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| This is Bunthoeun |
GERES stands for “Groupe Energies Renouvelables, Environnement et Solidarity”. Founded in France in 1976 after the world food crisis, they have been working in Southeast Asia since 1994. Their main focus is biomass energy opportunity worldwide, working with over 200 employees that are both locals and expats. GERES manages about 70 projects globally and has 10 prominent offices. In Southeast Asia, they have an office in both Cambodia and Myanmar.
As a French organization, GERES is particularly interested in assuring their projects are culturally appropriate. Therefore they not only hire local staff but also implement a “buddy” program, where all foreign employees are accompanied by a local employee. They are very cognisant of the challenges they face as foreigners, which has pushed they to work harder at monitoring their work. They want to ensure that their projects are locally adapted and they continue to compile data to indicate the needs of various areas.
GERES also work with local governments, providing recommendations and focusing on capacity building. They explained that NGOs in Cambodia have taken on what the government should be doing. GERES has brought the problems and the solutions to the government in order to serve as guides and work toward a sustainable development model. Bunthoeun is GERES Executive Director. He explained that some of their challenges include working with other NGOs because of the competitive nature of NGOs in Cambodia. He also expressed the issues with identifying the correct people in local government to talk to. Many times they felt it was convoluted on who has what power and how they can get things done efficiently. On the ground, he also felt that some of the implementation processes are difficult. This is due to lack of ownership on projects which will prevent them from being sustainable.
In the future, GERES is looking to working more with industries, doing feasibility studies on food waste as biomass, and the using bamboo to create charcoal. They are also are spending a lot of time and resources with a local stove building company, to create efficient, low-smoke stoves for local communities. This work helps support a local company which is a great example of how GERES is focused on working with local companies and local staff, through their “buddy” program. However, it seems that most of their projects are thought of and outlined by their European staff.
