Design Challenge on “Physical Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities” under the topic “Tourist Night Market for All”
On 28 October 2022, as supported by the Australian Government through the Australia-Cambodia Cooperation for Equitable Sustainable Services (ACCESS) Program, the Disability Action Council Secretariate General (DAC-SG) and in collaboration with Humanity & Inclusion (HI) organization in Cambodia, co-organised a Physical Accessibility Design Challenge Event for Persons with Disabilities.
At this event, engineering and architecture students presented their creative ideas that best addressed the Physical Accessibility Design Challenge criteria under the design challenge.
The event helped raise positive awareness messages amongst the general population by describing various physical accessibility infrastructure needs to be erected for persons with disabilities. The event further inspired engineering and architecture students to further evolve their technical accessibility design skills and incorporate them across all building design public spaces, hence catering well for the needs of persons with disabilities.
There were 26 groups that registered through Google Forms for this competition. The committee members were made up of wide ranging representatives, consisting of DAC-SG, Board of Engineers Cambodia, Board of Architects Cambodia, Norton University, the University of Fine Arts, Institute of Technology Cambodia and the National Technical Training Institute. Finally, 9 groups were shortlisted to present their design to the committee and the best 3 rated design groups were selected as the winners of the design challenge.
The” Technical Standard on Physical Infrastructure of Accessibility” has been endorsed by the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation (MoSVY) and the Ministry of Land Management, Urbanization and Construction in November 2018 and was officially launched on 18 September 2019. The basis of this work is further supported by a recent letter, N.1169 that was addressed on 18 May 2022, by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior (MoI) to all Provincial and Municipal Governors, that calls for inclusion of physical accessibility standards into construction projects and/or public physical infrastructure constructions of municipal-provincial administrations.
Over the last four years, ACCESS has proudly partnered with the Royal Government of Cambodia and non-governmental organisations in Cambodia, the private sector and importantly with the Organisation of Persons with Disabilities(OPD’s), to improve the sustainability, quality and inclusiveness of services for persons with disabilities and for women affected by gender-based violence (GBV).
In doing so, ACCESS has positively contributed towards the implementation of the National Disability Strategic Plan (NDSP) and the National Action Plan to Prevent Violence Against Women (NAPVAW).
The 1st place was awarded to a group of students from Norton University. The 2nd place went to a group of students from the Institute of Technology of Cambodia and the final 3rd place was awarded to a group of students from the Royal University of Fine Arts.
Congratulations to all winners!
