by the Voice country team in Cambodia and Oxfam in Cambodia 

Voice in Cambodia, operated by Oxfam in Cambodia, and Live & Learn Cambodia, the country Linking & Learning Facilitator, organised “The Power of Inclusion” fair on April 5, 2024 in Phnom Penh. This festival celebrated eight incredible years of impact, collaboration and progress achieved alongside our remarkable grantee partners and rightsholders, showcasing  the success of Voice in Cambodia.

The event features booth exhibitions, interactive workshops, group activities and projects showcase from  26 Voice grantee partners. Through storytelling, panel discussion and performances, the journey towards inclusion and achievements of rightsholder communities were highlighted. These communities include people with disabilities, LGBTI groups, women facing violence and/or exploitation, vulnerable youth and elderly, indigenous groups, and ethnic minorities.  The festival was conducted in Khmer with English and Khmer Sign Language interpretations.

Ms. Sophoan Phean, Oxfam National Director, said:

“Oxfam is pleased to support and work with our partners to promote and raise awareness about inclusivity and diversity. We support the empowerment of the community we work with to fully participate in different levels and platforms starting from community development up to policy dialogue and discussion, in line with the principle of leave no one behind and inclusivity.”

Voice as a programme aims to strengthen the lobbying and advocacy capacity of civil society organisations and representatives of rightsholders and rightsholder groups, supporting their empoerment to have their voices heard and respected. Given the difficulties in reaching these groups, self-empowerment and innovative approaches to strengthening the capacity for influence are essential.

In Cambodia, Oxfam implemented the Voice programme, which was the first country launched in December 2016 and has been running for over eight years. Oxfam is very honored and pleased to facilitate and support our 54 local grantees partners and directly reached around 68,968 rightsholder groups under this initiative.

Voice in Cambodia, through its pathways of change, has impacted the five rightsholder groups in accessing productive resources, social services and political participation. The rightsholder groups are empowered, increasing their capacity and confidence, and creating a strong foundation. They are encouraged to speak up, voice out their concerns, and demand their rights for inclusive access to social services, social protection, and space to participate in decision-making. The increase in peer-to-peer support, building trust and solidarity among each community were observed as a result of their project initiatives. Amplifying provides tools and support to make voices louder, leading to a bigger impact when individuals come together. Some other changes were recorded in the increasing of the rightsholder’s voices and visibility, recognition, acceptance, and coming out for those who hid their real identity due to discrimination and the left behind groups. Influencing involves using various methods to drive change, such as engaging with leaders and utilizing (social) media.

One of the successful influencing work was done by the elderly people where the representatives from the Cambodia Aging Network were officially appointed and actively engaged in the Technical Working Group to develop the National Aging Policy Action Plan 2021-2025 by the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veteran and Youth Rehabilitation (MoSVY).

Linking & Learning is another important part in Voice program. It is a platform that fosters collaboration, connection, knowledge sharing, innovation, and application of new knowledge for effective project implementation and delivery within the community. This community includes grantee partners, rightsholders, and other stakeholders. The aim is to generate evidence-based learning and innovative solutions to project implementation challenges, with the goal of achieving transformative change for rightsholders who faced marginalization and discrimination.

Mr. Socheath Sou, Live & Learn Cambodia’s Executive Director, said:

“It is important that people facing marginalisation or discrimination have a space to voice their concerns and address their needs and priorities. We are proud to facilitate the creation of spaces providing grantee partners and rightsholder groups the opportunities for meaningful dialogue, and communicate with each other and their respective authorities. This includes building strong networks across stakeholders and platforms and providing equal opportunities to develop necessary capacities that will support their future actions.”

Though the Voice programme is coming to a close after eight years of operation in Cambodia and nine other countries in Southeast Asia, East and West Africa, our commitment to promoting inclusivity and empowering rightsholder groups continue to thrive.