Advocacy in Cambodia: Increasing Democratic ... - Pact Cambodia

EMOs do not
traditionally base their
work on popular
support. Their
legitimacy stems from
the documentation of
rights or election
violations and
proposed work to solve those violations. In order
to build legitimacy for the campaign to switch
Commune Councils elections to direct voting, the
EMO coalition established legitimacy by
conducting public polls. The 80% support for the
direct system surprised the EMO coalition and
provided a strong factual foundation for their
campaign, even though the findings and the EMOs
advocacy activities did not convince politicians to
change the draft law. Anecdotes suggest that highlevel
politicians intimated to the EMOs that even
though the campaign platform had popular
support, the EMOs themselves did not have
enough popular support. NGOs should realize that
significant campaign strength would result from
both broad based support for the issue as well as
for the NGOs that help organize the campaign.
Among the cases reviewed there are three in
which support of constituents was cultivated:
labor, the fisheries sector, and the rights of
commercial sex workers. Fisheries advocates used
two strategies to include fishing communities in
policy formulation. The first was to share drafts
of the community fisheries sub-decree with
representatives of fishing communities and the
second was to obtain the participation of
community representatives at national level
conferences to give their input to the draft decree.
Experts in natural resources management contend
that policies formulated using this model of
consultation are likely to be more appropriate and
better enforced than models used by other sectors.
The organizing of commercial sex workers in
the Phnom Penh area highlights the power of
participatory advocacy. Advocacy focused on
informing commercial sex workers that their
profession is not illegal and that police and other
officials are acting illegally when they detain and
abuse them. The 1,900 organized commercial sex
workers have learned to react quickly when one
of their own is taken to a police station: as a group,
they immediately protest the illegal detainment.
Labor organizing has directly included
garment factory workers as members and leaders.
Labor union meetings include agenda setting by
members and democratic decision-making within
some unions.
Some advocacy campaigns understand the
importance of including afftected communities in
campaign activities. The HIV/AIDS sector is a
While not all advocacy issues require mass
organizing, in order to maintain their legitimacy
advocacy or policy formulation agencies need to
maintain some ties to the grassroots level.
good example where HIV positive people are being
mobilized to have a voice in policy formulation.
The more affected communities are incorporated
into the campaign, the greater the possibility of
having a legitimate campaign that holds long-term
potential to bring about positive change.
The Role of NGOs and Direct Action
This last example illustrates a subtle trend in
grassroots advocacy in Cambodia. International
agencies are increasingly questioning the ability
of some NGOs to include communities in advocacy
activities. Even more seriously, these agencies
appear doubtful that those NGOs can develop
advocacy skills. In response they are testing
community advocacy models that bypass NGOs
and work directly with affected communities and
advocate leaders.
A combination of factors are likely
responsible for this trend. To begin with, the
context in which rural NGOs are working is
particularly challenging and they may not have
adequate backing to undertake difficult campaigns
that challenge the status quo. Unlike other
countries with strong grassroots advocacy
movements, most NGO workers in Cambodia do
not come from a background of activism and they
lack the commitment of activists. There are also
a number of reported cases of NGO workers
replicating with communities the same statusconscious
or paternalistic behavior that target
stakeholders (such as authorities or company
managers) subject the communities to – and
consequently alienating themselves from
communities.
When politicians are known to be corrupt and
the rule of law is not upheld, small NGOs with little
clout are not in a position to obtain solutions to
problems or even strong advocacy networks, such
as the KANAN in Kompong Cham. In some cases
NGOs have been helping communities file
complaints and collect petitions for years, but
without success. In at least one case in Kompong
Thom, an NGO worker was killed in the course of
advocacy activities. Recently in Preah Vihear, one
NGO worker was threatened at gunpoint. NGO
workers are periodically warned by armed guards
not to enter certain areas where land and forest
concessions are reported to be problematic. In
1999, two LICADHO staff were arrested in
Increasing Democratic Space
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