Female Councillor Empowerment through Networking
A successful workshop opening
10 April 2018
Women holding political office in Cambodia do not have it easy. They often encounter prejudice and lack of understanding, and there is little trust in their abilities. They are also underrepresented at all levels of government. In light of this, the National Committee for Sub-national Democratic Development (NCDD-S) with support from the GIZ implemented EU Project for Decentralisation and Administrative Reform (EU DAR) has taken action. The two partners currently conduct a countrywide training programme consisting of six regional training sessions for all 445 female councillors from Cambodia’s Khan, District, Municipality and Province Councils. The trainings focus on allowing female councillors to network with each other by sharing their experiences as elected citizen representatives and also provide them with concrete tools for action that will help them to successfully take on their right of initiative under the councils’ general mandate to find solutions for the service delivery needs of their citizens.
Since there are a lot of female councillors, therefore, the training was divided into 6 regions as the following:
Region 1: Siem Reap province conducted on 27-28 March 2018
Region 2: Pursat province will be conducted on 03rd -04th April 2018
Region 3: Sihanuk province will be conducted on 24-25 April 2018
Region 4: Krate province conducted on 27-28 March 2018
Region 5: Kampong Cham province will be on conducted on 03-04 April 2018
Region 6: Capital will be conducted on 09-10 May 2018.
NCDD-S representative officially opens the training
EU DAR representative addresses female councilors
Two regional training workshops on Strengthening Female Councilors’ Voices and Networks at province, municipality, district level were conducted on 27-28, March in Siem Reap and Kratie provinces, and two others on April 02-04, 2018 in Pursat and Kampong Cham.
These workshops have the following objectives:
- Share experiences among elected councillors
- Strengthen their understanding about the General Mandate as well as Inter- and Intra-governmental Relations
- Strengthen their capacity in proposal writing and raising issues in council meetings (public speaking)
- Discuss how to create sustainable regional female councillors’ support networks
- Identified what is easy/difficult in the roles of female councillors (“Atmosphere Barometer”) for NCDD-S’ learning about capacity development needs of female councilors
Each regional workshop was participated by female councilors from different provinces:
- Siem Reap region: Female councilors from Preah Vihea, Oudor Meanchey, Banteay Meanchey, Kampong Thom and Siem Reap provinces
- Kratie region: Female councilors are from Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri, Stungtreng, Tboung Khmum and Kratie provinces.
- Pusat region: Female councilor are from Battambang, Pailin, Kampong Chhnang, Kompong Speu and Pursat provinces.
- Kompong Cham region: Female councilors are from Prey Veng, Svay Rieng and Kompong Cham provinces
The sharing of experiences as female councilors in action
Female councilor leads discussion at her table
There are in total 365 participants in the four regional workshops including representatives from Ministry of Women Affairs, Ministry of Interior, NCDD-S and Council Association at Capital and Provincial Level and facilitators from NGOs.
As a result, participants are active in discussing and sharing their experiences related to their role and responsibility of being councilors and raising issues for discussion in council’s monthly meeting to respond to citizens’ needs.
Shared experiences of female councilors are collected by facilitators
Facilitator summarises discussion
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EU DAR is commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), co-financed by the European Union (https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/cambodia_en) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
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