Staff

Executive Director/Editor-in-Chief

THY Try is an Executive Director/Editor-in-Chief of Open Development Cambodia (ODC). In 2011, he joined ODC as an advisory board member, and later on, he became a chairman of the board. As an Executive Director/Editor-in-Chief, Try plays an important role in increasing public access to current and historical data and information about Cambodia’s development trends in an online ‘open data’ platform, compiling freely-available data from a wide range of public sources. Prior to joining ODC, Try worked for the National Network on Extractive Industry Social and Environmental Impact (EISEI) as a coordinator of Development and Partnership in Action (DPA) for four years. He also spent two years with ADHOC as a human rights investigator and another two years with Indochina Research Limited (IRL) in social and commercial research. He also holds multiple degrees and training-related certificates.

IT and Website Advisor

Huy Eng graduated with a double major in Computer Science from Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), and International Study from Institute of Foreign Language (IFL). She has been working for ODC since it was firstly established in 2011. With several years of experience in web development, she takes the leading role in developing an online information resource for Cambodia’s development community. She guides oversee and manages works of the IT team to ensure accuracy and technical competence. In addition, she advises and provides technical support to other team members in addressing any IT-related problems.

Information Technology and Website Manager

Mardy’s main responsibilities are managing and overseeing ODC platform and network infrastructure. He is in charge of involving in and monitoring the development and maintenance of ODC platform under collaboration from other ODC team. Moreover, he is responsible for providing technical guidance and support as well as identifying, preventing, and mitigating IT-related issues of the network infrastructure and project implementation.

Mardy is a graduate from the Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC) majoring in Computer Science and holds a Bachelor of Education in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from the Institute of Foreign Languages (IFL).

Research and Web Content Manager

Vatana has been working with ODC as an Editor-Researcher and Research and Content Officer since 2016. Vatana has been acknowledged for her leadership in organizing and overseeing the content and web development teams in the expansion of online resources. She was enthusiastically promoted to Research and Web Content Manager in late 2020. In her present position, she is given multiple duties to guarantee that the work plan and project goals are met. She controls the daily operations of the content teams and website, as well as the project activity plan, and takes the lead in site design and development. Vatana also collaborates with the ODC team to monitor web traffic and uphold editorial standards, ensuring timeliness content, completeness, and user-friendliness.

Before joining the ODC, she was a Research Assistant for the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) framework project (LWR-ID/2009/046) and various university research schemes. Vatana graduated from the Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC) in 2014 with a degree in Water Resources Engineering and Rural Infrastructure.

NRM Program Coordinator

Chhuonvuoch is an NRM Program Coordinator of Open Development Cambodia. Her main tasks involve​ managing projects related to natural resource management, environment, and indigenous peoples. This includes coordinating with partners and donors to ensure successful project implementation. Chhuonvuoch also works on website design and content, researching, compiling legal documents, policy papers, reports, and other publications, and organizing outreach and promotional events.

She brings a wealth of expertise to her role, holding a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), alongside a Bachelor’s degree in TESOL from Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia (PUC), and a Master’s degree in Disaster Management (International Program) from Naresuan University, Thailand. She has also contributed significantly to academia, with publications in several conferences and scientific journals across various research platforms. Before her current position, Chhuonvuoch served as an Associate Team Leader at an EIA company and interned at Thai Meteorological Department.

Program and Partnership Manager

Vimoil is a Program and Partnership Manager at Open Development Cambodia (ODC). She provides strategic oversight and management for the Innovations in Social Accountability in Cambodia (ISAC) project and the research contributions to ODC content, while also coordinating all aspects of the Innovations in Social Accountability in Cambodia (ISAC) project. She is also responsible for developing training programs and training target groups on how to use ODC’s website.

She holds two bachelor’s degrees in economic development and English for translation and interpreting, and Master’s degree in environment, development and sustainability from Chulalongkorn University. Before being a part of ODC, she was a programme assistant at Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI) and an assistant to managing director at a private company.

Youth-Led Project Officer

Promnea is working with Open Development Cambodia (ODC) as a Project Officer of the Youth-Led Project. He provides support to ODC to ensure that Cambodian youths can implement their projects’ initiatives that are crucial to their community. Primarily, he works collaboratively with the relevant teams of ODC to build necessary capacities for youths who selected from marginalized groups, and coordinate them to carry out their projects’ initiatives once they acquire the essential abilities from the program of ODC.

