On Friday, July 18th, 2014, the Urban Voice team conducted its 5th “Task Force Meeting” and visited a poor community in Prek Takong, Phnom Penh.The program was run from 7:30am to 5:00pm, with 35 eager participants. The meeting began in the STT office where the Urban Voice team introduced all the participants to the full purpose of their visit before heading over to the poor community.Mr. My Sovann gave a presentation on the Urban Voice project and described some of their urban development activities to the participants.There was also a slideshow presentation of the last Task Force Meeting that depicted some challenges poor communities face in the city.
Media coverage of these challenges is very limited which is why STT has created the Urban Voice project.UrbanVoice is dedicated to helping poor communities address a number of issues such as: garbage collection, traveling, flooding, potholes, blackouts, and many others.All of these issues have affect poor communities in the city and Urban Voice tries to spread awareness of the problems faced by Cambodians everyday.It does not just focus on the challenges; Urban Voice also circulates information about safe and developed areas.
The Urban Voice program aimed to show participants how residents in Prek Takong lived and what challenges that they have faced. In addition, participants were trained on how to submit reports to the organization regarding their own problems. They also recommended that all participants become familiar with the website so that they may share development-related information through other social networks.
Participation and Understanding: How to work as a team and be more effective
After the visiting the poor community, participants had a better understanding of the consequences that the impoverished faced while living in the city.The toiling all the morning at Prek Takong poor region was ended, destitute has situated in the heart of Urban Voice teamwork.The Urban Voice team encouraged discussion among the participants so that they could express their feelings and develop solutions together.These discussions were very productive and continued through until lunchtime.
After a quick lunch break, the Task Force went back to STT for their final meeting.After spending the entire morning working with the poor community, participants were asked to share their ideas at the meeting.Those who made a contribution to the discussion showed an extensive understanding of the issues and the program leaders were very pleased with what they heard. The participants were also very happy to contribute to the development of our city.Their continued commitment and support of the Urban Voice project will definitely speed up the process of finding better solutions for impoverished residents in the city.