Table of Contents

V. Empowering Communities at the Grass-roots Level in Cambodia

A. Nature of the problem

Cambodia is a country struggling to recover from its violent past. Its recent history of war has contributed to the country’s high number of people with disabilities. The fighting factions used landmines in an indiscriminate way, causing losses among the civilian as well as the military population. Landmines cannot tell the difference between the footsteps of a soldier and a child. Unexploded ordinance continues to threaten many communities. This, the lack of a basic, functional health care system; widespread poverty and lack of access to appropriate physical, vocational and economical rehabilitation has contributed to the marginalization of landmine victims and other people with disabilities.

A number of assessments have been undertaken on the situation of people with disability in Cambodia, but they have mostly been confined to the planning needs of the specific organizations which conducted the studies. The Ministry of Social Affairs, Labour, Vocational Training and Youth Rehabilitation (MOSALVY) collects statistics on some categories of disabilities but the use of the data is limited by inconsistencies in their collection. A more comprehensive situational assessment has been undertaken for the National Task Force on Rehabilitation.

According to data collected for the Asian Development Bank in 1997,3 by conservative estimates, approximately 9.8 per cent of the people of Cambodia have significant physical or mental disabilities that limit their ability to function independently on a daily basis. This grim statistic means that Cambodia has one of the highest per capita populations of citizens with disabilities in the world. The reasons for such a high rate of disabilities are varied, but there are three main reasons – poverty, the breakdown of essential services and the presence of landmines – all the legacy of more than 20 years of conflict in the country.

Between 2 to 3 per cent of the population, or about one out of every 40 Cambodians, have physical disabilities. Among these are approximately 40,000 to 50,000 landmine survivors, many of them young men in their productive years. There are roughly 60,000 persons with paralysis from polio, 100,000 persons who are blind, and 120,000 persons who are deaf.

Statistics on the number and types of mental disabilities present in the population are not available; however, it is possible to get a rough estimate using international averages based studies that have been conducted in 40 developing countries. Applying these averages to the population of 11.43 million Cambodians, it is fair to expect that, at a minimum, there would the following:

• 102,000 to 178,500 mentally retarded children, (or 20 to 35 children per thousand children below age 18);
• 20,400 to 40,800 people with severe mental disorders (2 to 4 people per thousand);
• 154,000 to 408,000 people with epilepsy (14 to 40 people per thousand); and
• 306,000 to 1,530,000 with significant personality disorders (3 to 15 per cent of the population).

B. Main features of the organization

The Cambodian Disabled People’s Organization (CDPO) is part of the worldwide network of disabled organizations known as Disabled People’s International (DPI) and has as its mission the development of networks of people with disabilities to support, protect, serve and promote their rights, achievements and interests and enable their full participation and equality in society.

CDPO was established with support from DPI in September 1994 at a three-day seminar attended by people with disabilities from 13 provinces around Cambodia. DPI continued to support CDPO in the development of the organization, both on a technical level and by raising funds for the first two years of the organization. The DPI-Cambodia project featured below was completed at the end of 1996, after an evaluation that took place in September 1996. From 1996 to 2000, CDPO implemented two Plans of Action in order to reach its 10 long-term goals intended to increase the capacity of people with disabilities to access equal rights and opportunities and improve their quality of life through advocacy work, public awareness raising and community empowerment of people with disabilities. This was done through the development of a grass-roots movement of self-help groups of people with disabilities using the provincial capacity and representatives or networks.

CDPO’s role is not to provide services or material benefits, but rather to represent people with disabilities and advocate for their interests and empowerment by building their own awareness and capacity. This role makes it unique in Cambodia.

CDPO has 1,110 full members and over 1,500 observers (waiting for formal approval of the leadership of CDPO) in 21 provinces of Cambodia. It has also established four chapters in Kampot, Banteay Meanchey, Svay Rieng and Kampong Cham provinces. The membership meets every two to three years in a National Assembly. At the National Assembly a nine-member Central Committee is elected to oversee the organization. There have been three National Assemblies and three central committee terms.

C. Achievements

CDPO has played an important role in the disability movement in Cambodia and has made significant achievements in a short period of time. It has a major role at the Disability Action Council of Cambodia (DAC) Executive and Advisory Committee and most of the sub-technical committees of the DAC.

