Cambodia (2021 Deadline)
Understand the management and support for the Anlong Svay Protected Area Community
PI: Samnang Nguon (sam@rua.edu.kh), Ecosystem Services and Land Use Research Center, Royal University of Agriculture
Project Dates: May 2022 – June 2023
Project Overview:
 | | PEER team conducting community interviews. Photo credit Dr. Nguon |
This project will apply a mixed methodology of qualitative and quantitative approaches. The PI and his team will carry out a needs assessment to identify the main priorities for the community to improve its management. The workplan will be implemented in three stages. First, a questionnaire survey will be developed to interview key persons (chief of community and relevant stakeholders who helped create the protected area community) to understand the whole process of management in the community. Another questionnaire will be designed to interview community members to understand their perceptions of community management (advantages and disadvantages). Last but not least, focus group discussions will be conducted to identify the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of the community and collect suggestions to resolve the main challenges. Second, a questionnaire survey will be designed to interview tourists who have visited the community in order to understand their willingness to pay for the services of the community and identify areas in which the community could improve. Third, the results of the study will be disseminated to the community, including recommendations on improvements that the community should consider implementing. Moreover, a short training will be provided to relevant community stakeholders and/or members based on the findings of the needs assessment.
Project updates
During January-March 2023 reporting period, the project team completed some significant number of activities. The team and student interns collaborated on refining the questionnaires again in the first week of January 2023, following collection of in-depth data from Anlong Svay Community Protected Area members in the first round and simplifying some questions for the next round of interviews.
The team and student interns worked on coding and adding the questions to an excel file for data entry in the second week of January 2023. The team met with the student interns to explain more about how to use the excel file for data entry, and then the student interns started entering the data simultaneously. The student interns continued with data entry; the team also gave daily guidance and supervision to the student interns on their tasks.
In the first week of February 2023, the team and one student intern revised the google form for online survey of tourists who visited Anlong Svay Community Protected Area before. The team prepared the activity plan and logistics for the final data collection mission. Additionally, the team designed a banner for the ECOLAND team and community activities to put up at the community office. In the 2nd and 3rd week of February 2023, one field supervisor and three student interns finished interviewing community members and conducting a focus group discussion (FGD). During the third week of February 2023, USAID and NAS representatives visited the ECOLAND team and conducted a site visit in the Anlong Svay Community Protected Area to meet with the community representatives.
The data entry process was carried out by the team and student interns. In March the team posted an online survey on the ECOLAND Facebook page to invite former visitors of Anlong Svay Community Protected Area to share their opinions on the community’s Eco-tourism services. The project team and student interns also collaborated on transcribing the information gathered from the FGD in Anlong Svay Community Protected Area. The student interns prepared individual presentation for their preliminary results under the supervision of the team as a mentor. They presented their findings and the benefits of their internship in PEER-CAMBODIA to ECOLAND team on March 31st. Data entry and analysis are expected to be finished by the end of April, followed by several community training events in May with final activities to be completed by June, 2023.
 |  | | USAID (Aaron Burr) and NAS (Lina Stankute Alexander) visit PEER PI Samnang Nguon and his team who has been working with Phnom Anlong Svay Community Protected area's local community. February 2023, Cambodia | Preparing for presentation |
 |  |  | | PEER team members | PEER Team's students and NAS | Community leaders talk about their needs and goals |
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