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

est practices
During the course of this study a number of strategies stood out as best
practices in the Cambodian context:
Set Objectives:
Engage in
Consultation:
Document:
Educate:
Network:
Understand the
Legislative Process:
When lobbying on the Commune Council Election Law, election
monitoring coalitions narrowed their focus to three clear objectives,
with one fallback position. Many advocacy campaigns in Cambodia do
not have specific objectives or have too many.
Obtaining legislative grassroots consultation is not easy in Cambodia.
The fisheries network achieved this goal by using a dual approach that
included supporting the Department of Fisheries while working with
local communities to get their input into policies. It was particularly
challenging to integrate the comments of fishing representatives who
often have short-term objectives in mind, but in the end all parties
were pleased with the process.
Starting in 1994, PADV and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs
collaborated on a series of research projects that helped identify
domestic violence as a problem in Cambodia. Thanks to this research
it was possible for advocates to argue successfully for a domestic
violence law.
The NGO Forum’s forestry network focuses on educating villagers living
on forest concession lands about their rights. Distribution of
information about the 1988 Cambodia law banning the felling of resin
trees currently being tapped by villagers helped villagers disrupt illegal
tree cutting activities.
This year the Cambodian Confederation of Women’s Organizations
successfully lobbied to add ‘trafficking of women’ to the agenda of the
ASEAN Confederation of Women’s Organizations annual general
meeting, to be held in Singapore in June 2002.
When proponents of the domestic violence law wanted to mobilize
support for their draft legislation they invited members of the National
Assembly and key figures from the Council of Ministers to give their
input. When the draft law is eventually forwarded to those institutions,
they will find ready supporters there.
Increasing Democratic Space
Have a Long-Term
Approach:
Advocates should keep the long-term aspect of advocacy in mind to
avoid giving up too soon on an issue. This means distributing tasks
and using resources carefully to avoid exhausting personnel and
deflating morale. It also means being flexible and having backup
strategies for when obstacles are encountered. The Commune Council
Election Law lobbying exhibited many of these characteristics.
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