Team

Javier Solá

Javier Solá (Spanish, 1960) is the Chief of Party of the USAID funded SPICE program (Structuring Partnerships for an Innovative Communications Environment) in Cambodia, a program housed at the Open Institute NGO that uses communications technology to facilitate social and business innovation by setting up partnerships and platforms that greatly simplify the task of creating information services that use telephones as a tool for accessing and disseminating information.
Having lived in Cambodia since 2003, he is also the founder and coordinator of the KhmerOS Initiative, a project started in 2004 aimed at standardizing the use of Khmer language in computers and producing and deploying Free Software in Khmer language. As part of this work he started in 2007 the Open Schools Program, a joint initiative with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport to use ICT to improve the quality of Education in Cambodia. He has also directed the development of a spell-checker for Khmer language, improvement of Cambodian reference dictionaries and the orthographic standardization of Khmer.

Before starting his work in Cambodia, Javier was until 2003 the Director of the Spanish Internet Users Association, where ‑ for seven years - pushed the development of Internet in Spain through participation on Internet related legislation, coordination the creation of an Internet Exchange Point in Spain, and other policy and practical work directed at improving the service to Internet users and creating a healthy Internet sector. During that time, he participated very actively in the creation of ICANN, the international entity that now manages the shared resources of the Internet worldwide. As part of his work at ICANN, he chaired the committee that decided the creation of new international Internet domains (such as .info).
Prior to this work around the Internet, Javier Solá has worked for four years (1984-1985 and 1988-1989) in Paris, France, as a researcher on Artificial Intelligence for BULL S.A., France's largest computer company, and later in Spain as Director of a small software development company that did strategic and software development work for Spanish corporations as well as for the European Commission.
He has taught at seven different universities, including three Spanish universities (technical and Internet policy and legislation courses), the Ecole Central and Ecole d'Arts et Metiers in Paris (two of France's most prestigious universities), Ohio State University and - finally - Boston University's overseas MBA program, where he taught "Strategic Impact of Information Technology".
He speaks fluently Spanish, English, French, and Khmer. He holds a BSc degree from Duke University (1984, North Carolina, USA) and a Masters Degree in Computer and Information Sciences from Ohio State University (1987, Ohio, USA).

HENG Chantheng

HENG Chantheng (Cambodia, 1982) is the Deputy Chief of Party of the USAID-funded SPICE program (Structuring Partnerships for an Innovative Communication Environment) in Cambodia, a program housed at the Open Institute NGO that uses communications technology to facilitate social and business innovation by setting up partnerships and platforms that greatly simplify the task of creating information services that use telephones as a tool for accessing and disseminating information.
Prior to this tasks she was the deputy program director of the KhmerOS and Open Schools Programs, assuming full responsibility for planning, monitoring and evaluation. She worked closely with the Ministry of Education, coordinating the drafting and budgeting of the National Master Plan for ICT in Education.

She was also at the time the pro-bono Secretary of ICT:CAM (the Cambodian ICT Association), becoming very familiar with the ICT and Communications industry and their players.

Before this tasks, she had made her career first in a social enterprise called Digital Divide Data, where she entered as a simple data entry operator and progressed to become IT Assistant and Computer trainer, then she moved to the Open Institute where she started as a trainer to later become the training manager and then the Deputy Program Manager.
She holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of Puthisastra (2008, Phnom Penh, Cambodia) and a Master's Degree in Comparactive Local Development from the University of Trento (2012, Trento, Italy).

KHENG Piseth

KHENG Piseth (Cambodian, 1983) is the training manager of the USAID-funded SPICE program (Structuring Partnerships for an Innovative Communication Environment).
He is also co-coordinated the Intel Teach Program Cambodia that is a Professional Development program for in-service and pre-service teachers; this program helps teachers use technology in support of their teaching in classroom environment which are working closely with Ministry of Education.
During that time, he also got many short-course training scholarship that allow him to acquire many professional skills such as Gender Analysis, Writing Project Proposal, Analyzing data with SPSS, Management Skills, Conflict Management, Curriculum and training materials Development, Project Design, Project Implementation and Project Review and Evaluation.
He speaks fluently Khmer and English. He graduates a Bachelor's degree of Computer Science from the Royal University of Phnom Penh (2005, Cambodia) and Master degree in Development Management from the Norton University (2011, Cambodia).

