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Civil Society and Pro-Poor Markets

Within the funding from DANIDA/DFID through The Asia Foundation, Ockenden Cambodia has extended it operations to Ratanakiri Province to work in a Natural Resources and Livelihoods Program, the component of Civil Society and Pro Poor Market.

Among the CBOs, micro groups of women group, self-help group, environmental group, youth group and livelihood groups are all working together with the community forestry to ensure that their forest which is usually the livelihoods are protected and better sustainbly managed.

The main thrust of the support will to use natural resource management as an entry point to enhance livelihoods through empowerment, facilitating voice, mobilisation of groups and raising awareness of legal rights and entitlements so that poor people can claim and enjoy their rights and benefit from services. The component will aim to build demand for responsiveness, transparency and accountability in the governments relations with its citizenry.

By the end of the programme, community based organisations (CBOs) should be better able to represent and speak for their poor people and poor people should also have better opportunities to access markets.

For more about Ratanakiri please click here:

How Ockenden Cambodia Works

Ockenden Cambodia signs annual partnership agreements with it NGO partners, detailing mutual roles and responsibilities as well as outlining finance and performance requirements and standards. Currently there are four partners to implement the CSPPM (Civil Society Pro Poor Market) project.

At the Community level

- Initially attention is on building relationships and trust with local authorities, tribal leaders and respected people in the community and then with the community at large. This is both to help us understand their NRM situation, livelihood problems and their culture and also to help them understand about the project.

- Ockenden and its partners identify existing groups; facilitate establishment & strengthening of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). As well as working with and cooperating with stakeholders who implement activities in the same areas.

- Capacity building of the grassroots community forestry and community fishery CSOs. This includes training in Natural Resource Management (NRM), land laws, forest and fishery laws and raising voices to the Commune Council (CC) to assist in resolving their problems. Problems faced by the CSOs may include land grabbing, encroachment issues and illegal logging.

- Providing small grants to the CSOs to develop ways to improve their livelihoods and to expand businesses. For example in resin collecting, basket weaving, vegetable growing and animal rearing. The small grants may also be used for capacity development and legalisation of their NRM areas.

With Component Three (Line Departments of the Government)

- Maintaining good relationships with provincial departments particularly with the Forestry and Fishery Administration and the Department of Agriculture. This is important for technical assistance in legalisation of the areas and for technical management techniques.

- Facilitating between CSO executives and the Forestry and Fishery Administrations to discuss their NRM management issues directly with the officials.

- Inviting trainers from the above institutions to deliver training to NGO partner staff and CSO executives in; Community Forestry establishment and Land & Forest law.

- Organising a NRM forum at the provincial level in which the CSO executives raise land grabbing issues to the government officials for ideas, help and possible solutions.

- Ockenden with its partners join field visits with the Forestry Administration officials and the CSOs

With the Component One: Decentralisation and Deconcentration (D&D)

- In 8 CSOs Ockenden, component one (D&D), and the Regional Community Forestry Training Centre for Asia and Pacific (RECOFT) work together and join resources to assist CSOs in there venture to achieve land and forest rights

- Ockenden and component one join provincial NRM networks in which 20 Commune Chiefs, 20 Commune Councillors, 39 district and provincial facilitators from the component one, 5 officials from provincial departments, 10 NGO staff and CSO executives actively participate

- Information and documentation is openly shared between Ockenden, its partners, RECOFT and component one

- Ockenden and its partner NGOs participate in commune planning and district integration workshops

- Ockenden and its partners join NRM networks with twenty other NGO to discuss NRM issues and to send a quarterly report to the governor

Participation in other events

- OC participates in relevant meetings, trainings and workshops which are organised by the government, and we also encourage our NGO partners and CSO executives to join in relevant events.

- Updating and briefing the local government on our progress, making sure that we (OC & its partners) are maintaining a good positive working relationship with the local and national government.

Partners:

Currently OC works with four listed below partners:

1. Non-timber Forest Product (NTFP)