women & env.

CARDAMOM MOUNTAINS WILDLIFE SANCTUARIES PROJECT
WOMEN AND ENVIRONMENT
Opportunities, Mainstreaming and New Initiatives
By
Karen Lawrence Phd. Tim Savann, Soun Sophary
March 2004

CARDAMOM MOUNTAIN WILDLIFE SANCTUARIES PROJECT (CMWSP)
CONTENTS
WOMEN AND ENVIRONMENT - OPPORTUNITIES 2
PURPOSE 2
OBJECTIVES 2
METHOD 2
RESULTS 2
FIELD VISIT 5
WORKSHOP RESULTS 7
1. WVA ACTIVITIES 8
2. GENDER AWARENESS 9
3. MAINSTREAMING GENDER INTO COMMUNITY/LIVELIHOOD ACTIVITIES 11
4. WHAT NEXT 14
WOMEN AND ENVIRONMENT - CHECKLIST 18
KEY PRINCIPLES 20
GENERAL SOCIO-ECONOMIC RESEARCH ACTIVITIES 20
GENERAL SOCIO-ECONOMIC RESEARCH ACTIVITIES 21
PARTICIPATORY PLANNING IN PROTECTED AREAS. 22
WOMEN IN THE ENVIRONMENT – AN ADJUSTMENT 24
THE RATIONAL FOR ADJUSTMENT 24
CARDAMOM MOUNTAIN WILDLIFE SANCTUARIES 24
OUR GOAL 25
OBJECTIVES 25
ACTIVITIES 26
REPORTING OUTPUTS 27
LOCAL PARTNERS 29
MONITORING & EVALUATION 29
11/8/2010 1

WOMEN AND ENVIRONMENT - OPPORTUNITIES
Purpose
To mainstream the objectives of the women and environment project into
implementation activities of the Community and Environment team in the Wildlife
Sanctuaries (Phnom Samkos and Phnom Aural).
Objectives
1. To assess the activities of Women’s and Veteran’s Affairs, Pursat office for
their relevance to the Central Cardamoms Wildlife Sanctuaries Project.
2. To incorporate gender analysis into Community Environment activities with an
emphasis on women and the environment.
3. Build the capacity of community livelihood team members to assess how
gender issues fit into existing project activities and how they can be
mainstreamed within each of the Sanctuaries.
Method
The following activities took place during a three day visit to Pursat and Phnom
Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary.
Date Person, place Activity
15th
June: Director Em Ponna
WVA, Pursat Office
Meeting to discuss the various activities
facilitated by the Pursat office.
Visit to the house of a
group leader based just
outside Pursat
We saw a permaculture farm plot, food
processing activities and wood collected
for a natural dye project.
16th
June: WVA Veal Veng district; Dei
Kraham, Anleang
Commune, Pramaoy.
We met representatives of two project
groups, banana growers and red corn
producers.
17th
June WVA vocational training
centre, Pursat
We were shown various training activities
held by the centre to support the skill
capacity of young women and some young
men.
DoE office, Pursat Assessment of WVA activities.
Review of gender awareness
18th
June: DoE office, Pursat Mainstreaming gender into
community/livelihood activities
Results
The Director, Em Ponna of Women’s and Veteran’s Affairs, Pursat office provided us
with several project reports on permaculture, market research and food processing
activities facilitated by the department in Pursat. Copies of these reports are in DoE
Pursat office. WVA has four projects to its programme;
1. Permaculture
2. Food processing
3. Small business support - income generation
4. Training and skills capacity building.
The permaculture project provides credit for vegetable seeds, technical training on
composting, intercropping and the use of natural pesticides. We saw an example in
11/8/2010 2

a village just outside Pursat which combined the permaculture and income
generation projects as surplus vegetables were being produced to market in Pursat.
The example we saw had prepared the beds and composting well, but had not
planned the pattern of plants adequately so that crops meant to protect vegetables
from pests such as lemon grass and garlic, were planted to far away from the main
vegetable beds. The WVA progress report in 2001 concludes that initial
permaculture plots were not as successful as assumed and recommended that it
should be combined with fruit tree gardens, especially for inaccessible rural areas.
Fruit tree gardening is now another part of the permaculture project and they teach
the women to prune, graft and propagate the trees, and provide training to establish
a nursery. The trees grown in their system are; banana, jackfruit, mango, orange
and lemon. Although they would like to offer other more marketable species like
durian, mangosteen and rambutan, they lack a source of cheap seedlings. Another
problem identified by the director was the lack of tenure in Veal Veng district which
made the women reluctant to invest in a long term crop like fruit trees.
Food processing project links the training activities with income generation. During
the training the women receive a $3 DSA and the savings from this are used to buy
the equipment which is simple kitchen ware. The centre then provides credit to the
women and organises them into a group so they can make a small business. The
two main food processing activities are banana chips and sticky rice cakes and these
can be performed in the village. Other processing activities, such as crystallising
ginger, making tamarind candy are done at the centre because they are more
complicated. They have 18 different types of food processing training activities,
which range from bottling vegetables to crystallising fruits and including making
vegetable and fruit chips.
The WVA offer various small business and income generation projects, often
supporting the women after training with small loans. The department organises the
women into support groups, offers training and then provides marketing assistance
for the product. The group is loaned the credit for start up which is then paid back at
harvest time. Income generation projects tend to focus on cash crops (cashew nut,
coco nut, banana, red corn) and livestock raising such as cow and buffalo banks.
For animal banks the women are grouped into 10 and loaned a male and female to
start. The young are then shared among the members of the group and they are
given credit to ensure the animals are vaccinated. They are then trained in the skills
to run a small business and the WVA follows up the group every month, offering
marketing assistance if needed. A key marketing strategy used by WVA is to identify
those products currently supplied by Thailand or Vietnam and produce them locally.
Training and skills capacity is provided for all the other projects, however there is a
vocational training centre in Pursat run by WVA which seeks to build the skills of
young women and more recently some young men. The centre offers 6 residential
short courses such as sewing, marble and wood carving, rattan/vine mat and Kok
grass mat weaving, cotton krama weaving with natural dyes, food processing and
wedding make-up classes.
The sewing classes are the most popular but also require the most financial support
by the village or family. There are between 40 – 50 training places offered every
year advertised through normal publicity channels and through NGOs. Places are
open to single, married or widowed women, and no basic education level is required,
11/8/2010 3

