Projects

Projects

In recent and current projects, IDE has worked with rural enterprises and households in the following areas:

Agriculture

Cambodia Agribusiness Development Facility
Treadle pumps
Drip irrigation systems
Improved fertilizer technology
Farm Business Advisors
Vegetable transport and storage
Rice weeders
Cool storage

Water and Sanitation

Ceramic Water Purifiers
Sanitary latrines
Hand pumps

Sanitation Marketing

The Sanitation Marketing Pilot Project was launched in Cambodia in October 2009, aiming to have over 10,000 toilets purchased and installed by households in rural villages over a period of 18 months. The project is funded by USAID Cambodia MSME and the Water and Sanitation Program of the World Bank and is implemented by IDE Cambodia.

Rural households are encouraged to stop open defecation and invest their own resources in a sanitary latrine. The project includes the introduction of attractive and affordable latrine designs (developed with support from IDEO, a major U.S.-based design firm); humorous and edgy village-level social marketing campaigns inspired by the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach; and strengthening of enterprises in the local latrine supply chain. After seven months of field work, more than 3,000 latrines have been purchased. Click here to learn more about the Sanitation Marketing program.

“Avon Ladies” for Vegetables

IDE is helping small rural entrepreneurs to bundle good quality agricultural inputs with competent technical advice, turning agricultural extension into a profitable business.

Tapping the market – sustainable delivery of clean drinking water

Less than one third of Cambodians have access to clean water and water-borne disease is a leading cause of child mortality, lost productivity, and poverty.

In response, IDE introduced a simple, low-cost ceramic water filter that allows families to produce safe water in their own homes.

IDE established local production capacity and conducted extensive field tests of the filter’s performance. A business plan was developed for national promotion and distribution, which includes supply chain capacity building and social marketing campaigns to create demand for the filters.

More than 140,000 water filters have been distributed and users—especially women—have benefited from improved family health, time savings, expense savings, and fewer work and school days lost due to illness.

New and replacement filters are available through a sustainable network of private manufactures, distributors, and retailers.

Click here for Ceramic Water Purifier Resources, including retailer locations and instructions for use.

Cambodia Agribusiness in the land of Angkor Wat

Since July 2005, IDE has cooperated with New Zealand Aid to establish the Cambodia Agribusiness Development Facility (CADF) in Siem Reap and Bantheay Meanchey provinces. The Facility provides analysis and business development services for micro and small enterprises in agricultural value chains. Improved efficiency, technical knowledge, and business practice opens up more and higher value markets for poor Siem Reap farmers.

How IDE distributed 30,000 pumps without spending a cent on hardware

Many rural households have low incomes because their livelihood depends almost exclusively on low-yielding rice production. They lack a reliable source of irrigation that would enable them to diversify into more nutritious and marketable fruits and vegetables.

Starting in 1994, IDE established a network of more than 300 enterprises that manufacture, distribute, and install manual pumps. Creative rural marketing activities encouraged more than 30,000 small farmers to invest in hand pumps and foot-operated treadle pumps with significant impacts on household livelihoods.

Pump users gained convenient access to water for household consumption and for productive uses such as animal rearing, home gardens, and cash crops earning an average net additional income of $75 per season. The top ten percent earn more than $175 per season.

For each dollar of donor funds invested in the project, rural households invested $1.20 of their own resources and received a net benefit of $3.50. A functioning value chain has been left in place so that benefits will continue to accrue.