Promnea was previously a Project Assistant at the Cambodian Center for Human Rights. He graduated with bachelor’s degrees in International Relations and Public Administration separately. He was selected to join the Young Researchers Program at Future Forum, where he is currently conducting policy research on rural-urban migrants in Phnom Penh. In addition to migration, his interests also consist of gender equality, climate change, decent work, and sustainable growth.

Communications Manager

Maneth manages social media platforms, designing, and programs of Open Development Cambodia (ODC). He is also in charge of other internal and external communications.

Maneth graduated from the Institute for International Studies and Public Policy, RUPP, with International Relations major and completed his exchange study at Carroll College, USA. He later became an International Relations lecturer at the Institute for over 3 years. Then, he worked as a Digital Marketer at private companies and is now working as a Communications Manager at ODC.

Communications Officer

Nara joins Open Development Cambodia Organization as a Communications Officer in 2024. His sole responsibilities include communications content and material creation, along with a supporting role in training, workshop, and meeting with ODC’s key stakeholders and partners.

Prior to ODC, he was a Communications Officer at a health-tech company for over three years. On top of that, he was an English language teacher for over four years at private various schools and a well-known university.

With two respective Bachelor’s Degrees majoring in TEFL and IR at the Institute of Foreign Languages (IFL), he’s currently pursuing a Master’s Program in International Affairs (MSc-IA).

Communication Officer

Thida joined ODC as a Communication Officer, where she supports media literacy training. She is also responsible for developing social media content and media outreach and contributes to the design of both online and printed communication materials.

Thida graduated with dual majors in Media Management from the Department of Media and Communication (DMC) and International Economics from the International Studies and Public Policy (IISPP) at the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP). Before joining ODC, she gained experience working as a Communication Officer for an NGO and as a freelance journalist for a media/news company.

Data Research and GIS Specialist

Kalyan is a data research and GIS specialist at Open Development Cambodia (ODC). He used to work for ODC since it was firstly established in 2011 until 2015. Later he led GIS technical project of GPS navigation in a private sector. He joined back to ODC in 2019.

He is responsible for leading the team in all data-related research activities, focusing on gathering, organizing, and display data about a particular location in a digital format. He also uses GIS technology to compile, maintain, and update information from a variety of sources for the public’s use and ensure that data across all topic areas are complete, accurate, and up-to-date. He finished high school with permission to graduate prematurely and received a scholarship from the Royal Government of Cambodia to successfully pursue a bachelor’s degree in Land Management and Land Administration in 2011 and holds a Master’s Degree in Natural Resources Management from the Royal University of Agriculture (RUA) in 2020.

Data Specialist and Trainer

Pisith works as a Data Specialist and Trainer at Open Development Cambodia (ODC). He satisfactorily completed Engineering’s Degree of Geo-Resources and Geotechnical Engineering (GGE) from the Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC) in 2019. During the year of his graduation in 2019, Pisith was granted a scholarship for a one-semester exchange program at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand where his thesis was completed for successful graduation in ITC.

At ODC, his work focuses on researching spatial data, on various sectors relevant to development in Cambodia from all reliable sources which provide open data, for handling assembling enhancing and visualizing by using GIS to generate a usable data product for publication in organization web pages. Besides the key role of producing dataset, particularly spatial dataset, he also takes part in conducting training and developing the curriculum of training related to data and GIS for the relevant projects.

Senior Finance and Admin Officer

Transparency, accountability and honesty are Mr. Sarath’s core values. In charge of finance and admin tasks of ODC, Mr. Sarath works closely with all team members to produce the good achievements on: 1. ensure that all financial documents are legally compliant with the rule and standard of accounting, follow the financial policy of ODC and make all payments on time. 2. correctly record all financial transactions in the accounting system, follow each budget line and donor and produce financial report on time. 3. Have good cooperate with relevant stakeholders like Cambodia civil servants (tax department ‘staffs, NSSF`s staffs, the staffs of ministry labor…), NGO partners and private sector staffs… to apply tax obligation and ensure all staffs receive the benefits follow the labor laws of Royal Government of Cambodia.

Mr. Sarath completed his Master’s degree in Finance from National University of Management (NUM) in 2019. Before starting with ODC, Mr. Sarath have experience to work with local and international NGO over 10 years in finance and administration sector.

Housekeeper

Kimhuoy is mainly responsible for maintaining the ODC office, a good environment, cleanliness, and a well-organized office. She also assists in drinks and snacks preparation for guests and staff as needed during meetings, training, and workshops and takes care of all the kitchen supplies. Before joining ODC, Kimhuoy used to work at Bayon Airlines for seven years as an airline catering.