With the signatures of Yasethadavuth Davuth (l), vice chairman of Bandanh Chaktomok, and of Ron van Zeeland (r), chairman of Untenu Foundation, the Memorandum of Agreement is a fact. Both parties formalized their relationship for six months and intend to extend this for the rest of 2017 and 2018. Bandanh Chaktomok is now the official partner organization to work with Untenu on emergency aid for LGBTI’s living with HIV under poor conditions in Cambodia.
Untenu & BC Network
Untenu has a history of six years in Cambodia. It started informal and worked throughout the years with CPN Plus, CamASEAN and Bandanh Chaktomok (BC Network, the National MSM & TG Network Cambodia). BC network handled most emergency cases in 2016 and this year they expressed their wish to formalize our relationship.
For the first time Untenu signed an agreement where all the responsibilities, goal and objectives are stipulated. BC Network will receive an advance payment for the requests for aid and Untenu decides per help request on the basis of the agreed criteria. BC Network can now respond more quickly in cases of emergency because the money is no longer to be transferred per case is by Untenu.
BC Network receives at the end of the year USD 10 per settled case that one can use at their discretion, for example, to strengthen the organization or as a buffer for the coming year.
Plans for near future: education
As far as Untenu is concerned, this is the start of more plans. We share the vision of BC Network that emergency aid will remain necessary in future for vulnerable groups such as LHBTI’s living with HIV. But we also know that the best way forward is to learn skills so that they can support themselves.
Soon BC Network will summit a plan and budget to start with a short training program for LGBTI (with HIV) in Battambang. In a beauty salon one learns skills such as cutting hair and makeup. With relatively few resources, one must be able to provide for their own livelihood.
For the further future we are talking to social entrepreneurs to provide internships. Therefor we need to find larger funds to pay for education, clothing and food aid for our target group.
Dr. Vic
A big thank you from Untenu to dr. Vic Salas, who lives in Cambodia for many years. He is a free lance consultant and works with BC Network a lot. His presence and advice were really helpful.
Contribute
If you want to contribute to our work in Cambodia for LGBTI’s living with HIV in poverty in Cambodia, you can check our donation page, please click here. Donations can be done by PayPal, credit card or bank transfer. You can choose to donate a general gift, education programs or emergency aid.