As the leading organization in Cambodia to use technology for development, this last year the Open Institute continued its work of applying viable and sustainable technological solutions that promote change towards a more just Cambodian society. The Open Institute believes in the potential of these technological solutions to increase access to high quality education, information, and communication in both urban and rural communities, leading to advances in social development and gender equality.
The largest program run by the Open Institute during this period is the USAID-funded SPICE program, which has given support to over 100 Cambodian NGOs on the use of technology to better reach out to their beneficiaries with information and services. The Interactive Voice Response (IVR) platform created by the program has hosted over 25 projects of NGO and government partners during this period alone. Together with Self-IVR, a voice technology for smartphones developed by Open Institute, the IVR platform has been recognized by USAID with the prestigious award of “Best Mobile Solution for Development in Asia.” The SPICE program has also supported the networking of young technologists through BarCamp events, while also promoting the use of Khmer script in mobile phones.
The 10-year old KhmerOS program has continued its work on the standardization of the use of Khmer script in computers, and on the development and dissemination of open source software in the Khmer language. The Open Schools Program has completed integration of the Grade 11 ICT textbook in the education system and has advanced towards the development of a Grade 12 textbook, focusing on vocational orientation towards ICT careers. Open Schools is also helping the Ministry of Education use phone applications to support teacher training. A textbook on research methodology for universities has seen its final phase during this year and will be published during the next period.
The Health program is developing technology to support the expansion of the computerization of the national health system through the use of tablets for patient registration and the monitoring of facilities. It is also developing innovative gamified applications to support the medical training of health staff.