but the minimum age is 14. They do need to pay $5 for the course and $50 for the
cloth material used in the training. The courses start in March and again in
September, and recruitment is a month prior to the start, those girls interested in
training are recommended to the WVA director by their commune and village leaders,
the WVA committee then decides whether to accept their application. Several young
women apply for the sewing training but do not have the money for the materials
needed, they are then offered another training course such as the mat weaving,
krama weaving or wedding make up artistry. The course is residential and the girls
can opt to stay in a dormitory at the back of the centre. Accommodation and food
used to be free, however, the girls now pay 3,000 riel a day for food, accommodation
is still offered free ($ 135.75 for food during 6 months). After training the girls either
go on to get factory jobs in Phnom Penh or they apply for a small business loan and
set up by themselves. A new sewing machine costs around $65 each (these are
singer foot peddle machines that do not require electricity).
The rattan and vine weaving is simpler than others mat making processes and can
be easily woven in the village if the material is available, they just require space. The
split rattan canes are bought from Leak/Kravanh and boiled in Neem tree water made
from leaves or seed to whiten the rattan and protect it against insects. The liana
vines (war slang) are obtained from Veal Veng district. A two meter mat sells for $8
which is more expensive than other mats but they are more durable. Director Em
Ponna will be visiting Japan in August to investigate the potential export market. The
nearest competitor to this type of mat are those made in Indonesia (East Kalimantan)
which sell for about $10 - $131
for a similar 2m size mat. Indonesian mats the small
rattan canes used are bleached with hydrogen sulphide and the mats mass produced
with the half rattan canes being sown together by machine. The main markets for
rattan mats are Japan, Taiwan and Southern Korea (they demand ivory white
products).
On the other hand the Kok grass mat weaving requires a wooden frame, these cost
about $30 in 1996, but the weave comb is made out of bamboo and requires skills to
manufacture it. The Kok grass is bought from Kandal province. The girls are less
interested to learn how to weave the grass mats and the only place in Pursat where
they can work is the centre. The dyes used are synthetic and produce vibrant
designs that rival the plastic mats. However they are not as competitively priced,
although cheaper than the rattan mats.
The cotton weaving has two parts, one producing hand woven cloth using synthetic
dyes and then making hats or bags out of them in combination with the woven kok
grass or broader leaf grass weaving. Another part, supported by Deutcher
Entwicklungsdienst (ded), is making natural dyes and weaving traditional kramas.
The centre uses about 19 plants (one dye is an insect) which they process, which
can take anything from 3 to 20 days where they boil the material, beat it and then
distil the residue as dye. The raw cotton is bought, dyed, then spun and woven in the
centre. Unfortunately the mark-up does not compensate the work needed to process
the natural dyes, typically a natural home woven krama will cost $0,75, where as one
woven using synthetic dyes costs only $0,50 – local tastes prefer the synthetic dyes
which are vibrant and colour fast. Hand spun cotton cloth is a competitive market
and therefore the financial sustainability of this activities is highly questionable.
Similarly the sustainable harvesting of the dye sources seems in doubt. The director
1
Lawrence, K, E 1998, East Kalimantan Photo documentation of Asia Forest Network Cross visit,
They Dyak Rattan Gardens. Asia Forest Network report.
11/8/2010 4

mentioned problems in obtaining enough dye material, at least ten dyes use the bark
of the tree, eg 150 kg of bark for red colour is required to make 100 krama.
Marble carving training is also offered in the centre. Again this is 6 months long as
the students learn on wood and gradually progress to the soap stone, referred to by
Khmers as marble. The material comes from Veal Veng and Leak/Kravanh (PAWS).
The centre used to train young women but found they preferred less physically
demanding skills, and this is now opened up to young men. Once they receive
training they either get jobs in Phnom Penh, start up on their own with a small
business loan from the centre or join a workshop in Pursat.
We did not inquire about the wedding make-up training.
Field Visit
The WVA activities in Pramaoy focus on income generation. The WVA extension
officer has received two training courses in organising and marketing to support the
income generation emphasis of the programme. There are projects in ten villages in
Veal Veng district, five in Anleang commune, one each in Dei Kraham, Chamka
Chrey kang chung & Tabong, Kandal, Anleang Reab and Krang Rongieng, and five
in Pramaoy commune, two in Pramaoy village, one in Tumpur village, Chheu teal
Chrum, Phchoek Chrum and Stueng themai.
Banana Growing groups
The women groups in Anleang commune are organised to grow banana and beans
because both are easy to market. The WVA officer organised the group of women
and obtained the banana seedlings which were bought locally. The seedlings are
credited to the women which they then pay back through marketing the bananas
through the WVA officer. We talked with the banana growing group in Dei Kraham.
The women grow upland rice which gives two months of rice for food per year,
the remaining eight months they collect kaduich and potatoes from the forest
around the village. (The women referred to the forest as the tree areas on the
hills and not the forests around their village). The village has only recently
moved to this site along the road. Two years ago 10 households of the village
lived down by the river, the remaining 40 households lived at the old site.
During the hungry season they also eat crabs and big water frogs. They do
not go into the forest (hill forest) because it is full of leaches and is far away).
The Khmer rouge used to live here in the 1980’s and they brought many fruit
seeds from Thailand.
There are about 20 really poor families out of 50 households. The nearest
school is 7km away, but it is free. Many people fall sick with malaria but none
die, when they are sick they go to the government hospital in Pramaoy. If they
need to borrow money they do so from neighbours and then pay them back
when they sell the bananas. The marketing is not clear and they sell to those
passing by, mostly outsiders like the WVA officer. There are two outsiders
that buy regularly about twice a year. Last year a women in the group
harvested about 2,500 kg of dry rice on about 0,5 hectares, the bananas are
intercropped with the rice. The biggest pests are pigs and rats and squirrels
that destroy the young rice stems. The monkeys just come and look they don’t
take the harvest. Rice can only be grown for two years after that they must
open another area.
11/8/2010 5

The chamka fields are planted with a variety of vegetable crops and fruit trees, a
legacy of the Khmer rouge rather than a government programme. The bananas were
either grown in patches or intercropped with rice. The marketing relies on the WVA
officer.
Red Corn Grower Groups
The women’s groups in Pramaoy commune are organised to grow red corn, although
only three groups have started this year. They chose this product through a PRA
activity because it is easy to plant and maintain. They will get marketing assistance
from the WVA extension officer. Each women’s group (5-6 people each) was given
the seed on credit, which is paid back when they sell their produce to the extension
worker who has already been contacted by a trader in Pursat. Neither the women
nor the extension worker knew the end product for the red corn.
The women used to grow rice but decided to grow red corn instead with varying
commitments for example;
Pramaoy group 1, has four women with seven hectares of chamka and plant
four to red corn
Pramaoy group 2, has eight women with 16 hectares of chamka and plant
eight to red corn
Tumpur group has ten women with 20 hectares of chamka and have eight
planted to red corn.
The seed was bought from Thailand by the extension worker and one woman
interviewed said that she is only planting two hectares of chamka to red corn, leaving
the remaining half hectare to mixed vegetable crops, if she is able to get a good price
for the corn she will plant it all next year. The red corn is similar to white and takes
four months to grow and is ready to harvest in August, it is preferred because it
requires less maintenance than rice. She plans to sell the corn to buy rice.
The marketing aspect of red corn growing does not seem to be well thought through.
In 2003 the red corn sold in Kravanh district fetched 6 cents (250 riel)/kg, but rice
was 7.5 cents (300 riel)/kg to buy. The yield for corn is higher, but they do not know
what it is for their area, in other places it is 6 –7 tonne/hectare. The minimum price
one women wants to sell her corn is 15 cents (600 riel)/kg, but hopes to get as high
as 20 cents2
. We briefly visited a red corn field, the plant grows taller and is larger
than the white corn variety. It was grown as a single crop.
Comment: The red corn project promoted in its present form is a concern for the
project ecologically because the corn is shifting women from mixed vegetable
cropping to mono-cropping which will require chemical fertilizers and pesticides to
maintain yields. Farmers elsewhere living in forest edge communities find corn yields
are lower than expected due to rats, pigs and monkeys.
However O’Som community reportedly sells their white corn to traders from Koh
Kong for 37.5 cents a kilo, which is then sold to Thailand (eg during the CE team
exposure report to O’Som 2004). This needs to be monitored.
2
The price of white corn grown and sold in the Philippines mainly for fodder fluctuates from 24
cents/kg to as low as 8 cents/kg, where the average price of normal rice is between 25-30 cents/kg.
11/8/2010 6

