The document outlines strategies for mainstreaming gender in the PROCEED project, which aims to increase citizen participation in sub-national governance in Cambodia. It discusses integrating gender considerations into project design, implementation, and monitoring. For implementation, it provides guidance on mainstreaming gender across project activities like training, public forums, and engagement with commune councils. The goal is for women and men to equally participate in and influence sub-national decision making.

2. 2
INTRODUCTION
Equality of women and men is a fundamental human right in the Cambodian Constitution
and international human rights instruments. The Royal Government of Cambodia has
expressed its commitment to the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of
women through its endorsement of international declarations and conventions which has in
turn enhanced the following national legislation and policy.
The National Program for Sub-National Democratic Development (NP-SNDD) for 10 years
(2010-2019) clearly outlines that sub-national democratic development can only be effective
and sustainable when the issue of gender equity is adequately addressed. Furthermore, the
NP-SNDD recognizes the importance of gender mainstreaming as one of its cross-cutting
priorities which must be implemented across all six core program areas in order to address
both women’s and men’s issues, concerns and needs and to further strengthen governance,
promote public service delivery and contribute to poverty reduction. By mainstreaming
gender throughout the government’s National Program, NP-SNDD seeks to achieve higher
participation of women in sub-national administrations and to establish men and women as
equally legitimate political actors. Article 19 of the Organic Law of the Administration and
Management of Capital, Provinces, Municipalities, Districts and Khans states, “A council
shall formulate its development plan that includes other needs of women, men, youth,
children and vulnerable groups including poor people and indigenous people.” The Three-
Year Implementation Plan (IP3) sets out the Royal Government of Cambodia’s
implementation plan covering the first period (2011 to 2013) of the 10-year National
Program for Sub-National Democratic Development. The Ministry of Women’s Affairs
(MoWA) plays a leading role in the implementation of the gender strategy for the IP3.
Low citizen participation in council activities reduces democratic outcomes. Women are still
sometimes excluded in sub-national council decision making, while others simply do not
actively participate, as distrust and suspicion between state and non-state actors persists.
The district/municipal (D/M) councils in particular are new, and councilors have limited
experience in fulfilling their assigned duties and functions to respond to the needs and
priorities of their constituencies. Most citizens have limited ability to influence their councils
on issues that directly affect their lives and the few who are interested in engaging in the
district or commune council affairs have a lack of confidence to express their issues, needs
and priorities. According to the EU-SPACE/Multi-Level Citizen and Councilor Survey 2011,
“The issues, needs and priorities of women are often excluded in sub-national council
decision making.” According to the 2013 PROCEED baseline survey, only five per cent of
women feel that they have a good understanding of their D/M council, compared with nine
per cent of men. Only five per cent of women felt that their D/M council addresses their
needs, compared with seven per cent of men. In particular, support and encouragement is
needed on both the demand and supply sides for enhanced citizen engagement.
Gender mainstreaming in NP-SNDD is defined as promoting gender equality and the
empowerment of women in the broader governance arena, and particularly women’s role in
decision-making, and improving their access to services.
This strategy has been developed to articulate the PROCEED Project’s vision and approach
to mainstreaming gender, while also providing direct guidance to Pact and partner staff how
to mainstream gender into project activities with both demand and supply sides of
governance, (including Community Based Organizations (CBOs), commune/sangkat (C/S)
councils, district/municipal councils, and Boards of Governors). Pact led the development of
the strategy paper, in close collaboration with PNGOs, AMARA, Phnom Srey Organization
for Development (PSOD), Village Support Group (VSG), Anakut Kumar (AK), My Village
(Mvi), and Women’s Media Center of Cambodia (WMC).

