MENU
back
en
Since 2018, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) has made digital development a priority for economic and social development in response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The Pentagonal Strategy, Cambodia's long-term socio-economic plan, identifies human resources and technology as one of its focus areas. The Digital Economy and Social Policy Framework of Cambodia 2021-2035 sets out a long-term vision for building a vibrant digital economy and society by laying the foundations for promoting digital adoption and transformation across all sectors.
Despite this, Cambodians still have low levels of digital literacy, resulting in limited digital adoption and use. There is an urgent need to build digital literacy for all citizens, as well as training in essential soft skills, to promote more effective interactions in the digital ecosystem. Those who are unable to access and use digital services and information provided by government and businesses risk being left behind. International development cooperation has an important role to play in ensuring that no one is left behind in the transition.
The Digital Literacy Initiative (DLI), funded by The Dariu Foundation (TDF) and implemented by Swisscontact, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) and the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MLVT), was launched in Cambodia on January 2024. DLI aims to improve digital literacy and bridge the digital divide by addressing the key challenges faced by public schools, including a lack of efficient facilities, practical curriculum, and teacher capacity for digital education, among others.
Swisscontact has adapted the DLI concept for the Cambodian context with a systemic approach in mind. This would help to support the re-engineering of the digital skills ecosystem, particularly in public education institutions. The systemic approach focuses on ensuring sustainability and scaling up, with local system actors taking the lead and ownership. With six months of implementation, starting January 1, 2024, DLI has succeeded in establishing a framework for collaboration with key actors in the education sector, including the government, public schools, and service providers. This collaboration was done with the common goal of extending digital literacy training to provincial areas and promoting sustainability with a long-term vision in mind. A partnership with Tech for Kids Academy (TKA), a social enterprise and leading provider of technology education in Cambodia, will enable TKA to strengthen its product offering by tailoring and delivering training to public schools. Building on this successful DLI pilot, TKA will be able to support the government in expanding the DLI approach to more provinces and schools in the long term.
DLI concept is implemented in Vietnam directly by The Dariu Foundation. The components of the concept include offering professional development training for the local teachers, providing learning materials to schools, complementing existing computer equipment with laptops, assisting students to develop their own technology driven projects via code clubs, and providing entrepreneurial skills to students to enable them to transform their inventions into a revenue generating activity.
Significant progress has also been made in teacher capacity building. DLI provided critical support in the form of laptops and internet speed upgrades, enabling more students to access technology and learn in an efficient learning environment. Equipment support, mainly via laptops, has effectively incentivised schools to invest in their own resources to supplement the computer lab equipment and provide more computer classes. The coding courses were adapted based on the needs of the target students, and the first Training of Trainers (ToT) was conducted in April 2024. The ToT equipped teachers with the essential knowledge and skills needed to teach their students with robust digital literacy through coding. With a focus on promoting problem solving and computational thinking, teachers explored basic programming languages such as Scratch, Python, and teaching strategies.
Following the training, basic coding courses are being offered to students from June 2024. Currently, more than 500 students are learning to code, with more to come over the course of the project. Going forward, DLI will guide teachers and students to create technology-based projects through Code Clubs, where students will learn to apply coding concepts in real-world contexts and develop problem-solving skills and teamwork.
DLI Cambodia's experience has reaffirmed the goals of closing the access gap, ensuring inclusivity and social mobility, and support enabling all segments of society to participate in the digital economy. In addition, digital education supports the growth of the technology industry and the transition to a green economy - common trends in developing countries. Strategically, Swisscontact's focus on digital literacy helps lay the foundation for skills development and economic growth, complementing green economy employment outcomes. DLI could also help strengthen Swisscontact's thought leadership in digital inclusion.