CEC to Host Global Community Leader Sophany Touch
An experienced international community leader will contribute to our local community through a four-month fellowship funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and implemented by IREX. The community leader will apply a global lens to environmental issues facing the greater Houston region through practical work experience at the Citizens’ Environmental Coalition while gaining transferable leadership and management skills he will later will apply back in his home country.
In its second year the Community Solutions Program has matched 58 global leaders with American organizations in more than 20 U.S. States and the District of Columbia. Through hands-on collaboration, more than 55 American organizations will provide their leaders with community development experience in the U.S. in one of four topic areas: tolerance and conflict resolution, women’s issues, environmental issues, and transparency and accountability. Community leaders, with up to 15 years of experience, will volunteer their time and perspectives to finding innovative solutions to local challenges.
Community leader Sophany Touch of Cambodia, has over five years of experience working on projects related to environmental preservation, community development and natural resource protection. As the Community Based Ecotourism (CBET) Community Development Officer at Wildlife Alliance in Chi Phat, Cambodia, he is involved in promoting conservation values throughout the CBET process and activities. At the Citizens’ Environmental Coalition in Houston, Touch will work with local environmental and economic development organizations to help develop local ecotourism programs. He will also participate in efforts relating to food security, climate change, and natural resource conservation.
Learn more about Sophany and the Community Solutions program in the press release. If you are interested in working with Touch this fall or if you know of a garage apartment that might be available to rent from mid-August through November 2013, please contact rachel@cechouston.org or at 713-524-4232.