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Project Vision:
The goal of the PROCEED project is that citizens exercise increased power to affect
democratic governance at the sub-national level. Through gender mainstreaming, the
project’s vision is that women and men exercise equal power to affect sub-national council
decisions and actions, using their rights to:
 Voice their needs, concerns, and priorities;
 Influence council decision making and priority setting;
 Contribute ideas about how to meet their needs and interests; and
 Receive information about council affairs.
GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN PROCEED ACTIVITIES
The PROCEED project contributes to the government’s national program to promote gender
equality in sub-national democratic development and governance. Pact and PNGOs
mainstream gender in the project cycle as follows:
1. Project design, start-up and baseline
2. Project implementation, and
3. Project monitoring and evaluation
1. Gender mainstreaming in project design, start-up and baseline
The PROCEED project undertook the following activities in the project design and start-up
phase:
 Identified the need for gender mainstreaming in project proposal and described
general strategies for gender mainstreaming.
 Disaggregated key project indicators at multiple levels by gender, and set gender
targets.
 Designed baseline survey to provide gender disaggregated results at high significance
level.
 Hired a senior program officer for gender on Pact staff.
 Assigned a gender focal person with knowledge of gender from each PNGO to
promote, monitor and report on gender mainstreaming in all project activities.
These activities could be considered in project design, start up, and baseline to ensure
consideration of gender equality.
2. Mainstreaming gender in the project implementation
The following below starts with overall strategies to promote PROCEED’s vision of women
and men exercising equal power to affect sub-national democratic development and
governance. Below that section are specific actions implementing partners are expected to
take to fully mainstream gender into regular types of project activities.

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Project
Activity
Actions to mainstream gender
Overall
(cross-cutting
activities)
 The Pact Senior Gender Program Officer leads Pact and PNGOs to develop a
gender work plan and ensure it will apply and records the achievements in the
quarterly and annual narrative report.
 Regular coaching and monitoring visits by the Pact Senior Gender Program
Officer to partner NGOs, and demand and supply sides to increase gender
mainstreaming.
 Plan activities in a way that both women and men will be able to participate
and benefit.
 Project staff communicate and consult with the NCDD Secretariat Gender Unit
and MoWA to ensure the gender mainstreaming strategy of PROCEED is
aligned to the Organic Law of the Administration and Management of Capital,
Provinces, Municipalities, Districts and Khans, NP-SNDD, and IP3.
 Support PNGO gender focal points to promote and monitor mainstreaming
gender into project activities and promoting increased women’s and men’s
participation in their council decision making.
 Lead discussion with PNGOs on how to increase opportunities and empower
women to take up roles as leaders and decision makers.
 Share stories of success of improving gender equality, including those of
“positive deviance,” i.e. men role models for welcoming women’s greater
participation. Use media like video to share these stories widely.
 Reward men and women councilors who demonstrate a strong commitment to
gender equality
 Consider establishment of a women’s network or link women to existing
women’s networks.
Capacity
building
(training,
coaching)
 Include sessions on “Gender Awareness” and “Gender Mainstreaming” in the
training module provided to PNGOs and stakeholders on demand and supply
sides.
 Illustrate gender equality in training session plans, handouts, power point
presentations, questions, and visual aids and all should refer to NP-SNDD and
organic law.
 Use reflection questions regarding gender in coaching, mentoring, monitoring,
observing, reflection, and learning with councils, CBOs, citizens, and PNGOs.
 Include a training session on gender facilitation skills for councilors and CBOs
to support equal gender participation in their meetings.
 Coach councils and CBOs to use constructive feedback, motivating words, and
to spend time discussing and listening to the women’s and men’s voices to
promote women’s and men’s participation.
 Identify gender on training pre and post-tests and continue coaching those
who did not understand the content of the training well.
Commune
Outreach
Activities
(COA)
 Coach the councils to put value on both women’s and men’s engagement in
outreach activities.
 Collaborate with CBOs to invite women and men equally to participate in the
activities.
 Coach CBOs on how to collect the issues and needs of women and men and
how to raise them in the council meetings or events.
 Identify the best times and places to make it easy for both women and men to
participate.
 PNGO staff coach councils to set agenda including identifying or responding to
women’s issues.
 PNGO staff coach councils to prioritize gender and women’s issues and keep
following up the council’s response.
 Council members invite women and men to speak equally to express their
interests, comments, and provide equal attention in responding.

