The ACCESS Program’s 13th Quarterly Workstream Meeting of the Gender-Based Violence Workstream Held in Phnom Penh
On 10 February 2023, the 13th quarterly meeting of the GBV workstream was organised in Phnom Penh with the support of the Australian Government through the Australia-Cambodia Cooperation for Equitable Sustainable Services (ACCESS). The aim of the meeting was to review key achievements, major challenges, and best practices, including success stories, and determine the next quarter’s priorities.
The meeting was chaired by Her Excellency Nhean Sochetra, Director at the Social Development Department of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA), and participants included representatives from MoWA, Provincial Departments of Women’s Affairs (PDoWA), the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, the Disability Action Council, representatives from DFAT, representatives from ACCESS, and ACCESS’s Implementing Partners (IPs) in the GBV workstream (UN Women, ADD International (former IP), The Asia Foundation (TAF), CARE, Legal Aid of Cambodia (LAC), Cambodian Women’s Crisis Centre (CWCC), Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation (TPO), UNFPA (former IP)).
Mr Connor Floyd, Second Secretary at the Australian Embassy to Cambodia, in his opening remarks, acknowledged: “I would like extend my thanks to MoWA’s senior level leaders and high-level technical group for their leadership, cooperation and support, which has positively contributed to the successful results that ACCESS has achieved”. He also extended his appreciation to PDoWA for their support and cooperation with all the IPs, and he thanked the IPs for their great partnership and cooperation under the ACCESS program.
This meeting was filled with sharing and learning from stakeholders such as the Cambodia Center for Human Rights (CCHR), Siem Reap Provincial Department of Women’s Affairs, Good Return and UNFPA. The most interesting report presented was that of court monitoring by CCHR under TAF-ACCESS. The studies showed good practices, challenges that prosecutors are applying gender responsive guidelines during the trials. Meanwhile, the PDoWA in Siem Reap province also shared their practice of using Kobo toolbox application for GBV case management and highlighted that the application provided them with comprehensive data for analysis including gender, age aggregation including type of disability.
Her Excellency Nhean Sochetra expressed her appreciation to all the IPs who shared their experience, challenges, and achievements. She suggested that all IPs successfully finish their activities and produce reports and case studies for future implementation.
