In 2023, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) took a significant step towards environmental stewardship by officially endorsing the Environment and Natural Resources Code (ENR Code). This landmark decision incorporated the implementation of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) as a pivotal element in driving development. Recognizing the significance of this initiative, ODC committed itself to actively supporting the enforcement, dissemination, and monitoring of SEA progress.
As part of this commitment, on November 22, ODC, with support from USAID through FHI 360, organized a highly impactful workshop/dialogue to discuss the implementation of SEA. This event brought together key stakeholders, including the Ministry of Environment’s Department of EIA and the National Council for Sustainable Development (NCSD), as well as representatives from the Ministry of Planning, the Ministry of Tourism, an EIA consultancy firm, and ClientEarth. The participation extended to over 50 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), journalists, and indigenous representatives from various provinces, all working collaboratively towards sustainable development and inclusivity.
The success of the project implementation is evident in the positive shift observed in the behavior of relevant ministries. The increased responsiveness and active participation of these ministries showcase the tangible impact of the project. This success not only marks a significant milestone in advancing SEA implementation but also underscores the project’s contribution to fostering positive changes within governmental entities, fostering a more collaborative and participatory approach to sustainable national development.
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Renewed purpose: Raising awareness on sexual Harassment one community at a time
Sinath is a leader of a commune-based organization (CBO) in her community. She started volunteering with Banteay Srei in 2008. Sinath wasn’t always very confident and active in her community. Living in a small community, Sinath faced pressures related to societal and family norms, stereotypes, and judgements. She took on traditional roles of taking care of her children, husband, and in-laws and didn’t feel brave enough to socialize outside the house and attend village activities or meetings. After becoming a volunteer with BS, Sinath had more opportunities to attend different events with BS. Those events – meetings, trainings, public forums, study tours – in her province and beyond have helped her to build knowledge and experience. Now, Sinath has a better understanding of leadership and her self-worth. She has also gained new skills such as public speaking, communications, planning, business, community mobilization, and facilitation. Sinath continues to equip herself with new knowledge and skills. In 2023, she learned and gained new knowledge from BS on sexual harassment. Sinath is a member of one of the five CBOs selected by BS to receive sexual harassment training. Sinath finds this new knowledge very important for her and other women in her community. After the training, she is able to recognize different types of harassment as well as harmful and discriminatory jokes often made by people around her. Sinath believes that lessons on sexual harassment can help men to understand and cease their discriminatory behavior that leads to sexual harassment. After the training, she has applied what she learned in her daily life and among her monthly saving group that she belongs to. Her peers showed a lot of interest in the subject and expressed that this would help them shift their perception and inspire some positive changes in their daily lives. For the future, Sinath plans to advocate on the issue of sexual harassment in her village by using operational funds received from Village Savings/Credit Group program. Along with the advocacy effort, she also plans to raise awareness on other topics such as importance of educating children, the impact of young marriage, gender-based violence, leadership, and positive thinking.
Empowering education: A journey to promote gender-responsiveness in teaching through public campaigns
Coming from a lower-middle income family residing in a small village in northwest part of Cambodia, Siem Reap, 25-year old Savong Chreub is now a sophomore attending a university in her hometown. She is one of the two members in the family who is pursuing higher education. Having the opportunity for higher education is not common among low-income families who struggle to make ends meet, where girls will be mostly to be pulled out from school to help the family earn a living. Chreub is a bright and enthusiastic young woman. Not only is she dedicated to her studies, but she also volunteers passionately for the NGO. As the second child in her family to pursue higher education, Chreub is determined to break the barriers that hold back many in her community. Despite being one of five siblings, she is determined to pave her own path and achieve her dreams. Her journey towards becoming an Education Champion, youth-led social media advocator, began at a Siem Reap Education Support Team (SEST) quarterly meeting where the discussion centered on education issues, particularly focusing on teaching methods. It was there that Chreub\'s eyes were opened to the concept of gender responsiveness in teaching. She couldn\'t help but reflect on the shortcomings she had observed in the education system. Gender responsiveness was lacking in the teaching methods and there clearly were inequalities within the classroom. \"When I was in high school, a teacher mocked me for not performing well in the classroom. I acknowledge that I may not be the smartest learner. However, instead of making fun of me in front of the class, she should have given more support and attention to me in her lessons,\" she expressed. She emphasized that \"teachers should try to understand the needs and support students without judgement regardless of gender, background, race, or capability.\" Additionally, she observed her classmates have been called mean names based on their sexual orientations or class performance. Chreub joined the NGO Education Partnership (NEP) as an Education Champion, leveraging social media to advocate for gender responsiveness in teaching and learning. Despite facing initial difficulties due to her limited knowledge beyond personal experience, she dedicated hours to learning from education policies, strategic plans, research papers, and reports. She knew that to effectively advocate for change, she needed to have a strong understanding of the issues at hand. For three months straight, Chreub actively created content on social media, raising awareness about the importance of gender-responsive teaching. Her passion and commitment led her to actively participate in discussions with SEST members during quarterly meetings and other educational events. Chreub acknowledged that the issue might not be fully addressed yet, but her efforts haven\'t gone unnoticed. Teachers and friends began to pay attention. They engaged with her social media campaign, seeking to learn more about gender-responsive teaching. Additionally, Chreub finds joy in echoing the concerns surrounding this issue. She believes it has a profound impact on students, constraining their ability to unlock their full potential. As part of its main objectives of building up education stakeholders’ capacity in advocacy efforts, the youth engagement activity that Chreub has enthusiastically led has incorporated more perspectives of gender related issues in education and how youth could start taking part in tackling challenges that affect them. NEP\'s implementation of \"Promoting access to quality and inclusive education for all through public advocacy campaigns\" encourages youth like Chreub to advocate for change in education, promoting equality and quality education for all. Chreub\'s journey exemplifies the power of a single voice in initiating conversations and driving positive change in the area of education.
