Cambodia remains one of the poorest countries in the world and is faced with numerous challenges in financing and implementing its development agenda.

Oxfam was one of the first international aid agencies to start working in Cambodia in 1979, after the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime was ousted from Phnom Penh.

During the 1980s, Oxfam worked with the Royal Government of Cambodia to rebuild the devastated infrastructure of the country, with a heavy emphasis on providing clean water and sanitation. We also highlighted the suffering of poor Cambodians at a time when the country still lacked appropriate attention from the international community.

In the build-up to the elections in 1993, Oxfam started to concentrate on the need to build strong and supportive civil society institutions. This approach still characterises our programme in Cambodia today. Our focus here ranges from dealing with problems caused by natural disasters and deforestation, to campaigning for the protection of workers’ rights in foreign-contracted factories.

Oxfam and its partners are working to strengthen Cambodia so that it can take its place as a vibrant democracy at the heart of South East Asia in the 21st century.

Sustainable livelihoods

Eighty-five per cent of the population lives in rural areas and 70 per cent does not have sustainable access to improved water sources

The Livelihoods Programme is central to our work. The livelihoods of rural poor people in Cambodia depend heavily on having access to, and use of, natural resources, especially land (mostly for growing rice), fisheries, (for fish, but also other aquatic resources) and forests (for a whole range of products). We will ensure that these livelihood strategies continue to help bring about food- and income-security to those living in poverty. We aim to:

• Ensure that there are legal frameworks in place to protect the different needs and interests of poor people in terms of access to assets
• Ensure that community leaders and officials responsible for implementing laws have the skills, experience, and training to do their jobs effectively, and that they respect the concerns and rights of those living in poverty
• Provide people living in poverty with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to effectively manage the resources they depend on
• Promote techniques of low-input, high-yield rice production in order to cut costs and maximise crop yields
• Research how poor people engage and interact with markets. Ensure that they benefit from buying and selling products in the markets, and that it continues in the future

Disaster management

Millions of people in Cambodia are affected by floods every year: hundreds of them die and thousands of houses are destroyed. Many of these people have not had a chance to recover fully from devastation of previous years. Vulnerable families, such as households headed by single women, families with limited access to land, and families dependent on labouring for their income, suffer significantly. Disruption caused by floods leads to poor rice crops and food shortages; drinking water becomes contaminated and people become ill – resulting in the accumulation of heavy debts.

Oxfam aims to minimise the impact of natural disasters on the lives of poor people through a range of emergency preparedness activities.

Increasing the participation of poor people

We work towards overcoming the imbalance of power between rich and poor by:

• Building the capacity of poor people, especially women, to engage proactively with Commune Councils to ensure that their rights are protected and their particular needs addressed through Commune Development Plans
• Representing poor people to have a greater say in national policies which promote the rights and needs of those living in poverty

Gender equality

For Oxfam, advocating gender equality is a key objective. We aim to ensure that both women and men equally participate and benefit from all aspects of the community’s development and that they are equally in control of decision-making processes and have access to essential resources. We support women to help them fully participate both as decision-makers and beneficiaries. The role of women in the community – both actual and potential – needs to be recognised.

Promoting gender equality is not only a community development issue but also an international human rights-based objective.

 

Labour

Cambodia’s garment industry generates more than 90 per cent of the country’s exports

Similar to the conditions of other developing countries, women workers in Cambodia are hired mostly on short-term contracts – or with no contracts at all. The end of quotas under Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) could make the situation worse.

Oxfam works with its partners to strengthen the capacity of women’s movements across all sectors and classes in Cambodian society. We encourage activities aimed at empowering women, through gender-policy development, effective dialogue with government ministries and National Assembly members, and documentation and research. We will continue to provide funding for activities that involve and advocate “popular education” which enable and support the women working in garment factories to speak out for their own interests.

Mekong River Basin Management Programme (MRBM)

This programme operates in countries along the Mekong River: China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Viet Nam. With its partners, Oxfam is seeking to promote the interests of local communities throughout the Mekong Region during a time of extensive and rapid economic development (e.g. dams, transportation projects), which is complex in nature and often includes difficult trans-boundary issues.

In recognition of the right of all people to be able to farm, fish, trade, have an informed voice, and contribute to decision-making at the levels that they choose, the MRBM has focused on the four thematic issues: trade; poverty-reduction strategies; infrastructure; and capacity-building.

Campaigning in Cambodia

Cambodia has a long history of achieving change by campaigning. Oxfam and its partners are currently involved in two campaigns: Make Trade Fair and Control Arms.

Make Trade Fair is a campaign calling on governments, institutions, and multinational companies to change the rules so that Trade can become part of the solution to poverty, not part of the problem. Oxfam is joining partner organisations worldwide to demand that women working in supply chain of some of the world’s most powerful companies get their fair share of the gains from trade.

In February 2004, the Women’s Agenda For Change hosted the launch of Oxfam International’s report – Trading Away Our Rights: Women Working in the Global Supply Chain at their office in Phnom Penh.

In October 2003, Oxfam launched the Control Arms campaign with Amnesty International and IANSA to control the arms trade which fuels conflict, poverty, and human rights abuses all over the world. The campaign calls for effective arms controls to make people genuinely safer from the threat of armed violence.

Special events took place in nearly 70 countries, and Oxfam Cambodia was keen to be involved because, after many years of war, the country is still flooded with vast amounts of illegal arms.

Oxfam works with its partner – Working Group on Weapon Reduction to collect ‘faces’ for the Million Faces petition.

Last updated: May 05