The NGO Forum on Cambodia had its beginning in the 1980s in an international NGO campaign to advocate an end to the aid embargo the imposed on Cambodia . Since then, the NGO Forum has continued to evolve in response to changing external conditions. Following the full restoration of development aid in 1993, the NGO Forum became more Cambodian based. It began to work on a broader range of issue, such as international ban on landmines, creation of a permanent tribunal for crimes against humanity, and concerns about the impacts of development aid. It appointed a Representative in 1995. Although based in Phnom Penh and focusing increasingly on domestic advocacy issue, the NGO Forum was still dominated by expatriates. An international Steering Committee was retained until 1996, after which the local Management Committee became the chief decision making body.

From 1997 to 2001, the NGO Forum became much more Cambodian in character, with meetings held predominately in Khmer and with Cambodians playing the dominant role in NGO Forum activities. This reflects the growing level of responsibility taken by Cambodians in both local and international NGOs. The Executive Director position was handling to Cambodian in January 2006.

The membership is the guiding force of the NGO Forum. It was less then 20 members before 2003. Presently, there are 83 full member organizations and 2 associate members. Full member organization of the NGO Forum are NGOs operational in Cambodia that commit themselves to participant in Management Committee elections, contributing to discussions at Quarterly Members Meetings and Annual General Meeting, and contributing to specific advocacy activities and/or paying a nominal membership fee. Associate membership exists for other types of organizations that wish to contribute to the NGO Forum, but these organizations do not have voting rights.

The NGO Forum is a unique in Cambodia as the only multi-sectoral advocacy-focused membership organization with a membership comprised of both Cambodian and International NGOs. NGO Forum's strength lies in its ability to bring many organisations together for dialogue, debate, and advocacy purposes. Many development practitioners in Cambodia see NGO Forum as the leading NGO membership organization dealing with social and economic rights issues.

In 2005 Member NGOs would like to see NGO Forum continue its work in land and livelihoods, environment, and development issues. They would also like NGO Forum to address these issues with a stronger focus on involvement of people's organisations at the grassroots level. Advocacy should focus on both the national level and the local level. NGO Forum should consider future work on social and economic issues related to youth, migration and employment. The Gender Project may need to refocus through a consultative process with its members and other groups working on gender, to avoid overlap and to contribute more effectively to the NGO community's work in this sector.

• Ability to negotiate and make recommendation to donors and government
• Representation and creditability
• Qualified staff and strong commitment
• Collaboration and network approaches
• Multi-sectoral issues-based membership organization
• Has both international and local NGOs as members
• Able to bring many organizations together for dialogue, debate and advocacy
• Has trust of members to support them and conduct advocacy
• High public profile – able to bring more controversial issues to the attention of government, donors and the wider community
• Forestry livelihoods project is seen as successful and Mekong Community Right Project has seen as strong advocacy influence
• Contribution to Cambodian Government and on National Poverty Reduction Strategy (Newly changed to National Strategic Development Plan-NSDP) have been helpful
• Information dissemination has been helpful

• Poor participation from members (many members attend, but don't take ownership)
• Is not working cooperatively with donors and government
• Working on too many issues with limited success
• Many NGO staff lack the time for full participation
• Overlap of Gender Forum with some other groups, e.g. on domestic violence law
• Need better understanding of donor and government policies before embarking on advocacy
• Perception that NGO Forum is becoming independent of its members
• Some member NGOs feel in competition with NGO Forum, or not supported by NGO Forum.

Mission
The NGO Forum is made up of local and international non-governmental organizations grounded in their experiences of humanitarian and development assistance to Cambodia . The NGO Forum exists for information sharing, debate and advocacy on priority issues affecting Cambodia 's development. The NGO Forum has an important role to highlight the impact of development processes and economic, social and political changes on Cambodians.

Vision
Cambodia will have a well-informed and empowered population participating in a strong and vibrant civil society, to the benefit of poor and vulnerable people in Cambodia .

Values

• The NGO Forum believes in working together for:
• Economic and social justice;
• Respect for human rights and democracy;
• Gender equality;
• Peace and non-violence;
• Sustainable use of natural resources;
• Respect for cultural diversity; and
• Development with equity

The Forums promote information sharing and debate among NGOs on issues of importance to Cambodia's development. Forums may suggest plans and activities to strengthen advocacy on particular issues. Their membership is relatively open. There are currently three permanent forums: on Environment, Development, and Gender respectively. Usually, further work on issues raised is carried out in smaller, more focussed working groups.

