NDI - Cambodia

Civic Updates

vrao — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 17:55:00 +0000

Author:

National Democratic Institute

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute

Resource Type:

Civic Update

Language:

English

Attachment	Size
Issue 50: A Matter of Political Space (April 2016)	1.06 MB
Issue 49: Social Movements (January '16)	1.22 MB
Issue 48: Peace, Security and Democratic Resilience (August '15)	818.41 KB
Issue 47: Integration (April '15)	1011.57 KB
Issue 46: The Infomediary Role of NDI Partners (Jan. '15)	339.19 KB
Issue 45: The Role of Dialogue in Deepening Democracy (Sept. '14)	1.84 MB
Issue 44: Taking Advantage of Political Entry Points to Improve Meaningful Engagement (May '14)	1.12 MB
Issue 43: Political Inclusion of LGBT Population (Jan. '14)	1.43 MB
Issue 42: Radio as an Effective Communication Tool (Aug. '13)	1.48 MB
Issue 41: The Use of ICT to Enhance Citizen Participation (May '13)	1.57 MB
Issue 40: Supporting Inclusion of Marginalized Ethnic and Religious Groups (Dec. '12)	1.87 MB
Issue 39: Public Opinion Research (Sept. '12)	1.69 MB
Issue 38: Youth Programming (May '12)	1.83 MB
Issue 37: Mainstreaming Persons with Disabilities (Jan. '12)	1.72 MB
Issue 36: Organizational Development (May '11)	1.1 MB
Issue 35: GOTV, Voter Information & Voter Education (Jan. '11)	1.04 MB
Issue 34: Structuring and Maintaining Partnerships (Sept. '10)	306.87 KB
Issue 33: Political Process Monitoring (May '10)	419.89 KB
Issue 32: Defending Space for Citizen Participation (Aug. '09)	204.87 KB
Issue 31: Best Practices for Meaningful Citizen Engagement (April '09)	540.61 KB
Issue 30: Context Matters (Jan. '09)	311.87 KB
Issue 29: Voice, Space and Accountability (Aug. '08)	869.11 KB
Issue 28: Communications Tools (May '08)	207.88 KB
Issue 27: Using Information and Communications Techonologies (Jan. '08)	486.89 KB
Issue 26: Working with Marginalized Populations (Sept. '07)	283.24 KB
Issue 25: Ten Years of Civic Updates (July '07)	258.56 KB
Issue 24: Making Democracy Deliver (Feb. '07)	413.86 KB
Issue 23: Positive Partnerships with Local Groups (May '06)	268.06 KB
Issue 22: Political Activism for People with Disablities (Dec. '05)	458.7 KB
Issue 21: Local Fundraising and Volunteer Recruitment (July '05)	221.65 KB
Issue 20: Tips from NDI Practioners (April '05)	561.26 KB
Issue 19: Get Out The Vote (Dec. '04)	496.75 KB
Issue 18: Involving Youth in the Political Process (July '04)	277.27 KB
Issue 17: Monitoring as a Driver of Change (Feb. '04)	488.58 KB
Issue 16: Citizen Surveys and Other Organizing Tools (Nov. '03)	546.03 KB
Issue 15: Making University Connections (Aug. '03)	579.18 KB
Issue 14: Focus Groups (May '03)	334.74 KB
Issue 13: Civic Forum (Nov. '02)	279.56 KB
Issue 12: Coalition Building (Jan. '02)	195.45 KB
Issue 11: Assessment Methods (Aug. '01)	84.74 KB
Issue 10: Partnership Approaches (April '01)	109.87 KB
Issue 9: What's Voting All About? (Oct. '99)	82.5 KB
Issue 8: Global Seminar on Advocacy and Democracy Development (June '99)	481.85 KB
Issue 7: How Civic Programs Increase Women's Participation in Processes (Dec. '98)	962.34 KB
Issue 6: Post-Conflict and Ethnic Divided Societies (July '98)	120.75 KB
Issue 5: Assessing Programs (March '98)	81.99 KB
Issue 4: Training (Nov. '97)	98.85 KB
Issue 3: Resources and Communication (July '97)	74.43 KB
Issue 2: Advocacy (April '97)	94.31 KB
Issue 1: Program Highlights from Around the World (Feb. '97)	121.71 KB

