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

Case Studies
Lobbying
As part of their strategy, NGO representatives
meet initially with district authorities to open a
channel of communication between them and
community committees. After NGOs have
facilitated the first meetings, staff will usually
withdraw from the process and encourage
community leaders to network on their own. Some
urban development NGOs refrain from attending
any meetings between communities and district
authorities, in order to avoid creating community
dependence on the NGO.
NGO staff interact with government staff at
all levels, including sangkat, khan, and the
Municipality, and generally request meetings to
advocate for the delay of evictions and to find other
appropriate solutions to problems facing
community members.
NGOs also use the UNCHS weekly meeting
with the Phnom Penh Mayor as an opportunity to
advocate on particular issues. Experience indicates
that in order for advocacy efforts to be successful,
it is important to have high-profile people
involved, such as the NGO director. It is also
important to do advocacy on a continuous basis
and not wait for disasters such as fires.
Media
When communities from Bondoh Vichea
were barred from rebuilding their shelters, they
demonstrated in front of the Prime Minister’s
house. Though urban-focused NGOs had not been
initially aware that the media could help their
cause, staff observed journalists covering the
demonstration and read the article that was
subsequently published. The demonstration
generated significant publicity and this experience
helped NGOs to understand the importance of the
media. Now NGO staff carries journalists’
telephone numbers with them and contact them
as soon as they learn about a crisis.
Some urban NGOs produce newsletters that
they distribute to communities, municipal
officials, NGOs, and local authorities. Publications
serve to inform municipal authorities of problems
that arise. Though most NGOs who
produce newsletters do so
independently, a single sectoral
publication that presents articles from
various organizations would likely carry
more weight.
Impact of Advocacy Activities
Policy/Program Changes
At the implementation level, NGOs
and urban committees have made
progress in negotiating improvement projects with
district authorities that deal with communities on
a case-by-case basis. Some NGO staff feel that
district authorities are beginning to listen to and
cooperate with NGOs. In some communes,
however, no amount of strategizing can encourage
authorities to cooperate with poor communities
and sometimes authorities even create obstacles
when dealing with poor communities.
Overall, development agencies suggest that
there has been a shift from a gradual improvement
in the attitude of the municipal government
through 1999, to an increasingly hard-line stance
of relocating people onto unprepared sites, as
highlighted after the Bondos Vichea fires. After the
fires, NGOs had a few meetings with the
Municipality, but the Municipality tended to treat
NGOs as potential donors rather than
collaborators. That the Municipality provided
supplies and materials to victims at all is viewed
as its strategy to appease fire victims and deflect
criticism.
Possible reasons for the Municipality’s
increasingly tough stance may be that it sees the
bottom-up approach as being too fragmented and
slow, or that it creates independent entities that
may criticize the government in the future.
Whatever the case, the Municipality’s
management style is perceived as being top-down,
with some city officials acting as if the city does
not include poor communities. The Municipality
has many problems to address and the urban poor
seem to be low on their list of priorities.
Very little success has occurred relating to
urban poor policy formulation or change.
Authorities will continue to evict poor
communities that will eventually move to other
locations in the city despite initial relocation areas
set up by the municipality outside the city. Longterm
policies that address the urban poor’s rights
need support from NGOs and authorities to help
resolve the urban poor’s plight.
Enlarging the Democratic Space
Some progress has been made at the local
When 11 banks closed in 2001, many organized urban communities that
had deposited savings at one of the closed banks were severely affected.
A number of NGOs came together to form a Depositors Rights Protection
Committee to lobby for the return of part of the money. The group wrote
letters to the Ministry of Finance, the National Bank, and the directors of
the closed banks, as well as organized a number of demonstrations. The
committee was ultimately successful in getting the banks to return $500
to depositors as a first step. An additional 15% of funds deposited was
subsequently returned as well.
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