The US Agency for International Development (USAID) launched a new project on August 19 – the Khoding Hero initiative – to encourage students in Svay Reing province to pursue careers in science and technology.

“This opportunity will benefit high school students in remote Cambodian settings by demonstrating the magic of the digital world and building interest in the field,” said Marc Bonnenfant of USAID Cambodia in a press statement.

“At the same time, youth volunteers will gain valuable real life experience in project management and teamwork that will help them build future career skills,” he added.

According the statement, Khoding Hero is a program under USAID’s Digital Workforce Development project. It will be overseen by the Cambodia Academy of Digital Technology (CADT). It emphasizes the importance of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning and helps CADT volunteers build public speaking, leadership and interpersonal skills.

USAID’s Digital Workforce Development project is a five-year and $15 million initiative that works with Cambodian partner institutions to improve the digital skills of Cambodia’s youth and professionals, the statement said.

Sopheap Seng, CADT president, said that the program will empower youth to learn about and apply digital technology skills from an early stage.

He said he expects the project to inspire high school students to study STEM and that CADT students share their knowledge and skills by gaining real life experience through community work.

“The Khoding Hero program was designed to give university students an opportunity to participate in local development through STEM outreach in rural areas where there is a lack of Digital and ICT skills information, particularly at the university level,” said Chanda Pen, chief of party for the USAID Digital Workforce Development Project.