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 When appropriate, divide male and female citizens into separate groups to
discuss issues, identify the solution, and set priorities. Council members
facilitate to ensure that groups have representatives to report back on their
discussion.
 Collaborate with members of the Consultative Committee for Women and
Children (CCWC) at D/M level and the Committee for Women and Children
(CWCC) at C/S level to represent women’s voices, and bring the issues to
address or influence the council in council monthly meetings.
Public
Forum
 Identify the topic openly and include on the agenda issues identified by
women and men with appropriate time allocation.
 Identify the best times and places to make it easy for both women and men to
participate.
 Encourage councils to disseminate information about the meeting broadly
through loud speakers and networks within places where women and men are
likely to access information at least one or two weeks before the meeting date
and provide updates if the date changes.
 Coach the councils to build the confidence and commitment of women and
men by encouraging and calling on them to speak, express their challenges,
needs, interests, and priorities in the council welcoming speech.
 Council pays more attention to responding to questions and solving problems
of women and men equally.
 Coach councils to work with CBOs, youth, active grandfathers (“Ta Ta”) to
represent women and men who cannot speak out freely, for example because
they are not confident to speak in public or because they are making a
complaint about another person who is also participating in the forum.
 Build confidence of CBOs, youth, and Ta Ta who are activists for gender
equality on how to speak in public and advocacy skills through coaching
support.
 Conduct small group discussions with women’s and men’s groups to identify
concerns, challenges, and priorities.
Council
Monthly
meetings
 Encourage councils to disseminate information about the meeting broadly
through loud speakers and networks within places where women and men are
likely to access information at least one or two weeks before the meeting date
and provide updates if the date changes.
 The Council Chief should invite relevant stakeholders to address issues raised
by women and men, for example, a police chief or a representative of the
Department of Education or the Department of Health.
 D/M or C/S Administration Chief should arrange an appropriate location to
ensure that there is sufficient space for all interested female and male citizens
to participate.
 Council welcomes and encourages female and male citizens and CBO leaders
to speak and raise their issues, and to express their opinions on solutions.
 Coach the women and men on complaints mechanisms and how to raise issues
to ensure they are confident to stand up and speak out.
 PNGO staff coach CBOs, youth, and “Ta Ta” to represent women and men who
cannot or are not confident to speak for themselves.
 PNGOs and CBOs provide coaching support to women and youth to build their
confidence to raise issues to the council.
Citizen Hour
Awareness
Raising
Campaign
(AwR)
 Build the capacity of male and female CBO leaders who will lead AwR sessions
on Gender Awareness and Gender Mainstreaming.
 Identify and invite women and men to participate in AwR equally.
 Broadly disseminate information about the program including the place and
time within places that women and men are likely to access information.
 Identify the best times and places to make it easy for both women and men to

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participate.
 Use visual aids or Information Education and Communication (IEC) materials
to illustrate women’s empowerment, male role models, and gender equality by
using simple materials and promote creative thinking among facilitators and
citizens. Include real issues from the communities into the sessions.
 Include gender sessions in the AwR to ensure women and men understand the
advantages of strong participation from both genders.
Listener and
Viewer Club
(LVC)
 Engage/mobilize women and men to be members of LVCs.
 Choose active women, men, and youth to be moderators in LVCs.
 Provide coaching support to women and men on how to lead and facilitate
LVCs during the live program.
 Discuss the issues and concerns of women and men then reflect to the topic of
radio program before, during, and after the radio program live show.
 Repeat the radio program in LVC to reflect and learn among club members.
Community
Based
Organization
network
(CBO
network)
 Engage women and men in CBO networks and as the members.
 Require that project-supported CBO networks have at least one or two women
(out of 3) as network leaders.
 Illustrate gender equality and women’s empowerment in goals and action
plan.
 Coach CBO networks to identify and prioritize the issues and needs of women
and men which are identified in each commune to raise in the district council
monthly meeting.
 Include the agenda items to discuss 1) the issues, concerns, needs, questions,
comment of women and men, 2) discuss to reflect on how to identify solution,
and 3) sharing the progress on the resolution of the issues raised by citizens
and addressed by council.
 Build the capacity of female CBO Network leaders or members on gender,
leadership, and public speaking/communication skills to ensure they are
confident to raise the issues and present the views of citizens.
 Engage CCWC and CWCC representatives in the CBO Network meeting to
ensure they can bring the voice of female and male citizens to raise in district
council meetings.
CBO-led
forum
 CBO should choose a time and location for the forum based on where issues
frequently occur as well as when and where it is easy for both women and men
to participate.
 Including the agenda on “identify and priority the issues and needs of women
and men” in CBO-led forum program.
 Set or allocate time to discuss the solutions and comment of specifically for
women and men.
 Disseminate information broadly through CBO network members and CBO
members at least one or two weeks before the forum date.
 CBO leaders should encourage female and male participants to speak and
express their concerns, needs, interests, and priorities in the welcome speech
and call them to speak during the forum.
 CBO leaders ensure the priority issues raised have complete information,
evidence, and comments, including whether the issue was raised by a male or
female citizen. Citizens and CBO members select the three most important
issues raised by men and by women to be raised in the council meeting.
 Choose the volunteers to raise the priority issues of women and men in
council meetings or events.
 Continue coaching to build the confidence of female and male CBOs who will
be the representatives for future roles.
 Engage CCWC and CWCC representatives in the CBO-led forum to ensure
they can raise the voice of citizens in district council meetings.
Citizens  Coach women and men and their representatives on the steps of the CIP, DIP,

