Community Advocacy: A Story from Battambang
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 10:07
Born in Pursat province Mr. Sin Ngoen first came to Battambang during the time of Pol Pot. Like so many other Cambodians, the then 20 year old was forced from his home and family to work on a collective farm. Working on the farm was hard work and many people died from overwork and malnutrition. And then there was the fear of being shot or tortured by Khmer Rouge soldiers.
Since those repressive days, much has changed in Cambodia. The nation is slowly recovering and developing. Although there are still many problems, with the assistance of many local and international non-government organizations (NGOs), people are developing new skills to resolve local problems and to create new democratic systems.
One such local NGO is Amara, working in Battambang province.
Among its many projects around the province, Amara has partnered with Pact Cambodia to implement the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Local Administration and Reform (LAAR) Program. Amara is one of 14 NGOs in 8 provinces supporting accountable, inclusive and responsive local government through the LAAR Program.
The strategy to achieve this is twofold:
First, the program seeks to improve the capacity of commune councilors, so that they have a clear understanding of their role and function and are able to engage with their communities in meaningful ways.
Second, it aims to improve the capacity of community members, so that they are aware of their rights and can actively advocate and engage with commune councils. One mechanism used by the program is the establishment of voluntary community-based groups called community monitoring committees, which act as bridge builders between the community and the commune council.
Mr. Ngoen is an active member of the community monitoring committee in his home village of Andoung Chenh.
After the Khmer Rouge regime crumbled, Mr. Ngoen decided to stay on in Battambang to establish a family and rebuild his life.
Now, 30 years later, Mr. Ngoen lives with his wife and six children in a house situated next to the national highway, just outside of town on the way to Banteay Meanchey. His wife runs a small shop in front of their house that services staff from the nearby Mine Action Group (MAG) office.
In recent years, Mr. Ngoen has come to understand the importance of speaking up for local people’s rights and he has become an active member of his adopted community. Since 2005, he has served as chief of the poorest community committee, and in 2006 he became chief of both the village development committee and the parental committee, where he also represented his local community.
In 2007, his clear leadership skills and hard work paid off when he was elected by his local villagers to represent them as community monitoring committee chief. As a result of his warm character and kind spirit, he has gained the respect of the community, the commune councilors and the district authorities.
Mr. Ngoen was motivated to join the community monitoring committee because he wanted to help solve the big problems in his community – domestic violence, drug use and land conflicts – and he felt that the commune council needed the support of the community in order to address these problems effectively.
Since 2006, Mr. Ngoen has been receiving training from Amara to help him develop his understanding of good governance, community development activities, transparent financial reporting and community problem solving. He regularly participates in commune council outreach activities, development planning and monthly meetings.
With the support of Amara, he has become more confident and has been able to intervene in order to assist both the community and the commune council to resolve some difficult issues.
At no time was this more evident than in March 2008, when an extremely serious and potentially violent dispute arose between a local village and a landowner. The dispute occurred because the landowner wanted to erect a fence which would prevent people from using a road that cut across two pieces of his land. The road in question represented the only access for 30 local families to fresh drinking water and to the school for their children.
After learning about the landowner’s proposal, the villagers approached the village chief and the commune council to raise their objections, but had little success. The villagers suspected the local authorities of taking bribes from the landowner and decided to take matters into their own hands. They armed themselves with knives, sticks and axes and gathered around the disputed land with the intention of stopping the landowner from putting up the fence by any means necessary.
Fearful of violence, the commune chief approached the district authorities to help resolve the dispute. The land registration officers and district officers were duly dispatched.
As the community monitoring committee chief, Mr. Ngoen was invited to represent the community in the meeting with the commune council and district authorities. Mr. Ngoen, equipped with his skills and experience, was able to articulate the importance of the road for the villagers to the land registration and district officers; after hearing him out, they resolved the issue in favor of the villagers. The road was to be kept as a public asset for the whole community to use.
Without the intervention of Mr. Ngoen, this dispute could have ended up disastrous. With the support of Amara, Mr. Ngoen hopes to keep contributing to his community’s wellbeing into the future.
(Source: D&D Bulletin, Volume 8 No. 3 July-September 2008)