The Civil Society Activity (CSS) project made significant progress in empowering indigenous voices, through its partnership with Open Development Cambodia (ODC) and Conserve Indigenous People’s Language (CIPL) Organization. Acknowledging the limitations of training every community member, the project employed a strategic approach: transmitting knowledge from focal persons to their communities. These designated individuals have become conduits for information dissemination, resulting in a profound impact.
Mr. Lao Bundinh is a 27-year-old Jarai indigenous youth living with his family in Pak Thum village, Pak Nhai commune, Ou Yadav district, Ratanakiri province. He had limited knowledge regarding social media, script writing, and other technological tools. Nevertheless, he had a strong desire to share his culture and voice with a wider audience through social media channels. He also faced a significant knowledge gap, particularly in the realm of digital security.
Throughout his active participation in project activities, training sessions, and engagement with local authorities, he gained valuable insights and became aware of the knowledge gaps he needed to address. Despite encountering various challenges, including barriers related to knowledge, technical skills, and time constraints, he persevered and continued to pursue higher levels of expertise.
He seized the opportunity to undertake the role of a trainer, conveying his acquired knowledge to indigenous youths within his community. His training sessions focused on topics such as Facebook security, Telegram two-step verification, and video production scripting. He also has gained the capability to express his insights and address community issues effectively through social media channels while sharing his knowledge within his community. He takes great pride in his personal growth and achievements, having reached this significant milestone. He remains committed to ongoing knowledge sharing and making contributions to increasing awareness among indigenous communities in the future.
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Indigenous youths’ improvement on mobile report
Being trained to use a smartphone to report reflects the view of indigenous youth. “This training is very significant for me since I could use it to empower my community and share with outsiders who we are and what we are living with.” Mr. Lao Bundinh is a Jarai indigenous youth. He was born in a rural area of Phork Thom village, Phork Nhai commune, Ouyadav district, Ratanakiri province, and he has lived there for 27 years. He did not have much knowledge of story writing as well as photos and video shooting. However, he would like to share his daily life as an indigenous youth, his livelihood, and culture, as well as the environment in his community with other people through social media. Mr. Lao Bundinh was sharing how to cut the video by using smartphone during the mobile report training provided by CIPL. Until when he got to know about the mobile report training organized by Conserve Indigenous Peoples Languages (CIPL) in collaboration with Open Development Cambodia (ODC), he had the chance to learn what he liked and waiting for. He joined the mobile report training, which aims to build the capacity of indigenous youths on how to use a mobile phone to report on natural resources management by writing stories and using photos as the evidence-based mechanism on 21 – 22 September 2022 in Ratanakiri province. It required him to put more effort and time into improving his skills. Indigenous youths were joining the training on the mobile report provided by CIPL at Ratanakiri province. His commitment to sharing what is happening within his community inspired him to persevere through the challenges. Currently, he can write a story and edit a video to share on the social media platform. He feels very thankful for the organizer giving him an opportunity to learn what he always wishes to. He posted his own video, “Finished the mobile report training on environment, video shooting, and video editing from CIPL, I could do some practices,” to illustrate the beauty of the forest, environment, and livelihood of his community on social media.
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.