Training and Internship
Through its Training Unit, GAD/C works to raise awareness of gender issues in Cambodia . The GAD/C training team have assisted policy-makers, programme planners, project implementers and beneficiaries at all levels of the development process, to better understand the concept of gender and the practical methods by which gender can be mainstreamed. The training unit have demonstrated how gender equity can be incorporated into each stage of the programme cycle as well as provided training and assistance to organisations in the formulation of gender policy.
The aims of the GAD/C Training Unit include:
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to raise awareness of the inequality that exists between men and women in society and to analyse its causes and effects;
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to meet the specific demands of organisations, both government and NGO, which seek technical assistance with gender policy formulation and strategies for mainstreaming gender principles into project planning and implementation; and
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to provide civil servants and local authorities with the requisite conceptual frameworks and tools to carry out gender policies in ministerial work.
GAD/C offers practical assistance to government ministries through the GAD/C internship programme. The internship programme offers hands-on training to selected government personnel in gender mainstreaming policy and implementation. The purpose of the internship program is to help to consolidate the understanding of key gender concepts within the government with a view to mainstreaming gender principles into government policy by 2006.
GAD/C also provides support to local NGOs in the provinces of Cambodia where the Cambodian Men's Network (CMN) is operating. By offering training to local Cambodian NGOs, GAD/C can provide deeper knowledge of gender at the grassroots level.
GAD/C also provides training in problem analysis and gender mainstreaming to commune councils. By undertaking such training programmes, commune councillors are better able to devise and implement plans that are both ‘gendered' and relevant to their own communities.
GAD/C continues to raise awareness of gender issues amongst youth groups throughout the country - a target audience whose greater understanding of gender perspective is essential if the elimination of violence against women is to be successful in Cambodia.
Advocacy and Networking
GAD/C formally established its Advocacy and Networking programme in 1999 and during the last five years the team has held a prominent role in the struggle for empowerment of Cambodian women. The Advocacy unit has created a gender and development network of more than sixty government and NGO agencies (GADNet), which is vital for the success of GAD/C's advocacy efforts as well as helping to build and facilitate the Cambodian Men's Network.
The Advocacy unit have organised key events such as International Women's Day public meetings, the White Ribbon Campaign and the National Gender Conference. The Advocacy unit also organises and takes part in regular meetings and rallies organised by allied groups that have given support to women electoral candidates, had input into the preparation of country reports and statements to donor groups and have lobbied for the draft of a domestic violence bill in Cambodia. GAD/C have also lobbied for amendments to the criminal code, the civil code, and laws relating to trafficking, prostitution and domestic violence.
The team is also responsible for the bi-monthly and bilingual publication of Gender View , a newsletter that provides a gender-based perspective on issues of social importance in Cambodia . Topics raised in recent issues have ranged from Gender Illiteracy, which dealt with popular misconceptions about gender to Women and Property Rights. To coincide with International Women's Day, the team also produces the annual Gender Scoreboard that measures changes in the status of women in the previous year according to indicators set by the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action.
Information,Education and Communication (IEC)
GAD/C's Information, Education and Communication Unit conducts small scale research to support advocacy efforts, maintains and regularly updates the gender resource library , monitors the daily press, and manages a series of grassroots initiatives aimed at raising women's awareness and knowledge of their legal rights.
The three key focus areas of the IEC Unit are:
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to enable women to empower themselves through knowledge and practice of laws that effect women's rights;
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to build women's support groups at commune level that can communicate knowledge of pertinent laws both to other women and to local officials, and how to use those laws effectively; and
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to build and strengthen youth peer education teams for the transference of key gender concepts and notions of women's rights, most especially in relation to violence but also pertaining to gangs, drugs, theft, issues of delinquency and rape.
The IEC unit has also conducted research on a range of gender and social issues. This includes: Gender in Technical and Vocational Training: A study of Young Women Studying Non-traditional Skills in Cambodia, Women ans Poverty in Phnom Penh, Paupers and Princelings: Youth Attitudes Toward Gangs, Violence, Rape, Drugs and Theft, and Policewomen of Phnom Penh: A study of wage discrimination .
The IEC unit also manages a range of complementary projects including: the Women's Empowerment through Legal Awareness (WELA) project, the Youth Emotional Support Service (YESS) project, and the Peer Education Against Rape (PEAR) project.
The GAD/C Resource Centre
The GAD/C Resource Centre houses a collection of gender related literature that covers all aspects of gender and offers a broad source of research material to the public. As a resource library specific to gender issues, it is unique in Phnom Penh.
The library's daily opening hours are: Monday to Friday 8.00 - 12.00 & 14.00 - 17.00. The library is located at:
Gender and Development for Cambodia (GAD/C)
House No.4, Street 294
Sangkat Tonle Bassac
Khan Chamcarmon
Phnom Penh , Cambodia
Phone: (855-23) 215 137
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