The Programme Goals and Project Purposes are as follows:

Core Project:
Goal: Effective functioning of the NGO Forum and representation of its members.

Development Issues Programme:
Goal: NGOs cooperate to influence government and donor policies and practices and community attitudes so that they benefit poor and vulnerable groups and mainstream gender.

Development Policy Project
Purpose: NGOs cooperate across sectors to influence government and donor policies and practices so that they benefit poor and vulnerable groups.

Gender Project
Purpose: NGOs cooperate to influence government and donor policies and practices and community attitudes so that they consider and mainstream gender and the engendering of economic rights.

Trade and Economic Development Project
Purpose: NGOs cooperate to influence trade and economic development policies so that they benefit poor and vulnerable groups.

Budget Monitoring Sub-project (beginning 2007)
Purpose: NGOs cooperate to influence the National Budget so that it benefits poor and vulnerable groups.

Aid effectiveness Project (beginning in 2008)
Purpose: NGOs cooperate to influence the effective implementation of donor aid to Cambodia for the benefits of poor and vulnerable groups.

Environment Programme:
Goal: NGOs cooperate to influence government and donor policies and practices and community attitudes to ensure that the rights of poor and vulnerable groups affected by environmental issues are respected.

Environment Awareness and Protection Project
Purpose: NGOs cooperate to influence the conservation, protection and rehabilitation of natural resources and the environment to the benefit of people's livelihoods.

Mekong Basin Community Rights Project
Purpose: NGOs cooperate to influence the policies and practices of governments and international aid agencies in the resolution of Mekong Basin development issues, particularly along the Sesan, Sre Pok and Sekong Rivers , so that project-affected-people have their rights protected.

Pesticides Reduction and Sustainable Agriculture Project
Purpose: NGOs and government officials cooperate to build rural people's understanding of the effects of pesticides on the environment and human health, and to build their understanding of sustainable agriculture.

Land and Livelihood Issues:
Goal: NGOs cooperate to influence government and donor policies and practices to ensure that the rights of poor and vulnerable groups affected by land issues are respected.

Land Reform Project
Purpose: NGOs cooperate to influence government and donor policies and practices so that they consider and address pro-poor land reform.

Resettlement and Housing Rights Project
Purpose: NGOs cooperate to protect the rights of poor people in informal settlements to secure tenure, and the rights of people affected by resettlement and relocation so that they are fairly compensated and are not worse off than before.

Forestry Livelihoods and Plantations Project
Purpose: NGOs cooperate to empower local communities living within or near either forests or areas converted to plantations to gain secure tenure over the forest and other natural resources they have traditionally relied upon for their social, economic and cultural development.

Indigenous Minority Rights Project
Purpose: NGOs cooperate to ensure that the capacity of indigenous minority people to advocate for their own rights is strengthened, that the government is supportive of this process, and that indigenous minority people's concerns are heard and acted upon by government, donors and the wider community, particularly in relation to their rights to land and natural resources.

Land Information Centre Project (beginning 2007)
Purpose: NGOs cooperate to support systematic collection of data and information on land and forestry issues that are used to initiate informed public debate about management and administration of land and natural resources.

Yes. As staed in the Strategic Plan of the NGO Forum 2006-2011 that NGO Forum must have a respectful and cooperative relationship with government and international aid agencies through:

• Develop MOU with relevant government institutions
• Regularly reported to CDC
• Good communication: sharing information and experiences
• Map the interests of international aid agencies
• Invite government officials and international aid agencies to participate where appropriate, to build mutual understanding

NGOs in Cambodia are involved in a variety of sectors, especially health, education, human rights, women's and children's rights, rural development, agriculture and natural resource management. There are important advocacy agenda associated with each of these sectors. However, NGO Forum respects and wishes to avoid duplicating the role of other NGO membership organisations and networks. Examples include Medicam for the health sector, the NGO Education Partnership, the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee, the NGO Committee on the Rights of the Child, and a variety of gender and women's rights networks. The Fisheries Action Coalition Team (FACT) began as an NGO Forum project and later became an independent network. In addition, the NGO Forum helped set up the Commune Council Support Project, which is leading NGO advocacy and information sharing on decentralization.