Sandra Pepera

skincaid — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 18:41:17 +0000

Sandra Pepera is a career diplomat and international development professional. Before joining NDI as its director for Gender, Women and Democracy in 2014, she spent thirteen years as a senior officer at the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), including leading programs in the Caribbean, Rwanda-Burundi and Sudan. Prior to joining DFID, Sandra spent time in British domestic politics; lecturing in political science and international relations at the University of Ghana; and as a political analyst in the Political Affairs Division at the Commonwealth Secretariat. She has a portfolio of skills and experience which include strategy development, political and risk analysis, diplomacy, general management and corporate governance.

Much of Sandra’s career has been spent working in or on transitional economies, focusing on the building of resilient and inclusive institutions. She led work on women and politics at the University of Ghana and in outreach public policy during the period of intense and unstable political transition in the early 1990s. This included participating in a program that supported the ANC Women’s League during South Africa’s transition from apartheid to majority democratic rule in 1993.

Sandra is a member of the Cambridge Sustainability Leaders Network, the Royal Commonwealth Society, the Global Board Ready Women initiative, and the International Advisory Board of the Commonwealth Journal for International Affairs (the Round Table). She holds the Financial Times Diploma for Non-Executive Directors, and serves as a trustee for the pension fund of an intergovernmental organization.

New Program Advances Government Accountability and Transparency in Cambodia

blesswing — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 18:24:17 +0000

Network and community members in Kampong Tralach commune, Kampong Chhnang province, participate in an awareness campaign for environmental protection and fish conservation organized by the ECN on Jan. 30.

With only three classrooms and two teachers, a local school in the Pakleae community in the Roluos Meanchey commune in northwest Cambodia faced severe overcrowding. Already beyond capacity, the school was unable to handle the increasing number of students coming through its doors.

A resident complained to her local elected officials and leaders at a town hall event organized by NDI. Shortly afterward, the provincial Education Department sent two new teachers to the Roluos secondary school, as well as one more teacher to the Pakleae primary school.

Until recently, interactions like this between citizens and their elected representatives were rare. Cambodians often did not have a platform where they could raise basic issues that affected their daily lives. While individual legislators made efforts to meet with constituents, many faced time constraints and sometimes were unable to secure places to meet.

NDI Senior Program Assistant Ros Sinak (seated at top right) explains how to complete report forms during a meeting with citizen network members in Khsuem commune, Kratie province.

But the example of the overcrowded school marks a significant change with the launch of a new Engaged Citizens Network project organized by NDI.

Created in 2014, the citizen network project stems from NDI’s decade-long constituency dialogue program, through which grassroots activists organize town hall events that bring citizens in direct contact with government officials. These events have helped elected representatives improve their understanding of community needs and also demonstrate to citizens how local leaders can help tackle their issues.

As part of the project, local watchdog and community groups monitor progress on constituent issues raised during town hall events. Specifically, citizen network members host public meetings where citizens raise complaints and issues affecting their community, which citizen network members then bring to the attention of elected representatives and local leaders, and monitor government responses.

"Since the network project became active, the local authorities have begun to pay more attention to the concerns of the people, because we are lifting up the voice of the people,” said a citizen network member from the Kompong Tralach commune in Kompong Chhnang province. “People ask us to bring issues to the commune council, which is something that never took place previously."

Network monitoring efforts have yielded several examples of community issues that were resolved with the help of elected leaders and government officials.

A “citizen network” member leads a community meeting in Thmey Commune, Kratie province.

In Kampong Tralach, a resident complained about illegal fishing tools being used to fish in community ponds. The tools, such as nets with holes small enough to catch baby fish and electric rods, are largely responsible for a recent decline in the local fish population. The district fishery department cracked down by confiscating the illegal tools, fining perpetrators and educating them on illegal versus legal fishing methods.

In Thmey, a resident raised concerns about the high number of domestic violence cases. The Department of Women Affairs addressed this by organizing educational classes for families that stressed the harmful effects of domestic violence. Community members reported a decrease in in domestic violence cases following the department’s intervention.

In total, eight issues raised at town hall events have been resolved with help from local government officials. NDI also provided financial and technical support to network members throughout the year.

