Igniting Movah! in Cambodia

Under the UNFPA Asia Regional ASRH Project (RAS5R205), known as Movah!, a three-member JOICFP team headed by Ryoichi Suzuki, Deputy Executive Director, visited Cambodia from 16th to 29th October to deliver technical support to the Reproductive Health Association of Cambodia (RHAC) and the Khmer Youth Association (KYA), and organize a community-level workshop.

Cambodia had requested JOICFP support RHAC, especially in the area of community advocacy. JOICFP assisted RHAC to finalize the strategies of community advocacy to encourage supportive changes in policy for ASRH, especially at the local levels by mobilizing community stakeholders, including young people themselves.

JOICFP and RHAC visited project sites in Kampong Cham Province together and interviewed village chiefs, health center staff, and youth volunteers to collect information on policy and decision making processes in the community to assist with strategy development.

Interview with health center staff

On 20th October, in Tbong Kmum, Kampong Cham Province, JOICFP and RHAC delivered an orientation meeting on Movah! and results from a situation analysis carried out in July. The 80 participants included the district governor, Operational District officer, commune chiefs, village chiefs, peer educators, parents, health center staff, teachers, religious leaders, and representatives from other NGOs working for young people. Discussions focused on the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders, especially with a view to ASRH program sustainability through institutionalization of activities.

Group discussion during the workshop

As a part of the workshop, a group of RHAC peer educators performed a drama based on the real situation in the community. A peer educator visited a house to invite a youth for a peer session, but her mother did not allow her to go. With persuasion by the peer educator, the mother later understood the importance of the peer sessions and allowed her daughter to attend.

This advocacy drama was highly evaluated by the district governor, and he invited the group to perform at a district event in November.

Drama by RHAC peer educators catching the hearts of the audience

Considering the outcomes of the interviews with the community stakeholders, the orientation workshop, and the results of the situation study, RHAC formulated a three-step advocacy strategy with technical assistance from JOICFP:

• Organize youth initiators’ groups, mostly from peer educators, and give them appropriate training
• Organize a community advocacy support team comprising parents, teachers, health center staff, religious leaders, etc.
• Network with other provincial level NGOs, including KYA Kampong Cham branch, and local government to make youth concerns a priority at the provincial level of programs.

In addition, JOICFP supported RHAC in drafting training curriculums for community advocacy support teams (CAST) and a Youth Initiators’ Group (YIG). After the selection of the CAST and YIG members, RHAC will provide advocacy training to these key community advocates.

Formulating the training curriculum with RHAC