Workshop Results
The Agenda
1. ACTIVITIES OF WOMENS AFFAIRS, PURSAT
• Advantages and disadvantages per activity carried out by WA
• Possible options offered by WA activities appropriate to conservation in
the PAs
• What is required by the project and WA to actualize options
2. GENDER AWARENESS
• What is gender awareness (sharing understanding from previous
workshops)
• What elements of gender awareness should be mainstreamed into
project activities?
3. MAINSTREAMING GENDER INTO COMMUNITY/LIVELIHOOD ACTIVITIES
• For each type of project activity identify where the women should be ;
develop a checklist.
• Clarify the objectives of the women and environment project; check
whether these are met by our project activities.
• What villages need special focus on women
4. WHAT NEXT (a separate half day is needed to assist Savann and So Phary
design this)
• Community/livelihood team workshops?
• Community awareness?
• MoE awareness?
• PA staff awareness?
• Organizing workshops or other activities?
11/8/2010 7

1. WVA Activities
We evaluated the WVA activities we had seen over the last few days to understand
which ones we felt were more appropriate in the Wildlife Sanctuaries.
WVA Activity Advantage Disadvantage
1. Perma-culture – vegetables,
composting
Good for the family, good for the
land, food resources are near
the house.
Roads are not good, difficult to
market the vegetables, no market in
the villages or Pramoay.
2. Fruit tree farms – nursery
establishment, grafting,
propagation
Can sell the fruit to get an
income. Villages wont cut fruit
trees, can plant vegetables
under trees. Fruit good for
family
No market links. People would
need training on propagation.
Higher value fruits are needed.
Could develop Pramaoy as a
training and tree nursery center.
3.Income generation – red corn
production (Pramaoy commune,
Tumpor village)
Good idea because women get
organized and trained
Market is not clear – high risk.
Women did not understand market
movements. It encourages bigger
farms and therefore threatens
forest.
4. Income generation – banana
production (Anleang Reap
commune)
Grows well on the land. Can
intercrop it. Provides an income
for the family. Enriches the soil
with organic matter.
Market not clear, links are not strong
or steady.
5. Income generation – animal
raising (pigs & chicken)
Good income for family. Easy
to sell, easy to look after.
Pigs need to be vaccinated. If pigs
are not kept properly children can
get their diseases.
6. Income generation – cow
bank (cows, buffalo)
Good for the farm. Expensive hard to sell if you only
have 1 or 2, easier if you have
many. they can be stolen
7. Income generation- food
processing, banana chips, rice
cakes
Cheap to buy, easy to sell
locally, equipment is cheap
Needs skills training, need to buy
equipment, need clean water and
facilities. Income is not very big
8. Training center- sewing Good for young women
Encourages out-migration if
training is in Pursat
Costs about family $5 for training
and $50 for materials.
9. Training center – mat
weaving, Kok grass.
Good skill to have
Good for family
Raw materials are not found in
Pursat. Equipment is expensive
10. Training center – mat
weaving rattan & vine.
Have material in pursat. no
equipment needed, good skill
Neem tree used to whiten and
protect rattan so it is easy.
Training needed, product is
expensive compared with other
mats. Good quality raw materials
are needed.
11. Training center – soap
stone, wood carving
Good skill for disabled men. market competition for marble
carving is strong.
12. Training center – krama,
cloth weaving: natural dyes
Good skill Difficult to find the material 2-3 days
to weave the cloth and many more
days to prepare the dyes. Hard
work and not paid well as krama are
sold cheaply.
11/8/2010 8

After the evaluation we analysed which activity per programme we felt had the
greatest potential for our project and therefore needs further discussions with the
WVA director in order to see how we would support their activities.
Programme Option FFI possible
contribution
WVA possible
contribution
Income
generation
Pig and chicken banks
$200 for young sow and boar, $10 for vaccination
$ 5 for pair of male and female chicken
Buy the first
pair to start
the bank
Organise the
women into
groups and train
them
Training
center
Sewing (rattan mats may be latter)
(carving for disabled men)
$75-$80 per
person for
training in the
centre.
Provide space on
training
programme
Village
Activity
Fruit tree farming with vegetables and composting
(nursery could also propagate native tree species)
Rice/potato bank, improve rice production.
Seedlings of
higher value
species,
Equipment
nursery
material
Organise the
women and men,
train them, 50 %
need to be
women.
We analysed the various family units we have found in both Wildlife Sanctuaries and
assessed how and why we would prioritise an intervention activity (such as income
generation projects or pig/chicken bank projects). The three common family units
were considered to be; women headed households (whh), families with disabled men
and two able bodied adults. All of us agreed that the intervention priority should be
for women headed households because they lack the labour to farm and lack the
capacity to take up other livelihood opportunities. However by including women from
each family type in a project group such as a pig bank, we would include them all, but
whh would be the first recipients. By doing this we acknowledged that projects may
have a lower socio-economic impact (whh are more likely to need to eat some of the
pigs or sell them early to get cash), however this tactic would yield a higher social
impact as it would lead to more stable communities, as the poorest families will be
less dependant on handouts by better off families.
2. GENDER AWARENESS
Both Savann and So Phary have had previous training in gender awareness so we
drew out these various ideas and then considered what problems we felt women face
in society and then identified those specific to rural Khmer women that we had
observed during our work. During this process the meaning of gender analysis was
explained as a way of assessing how different sub groups exist in a community. It
was shown how these sub-groups cut across the male female divide and that good
analysis enables us to seek the opinion of ethnic minority groups, elders, youth,
forest product collectors and migrants, as well as those of women.
The focus then turned to how they felt as women working in FFI and to understand
how we could seek changes our own organisation as women working in conservation
through the women and environment project. We then identified the women’s issues
that the Central Cardamom Wildlife Sanctuaries Project should be able to address
whilst implementing daily project activities. As a conservation orientated project and
organisation we wanted to be clear what we could not claim to do as much as identify
11/8/2010 9