"I became a citizen network member because the local authorities rarely used to listen to people's concerns and would not respond to requests made by citizens,” said a network member from the Koh Thkov commune in the Kompong Chhnang province. “Since the network project was established in our commune, the local authorities seem to be working more effectively to respond to the concerns of commune members."

Citizen network participants are also recruiting“sub-network” members who work independent of NDI and help network members follow up with local authorities to hold them accountable to address community issues. The shift of ownership to the local level is considered critical to sustaining the program once the project ends in September.

Looking ahead, NDI will continue to support network members as they train more citizens and expand their efforts to other regions of Cambodia. Network members are already partnering with like-minded activists to promote government accountability and transparency. In July, NDI will host training sessions in larger areas to teach newly-recruited members how to organize public campaigns centered around local issues and encourage their neighbors to get involved in the democratic process. The goal in the next year is for citizen network members to act as local watchdogs within their communities independent of NDI.

Published on March 11, 2015

John S. Cavanaugh

Mon, 09 Feb 2015 19:09:19 +0000

John S. Cavanaugh, resident country director of NDI's Cambodia office, has worked in government, politics and democracy promotion for more than twenty-five years. In New Hampshire, Cavanaugh worked on presidential, congressional and state political campaigns, and later directed bipartisan economic development and natural resource conservation initiatives. During his tenure in U.S. politics, Cavanaugh developed a specialized and applied knowledge of grassroots organization, political communications and intergovernmental relations, which informs his overseas work in international development today.

Prior to his position in Cambodia, Cavanaugh spent several years directing USAID political development and peacekeeping initiatives in Nepal, Indonesia, and Eastern Europe. Most recently, Cavanaugh served as Chief of Party of the USAID’s inclusive resource management initiative in the western Terai region of Nepal, and before that directed a sub-national political party and civil society strengthening project in Indonesia, focusing on the post-conflict provinces of Aceh, South Sulawesi and Maluku.

In addition to these assignments, Cavanaugh has directed local governance, fiscal transparency, civil society development, citizen outreach and political party support initiatives in Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans and Turkey. In Macedonia, Cavanaugh oversaw a nationwide public opinion polling program and worked extensively with local civil society organizations to advance the participation of women, youth, and minority subgroups, in political and government institutions.

Cavanaugh has participated in election observation missions in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Liberia, Nigeria and Macedonia, and participated in the 2010 World Movement for Democracy in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Cavanaugh holds a bachelor of arts degree in government from Dartmouth College.

Empowering Women for Stronger Political Parties: A Good Practices Guide to Promote Women's Political Participation (Now available in Burmese)

fstovall — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 14:31:07 +0000

Author:

Julie Ballington

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute United Nations Development Programme

Published Date:

10/31/2011

Resource Type:

Manual|Handbook

Language:

Arabic, Burmese, English, French, Russian, Spanish, Urdu

English

Arabic

French

Spanish

Russian

Urdu

Attachment	Size
Read the manual (English)	2.49 MB
Read the manual with case studies (English)	3.45 MB
Read the manual (Arabic)	1.9 MB
Download the poster (Arabic)	1.18 MB
Read the manual (Burmese)	4.59 MB
Read the manual (French)	2.57 MB
Download the poster (French)	670.54 KB
Read the manual (Russian)	2.82 MB
Download the poster (Russian)	256.16 KB
Read the manual (Spanish)	2.59 MB
Download the poster (Spanish)	680.95 KB
Read the manual (Urdu)	3.74 MB
Read the manual with case studies (Albanian)	10.91 MB

Equal Access: How to Include Persons with Disabilities in Elections and Political Processes

dleonard — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 14:59:44 +0000

Author:

National Democratic Institute, International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES)

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute

Published Date:

03/06/2014

Resource Type:

Manual|Handbook

Language:

Arabic, English, French, Indonesian, Russian, Spanish, Uzbek

English

Arabic

Spanish

Russian

Attachment	Size
Download the manual in Arabic	2.54 MB
Download the manual in English	3.24 MB
Download the manual in French	2.36 MB
Download the manual in Indonesian	16.34 MB
Download the manual in Russian	2.37 MB
Download the manual in Spanish	16.87 MB
Download the manual in Uzbek	3.85 MB

Democracy in Peril in Asia

dleonard — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 16:02:10 +0000

Source:

The New York Times

Article Link:

Published Date:

01/08/2014

The recent protests in Cambodia, Bangladesh and Thailand “are a vivid reminder of the fragile state of democracy in many developing countries, particularly those that do not have independent judiciaries and professional police forces and militaries.”

