The Foreign Service Journal, December 2018

46 DECEMBER 2018 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL In the Field w with w USAID FSNs After the Flood: Reducing Hunger and Improving Lives in Cambodia n BY TONH MOK In 2011 heavy rains caused major flooding in Cambodia, destroy- ing infrastructure, creating waterlogged rice fields and leaving cra- ter-sized bodies of water over three-quarters of the country. The United Nations estimated that 1.2 million people were affected. When the flood hit Cambodia, I was living in Siem Reap, one of Cambodia’s poorest provinces and home to our greatest histori- cal monument, Angkor Wat. Residents suffered severely from the flood’s impact, and I learned firsthand how critical it is for communities to quickly recover from food insecurity and poverty. I knew then that I wanted to be part of a development project that would directly improve living conditions. In early 2011, USAID started a new food security initiative called Feed the Future in Cambodia, and in September 2012 I was hired to work with the Food Security and Environment team to co-manage a number of its activities. Feed the Future’s goal was to reduce hunger and poverty, while looking at ways to maintain sustainable uses of natural resources. The project teamworked closely with smallholder farmers, poor households, women, youth and communities to help them better Farmers in Cambodia are working as part of the Feed the Future program, which supports small farms through difficult times caused by flood or drought. COURTESYOFUSAID ON FSN PERSPECTIVES FOCUS