what could be done. As a prelude to mainstreaming gender in the project activities
we drew out some clear aims that the project can achieve in order to address certain
women’s issues both in the office setting and in the field.
What is Gender Awareness
1. Understanding the role of women and men and equity issues
2. Women in Society
3. Women in community development
4. Understanding the reproductive importance of women and the value of women
5. Men and women working together
6. How women (and other socio-politically marginalized groups) are valued
Problems of Women in Society
• Women are not encouraged by men to do things
• Men under value women’s tasks and opinions (so do women)
• Women’s skills, capacity and or education level is often lower than that of men
• Women have fewer opportunities in the workplace tod o well and be acknowledged. There is
a social pressure in jobs that favour the advancement of men ahead of women and that will
give higher wages to men for the same work.
• Women have a low self esteem and low self confidence because they do not value
themselves.
Problems Facing Rural Cambodian Women
• Over protective parents – they are afraid to let their daughters do things outside the home in
case they come to harm.
• Families invest in the education of boys, but the girls stay at home to help in the house, or in
the farm – it is not considered valuable to educate the girls.
• Women are afraid to participate in community activities
• Women accept violence and violation as normal behaviour because many men in rural areas
resort to violence to express their anger or frustration with their wives or children or their
situation.
• Women are vulnerable to being exploited sexually because they lack awareness, men lack
respect and there is little support from government officials to stop it.
• Women that want easy money to buy material things are vulnerable to exploitation as they
lack opportunities for alternative means of support and can get into situations where they are
exploited.
Women in FFI
• FFI values women
• FFI gives opportunities for women to improve their skills
• Men and women are treated equally in the workplace.
• BUT women still feel intimidated to participate and express their opinions because
They are afraid of being wrong
They are afraid that the manager will not think they are good enough and decide to let
them go
In meetings they are told by their male colleagues to be quiet or shushed.
• Improving things for women in FFI
Women want to be able to share their ideas without being judged by anyone that they
are right or wrong
They want an equal chance to talk about the work, share ideas and experiences even
if they do not speak English as well as their male colleagues.
- Discussions with management should not be one by one, but the work
should be discussed together as a team so that knowledge about the work
can be gained equally by all and everyone has a chance to share their
opinion.
- Women want an equal chance to share ideas and experiences with the
manager even if they lack English skills
• It would be better if FFI management assumes that everyone has an idea or experience that
can contribute to the group discussion and not just rely on one person.
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How can the Central Cardamom’s Wildlife Sanctuary Project Address Women’s Issues
• Encourage women to actively participate in project activities
• Value the opinion of women during meetings and support them if they are cut down by men
• Increase the skill of women in the villages, either by training or capacity building through
participating in committees and other activities.
• Give women opportunities to show what they know and be acknowledged by the community
for having valuable skills
• Increase the self esteem and self confidence of women by encouraging their efforts and
activities.
• Ensure women actively participate in community activities, meetings and decision making
• Develop income generation projects with women so they can become more financially
independent.
The Project Can Aim to:
• Increase the value of women to the community
• Encourage men and women to work together for the good of the community
and conservation activities.
• Increase the number of women involved in community development activities
• Ensure women are given equal opportunities to participate in project activities
and increase their skills, income and confidence.
• Improve the participation of women in rural society through their involvement
in project activities.
3. MAINSTREAMING GENDER INTO COMMUNITY/LIVELIHOOD
ACTIVITIES
This was an initial activities that would be valuable to repeat with other members of
the Community and Environment team, as well as other project staff.
ACTIVITY WHERE ARE THE WOMEN CHECK LIST
1. Socio-economic
surveys
About 50 % women were surveyed in
Aural and about 60 % of women in
Samkos
Number of women headed
households (WHH),
poverty level of villages,
differences between the
activities of men and women
in 24 hrs and 12 months.
2. Meetings – village
leaders
3. Meetings – commune
leaders
Ask for women's participation in
meetings, including leaders and older
women
Ensure there is a snack to occupy
the children so they are not
distracting to the mothers.
Number and names of
women leaders
Number of times the
facilitator asked women for
there opinion?
Which women asked
questions of the facilitator
and what questions were
asked.
Number of women that
seemed too afraid to speak
up.
4. Interviews Listen and collect the stories of
women (and other socio-politically
marginal groups in the community).
They tend to be an honest account of
what is going on in the village
Document the stories
Collect them in a report
5. Field surveys Ask the community to women forest
guides, but first tell them that there
50 % of guides are women
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will be food provided during the
activity.
6. PLUP
Project facilitation team Have 1 or 2 women in each
facilitation team
Number of women in teams
Activities in villages
• Inform and meet
leaders from the
village, commune
and district
See above Ban the participation of drunk
people who can be disruptive.
• Make
appointment with
the people and
meet them
Not just the VDC, include
representatives of women, youth,
elders and forest users.
Names of those attending
meeting
• Interviews Talk with representatives from
marginal groups in villages, whh,
Disabled hh, forest resource
collectors
Calendar of activities for the
year
Needs assessment of each
sub group in the village
• Sketch mapping When mapping together – women
are offered the drawing pens, asked
to verify what has been drawn.
Women map separately their
resources – no men allowed
Food is provided after sessions so
the women can participate and not
worry about finding food for their
children.
Note the changes made or
information confirmed by
women.
Separate resource lists for
women;
hungry season (animals
and plants),
resources sold, everyday
food resources,
medicinal plant resources
for women,
own use resources.
Women’s symbols drawn on
a map showing where
important resources (hungry
season & resources sold) are
• Sustainable
resource use and
harvesting
discussions
Separate meetings for men and
women.
Discuss resource harvesting
problems, causes of resource
degradation and solicit their ideas for
possible solutions
Ask the length of the hungry
season.
Women’s resources where
harvesting can be improved,
list of forest resources that
they market, costs and
problems (mushroom, resin,
rattan, cardamom, forest
fruits, vines, medicine).
Acknowledgement of
unsustainable practices and
suggested solutions; eg. bird
egg collection, hunting,
accidental animal killing,
reasons for fire, logging
• Forest/land use
zoning
Meeting together with men but
women are encouraged to participate
Ideas of women
Rules suggested by women
• Verification of
maps and plans
Go with women to verify in the field
things the women have identified on
their maps, or in interviews.
50 % of field guides are
women
• Planning;
community
development,
and forest
management
plans; income
generation, food
security
Women to make plans about their
resources in the community forest
management plans.
Facilitate separate plans with the
women that increase food security;
rice/potato bank, pig/chicken banks
Plans include activities to
increase or protect women's
resources
Names of those interested to
participate in group.
Women’s needs in the village
11/8/2010 12