DAC led the effort to draft legislation on the rights of people with disabilities, and helped make people with disabilities and others more aware of their rights. It has supported people with disabilities in their efforts to prove their abilities and has publicized their achievements. It has helped people with disabilities build confidence and become effective leaders and has assisted them to enter decision-making positions.

It is necessary to change attitudes and build confidence not only in people with disabilities but also in the communities they live in, at the grass-roots level. To change negative societal attitudes toward people with disabilities, CDPO has effectively used media techniques such as production of quarterly newsletters, annual posters and brochures disseminated and displayed at major events, as well as radio and campaign spots on television. It has also supported the establishment of the Blind Musical Band.
In addition, it played a major role in the development of sporting activities for people with disabilities, after the establishment of the National Paralympic Committee of Cambodia (NPCC) – which was established through its facilitation. It is also supporting an active group of women with disabilities to address their own needs and problems. All these initiatives are directed at the grass-roots level and have the potential to empower and change negative mindsets of people with disabilities and those around them. Increasing access to opportunities is not just about overcoming physical barriers, but overcoming psychological barriers. Advocacy efforts to change policy and attitudes within the government needs to go hand in hand with raising awareness of the rights of people with disabilities in communities, workplaces, social environments and families, and among those with disabilities themselves.

CDPO is moving towards increasing technical support and decreasing financial support to representatives of some provinces such as Kampong Spue, Kandal, Kampong Chhnang and Prey Veng. Increased technical support would assist them to manage their membership activities effectively, and encourage the development of self-help groups in these areas. At present, three self-help groups have been developed in Kandal, and two each in Kampong Spue, Kampong Chhnang and Prey Veng.
CDPO has established four chapters in Kampot, Banteay Meanchey, Svey Rieng and Kampong Cham. All four are fully operational. It is expected that a further four branches will begin operations during the programme period in Kandal, Kampong Chhnang, Prey Veng and Kampong Spue. Activities are already underway in identifying resource persons and provincial representatives for these provinces.
CDPO branches also work in collaboration with the PRC and CABDIC programmes in Kampot, Banteay Meanchey, Kampong Thorn, Takeo and Pursat provinces, and with Action on Disability and Development (ADD) in Kampong Spue and in Kampong Chhnang. In addition, CDPO is collaborating with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in Sihanoukville. The figure 2 indicates the main areas of activities.

Figure 2. CDPO: type of activity by province

D. Key lessons learned

In Cambodia, the measurement of poverty is based on a poverty line that takes into account food consumption that provides at least 2,100 calories of energy per person per day and a small allowance for non-food consumption to cover basic living items like clothing and shelter. The nature of poverty in Cambodia has been identified as following:

• Impact of the Khmer Rouge regime and the legacies of war on the population
• Lack of opportunities, vulnerability
• Lack of access to public services

People with disabilities form one of the most vulnerable groups in Cambodia, and have very limited access to education, skills/vocational training, job placement, income generation opportunities and other social services. As a result, many are extremely poor. Income generation for people with disabilities thus not only contributes to a sense of dignity and self-confidence, it is also directly linked to poverty reduction and development. Many view disability as a condition of occupational disadvantage, which can and should be overcome through a variety of appropriate programmes and services. Equality of treatment, mainstreaming of training and employment opportunities and community involvement are central pillars of the multisectoral approach.

CDPO believes in the self-help concept as the solution to the disability issue. CDPO believes in beginning with empowering, both at the social and economic level, through the development of a grassroots movement of people with disabilities and self-help groups for people with disabilities. This approach needs to be combined with capacity building, using chapters and resource persons/provincial representatives and adopting a collaborative approach with partners and service providers.

By working directly with people with disabilities at the community level, CDPO brings about solutions to specific needs through self-help concepts and philosophy.

E. Sustainability

The overall programme objective is to empower people with disabilities by assisting them to develop awareness of the issues they face, to identify and access technical and training resources, and to solve their problems together in a spirit of solidarity through the formation of local, district and provincial chapters whose members can make confident decisions, take action and exercise effective demands. Such an approach builds sustainability into the programme.

Through specific objectives that focus on raising awareness of the issues, needs, skills and requirements of the disabled population at the individual, family and community level; promoting self-esteem and increasing the capacity of disabled people; promoting the reintegration of disabled people within the community and increasing their opportunities for employment; and encouraging the development of a referral system and linkages between people with disability in the community and the agencies providing family and community support, sustainability of the programme goals and the objective of independence and self-help of persons with disability is ensured.