Soma Voeun

Soma Voeun (President) is currently undertaking his Master of Agricultural Science at the University of Melbourne as part of the Australia Awards Scholarships (AAS) in 2014.

He is also selected as an awardee of the Australia Awards Leadership Program (AALP), a prestigious award aims at building future leaders in developing countries and bridging people networks between Australia and other countries worldwide.

In 2009, he graduated from the Royal University of Agriculture (RUA), after undertaking a full-year internship program in Israel.

Soon after graduation, he got a job as an agricultural technician, with then an AusAID-sponsored project until he was offered a scholarship to pursue his education further in Australia. The project aims to develop and implement environmentally-friendly pest control for the horticultural sector in Cambodia.

As a technician, Soma was responsible for providing technical assistance on crop production to farmers and implementing and monitoring progress of project activities in target areas. Moreover, he was tasked with supervising colleagues on model farms initiated under GAP (Good Agricultural Practice) standards which include such areas as soil tests, land preparation, cultivation, irrigation, pest management, and post-harvest technology.

Since 2010, Soma has been the Team Leader of the Volunteer Youth Network of Agricultural Technology and Management (VYNA), a youth network established to help build up undergraduates’ capacity and create a network of agricultural professionals at the Royal University of Agriculture. Among other things, “Leading by example” and “Learning by doing” are two noticeable paradigms commonly practiced by this youth network members. Although studying in Australia at the moment, to some extent, he’s still engaging in VYNA’s activities from a distance.

Soma has been involved in CANS’s activities since he was in Cambodia. He strongly believes in the impact of a collective force which serves as an effective impetus in improving the lives of people in the society through the power of education. For these reasons, he’s a big supporter of Joy of Reading project (JoR) initiated and implemented by IDP Cambodia, CANS and AAA-C to engage, and encourage young Cambodian students to foster good reading habits from a young age. He believes such project will open doors for young kids to acquiring good literacy and numeracy skills and hopefully to further their study beyond high school.

To fulfil CANS core objectives, Soma has put an emphasis on its members’ care and attention and satisfactory fulfilment of their roles and responsibilities, so that it can draw more support and engagement from all directions and sustain it in the long run.