Khmer Youth Association

Increasing Indigenous People's Participation in the 2013 National Elections, funded by UNDP

Increasing Indigenous People's Participation in the 2013 National Elections

Project period: Aug 2012 – Jul 2013 (elections: July 28, 2013)

Funded by: United Nations Development Program (UNDP)

Target group: Cambodia\\\\'s indigenous populations

Target area: Mondulkiri, Ratanakiri, Kompong Speu, and Preah Vihear

All Cambodian citizens including ethnic minorities were given equal rights to vote by the 1993 Cambodian constitution. Yet, since most indigenous people live in predominantly remote areas, they rarely have access to information related to their civic and political rights or exert their right to vote. Indigenous youth, who have never had any experience participating in elections, showed that they had no knowledge at all of electoral processes as they never were taughted or asked their parents.

The project aimed to engage indigenous people to fully participate in the processes of democracy. This project provided the target population with access to information related to their civic and political rights especially with regard to the electoral process and understanding of the democratic system in Cambodia.

KYA conducted focus group discussions to increase the indigenous communities' understanding of the election process, human rights and democracy. There were 32 focus group discussions conducted in each target province with a total of 813 participants, including 425 women. KYA hosted eight training sessions to local communities about democracy, human rights, and the election process in the four target provinces with 2,599 participants.

To encourage the participation of indigenous people in the elections, KYA also organized 20 community forums, with a total of 2,285 participants across four provinces. 74 echo-trainings were rolled out in the four target provinces with a total of 2,599 participants.

KYA made use of mass media to share information, mainly radio talk shows, where eight experts explained the importance of participating in the electoral process for the indigenous communities and answered questions asked by listeners. The shows were produced in four languages and broadcasted on stations such as FM 89.5MHz in Ratanakiri and FM 99Mhz in Preah Vihear.

For the development of Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials, KYA collaborated with partner NGOs also working on the election process in order to develop effective educational materials for the community. As a result of the project, indigenous communities in the target areas improved their knowledge of their civil rights and actively participated in the 2013 election process.

Increasing Indigenous People's Participation in the 2013 National Elections, funded by UNDP

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