PHNOM PENH: The European Union (EU) has decided to provide a grant of 7.2 million Euros (over US $8 million) to Cambodia through partnerships with three major international organizations, to support the implementation of social protection projects.

The EU's support for this social protection system reform aims to contribute to the immediate response to Covid-19 in Cambodia and to support the implementation of Cambodia's national social protection policy framework. This was stated by the Head of Cooperation of the EU Delegation to Cambodia, Bryan Fornari, in a press release on Monday, 21 February.

The grant implemented by Oxfam for US $1.8 million will enable the project to run until 2023, enhancing the provision of services and coordination of the social security system and the social assistance system, through a specially modernized structure, extending the scope of the social security system to more workers. Nearly US $5.6 million will be implemented until 2024 through programs intended to improve the quality and depth of social services for people living in poverty and vulnerability, as well as to increase the capacity of social protection programs to strengthen livelihoods and participation in their job market.

Bryan Fornari said the EU was working with ILO, UNICEF and Oxfam to support Cambodia in achieving its long-term goal of expanding the social protection, including to unprotected workers. As a next step, the EU will support the link between social protection services, decent work and sustainable green growth.

Secretary-General of the National Council for Social Protection of Cambodia, John Narith, said that the Royal Government of Cambodia has provided social protection services to contribute to reducing poverty and inequality, and promote human resource development, financial stability and economic growth.

YICA UNICEF Cambodia's Farog Yuzithana says that as Cambodia moves toward recovery from the global Covid-19 pandemic, poverty reduction and resilience building become even more important.

Meanwhile, ILO’s Country Officer for Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, Graeme Buckley, said the project would contribute to expanding social protection services for women, men and their families, increasing security coverage and socializing workers who have not yet received such services, to build a social protection system that responds to gender more effectively, efficiently, sustainably and with more accountability, covering the needs of the people throughout the life cycle, and to the achievement of decent work and efficient economic growth.