are known
• Field surveys;
GPS, and impact
assessments
Include women as guides
Properly train female team members
in GPS,
Names of guides
1 day training for women
staff.
• Organizing CPA
committee
50 % of women on mixed
committees.
All women committees to manage
food banks (rice, potato, chicken,
pigs)
Names of elected committee
officials.
Names of women committee
members and organizational
rules.
• Implement forest
management and
food
security/income
generation plans
Women to report on their activities.
Child care is to be organised or food
given as compensation to ensure
women’s participation.
In each WS at least one rice bank,
pig bank, poultry bank, potato bank
or fish bank operated by women.
Number of Whh participating
in an intervention project
Monitor decreases in the
number of months for the
hungry season where
projects are being
implemented and where they
are not
• Monitor and
evaluate
progress
Separate evaluation by women in the
villages
Values identified by women
Opinions on where they feel
the project can improve.
Women in the Environment Proposal
We then assessed the women and environment project objectives to see whether
they would be achieved by the project activities identified above.
Women & Environment
Project Objective
Project activity that achieves the
new objective
What more can be done
1. Researching women’s issues
and assessing the impact of
conservation
• Separate meetings for
resource mapping
• Women’s management
issues and solutions are
identified.
• Female leadership
capacity is developed.
Village surveys that identify whh and
interviews allow women to share their
situation.
Resource mapping is facilitated for
women and men in separate sessions.
Women and men discuss resource
problems and solutions separately
first.
Women are elected to be 50 % of the
members of resource use committees,
there are separate committees for
women’s groups to increase food
security
Food security groups (pig or
rice banks) are set up in
villages that have a high
number of whh.
2. Empowering local women in
natural resource management
• Increase plant
propagation skills
• Increase sustainable
harvesting practices
• Improve market links for
NTFPs that women sell
Developing and implementing plans
with women (50%).
Women are trained to propagate trees
and manage nurseries
Women replant kaduich and forest
potatoes to regenerate hungry season
forest resources.
Support cardamom management,
collection and marketing in O’Som
Work with WVA to train
women and set up a nursery
Train women and men to
prevent and fight fires
Support women
manage/market cardamom in
O’Som and other areas, and
extend to rattan collection,
processing and harvesting
3.Encouraging women to work
as conservationists.
• Employees of FFI
• Interns
• On-the job training of
women
Hold an awareness workshop for all
project staff
(Amanda, Hing Phiranich)
PLUP, resource sketch map
facilitation, (want animal raising skills)
Start a Khmer women in
conservation network to
share experiences (1/4ly
meetings).
Have a separate days
training with the women for
GPS use and practice.
It was acknowledged that although Matt and Richard had made special efforts to
ensure Savann and So Phary understood GPS during the PLUP, there simply was
not enough time to practice using it and be confident. Both felt that because they
11/8/2010 13

were not as quick to pick up the technology as their male colleagues, they would
value a session together first to catch up with the men.
4. WHAT NEXT
Prioritising Participatory Planning Leading to Food Security Projects For
Women.
The following villages were identified has being possible priorities to support women
through special projects. Further discussions are required with male colleagues
before decisions are made, but this was an opportunity to bring down the ideas we
had been discussing to an actual village.
Wildlife sanctuary Commune, Village Why this village was chosen.
PSWS Dei Kraham, Anleang
Reap commune
Known to be favoured by the group.
Stueng Thmai, Pramaoy
commune
30 out 100 house holds are headed by women.
Land is good for agriculture and it is far from
Pramoay.
PAWS Samraong, Char-en
commune
Out of 59 hh, about 20 are headed by women.
They have a 12 month hungry season
Ngoy, Tuek Kbaal
commune
Out of 19 hh, about 17 are headed by women.
They have been excluded from a DoE community
forest project.
A workshop with project staff needs to prioritise the villages and identify those places
where women’s groups have been started or can start or where they feel women
focused activities are needed (eg high number of women headed households).
Recommendations
Gender Awareness in the Environment Workshops
Savann and So Phary are interested to design a workshop to mainstream women
into project activities, and another half day can be scheduled next week for this.
Other possible workshops could be;
• FFI staff
• MoE and DoE staff
• Communities
• Commune Councils
• District Government, Police, Military
They will need assistance to design the workshop which could be designed with
Save Cambodia’s Wildlife and link to the environmental awareness programme. It
would be valuable to link the design of these workshops with a “women in
conservation network” both for staff and for women in the villages. I would suggest
offering Hing Phiranich an internship for this summer so that she can assist in the
design of this workshop and assist the project in other ways. It would be valuable for
MoE if the internship were linked through the Community Protected Area office and
assist FFI encourage more women into MoE and the environment.
The following points should be considered in an awareness workshop design:
Gender perceptions: what the group understands by gender, women in
Cambodian society, Women in the Wildlife Sanctuaries (different family
models present and sub groups in communities).
How gender influences Natural Resource Use:
Roles and responsibilities identification
11/8/2010 14

Impacts of access to and control of resources
Differences in knowledge and practices
Public participation in decision-making
Impacts of Environmental Degradation on Women and Men:
Time and energy for tasks
High exposure to indoor pollutants (cooking soot)
Food insecurity
Increased health risks from chemical pesticides
Creating Gender Responsive Project Activities
Separating information collection and analysis
Designing questions for women and men,
Separate activities for men and women
Women’s involvement in decision making
Information accessible to women
Identifying women’s skills
Increasing financial independence
Identifying well-being indicators
Activities on the Ground; Prioritising Villages in both Wildlife
Sanctuaries
Women and Veterans Affairs
The director is very dynamic and aware of the various stages of livelihood
development. However, they lack an understanding of what the environmental
impact of their activities could be as well as what sustainable harvesting means in
practical terms. Increasing the awareness of their staff working in Veal Veng district
and perhaps re-training some of them needs to be considered by the project.
Mainstreaming the conservation into WVA by building the capacity of their local staff
would increase the sustainability of project livelihood interventions beyond the
lifespan of project funding.
Further discussion is required with the director regarding our findings and the
recommendations discussed below.
Participatory Planning Linked to Intervention Identification
The participatory planning process has been designed to be gender sensitive, and to
ensure that women have an equal opportunity to share their knowledge, use pens to
draw symbols on maps, categorise their resources in terms of their importance to
them and to express their opinions about the causes of resource use problems in
their area and to suggest possible solutions. In both areas where this has been
facilitated it was the first time that women had an opportunity to use pens and
participate in an activity as “important” as this. There was a noticeable increase in
confidence and capacity to express opinions in public during the series of activities.
It is suggested that all intervention activities and training are linked to participatory
planning. The resulting maps could also result in a means for communities to obtain
tenure agreements from MoE that will support long term interventions like fruit tree-
spice gardens, rare tree gardening and permanent cropping of chamkas. The WVA
director identified a lack of tenure security as a limiting factor in their fruit tree and
vegetable home gardens.
Informal Training
An aspect not covered by the WVA programme is women’s literacy although they do
not make this a requirement for participation in any of their projects or training.
11/8/2010 15

