Cambodia: Creative Industries Support Programme

Cambodia’s rich cultural heritage is known worldwide and its tourist industry is booming. But tourism has not brought prosperity to the 5 million Cambodians who live on less than half a dollar a day. Siem Reap Province, which receives 1.5 million tourists each year, is still the second poorest province of Cambodia.

The Creative Industries Support Programme (CISP), a partnership between UN agencies and local organizations, supported indigenous and Khmer artisans in four provinces of northern and eastern Cambodia. Its aim was to revive Cambodia’s cultural assets and create jobs, spur economic growth and reduce poverty by developing the country’s creative industries.

From 2009 to 2011, the programme trained more than 800 indigenous artisans in entrepreneurial skills, including marketing and quality control, exhibition, costing and consignment techniques. The programme also contributed to build local capacities to design, implement and monitor policies and programmes to realize the economic and social potential of the cultural sector.

This Joint Programme was launched in September 2008 and was closed in November 2011.