Despite some overlap, participants of NGO Forum's Gender Forum appear to support its continuation. However, overlap of focus should be avoided and some current activities should be discontinued. The Gender Project is currently helping the various gender networks meet together to share their plans and improve their cooperation. A unique role for NGO Forum's Gender Project, building on NGO Forum's other areas of strength, is to contribute to discussions on the MDGs, the National Strategic Development Plan, immigration and employment issues, and other development policy discussions. The Gender Project may also contribute to the mainstreaming of gender into other NGO Forum projects.

Core focus for NGO Forum

As stated above, NGO Forum's uniqueness lies in its being a multi-sectoral advocacy-focused NGO membership organization. The NGO Forum has a unique role in helping NGOs contribute to multi-sectoral policy discussions, especially when dealing with cross-cutting social and economic rights issues. In recent times, the NGO Forum has been able to bring NGO sectoral groups together to contribute to monitoring of the National Poverty Reduction Strategy and monitoring of the Consultative Group benchmarks.

The NGO Forum has focused on different issues at different times in its history. It must, however, continue to be seen as a forum in which all development-related issues are important. While respecting the independent role of other NGO sectoral groups, the NGO Forum needs to be involved in all sectors through helping all sectors come together to discuss and formulate common advocacy positions. Multi-sectoral advocacy, currently undertaken by NGO Forum's Development Policy project, is therefore a key area for consolidation and strengthening.

In addition to NGO Forum's core multi-sectoral focus, the NGO Forum takes up particular issues of current importance to its members. This may include issues that are of a sensitive or controversial nature, or issues where the advocacy of an individual organisation may not be effective.

Issues for the immediate future

The NGO Forum is currently involved in the following issues:

• Development issues: multi-sectoral development policies, gender, trade and economic development;
• Environmental issues: environmental awareness, sustainable agriculture and pesticide reduction; Mekong Basin developments (dams)
• Land and Livelihood Issues: land tenure, resettlement of project-affected-people, forestry livelihoods.

The NGO Forum receives its direction from its member organizations, with authority resting in the Management Committee elected by the members. The NGO Forum creates and facilitates networks of NGOs for discussion, debate and advocacy on priority issues. The NGO Forum does not itself implement grassroots activities, nor does it try to duplicate the grassroots work of its members.

The NGO Forum chooses advocacy issues for each two-year or three-year plan as follows:

• The ideas of members shall be obtained at members meetings and the Annual General Meeting;
• The above may be complimented by a survey of member organizations or the input of consultant studies or evaluations;
• Overlap with the work of other NGO networks should be avoided;
• For sake of continuity, NGO Forum's current strengths and current areas of work should be considered;
• NGO Forum's capacity limitations should also be considered;
• NGO Forum shall be guided by member priorities, not by donor requests;
• The final decision on what issues to work on rests with the Management Committee.

The Management Committee is a group of seven individuals elected from among the full member organizations, and is the decision making body of the NGO Forum. It is elected at the Annual General Meeting or Quarterly Member Meeting and meets monthly. The term of each Management Committee member is two year, with possible extension for another term if s/he is re-elected.

The Management Committee acts as the governing board of directors of the NGO Forum. It has as a main task to guide and advise the Executive Director on policy developments which are desired by the NGO Forum Member Organisations. The Management Committee is at all times accountable to the NGO FORUM Membership. It devises a broad framework for NGO Forum policies and actions consistent with the NGO Forum's purpose, mission and values.

Networks and working groups are groups dedicated to a particular task. They may be a relatively permanent group such as those networks on Forestry and Plantations, Pesticide Reduction, or Sesan River Protection, Land law Implementation, Resettlement and Indigenous Minority Rights. Alternatively, a working group may be an adhoc group that comes together to organize a particular activity, workshop or event.

Under each of the NGO Forum's programmes, there are projects, which help to organize and provide resources to each of the forums, networks and working groups.

The forums, networks and working groups are not limited to member organizations of the NGO Forum. They are nevertheless subject to the approval of the Management Committee.

Please see the details in article 5 and 7 in the attached By Law.

Yes. There around 20 organisations. Some of them are.

All 83 members and including around 100 more NGOs that are not membership of the NGO Forum.

Please see the details in the By Law attached.

Please see the details in the By Law attached.

The System and policies do not exist.