However to ensure genuine participation in many projects for income generation the
women will have an advantage if they have basic literacy and numeracy skills. There
is an existing informal education system that can be tapped to provide this support
and increase women’s basic skills. This system could link to organised women’s
groups who practice their basic skills in the supportive context of being member of a
rice bank or tree nursery group.
Short Term Interventions
There are various short term intervention options available by linking through WVA,
we suggest to focus on three key ones for now; rice and potatoe banks, pig-chicken
banks, and sewing training (and carving). The other options presented are more long
and medium term (such as nursery training for cardamom marketing, fruit-spice
gardening, and rattan mat making). These short term interventions link indirectly to
conservation. Rice and potatoe banks ensure women have enough food through the
hungry season, plant more potatoes in their chamka or closer to their houses and
therefore spend less time looking for food. The pig and chicken banks serve two
purposes, one they provide protein to the family during the hungry season and
second they generate income for the women. Both of these activities redirect time
and energy from collecting in the forest to working on the farms or near the house.
This reduces the number of time women take the dogs into the forest and therefore
reduces the frequency that the dogs kill forest tortoises and lizards.
Providing financial support, say $1000/year for eight young women to learn to sew in
Pursat and a couple of disabled men to learn to carve is a very clear benefit with a
six month output. It assists conservation because the women and men are more
likely to get jobs after training that are outside the Wildlife Sanctuary, thus
encouraging out migration. This option is more available to Phnom Samkos than
Aural because the WVA Kampong Spue does not have the same programme,
however, there is a training centre in Krakor district.
Fruit tree-Spice gardening
This would seek to adapt the WVA fruit tree gardens which focus on commercial
species and vegetables. The species composition of fruit-spice gardens could mirror
the complexity of the Dyak forest gardens found in East Kalimantan, but mix
commercial species with traditional ones as well as introduce higher quality sweet
potato varieties. There are about nine spices (including cardamom) and about 30
fruit trees that would be suitable to grow in fruit-spice gardens in the PSWS area.
Future adaptations may include rattan (small clump calamus sp. Which matures in 6-
8 years) and rare and endangered species such as Beng (Afzelia xylocarpa (Kurz)
Craib), Thnong (Ptercarpus cambodianus Pierre), Neang nuon (Dalbergia bariensis
Pierre) and Chan krasna (Aquilaria crassna Pierre). The purpose of these gardens
would be to;
Increase propagation, harvesting, management and marketing skills of women
Stablise chamka fields
Increase nutrition, food security
Provide cash crops (spices) and food processing opportunities
Increase the agricultural biodiversity
Develop tree maintenance and plant propagation skills
11/8/2010 16

These gardens would provide suitable canopy cover, soil moisture and shade
conditions to plant the rare and endangered species, 10 out of 243
are listed in
community resource lists from Phnom Aural.
The WVA Pramaoy district, with DNCP may be interested to support a central
nursery training centre focusing on various propagation techniques, nursery set up,
and rare tree seedling production.
Cardamom Marketing
The only NTFP which has a market development potential at this moment is
cardamom. It has a short harvesting cycle of between 2-3 years and therefore is an
ideal plant for communities to learn how to manage sustainably. The only area with a
culture of collection, management and marketing is O’Som, however there is no
reason to indicate why learnings from this area cannot be extended into other
villages in PSWS. As part of the women and environment project it would be helpful
to analyse how the O’Som project is working with women both in its planning and
implementation activities so that improvements can be made if needed, but insights
can be drawn out for other villages in PSWS.
A partnership with the WVA could assist with market development and packaging
aspects of the cardamom market, currently cardamom is sold by Sensei (Siem reap)
in silk sacks as an infusion and in copper tins mixed with black tea (bamboo and
rattan cases are used to package other products but could be made locally to
package other products). Other cardamom flavoured products may be worth
investigating with the assistance of the WVA.
3
Cambodia Tree Seed Project/Danida 2001, National Priority tree Species Workshop Phnom Penh,
15-16 August 2000.
11/8/2010 17

WOMEN AND ENVIRONMENT - CHECKLIST
How local residents live and work the environment is important. When they live
inside a protected area or wildlife sanctuary the livelihood and subsistence activities
of local people can make a big difference to how well the environment is managed.
There are more women living in Phnom Aural and Phnom Samkos Wildlife
Sanctuaries than men yet men are still the main decision makers in the Village
Development Councils and in the Communes. In order to get a full picture of how the
whole community uses its environment, what it wants to change and how people
plan to make those changes happen so that there is still a healthy and good
environment to live in, we have to remember to include women as active participants.
Getting women to actively participate is not always easy. Women living in rural areas
have less opportunity to learn skills often because a family will invest in educating the
boys because they will assume women will just get married and live elsewhere. In
general rural society gives the impression that girls are less valuable to a family than
a boys. When women have less skills and feel they are less valuable than men, they
have low self-esteem and lack confidence. Women are often too shy to share their
ideas in case they are wrong or people will think they are stupid. These factors
mean that women are less likely to present their ideas in public, and more likely to let
men make decisions for them or just agree to what men suggest and decide. When
we are engaging with communities and asking for their participation in our activities
we must be aware of these factors.
It is import for our project for women to participate because Women and men do not
use the environment in the same way, often they use different resources and
visit different parts of the forest or river to do their own activities. We need to
find out how differently women and men value the natural resources, and use them.
We also need to know what women know about their resources, what resources are
important for the well being of women and the family, how they explain connections
in the environment and their ideas about to manage resources better.
Women are not the only group in a community that can be left out of decision
making. Old people may be deaf, blind, or just slower than others and they are left
out of decisions or meetings because the activity is too fast for them or goes on too
long and they get too tired. Young people may be excluded because they are not
considered to have enough experience and their opinions are therefore considered
less valuable than others. Ethnic minorities may be excluded because they are
considered backwards, uneducated and their opinions are less valued. People that
collect forest products may be excluded because they are considered uneducated, or
too poor or too dirty or they may not be present when decisions are being made
because they are out in the forest. Gender analysis is understanding how different
types of people in a community are excluded from decision making and participating
in projects.
Many women are accidentally excluded from participating in projects because they
are busy with child care or finding food for their family and no provision is made to
support them. This is definitely the case when women head their household as they
have no one to share other tasks with and must work on the farm and in the house
on their own. Women headed households are common in communities in both
Phnom Samkos and Phnom Aural as many men were killed during the civil war or
11/8/2010 18

