HoKa upskilled and reskilled more than 600 workers in hospitality and tourism in 2021! 

The Hospitality Kampuchea (HoKa) Steering Committee of the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) in collaboration with the Skills Development Programme (SDP), a project of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) contributes to the development of quality hospitality vocational training that accessible by disadvantaged youth in the northeastern area of Cambodia. HoKa dedicated effort in 2021 has laid the foundation for the training of 101 trainers in the front office, housekeeping, and food and beverage, the industry-based training of 414 low skills workers, and the basic barista skills training of 83 trainees, and the training of 72 community tour guide in Kratie, Stung Treng, Preah Vihear, Ratanak Kiri, and Mondul Kiri.

Mr.Rajiv Pradhan, country director of Swisscontact Cambodia, said that HoKa is an excellent industry-based training. HoKa is a branding and will be used in other provinces or for the whole country. HoKa training materials and programme will be the best need of the enterprises and learners from now and in the future. Currently, HoKa Steering Committee of the Ministry of Tourism is the ownership of the HoKa training model and sustainability training programme.

H.E Pak Sokhom, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Tourism and Chairman of HoKa Steering Committee, highlighted that the programme will significantly contribute to strengthening hospitality skills and fostering the quality of tourism services. “We firmly believe that through the HoKa steering committee mechanism, cooperation, and enhancement of the HoKa implementation at national and sub-national levels, we will achieve even better results,” he stated.

H.E Thong Ratsak, Director General of Tourism Development and International Cooperation and Vice Chairman of the HoKa Steering Committee has proposed to development partners, associations, private sectors, and relevant stakeholders to expand the HoKa training model to other provinces as well as Hospitality Kampuchea (HoKa) is one the main key to supporting the tourism sector recovery during and after Covid-19 crisis.

On the same occasion, Mr. Chuop Rathana Director of Tourism Development and Planning Department of the Ministry of Tourism and Secretariat of HoKa Steering Committee, and Mr. Kong Dara, SDP HoKa training programme manager, noted that many important tasks have been accomplished such as enhancing the private sector's engagement in the target provinces, providing training of trainers, and recognizing low-skilled workers in the hospitality sectors.

HoKa is based on a demand-led and industry-based training model. Owners and managers, and the supervisory staff of hotels, guesthouses, resorts, restaurants, and cafes needing to upgrade their in-house training processes, will support the design of curricula and participate in the capacity building offered by SDP. It is expected that around 1,740 low-skilled workers will, directly and indirectly, benefit from the training interventions, and 170 hospitality business owners/managers, PDoT trainers, and industry trainers/assessors will be included in the capacity building activities under HoKa.