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participate in
CIP and DIP
their roles, rights, and how to engage in each of the steps.
 Coach councils to prioritize to conduct outreach in places that women and men
are likely or easy to participate.
 Council pays equal attention in listen to the concerns, issues, priorities, and
comments of women and men, and calls women and men to speak.
 Divide group into female and male to discuss on the issues, and identify their
priorities and common solutions.
 Council facilitates to identify female and male’s priorities, concerns, and
common solutions with women’s and men’s equal participation and then
brings them into the CIP and DIP, and keeps following up to ensure they are
included in the investment plan.
 Encourage councils to allocate at least 20% to 30% of their budget for issues
identified by women as priorities.
 Coach women and men to engage in the CIP and DIP process, and advocate to
ensure that the issues of women and men are fully represented in the DIP.
Radio Talk
Show
 Build the capacity of the radio talk show program team on gender and gender
mainstreaming. The program has female and male staff in the team.
 Include topics on “the advantages of women’s and men’s participation in
council development activities” in the radio program.
 Illustrate gender concepts in all topics of the radio programs.
 Facilitate to ensure the involvement of female and male speakers and callers.
Moderators and speakers show value to all callers and encourage women to
call in to the show.
 Moderators should facilitate responding to the question of women and men
equally.
 Facilitate to ensure Vox-pops include male role models, councils promote
women’s and men’s participation, and female and male youth engage in
promoting democratic development.
District
Information
Dissemination
Working
Group
(DIDWG )
 Include gender equality achievements as a topic for dissemination.
 Coach district councils to engage female and male CBOs to be the resources for
disseminating information to citizens.
 Engage the CWCC and CCWC, female and male journalists, and CBO Networks
to be members of the DIDWG.
 Identify the channels, places, and/or locations to disseminate information,
and put loud speakers or information boards where women and men are likely
to access information.
 Increase opportunities for councils and journalists to discuss and consult on
planning and implementing activities to promote gender equality, and how to
gather and disseminate information.
 Coach female and male CBO networks on how to work with the D/M council,
how to access citizen information needed, and feedback to the council for
effective information dissemination.
Monitoring
and
evaluating
council
performance
 Coach women and men on how to engage in council performance monitoring
and evaluation.
 Coach sub-national councils to openly engage women and men to participate
in the process of monitoring and evaluating council performance.

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3. Project Monitoring and Evaluation
 Disaggregate critical indicators by gender. Record and manage information
regarding the number of women and men participating and speaking in the
council meetings or events, i.e. the observation form and coaching form.
 Illustrate progress of promoting gender in report and in report quarterly, semi,
and annual guideline. It could include the number of issues raised and addressed
by the council, and the result of council responding to their promises.
 Conduct regular reflection with PNGO gender focal points on the achievements,
challenges, and solutions, and discuss the areas for improvement on gender
mainstreaming at least every three months.
 Conduct regular reflection meetings on gender mainstreaming with councils,
CBOs, citizens, and provincial NGO partners through coaching, monthly meetings
and quarterly meetings.
CONCLUSION
The PROCEED Gender Mainstreaming strategy provides specific guidance to project
implementers to maximize opportunities to promote gender equality in the project and
mainstream gender in each activity. Gender mainstreaming should be built into project work
plans, and its success a topic of regular review and reflection.
In addition to mainstreaming gender, the PROCEED project is also committed to increasing
participation among youth and marginalized populations. While this strategy was designed
to focus on gender, many of the strategies listed above can and should be applied to create
greater inclusiveness of all groups.