have simply found another wife, leaving their first wife to bring up the children on her
own. Villages that have many women headed houses holds tend to be economically
poorer than those with more men because the women have less skills and therefore
less capacity to engage in livelihood or income generation activities. Similarly
families whose men are disabled or missing a limb may be less able to take up
livelihood opportunities and maybe economically poorer. Women with these types of
families may not be able to participate in activities or accept training opportunities
because they are already over worked and too worried about finding enough food for
their family.
Small projects can be designed to make the life of women much easier. Women can
be organised into small groups to manage a rice – potatoe bank which allows women
to borrow rice or potatoes when they need to and pay it back (plus a small interest) at
harvest. To increase household incomes women can be organised into animal
raising groups, which look after a sow and boar or a pair of chickens so that all the
group can benefit by receiving animals to raise and sell, but they can also eat them.
These types of activities may not link directly to helping conservation but it means
that women may need to go less far into the forest to collect potatoes, hunt less
animals to feed the family during the hungry season and may not need to be involved
in illegal log transportation. By training a group of women to manage this kind of
project they learn new skills, gain confidence and depend less on forest resources.
If we are going to make a difference to these women and their families we may need
to change the way we implement activities or support training so they can also
benefit. If we can provide real opportunities to these women then we will reduce the
burden on other wealthier members of the community that help out these families
during crisis and ensure the community is socially more stable. Communities that are
more socio-economically stable are more able to use resources sustainably in a
planned way because they experience less crisis. This can help protect and
conserve biodiversity
If we are going to protect biodiversity and conserve the environment we need to
engage with all members of the community. Women are often more concerned
about the future stability of their families and whether or not their children will be able
to use the forest, live in a healthy environment and enjoy the things that they do.
Women are often very honest about what they and their families have to do to
survive and often they have a strong sense of wanting to do the right thing. Evidence
from India and the Philippines shows us that women are more likely to keep agreed
rules that control natural resource use and protect areas of their environment.
How can the Cardamom Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary Project Address Women’s Issues
• Encourage women to actively participate in project activities
• Value the opinion of women during meetings and support them if they are cut down by men
• Increase the skill of women in the villages, either by training or capacity building through
participating in committees and other activities.
• Give women opportunities to show what they know and be acknowledged by the community
for having valuable skills
• Increase the self esteem and self confidence of women by encouraging their efforts and
activities.
• Ensure women actively participate in community activities, meetings and decision making
• Develop income generation projects with women so they can become more financially
independent.
11/8/2010 19

Key Principles
Some of the women may
need to be encouraged to
participate – ASK THEM TO
DO IT.
Women must always be present in
meetings – ASK THEIR OPINION
We cannot make assumptions about
how women use resources - ASK
Women listing their
resources used – PROVE
THEY CAN DO IT. Young and Old Women work
together to draw their
resources – SHOW WHAT
THEY KNOW
Women drawing their
hungry season resources,
many using a pen for the
first time – WHAT THEY
KNOW IS IMPORTANT.
Forest guides should be 50 %
Women but to get them to
volunteer ensure they know
there will be food and/or
facilitate child care by other
women – THEY CAN DO
11/8/2010 20
The women organising food
preparation for the community
after mapping, to ensure women
do not worry about food and can
participate – GIVE REAL
SUPPORT
An elder explains the
cultural stories surrounding
this area and the history of
the village – GIVE TIME

General Socio-Economic Research Activities
Surveys
How many women headed households (WHH) are in the village? ______ Number
How many poorest households do the people think there are in the village? ______ Number
How many households have a disabled member? ______ Number
Yes No
Have you identified the activities women do in 24 hrs?
Have you identified the activities men do in 24 hrs?
How many activities in 24 hrs do women do alone? ______ Number
Have you identified the activities that women do during the year and
clarified which they do alone?
Have you identified the activities of men during the year and clarified which
they do alone?
Meetings Yes No
Have you listed the names of women leaders in the village
How many women are present in the meeting? ______ Number
How many times did you ask women for their opinion during the meeting? ______ Number
Have you documented the questions that women have asked you?
How many women seemed to afraid or shy to speak up? ______ Number
How many women regularly come to the meetings?
Were the children distracting the women or did the children stop the women
participating in any way?
Have you made note of what kept the children quiet?
Have you something for the old people (eg. betel nut)
Interviews Yes No
How many women have you asked to tell about their situation? ______ Number
Have you documented a story about women’s resource collection or
marketing experiences?
Have you documented why women are heads of their households?
How many old people have you asked about the cultural beliefs, legends of the
forest or area?
______ Number
How many people still speak Por or Soui? ______ Number
How many dances do the women remember, or practice, are there
restrictions on when they can dance?
Have you made note about any traditional rules that limit when the women
can dance?
Have you noted the sacred places/forests of the village that the women
remember?
Have you noted how many women are midwifes or have herbal medicine
knowledge?
Field Guides Yes No
Have you arranged child care and food provisions for those wanting to be
field guides?
How many women wanted to be a guide but could not because they were
too busy?
What activities stopped the women from being a guide?
11/8/2010 21

Participatory Planning in Protected Areas.
The facilitation team Yes No
How many women are on your facilitation team? ______ Number
Have the women on your team received proper training on GPS use?
Have the women on your team practiced using the GPS and other technical
equipment?
Preparation Yes No
Have you banned drunk men from participating in the meetings? (ignore
them by standing in front of them and do not acknowledge them if they
insist on coming to a meeting)
Have you asked to meet representatives of women, youth, elders, ethnic
minorities and forest resources user?
Have you documented the names of those in the meeting?
Have you scheduled sketch mapping activities with the women, men and
whole community during times they can come?
Have you informed the community that participants in the sketch mapping
will be fed?
Sketch Maps Yes No
Have you facilitated a social map that shows where the women and men
with skills live?
Are there women present during mixed sketch mapping activities?
How many women are actively participating in mixed mapping activities?
Have you facilitated a women only sketch mapping activity where women
identify their resources and decide which to map?
Have the women identified the hungry season resources (including animals)
and drawn where they collect them from?
How many months is the hungry season? ______ Number
Have the women identified their medicinal plants and drawn where they
collect them from?
Have you found out what the medicines are used for?
Have the women identified their resources?
Have the women identified the resources they sell? (you need to note the
prices and marketing mechanism for each one)
Have you facilitated a separate meeting so that the women can discuss the
problems of resources in their area and share ideas about how to increase
their resources?
Have the women expressed an opinion about the
1. causes and ways to control fire,
2. causes of forest degradation,
3. suggested ways to improve the way resources are harvested,
4. suggested ways they can stop illegal logging and
5. suggested causes for changes in the rivers?
1
2
3
4
5
Have you a list of resource management rules the women would like
implemented?
Have the women given you a calendar of their annual activities?
Have you asked the women what their development needs are and ways
they think these can be met? (ask also the needs of old people, youth, ethic
minorities, poorest households and forest users)
11/8/2010 22