KHOEM Sokhem

KHOEM Sokhem (Cambodian, 1979) is the localization manager of the USAID-funded SPICE program (Structuring Partnerships for an Innovative Communication Environment). He is in charge of planning and coordinating all activities of the localization project, ensuring the quality of localization and glossary collection works, participating in the improvement and localization to Khmer of Open Source Software, ensuring the translation from English to Khmer messages included in different Open Source computer programs, a well as translating of documentations for those programs and develop training materials. He also ensures the correct localization of multimedia applications and manual for the education system. He has also been trained and has produced training materials of the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Khmer and has used them to train CSO and government staff. He speaks fluently Khmer and English. He holds a bachelor's degree on computer science from the Royal University of Phnom Penh (2003, Cambodia) and Master's degree in development management from the Norton University (2011, Cambodia). He has also received special training on gender issues and technical certifications such as the Linux Professional Institute (LPI) and Web design and Development.

Be Chantra

BE Chantra (Cambodian, 1980) is presently the Social Networking Manager of the USAID-funded SPICE program (Structuring Partnerships for an Innovative Communication Environment) in Cambodia, a program housed at the Open Institute NGO that uses communications technology to facilitate social and business innovation by setting up partnerships and platforms that greatly simplify the task of creating information services that use telephones as a tool for accessing and disseminating information, and a lead organizer of BarCamp events, an International, Innovative, and Open Technology Conference. He is in charge of overall event planning, funding and coordination of all activities, ensuring the events run smoothly and get the expected outcomes.
He has also organized and participated in many local events and workshops such as the blogger summit, blogger corner, personal IT workshop, techcamp, youthcamp, etc. His goal has been to promote the effective use of technology tools for individual, organization and businesses. He has worked on the organization of private events and campaigns that require social mobilization. Beside event management he is also an online content, social media and marketing specialist. He had led the Sabay social media & marketing team and turned the sabay.com.kh website into a well-known online content provider in Cambodia.
Previously Chantra was an Editor-in-Chief of a local IT magazine called Computer Magazine and has worked for the Open Institute on the promotion of Khmer Unicode and Khmer language applications around Cambodia through workshops, seminars and promotional activities.
He graduated with a bachelor's degree of computer science from Norton University and has studied business management at the Institute of Business Education.

SENG Sutha

SENG Sutha (Cambodian, 1985) is the Software Translator of the USAID-FUNDED SPICE program (Structuring Partnerships for an Innovative Communication Environment).

He is a participate in the improvement and Localization to khmer of Open Source Software . participation on the improvement of the English-Khmer computer glossary and translate of web pages and/or other project document into Khmer.
work on a Khmer-Khmer computer dictionary . To localize to Khmer multimedia applications for education . a well as translating of documentations for those programs and develop training materials. He also ensures the correct localization of multimedia applications and manual for the education system. He is also a blogger.

He speaks fluently Khmer and English. He Graduated Bachelor of English at Human Resources University (2009, Cambodia), Graduated Bachelor of Economic Science at Norton University. (2010, Cambodia) and Master degree in Master Business administration at National University of Management (2013, Cambodia).

SOK Sophea

SOK Sophea (Cambodian, 1979) is the software translator of the USAID-funded SPICE program (Structuring Partnerships for an Innovative Communication Environment). He is in charge of translating on English to Khmer messages included in different Open Source computer and mobile phone software applications, translating web pages and/or other project documents into Khmer for the activities of the SPICE program, as well as translating of documentations for those programs and develop training materials. Participate on the improvement of English-Khmer glossary for computer and mobile phone terminologies. He has provided some trainings on the use of Khmer Unicode and OpenOffice to ministry and organization partners. He also ensures the correct localization of multimedia applications and manual for the education system. He has also been trained about the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). He speaks fluently Khmer and English. He holds a bachelor's degree on computer science from the Royal University of Phnom Penh (2003, Cambodia). He has also received special training on Feminist Technology Exchange (FTX) for E-Advocacy.

