“Louder Voices for Social Protection through I-SAF” project aim to raise voices of vulnerable elderly and people with disability in urban city for better social protection and social service delivery in a piloted social accountability model “I-SAF for Social Protection”. It’s intend test and explore how inclusion can be strengthened by including social protection services in the I-SAF framework. This project is jointly implement by 5 consortium members who are rightsholder group-led of people with disability, elderly and ID poor family. API is the lead applicant who responsible on coordination support with technical and  financial management, capacity building and coaching. Contemporary art, inclusive performance and advocacy song by people with disability are part of the innovative approaches for this project and share responsible by each consortium member. The digital community scorecard tool and online information tools are complement this approach. 600 people with severe disabilities, people with blind, elderly and vulnerable family in Khan Sen Sok are able to raise their voices, demanding social protection services delivery using ISAF framework to ensure the effective of the Social Protection Law implementation. The project will apply the digital blended community scorecard for improved efficiency of data management, and more effective disaggregation and presentation of M&E data on the public dashboard. Detailed disaggregated data will also serve advocacy for scaling and/or mainstreaming of this pilot project.

On the meta level of the project aims to influence National Committee for Sub-National Democratic Development (NCDD) and I-SAF implementers nationally to mainstream social protection services. On the other hand to advocate the National Social Protection Council to adopt a social accountability mechanism in the strengthening of social protection systems nation-wide, in close collaboration with the Social Protection Steering Committee of civil society organizations.

This 21 months project is target to pilot in urban Phnom Penh in Khan Sen Sok.

Project goal: To raise voices of vulnerable elderly and people with disability in urban city for better social protection and social service delivery in a piloted social accountability model “I-SAF for Social Protection”.

Specific objective 1: To realize rights and entitlements on social protection for people with disability, elderly and IP poor family in urban areas.

Specific objective 2: To secure space and collect feedback of rightsholder groups to improve social protection service delivery and Social Protection Law implementation.

 “Louder Voices for Social Protection through I-SAF” 

Citizens in Khan Sen Sok, especially vulnerable groups such as people with disability, the elderly, and poor families, do not apply their legal rights to access public services because they are unaware of their rights. Service standards and disclosure of budget information distributed within the national policy framework as well as the Royal Government’s strategic plan. These factors have led to less efficient service delivery, accountability, and transparency to service users. 

Seeing the negative impact of this problem, The Louder Voices for Social Protection through the I-SAF project implemented through the Social Accountability Framework in the six Sangkats of Khan Sen Sok with a target group of 600 people in collaboration with Khan Administration, Sangkats and 4 Associations to achieve rights and gather feedback to improve the provision of social protection services and the implementation of social protection for vulnerable groups. Achieving the above objectives, the project mobilized 600 vulnerable groups in Khan Sen Sok and recruited 21 Community Accountability Facilitators to strengthen their capacity for social protection and social accountability services through training and coaching. Collaborate with authorities to disseminate social services to citizens, disseminate information packages, community scorecards, and digital self-scorecards of service providers to develop Joint Action Accountability Plans for implementation next year. 

As a result, the Khan Sen Sok administration provided good support and cooperation with the project. In addition, he advised and encouraged the six Sangkat administrations to pay more attention to and implement a better social accountability framework. Vulnerable groups have used their right to access public services, and address community issues and needs to service providers. In 2023, 75 poor families received ID poor, 30 poor families of elderly people association members in Sangkat Phnom Penh Thmey were registered as families who are easy to affected by risk and they received amounts of cash monthly, 259 of PwD cards were delivered to the person with a disability and one ramp at Sangkat Krang Khnoung was built for a person with a disability. In the future, we hope that social protection providers will respond to the louder voices of vulnerable groups and their institutions by improving and expanding the provision of social protection services in Khan Sen Sok and also contributing to making the implementation of social protection effective and meaningful for vulnerable people in Cambodia.