Advocacy in Cambodia: Increasing Democratic ... - Pact Cambodia
Advocacy in Cambodia: Increasing Democratic ... - Pact Cambodia
Advocacy in Cambodia: Increasing Democratic ... - Pact Cambodia
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Increas<strong>in</strong>g <strong>Democratic</strong> Space<br />
efficient and avoid overtax<strong>in</strong>g network members.<br />
It should be possible for agencies that feel strongly<br />
<strong>in</strong>dependent or that disagree with other agencies’<br />
philosophies to participate if they have the best<br />
<strong>in</strong>terest of the <strong>Cambodia</strong>n people <strong>in</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d.<br />
In order to move their advocacy agendas<br />
forward, actors from some of the less-coord<strong>in</strong>ated<br />
sectors should meet to put together a long-term<br />
advocacy approach with short-term and long-term<br />
objectives. These objectives should be revisited on<br />
a regular basis and adjusted as needed. To<br />
maximize efficiency, sectoral leaders should<br />
identify opportunities to l<strong>in</strong>k these exercises to<br />
preparation of the annual Consultative Group<br />
(CG) report prepared by NGOs.<br />
Promote Cross-Sector Communication<br />
<strong>Advocacy</strong> leaders <strong>in</strong>terviewed for this report<br />
are accumulat<strong>in</strong>g a vast amount of experience.<br />
However, because they work <strong>in</strong> different sectors<br />
they usually do not know each other. Br<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>g<br />
these activists together for some event, possibly a<br />
yearly national advocacy conference, will facilitate<br />
shar<strong>in</strong>g of experiences and encourage leaders<br />
work<strong>in</strong>g on difficult issues. Such an event would<br />
allow local activists to broaden their horizons <strong>in</strong><br />
the same manner that the 1999 gender conference<br />
brought two hundred women from all<br />
backgrounds together.<br />
Another cross-sectoral activity could be a<br />
workshop on legislative lobby<strong>in</strong>g. Various groups<br />
work<strong>in</strong>g on legislative issues have expressed the<br />
need to learn more about lobby<strong>in</strong>g techniques.<br />
Advocates go<strong>in</strong>g through the legislative process for<br />
the first time are often unsure of what their next<br />
steps should be and would benefit from<br />
exchang<strong>in</strong>g experiences with others who have<br />
extensive experience <strong>in</strong> lobby<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
Increase Grassroots Participation <strong>in</strong><br />
Agenda Selection and Policy<br />
Formulation<br />
Advocat<strong>in</strong>g organizations should follow the<br />
community fisheries campaign’s example and take<br />
every opportunity to <strong>in</strong>clude local activists <strong>in</strong><br />
networks and policy formulation activities. This<br />
will <strong>in</strong>crease the advocacy capacity of ord<strong>in</strong>ary<br />
citizens and ensure that advocacy campaigns are<br />
relevant and responsive.<br />
Foster Government Authorities as<br />
Advocates<br />
The most successful advocacy strategies<br />
focus on develop<strong>in</strong>g constructive relationships<br />
with government. Elected officials represent a<br />
constituency. Capacity build<strong>in</strong>g of government<br />
officials <strong>in</strong> advocacy with<strong>in</strong> government would be<br />
useful to <strong>in</strong>still a sense of responsibility and<br />
accountability.<br />
As elected representatives, the new commune<br />
council members will be the advocacy targets of<br />
ord<strong>in</strong>ary citizens and will <strong>in</strong> turn advocate for their<br />
constituencies with higher levels of government.<br />
With access to <strong>in</strong>formation and <strong>in</strong>creased<br />
advocacy skills, the commune councils may act as<br />
conciliators to mitigate conflict at the local level.<br />
Build Capacity: Include Exposure Tours<br />
and Tie In to Ongo<strong>in</strong>g Campaigns<br />
To be effective, advocacy capacity build<strong>in</strong>g<br />
programs need to be conducted with<strong>in</strong> the context<br />
of an issue. Exposure visits allow participants to<br />
observe advocacy <strong>in</strong> action. Exposure tours should<br />
have a mechanism built <strong>in</strong> to process lessons<br />
learned from the tour.<br />
Focus on Economic and Social Issues<br />
The majority of advocacy efforts have focused<br />
on rights issues. While these are doubtlessly<br />
important, these advocacy campaigns have not<br />
been based on popular support but rather have<br />
been susta<strong>in</strong>ed by organizations. However, there<br />
are other important advocacy issues that are more<br />
likely to receive popular support because they are<br />
organized around <strong>in</strong>terest groups.<br />
Examples of <strong>in</strong>terest groups <strong>in</strong>clude market<br />
vendors (who deal with market monopolies), taxi<br />
drivers (who pay unofficial fees to transport<br />
riders), and meat sellers (who are required to sell<br />
their products to particular slaughterhouses,<br />
ostensibly so that they can be <strong>in</strong>spected, though<br />
<strong>in</strong>spections are rare). These groups would benefit<br />
from <strong>in</strong>formation about current laws and their<br />
rights to not be abused by local officials levy<strong>in</strong>g<br />
unofficial ‘taxes.’ Larger economic issues could<br />
<strong>in</strong>clude trade policies and the implications these<br />
policies have on people at the local level.<br />
Build <strong>Advocacy</strong> Capacity Beyond<br />
Leaders<br />
Currently advocacy capacity appears to reside<br />
ma<strong>in</strong>ly with a few leaders. To ensure susta<strong>in</strong>ability,<br />
future advocacy capacity build<strong>in</strong>g efforts should<br />
focus on build<strong>in</strong>g capacity beyond these advocate<br />
leaders to NGO program officers, for example.<br />
Likewise, government officials could use<br />
capacity build<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> draft<strong>in</strong>g successful legislation.<br />
This would <strong>in</strong>clude strategies for <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
needs of their constituencies <strong>in</strong> proposed<br />
legislation, provid<strong>in</strong>g technical expertise <strong>in</strong> l<strong>in</strong>e<br />
m<strong>in</strong>istries to provide cogent arguments that are<br />
rooted <strong>in</strong> empirical data, and methods for<br />
follow<strong>in</strong>g legislation through to implementation.<br />
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