Profile of National Coalition - Cambodia

Summary: Children represent more than half of
the population in Cambodia. Their
rights are often not being well
respected and protected.

· To advocate on behalf of children for a better legal framework for
the protection of children in Cambodia;
· To monitor the implementation of CRC through reporting to the UN
Committee on CRC;
· To promote child participation in the promotion of CRC through
child to child approaches;
· To be a child rights resource center for relevant agencies, network
and individuals who are interested in children rights issues.
4.Activites
Since its creation in 1994, the committee has endeavored to build up
the capacity of its members in promoting and monitoring the
implementation of CRC; helped to establish, coordinate and support
the Children Committee; developed CRC curriculum for training
of trainers (TOT); produced training kit for the community; organized
several CRC workshops and campaigns to raise awareness among
government and NGOs staff, general public and children themselves;
lobbied Government bodies and member of the national assembly
concerning child protection laws, and established positive working
relationship with Government institutions, UN agencies, local and
international NGOs which are responsible for the well- being of
children in Cambodia.
5.Past Achievements
Awareness Raising and Advocacy
In term of advocacy the results achieved within the past few years
are higher than was expected. The organization of the big child
rights campaigns with high level participationof government, adults
and children in the Global March Against Child Labor and
International Children’s day celebration at national and provincial
level drew the attention of the general public and the government to
children issues, the CRC and the10th Anniversary of the Convention on
the Rights of the Child. Relevant key people within the government
ministries and the National Assembly have been identified and
approached on children’s issues. 10,000 copies of a child rights
poster were produced and widely disseminated during the
electoral campaign to advocate and lobby politicians to think about
children’s future. 300 sets of CRC training kits (a kit is composed
of 1 CRC core curriculum, 16 CR posters,1 summarized banner, 1 CR
game, 1CR leaflet and teaching guide ) were produced to empower the
trainers in training the CRC for different target groups.
Government and NGO staff, local authorities, community and children
themselves. The kits were widely disseminated. This year 300 kits
have been requested by the UNICEF Office in Cambodia to reprint and
widely use in its community based program. Copies of posters,
leaflet, 1998 and 1999 CR calendar were produced and widely
disseminated during CR campaigns and to the member of the National
Assembly, Government institutions, NGOs, IOs and communities.
A number of CRC TOT training sessions were conducted among the NGOCRC
member and CR provincial networks. Several training / workshops were
organised for various target groups including the government
officials, NGO staff, community members and the children themselves.
6. Funding Sources since the establishment of the coalition funding
has come from several sources, particularly member organisations,
mainly the international NGOs, UNDP, UNICEF Catholic Relief Services
(CRS) World Vision Cambodia and Save the Children Fund United
Kingdom, private companies for special events such as Global March
Against Child Labor, celebration of the International Children’s Day
etc. In the last 2 years, the Children’s House project (the
secretariat of the NGOCRC and its activities) is funded by
an International Save the Children Alliance members working in
Cambodia , Redd Barna – Cambodia. In the near future different
funding sources such as International Save the Children Alliance
member, UNICEF and other child oriented agencies working in Cambodia.
Private donors and foreign governments will also be approached. The
Committee also focuses on the income from different sources, selling
CR training materials to other agencies, as well as earning income
from training or consultant fees.
7.Future Plan
· Expand and strengthen the CR provincial network for the promotion
and monitoring of the implementation of CRC.
· Establish link with regional and international CR
coalitions/networks for exchanging information and experience in
promotion and monitoring of CRC.
· Follow up the concluding observations from the UN Committee on CRC
and use it as an effective tool to lobby government for better change;
· Make use of the Comparative Legal Study on the UNCRC and the
Cambodian Laws which have been produced by our members as a starting
point to influence the government in monitoring and reviewing the
existing domestic laws which are in compliance to the UN CRC;
· Influence the Cambodian government in the promotion of civil
society participation in the development and reviews of domestic laws
concerning children’s issues;
· Work on specific themes such as child sexual exploitation and child
registration;
· Strengthen the capacity of the NGO Coalition and Children’s
Committee on child rights advocacy and lobbying.
· Promote child participation
8. Networking
In 1997 the Committee decided to expand its network to the provincial
level by establishing links with CR networks/committees in two
provinces in the north western part of the country where children are
exposed to many risks. Since then the NGOCRC had another task: to
build up the capacity of the CR provincial networks in the promotion,
advocating and monitoring of the implementation of CRC in Cambodia.
The CR networks will be used as a monitoring system for the
implementation of CRC. This above process will be applied to other
provinces. The NGOCRC has cooperated with all Save the Children
Alliance (SCA) members working in Cambodia, and especially in the
last year the co-operation has become closer and stronger. Regular
meetings, one in every two months, among the Alliance members
and the NGOCRC have been organized to discuss long-term advocacy
strategy and future cooperation. To promote CRC within this country,
the NGOCRC has also good link with other existing networks and
relevant agencies: Cambodian National council for children
(CNCC), Children’s Committee, ECPACT, CR provincial networks, UNs,
OIs GOs, etc.
Contact: NGOCRC
C/o Children’s House
46, Street 334
Sangkat Boeung Keng Kang 1
Khan Chamkar Morn
Phnom Penh
Telephone: (855) 023 218 605
Fax: (855) 023 210 390
E-mail: [email protected]

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