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Under
this program, the Institute operated four branch offices
in Kampong Cham, Svay Rieng, Kratie and Stung Treng
provinces to provide access to news and information
on democracy, human rights, elections, agriculture,
health, combating drug abuse, decentralization, education
and economic growth through a Khmer language web portal
(www.cambodiacic.org,
www.BohChnout.info)
for Cambodian citizens.
To
enable the public to search the web site, the centers
provided basic training in computer skills, so that
the trainees could type in Khmer and English, create
an e-mail account, send e-mail and search the web
site. Visitors have included local government workers,
the staff of NGOs, political party activists, students,
monks, merchants and local people from all walks of
life, including Commune Council members. Each center
also has a public library.
The
centers also print information from the web site for
distribution to the Commune Chiefs, Village Chiefs
and villagers. The center's service and IT access
has provided direct benefits to the local population.
They have accurate information from all fields of
development, use e-mail, search the internet, undergo
computer training and conduct research from the documents
and books available at the library of the center.
Due
to the cease of the funding, the Institute charges
the users some fees to generate income to cover some
of the costs of the centers.
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