117
In Cambodia Unit, two areas, remains of Pol Pot Regime in Phnom Penh and
Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, were chosen as mentioned before in order to give students general background knowledge to have holistic understanding about environmental issues in Cambodia. In 2011, we started our fi eldwork in Phnom Penh and
moved to Siem Reap where we concluded the program. However, we found that the
students preferred to do more research in groups in Phnom Penh after they studied
the issues in Siem Reap, from the students’ feedback. The site visit was rescheduled
in 2012 accordingly. We returned to Phnom Penh after the visit to Siem Reap. It was
one of the alternatives to let the students conduct problem analysis and create their
own research structure.
7.4.3 The Future Challenge of the Cambodia Unit
One of the challenges in organizing the environmental leadership education program
that we found in Cambodia was problem setting: how much the broad range of environmental issues have to be narrowed down. The lesson learned from the fi rst
Cambodia Unit was that the students tended to lose their way to fi nd issues to be
focused on since they were given too much information about broader environmental
issues without any guidance. After the self-assessment of program, students in 2012
were given an assignment that has fi ve specifi c topics to study and discuss in groups.
However, this resulted in students selecting their group discussion topics only from
the topics listed in the assignment. Furthermore, the students did not go far enough to
explain how those topics are related at a fundamental level and answer to the core
problem, although this method led students to analyze their chosen topic at a deeper
level.
Another challenge is the impact that a leadership education program can bring over
to a society. Education is an investment that needs time to get the fruits. Thus far,
APIEL is successful in getting the various local stakeholders involved in this program.
However, it will take another while for the participating students to be able to make
signifi cant contributions to solving the problems facing the Cambodian society.
7.4.4 Leadership Development in Students:
Strive for Holistic View
In case of the program of 2012, good amount of basic information about Cambodia
through preliminary assignment, and the lectures and visits enriched the knowledge
that students already had and gave them stimulation to investigate further. This combination enabled students to address diversifi ed aspects of environmental problems
that teaching staff expected them to fi nd from the study area.
7 Environmental Leadership Development: A Cambodian Case
In Cambodia Unit, two areas, remains of Pol Pot Regime in Phnom Penh and
Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, were chosen as mentioned before in order to give students general background knowledge to have holistic understanding about environmental issues in Cambodia. In 2011, we started our fi eldwork in Phnom Penh and
moved to Siem Reap where we concluded the program. However, we found that the
students preferred to do more research in groups in Phnom Penh after they studied
the issues in Siem Reap, from the students’ feedback. The site visit was rescheduled
in 2012 accordingly. We returned to Phnom Penh after the visit to Siem Reap. It was
one of the alternatives to let the students conduct problem analysis and create their
own research structure.
7.4.3 The Future Challenge of the Cambodia Unit
One of the challenges in organizing the environmental leadership education program
that we found in Cambodia was problem setting: how much the broad range of environmental issues have to be narrowed down. The lesson learned from the fi rst
Cambodia Unit was that the students tended to lose their way to fi nd issues to be
focused on since they were given too much information about broader environmental
issues without any guidance. After the self-assessment of program, students in 2012
were given an assignment that has fi ve specifi c topics to study and discuss in groups.
However, this resulted in students selecting their group discussion topics only from
the topics listed in the assignment. Furthermore, the students did not go far enough to
explain how those topics are related at a fundamental level and answer to the core
problem, although this method led students to analyze their chosen topic at a deeper
level.
Another challenge is the impact that a leadership education program can bring over
to a society. Education is an investment that needs time to get the fruits. Thus far,
APIEL is successful in getting the various local stakeholders involved in this program.
However, it will take another while for the participating students to be able to make
signifi cant contributions to solving the problems facing the Cambodian society.
7.4.4 Leadership Development in Students:
Strive for Holistic View
In case of the program of 2012, good amount of basic information about Cambodia
through preliminary assignment, and the lectures and visits enriched the knowledge
that students already had and gave them stimulation to investigate further. This combination enabled students to address diversifi ed aspects of environmental problems
that teaching staff expected them to fi nd from the study area.
7 Environmental Leadership Development: A Cambodian Case