Data storytelling by data visualization trainees
Data is an essential component of every organization and journalist. Finding the value in data and communicating that value to your target audience needs time. Simply displaying spreadsheets with rows of numbers is insufficient for demonstrating the significance of data. However, when data is presented in the form of a story, individuals are more likely to appreciate its significance and respond accordingly. The good news is that people enjoy reading stories. Storytelling has long been a great tool for educating, explaining, and influencing a specific audience or intended activities. On 20-21 and 26 December 2022, ODC conducted training on “Data Visualization and Storytelling” to equip participants with basic data visualization and storytelling skills. The trainees have learned about the principle of data as well as using data for product visualization and short storytelling. Even though we have a short time, our trainees could produce such a visualization and combine it into a story that could present data. Note: The stories shown do not have further assessment or review. These are just participants\' practice exercises only. Story 1: The special economic zones in Cambodia The trainees produced storytelling by using visualization named \"Most of Cambodia\'s special economic zones do not unveil the specific companies\' number.\" The special economic zones in Cambodia do not show the specific number of companies, indicating that they are still in the planning stages and are not yet operational. It is critical to take more action and complete those projects with high investment capital that follow the regions. Cambodia\'s potential economic zones include Phnom Penh, Kandal, Preah Sihanouk, Svay Rieng, and Koh Kong, based on data. Story 2: Hydropower dam along the Mekong River and energy consumption Visualizations are used to illustrate the number behind the Mekong hydropower dam. Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam all have one thing in common: they would like to build a dam. As regional and global energy consumption and concern about climate change grow, one solution that can help address both at the same time is building hydropower dams in the Mekong region. Vietnam is the leading country in terms of energy consumption, with numbers steadily increasing up until the recent 2020 deadline. One thing is certain: electricity consumption is rising in all countries and shows no signs of slowing. A number of hydropower projects are planned across the five Mekong countries. Myanmar has the most hydropower plans, with a total capacity of 61,412.1 MW. However, the majority of the plans are still in the planning stages, despite the fact that Vietnam has the highest hydropower project operational rate. Renewable energy\'s future is bright, but some argue that it has taken far too long. Story 3: The most potential hydropower sites in Cambodia Our Trainees also used hydropower data from the ODC website to show which provinces have a lot of hydropower. The results show that the majority of hydropower dams are located in Cambodia\'s northeast, specifically in the provinces of Kratie, Stung Treng, and Ratanakiri. Kong Koh province also has a large number of hydropower dams. Story 4: Cambodia\'s deforestation in the last 20 years Indigenous youth from Ratanakiri province created a short story titled \"Is the forest in Cambodia truly lost?\" based on Global Forest Watch data. Data on deforestation in Cambodia show a significant increase from 2001 to 2010 but a slight decrease from 2011 to 2021. Story 5: Fishing trend by region between 2009 and 2019 in Cambodia In the short storytelling using visualization \"Fishing Activities by Zones,\" fishing zones such as the plain zone, Tonle Sap zone, plateau/mountain zone, and coastal zone are depicted. Cambodia has 20 provinces with Community Fisheries (CFi). In comparison to the other 19 provinces, Koh Kong Province has the most CFis, followed by Pursat and Prey Veng. The CFis in Svay Rieng is the fewest.