Oxfam and Live & Learn Cambodia Celebrate “The Power of Inclusion” to promote diversity and social inclusion in Cambodia

Download press release in Khmer

Live & Learn Cambodia and Oxfam will jointly organize "The Power of Inclusion" fair on April 5, 2024 in Phnom Penh. This festival aims to celebrate 8 incredible years of impact, collaboration, and progress achieved alongside our remarkable grantee partners and rightsholders showcasing the visibility of the successful Voice in Cambodia. 

The event features booth exhibitions, interactive workshops, group activities, and projects showcase from the 26 Voice grantee partners. Through storytelling, panel discussion, and performances, we will highlight the journey towards inclusion for rightsholder communities including people with disabilities, LGBTI groups, women facing violence and/or exploitation, vulnerable youth and elderly, indigenous groups, and ethnic minorities. We will also celebrate their achievements. The festival will be conducted in Khmer with English and Khmer Sign Language interpretation. 

Ms. Sophoan Phean, Oxfam National Director, said: “Oxfam is pleased to support and work with our partners to promote and raise awareness about inclusivity and diversity. We empower the community we work with to fully participate in different levels and platforms starting from community development up to policy dialogue and discussion, in line with the principle of “Leave no one behind and Inclusiveness.” 

Voice is an innovative grant facility that supports persons and groups facing marginalization or discrimination in their efforts to exert influence in accessing productive resources, social services, and political participation. Voice program aims to strengthen the lobbying and advocacy capacity of civil society organizations and representatives of rightsholders and rightsholder groups, empowering them to have their voices heard and respected. Given the difficulties in reaching these groups, self-empowerment and innovative approaches to strengthening the capacity for influence are essential. The program is an initiative of and financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. It is executed by a consortium between Oxfam and Hivos across 10 countries in Southeast Asia, East and West Africa. 

In Cambodia, Oxfam implemented the Voice program, which was the first country launched in December 2016 and has been running for over eight years. Oxfam is very honored and pleased to facilitate and support our 54 local grantees partners and directly reached around 68,968 rightsholder groups under this initiative. We work with the 5 rightsholder groups including people with disabilities, LGBTQI, youth and elderly people, indigenous people and women facing exploitation, violence and/or abuse. 

Voice Cambodia through its pathways of change has impacted the 5 rightsholder groups in accessing productive resources, social services, and political participation. The rightsholder groups are empowered, increasing their capacity and confidence, and creating a strong foundation. They are encouraged to speak up, voice out their concerns, and demand their rights for inclusive access to social services, social protection, and space to participate in decision-making. The increase in peer-to-peer support, building trust, and solidarity among each community were observed as a result of their project initiatives. Amplifying provides tools and support to make voices louder, leading to a bigger impact when individuals come together. Some other changes were recorded in the increasing of the rightsholder’s voices and visibility, recognition, acceptance, and coming out for those who hid their real identity due to discrimination and the left behind groups. Influencing involves using various methods to drive change, such as engaging with leaders and utilizing (social) media. One of the successful influencing work by the elderly people is when the representatives from the Cambodia Aging Network were officially appointed and actively engaged in the Technical Working Group to develop the National Aging Policy Action Plan 2021-2025 by the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veteran and Youth Rehabilitation (MoSVY). These results have responded to our commitment to the principle of “Nothing about Us, Without Us” and “Leave no one behind”.  

Mr. Socheath Sou, Live & Learn Cambodia’s Executive Director, said, “It is important that people facing marginalization or discrimination have a space to voice their concerns and address their needs and priorities. We are proud in facilitating to create a space, providing grantee partners and rightsholder groups the opportunities for meaningful dialogue, and communicate with each other and their respective authorities. This includes building strong networks across stakeholders and platforms and providing equal opportunities to develop necessary capacities that will support their future actions.

"Voice Linking and Learning" is another important part in Voice program. It is a platform that fosters collaboration, connection, knowledge sharing, innovation, and application of new knowledge for effective project implementation and delivery within the community. This community includes grantee partners, rightsholders, and other stakeholders. The aim is to generate evidence-based learning and innovative solutions to project implementation challenges, with the goal of achieving transformative change for rightsholders who faced marginalization and discrimination. 

Though the Voice program has come to a close after eight years of operation in Cambodia and ten other countries in Southeast Asia, East and West Africa, our commitment to promoting inclusivity and empowering rightsholder groups continue to thrive.