Kim Sokphyrum

Kim Sokphyrum (Cambodian, 1985) is the software developer of the USAID-funded SPICE program (Structuring Partnerships for an Innovative Communication Environment). She is in charge of partaking in the development of Android applications such as Standard Khmer keyboard installer, Khmer-Khmer dictionary and so on, and the development of Sever-based open source computer applications to make easy access to information and to enhance communication security. Moreover, she also takes part in sharing her knowledge among the team.
She had interned at Open Institute (OI) for three month. During that time, she had done the research, under supervision of Mr. Javier Sola, of Automatic Machine Translation from English to Khmer language for her dissertation to fulfill her partial master degree in Master of Computer Applications (MCA).
She worked for CamGSM Company, a largest telecommunication company in Cambodia, as a webpage designer for two years and half. She was responsible for supervising and coordinating on content management with content provider and subordinate. She also developed webpage and updated contents in Cellcard website and web portal (mobile web) according to various promotions. Moreover, she managed the database system and extracted data from database for monthly revenue report.
Before, she worked as Data Entry and Field Officer in B.N.Consult for nearly 2 years. There, she was in charge of collecting data from field work and entering data in database through web based. Because of having technical background, she also dealt with IT officer for any error or changes of web form according to the actual requirement of questionnaires.
And she used to work as a designer at SL Design and Fuji photo service as well.
She graduated a Bachelor of Computer Science (BSc) from International Institute of Cambodia (IIC) (2006, Phnom Penh) and a Master of Computer Application (MCA) from University of Delhi (2012, New Delhi, India).

Suos Samak

Suos Samak (Cambodian, 1983) is currently the software developer of the USAID-funded SPICE program (Structuring Partnerships for an Innovative Communication Environment). She is responsible for participate in the development of Android and server-based open source computer applications to facilitate access to information and to improve communication security. And she also involves in the activities of sharing technological knowledges within a team work. She was an intern at Open Institute (OI) for three months to do the research of Automatic Machine Translation from English to Khmer language for her dissertation to fulfill her partial master degree in Master of Computer Applications (MCA), under supervision of Mr. Javier Sola. She was an IT Developer at BN Consult (BNC) for four years. During that time, she was responsible for developing websites and web-based applications for supporting data entry services for various projects. She also managed database system and analyzed data for consistency. Prior to that she had been an designer at IT CITY Magazine and Fuji Photo Service. In 2006, She graduated from International Institute of Cambodia (IIC) in Bachelor of Computer Sciences. During 2009 to 2012, she was pursuing her master degree in Master of Computer Applications (MCA) from Jamia Millia Islamia University, India.

Vong Borey

Vong Borey(Cambodian, 1988) is the Software Developer of the USAID-funded SPICE program (Structuring Partnerships for an Innovative Communication Environment). He is involve in developing android application to promote the usage of Khmer Unicode for fascinating and improving the broadcast of the information through the media channel, smart phone. In order to archive this objectives the technology aspects needed to be researched, comprehend and figured out by team members in the support from the program manager and other third parties relating in personal or conditional help. To assure that, the communication and monitoring process is executed by our team members for reporting the work progress to the board management and sponsor.

Besides this project, he has some experience on web and application development over some private sectors and institutes and his passion on Information Technology was the way leading him to get the degree of Computer Science and Engineering from Royal University of Phnom Penh and other short course connected to programming language and algorithm.

Eng Vannak

Vannak (Cambodian 1983) is a CSO Support Officer of the Software Developer of the USAID-funded SPICE program (Structuring Partnerships for an Innovative Communication Environment). He is rresponsible for supporting SPICE partners and users on the development of their own IVR and SMS solutions by giving guidelines on how to structure their contens, record it and direct support on the uploading to the IVR platform, or on accessing the interfaces and setting up their SMS services.

He also develops and administers all the Open Institute websites and organizes public events which are supported by the Open Institute.