On February 23, 2020, Youth Resource Development Program organized a youth Dialogue about “Health Insurance and Employment for Youth” at the New York Hotel in Phnom Penh with a total of 86 participants, 45 of them were female.The event was designed to give University students the opportunity to improve their knowledge about social protection in order to raise their voice and express their concerning issues in front of relevant stakeholders, especially the Ministry of Labor and Vocational training. Several officials of this department were invited as guest speakers for this event, not only to share information with the audience, but also to recognize youth’s needs and bring them to the leading positions and decision makers. The goal was to fill the gaps of the Law on Social Security, and implement plans and solutions that are addressing the needs of young people.
The Youth Investment for Employment Leadership Development Program of the Youth Resource Development Program (YRDP) focuses on social protection and targets more than 200,000 university students in Cambodia. Among those 200,000 students, 20,570 have an Associate’s Degree level, 165,359 have a bachelor degree, and 21,494 have a master degree. 1.222 students are conducting a doctoral degree and 26.192 are scholarship students (the Ministry of Education report about the academic year 2016-2017). Secondary and high school students are not included in this number. The young people represent important human resources in the near future to promote the country’s development. However, they are not fully supported by the government according to basic regulations like healthcare. Social Security actions should be implemented into the new law to ensure a compulsory contribution policy. According to that, employers have to pay a contribution to the health and medical coverage.
During studying it is difficult for students to draw an income. The exclusion of such social protection shows that the government is not paying attention nor preventing the well-being of young people. That negligence has become a serious burden for themselves and their families. In case of a sickness, they need to pay all medical bills by themselves. This leads to a constant fear of an unexpected financial crisis, which is a major cause of poverty. Unemployment, which is not properly addressed by the government, can lead to economic deficits and social insecurity. To address the challenges mentioned above, the government needs to be more thoughtful and responsible in its actions to create secure base for workers.
