000, and approximately 15per cent of the population was between five and nineyears of age. Stated another way, there were approximately16,300 children below 15 years of age in the ADPtarget area, and one-third were between five and nineyears old. In a recent survey conducted by the UrbanResource Centre in Phnom Penh, 8 a typical poor urbanhousehold size is approximately six persons, 17 per centof these households are headed by women, and womenare the majority of the population (54 per cent). Thehousehold size is similar to the national average, but thereappears to be slightly more females in these poor settlementsthan the national figure of 53 per cent. Urban poorworkers are predominately unskilled, for example, taxidrivers (men) and street sellers (women) along with somefactory workers. The average daily household income isUS$3.20. UN-HABITAT suggests that half the urban poorare functionally illiterate.12 The Girl-Child and Government Service Provision