In all three countries, “[a]utocratic and corrupt political leaders have used government agencies, in some cases over decades, to serve themselves and their cronies” rather than the people. As a result, “[t]he lack of sufficient democratic checks and balances...has undermined faith in elections and helped to create the conditions for civil unrest.”

“There are no easy or quick solutions to the crisis in these three nations. While elections are vital, they are not sufficient to create stable democracies. Until these countries build institutions capable of serving as a check on political leaders, they will remain vulnerable to civil unrest.”

Report on Constituency Dialogues in Cambodia, 2013

fstovall — Fri, 03 Jan 2014 14:37:10 +0000

Author:

National Democratic Institute

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute

Published Date:

01/03/2014

Resource Type:

Report

Language:

English

Attachment	Size
Download the report	5.25 MB

Report on Constituency Dialogues in Cambodia, 2012

fstovall — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 16:54:03 +0000

Author:

Laura L. Thornton

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute

Published Date:

11/21/2012

Resource Type:

Report

Language:

English, Khmer

English

Khmer

Attachment	Size
Read the report (English)	16.37 MB
Read the report (Khmer)	8.26 MB

Report on Constituency Dialogues in Cambodia, 2011

ntekeei — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 15:55:27 +0000

Author:

Laura L. Thornton

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute

Published Date:

01/17/2012

Resource Type:

Report

Language:

English

Attachment	Size
Read the report (English)	501.32 KB
Read the report (Khmer)	1.88 MB

Report on Constituency Dialogues in Cambodia, 2010

rrunyan — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 19:08:52 +0000

Author:

Laura L. Thornton

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute

Published Date:

02/18/2011

Resource Type:

Report

Language:

English

Media Type:

PDF

English

Attachment	Size
Read the report	3.09 MB

Increasing Women’s Political Participation Through Effective Training Programs: A Guide to Best Practices and Lessons Learned

fstovall — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 20:08:23 +0000

Author:

National Democratic Institute

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute

Published Date:

10/23/2013

Resource Type:

Training Manual

Language:

Arabic, English, French, Russian, Spanish

English

Arabic

French

Spanish

Russian

Attachment	Size
Download the manual (English)	994.16 KB
Download the manual (français)	1.02 MB
Download the manual (РУС)	1.31 MB
Download the manual (español)	1.08 MB
Download the manual (بالعربية)	787.23 KB

National Assembly Candidate Debates 2013 (Cambodia)

fstovall — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 15:22:19 +0000

Author:

National Democratic Institute

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute

Published Date:

11/07/2013

Resource Type:

Report

Language:

English

Attachment	Size
Download the report	18.27 MB

Joint-Report on the Conduct of the 2013 Cambodian Elections

fstovall — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 17:30:33 +0000

Author:

The Electoral Reform Alliance

Publisher:

The Electoral Reform Alliance

Published Date:

11/01/2013

Resource Type:

Election Report

Language:

English

Attachment	Size
Download the report	2.74 MB

Cambodia's Women Call for Free and Fair Elections

dleonard — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 17:35:55 +0000

Source:

The Daily Beast

Article Link:

Published Date:

09/13/2013

On July 28th, Cambodia held its general elections, in which the Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) - the ruling party of the last 30 years - defeated the Cambodian National Rescue party (CNRP). The news of CPP’s re-election has triggered mass demonstrations worldwide, with demands for an investigation into the election results.

Mu Sochua, a woman member of the CNRP, is a leading figure in the demonstrations in Cambodia. Her political activism has increasingly encouraged women to join the protests for free and fair elections, and “there is [now] an ever-growing presence of women among Mu Sochua's supporters, who are becoming bolder with each demonstration.”

Because of Mo Sochua and the CNRP “Cambodia is slowly being placed back on the world’s political map, with democracy looming in the horizon.” And whether Mu Sochua and the party win or lose the next general elections, these elections “will see a swift increase in female participants.”