Vouchsim Kong
Vice Chief of Agro-Industrial Development Office Department of Agro-Industry, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) Head of Department of Agro-Industry Oknha Mong Reththy Agriculture Institute (OMRAI)
Vouchsim has considerable experience in agro-industry development and community and stakeholder engagement. She has particular skills in transferring technologies, teaching and capacity building, and planning, strategy and advocacy.
She has led projects and teams to undertake research and contribute significant impacts in community development and livelihood improvement. Vouchsim’s research has covered agricultural value chains, food security and nutrition, and food safety.
Despite growing up in a business-driven family in the capital of Cambodia Vouchsim is passionate about agriculture and the environment. She strongly believes that education is the root of success and providing equal education opportunity for women and men is essential. Vouchsim keeps developing herself as a researcher and leader so that she can positively influence, support and empower other women working in the agricultural sector to excel.
Vouchsim is an alumnus of the Erasmus Scholarship Program completing a MSc in Safety in the Food Chain in Austria, and the Australia Awards Scholarship (AAS) through her completion of a MSc in Food Science in the University of Melbourne, Australia in 2017.
Vouchsim pursues agricultural research and innovations that can contribute to improved rural livelihoods and food security in her country. She believes that her small contribution may make a positive change to other people and society.
From The GEAReD Blog …
When Mentoring Makes and Impact
A critical component of the Meryl Williams Fellowship is the mentoring support program. Every Fellow is paired with an experienced mentor from her home country to provide support and guidance as they build on skills learned throughout the Fellowship.
Demonstrating just how dynamic a mentoring relationship can be, Vouchsim Kong and Dr Vutey got straight to work. Ms Kong pitched the idea of researching the presence of ASF virus in pork in Cambodian markets to Dr Vutey and by August 2019 research was underway at Dr Vutey’s laboratory (OMRAI).