Yes:
International Council for Social Welfare: as Member
Probe International, International River , Mekong Watch, TERRA, NGO Forum on ADB, Bank Information Centre, etc. as technical advisers, partners, campaigners, and contributors

There many as among those listed below:

• Center for Social Development already facilitates a Transparency Coalition,
• Pact Cambodia is providing significant leadership on anti-corruption advocacy
• Medicam for the health sector
• NGO Education Partnership for education sector
• Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee on human right issues
• NGO Committee on the Rights of the Child
• Fisheries Action Coalition Team (FACT) for fisheries
• Variety of gender and women's rights networks

The historical context and the profile of poverty in Cambodia are quite widely documented. Life in Cambodia, especially for the rural poor, since independence has been marked by conflicts and military struggles, including genocide, fiercely competing political and economic ideologies, foreign occupation, and intense suspicion about motivations of the two huge neighbours that between them squeeze this small and vulnerable nation. These strains, discords and historical currents are never far from the surface.

Poverty in Cambodia is widespread with some 35% - 40% of the Cambodian population living below the national poverty line, with poverty rates in the rural areas twice that of the urban areas. Life expectancy at birth is only 54 years. Cambodia ranks 130th out of 177 nations in UNDP's Human Development Report for 2004.

The causes of Cambodia's poverty are varied but are rooted in historical external and internal political conflicts, internal displacement, rapid population growth, limited economic opportunities, poor health care, HIV/AIDS prevalence, high rates of tuberculosis and malaria, poor education and increased levels of vulnerability as a result of – or the constant threat of – natural disasters, particularly flooding and, more recently, drought.

Different factors affect redressing poverty in Cambodia . These include an ineffectual national commitment to poverty reduction, poor national capacities in line ministries, the poor pay of government officials, endemic corruption at virtually every level of the public service, an inadequate judicial and legal system, a contemptuous disregard for the rule of law and human rights, and the unbridled exploitation of natural resources by consortiums of international business and local power interests.

Moreover, Cambodia is badly served by weak public institutions and hitherto uncoordinated efforts by the international development agencies.

Given the poor performance of government and the need for recognized and reliable commercial dispute resolution mechanisms, foreign direct investments remain low. With prospects for growth apparently more limited and confronted with a growing population, poverty may become even more entrenched in the years to come. There is general acceptance that Cambodia will not reach most of its Millennium Development Goal targets, and is even falling behind in some.

There are few strong independent community structures. (Most are organizationally weak, have limited human or financial resources, and lack leadership and management skills.) Rural communities struggle to survive, with a limited awareness of their rights and with few resources except their experience, and who are largely excluded from a fair and comprehensive state sponsored development strategy.

The need for land increases each year but discussions on land redistribution are limited to broad policy discussions and not to practical efforts to redress inequities in allocations or the flagrant illegal seizures or “land grabbing” by high ranking or anonymous officials.

Elected commune councils are still underdeveloped, lack resources and are not strong enough to lead commune development; staff members serve party interests. While there is room for optimism the councils are not yet responsive or accountable development forums. They are, however, the key institution in the government's (and donor-backed) decentralization and deconcentration policy.

Other obstacles confronting and hindering the poor in their ability to claim their rights and control the wherewithal to escape their poverty include:

• Lack of participation and transparent decision-making in community planning; the voices of the poor are systematically excluded;
• A lack of access to basic public services including health, education, credit and agricultural extension and marketing services;
• A highly polarized, competitive and sometimes vindictive political environment;
• Low education and awareness, especially among girls;
• Low respect, education and opportunities for minorities;
• Endemic corruption at all levels of the political structure;
• A lack of political will compounded by national inertia on the issues of poverty reduction;
• A tightly controlled and diminishing democratic space;
• A lack of fundamental respect for human rights and the rule of law;
• A lack of accountability and transparency among government line ministries;
• Negative impact from up-and-down stream dam development in neighbouring countries, particularly China , Laos and Vietnam ;
• Lack of practical community and national capacities to prepare for and mitigate disaster risks;
• A high birth rate and lack of effective family planning;
• Community powerlessness and patterns of exclusion;
• Increasingly frequent incidents of natural disasters, floods and droughts;
• Less and less access to and control over natural resources e.g. the loss of fishing grounds, communal lands and forests because of rampant privatization and the accompanying lack of legal support and services for poor and marginalized people who protest; and
• Less support from government particular on appropriate agricultural technologies and veterinary care.