Forest Zoning, Resource Use Rules, Planning and Implementation Yes No
Have you asked the women for suggested rules to regulate or increase
resources?
Have you supported good ideas of women if they have been challenged by
the Leaders or men?
Have rules been made that ensure women’s resources are protected or are
able to regenerate?
How many women participated in the decision making? ______ Number
Have the women expressed their resource use plans?
Have the community identified women to be members of their resource
management committee?
Is there between 25-50% representation of women on the committee?
(suggest 50 % but work with less if necessary, but ask the community for an
explanation if they want less)
Is there a network of women in the community to support women committee
members by looking after their children during activities?
Have the women discussed the short term intervention options and have
they decided on a project?
Is there a separate women’s group organised to implement food banks (pig,
chicken, rice or potato)?
Is there at least 1 women employed as your field guide? (try to ensure that
50 % of guides are women)
Training & Skills Development Yes No
Have women’s training needs been identified?
Is there at least 25% but preferably 50% of women participating in skills
training activities?
How many women want to improve their skills by joining an informal education
network?
______ Number
______ Number
______ Number
______ Number
How many women headed house holds are
members of a food banks group,
receiving skills training in resource management
are members of a committee
are learning skills in a non formal education network?
______ Number
Evaluating the Project Impact Yes No
Has the hungry season reduced?
The hungry season has reduced by how many
1. Days?
2. weeks?
3. months?
1
2
3
How many women find it easier to find or buy food during the hungry season? ______ Number
Have you asked how women value the forest, wildlife, water and land?
Have you asked women what they need from the environment for a secure
future?
Have you asked women how has the protected area helped them?
Have you asked women what they think about the project and what things it
can do better?
11/8/2010 23

WOMEN IN THE ENVIRONMENT – AN ADJUSTMENT
The Rationale for Adjustment
Cardamom Mountain Wildlife Sanctuaries
The two wildlife sanctuaries are either end of the Cardamom Mountain Range
located in the Southeast of Cambodia. This area is one of the last sanctuaries of
biodiversity in Indochina and comprise in a wide variety of tropical habitats including
wetlands, to important lower montane evergreen cloud forests. They are home to
over 30 large mammals, many of which are rare and endangered species such as
tigers, bears, Eld’s deer and gibbons. There are also many rare and endangered
trees commonly growing in local areas within the two Sanctuaries, one of which
belonging to the ginger family, Cardamom, gives the Mountain range its name. The
resources in the two Wildlife Sanctuaries provide subsistence support to some of the
poorest communities in Cambodia.
Over the last five years greater peace and stability in the country have enabled
conservation groups, like FFI to work with government agencies and communities to
conserve the magnificent heritage for future Cambodians to value and enjoy.
Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary
Phnom Samkos is a 3,338 km2
mountainous area along the Thai-Cambodian border
and as such was an area of intense fighting between government and Khmer rouge
soldiers. Although the area has been peaceful for several years, it is now subject to
logging and illegal hunting by outsiders. If this resource depletion is allowed to
continue the communities will have fewer livelihood options, therefore they need a
way to keep outsiders out, manage their local forest areas more sustainably and find
ways to address their livelihood needs.
There are about 33 villages located inside the boundary of the Wildlife Sanctuary.
Many residents are demobbed Khmer Rouge soldiers or their sympathisers seeking
a more peaceful life and as such there are more women than men (a large number
are widows), but still men are the main decision makers in the local government
councils. There are 3 types of ethnic groups represented and many of them
maintain high dependency on collecting non forest timber products. The women
have very little access to education or skills improvement opportunities and where
they head households, they are vulnerable to being trapped into an endless cycle of
poverty.
Phnom Aural Wildlife Sanctuary
Phnom Aural is a 2,538 km2
area of gently rolling hills leading to Cambodia’s highest
mountain at 1,771 meters above sea level. The civil war finished earlier in this area
and allowed many of the refugees to return to their villages in 1997. Since that time
local people have been re-establishing their lives and communities with many former
Khmer Rouge child soldiers. As the nearest Wildlife Sanctuary to Phnom Penh it is
very accessible to illegal loggers, firewood buyers and organised hunters. Many
communities are desperate to stop these outsiders from entering their forests and
taking their resources, but lack the confidence and authority to do so. The project
11/8/2010 24

seeks to address this problem through facilitating a participatory planning process
that results in community based management plan that MoE can use to approve
Protected Area Communities.
There are about 58 villages inside Phnom Aural Wildlife Sanctuary, some as small as
17 or 20 households, but many have more women headed households than men, as
the men have left to start new families elsewhere – sometimes if x-soldiers have
beaten their wives, the women have left! Old attitudes still prevail in Cambodian rural
society where boys are often valued more than girls and are sent to school to learn
skills. When women are left to head a household she will have few livelihood
opportunities, less physical capacity to work the land and have less food available to
feed her family through the hungry season. This can be as much as 5 months in
some villages. Those villages that have more women headed households than men
are often left out of MoE initiatives to secure community access rights to their forest
areas, simply because they are assumed to not to use the forest because it is too far
from their house. This project seeks to assist government agencies to review their
understanding of women in environment so that women’s right to feed her family and
gather forest resources is respected and supported.
Changes Made
The original proposal was focused on women in Phnom Aural Wildlife Sanctuary
rather than in Phnom Samkos, but as work has proceeded it is apparent that women
out-number the men in both Wildlife Sanctuaries. It is also the case the women are
under represented in decision making at both sites. Therefore this grant is
considered an opportunity to mainstream women and the environment objectives into
project activities implemented at both Wildlife Sanctuaries. We are therefore seeking
minor changes to the original proposal that reflects this greater institutional
commitment. We present below the adjustments we are making to the Goal,
Objectives and Activities of the project, which in principal has not changed, but it is
allowing us to make an institutional commitment to addressing Women’s issues in the
Environment across all aspects of community interaction in both Wildlife Sanctuaries.
It was also apparent that we needed to engage with other organisations through this
project if we are to promote Cambodian women to work as conservationists. We are
therefore seeking to work with the Women’s and Veteran’s Affairs department which
offers many training opportunities for women but whose field staff lack exposure to
working in the environment and in a conservation area.
Our Goal
The project goal is;
Improve the livelihoods of women living in Mt Samkos and Mt Aural Wildlife
Sanctuaries in ways that are sustainable, culturally appropriate,
environmentally sound and compatible with biodiversity conservation.
Objectives
1. Researching women’s issues in the communities and assessing the impact of
conservation policy on local women’s survival strategies.
2. Empowering local women to manage natural resources
3. Encouraging Cambodian women to work as conservationists
11/8/2010 25

Activities
1.1Village surveys and assessments at both Wildlife Sanctuaries identify the
number of women headed households and their perceived relative poverty
status.
1.2At both Wildlife Sanctuaries, village women experiencing various support and
family situations are interviewed, including women headed households,
women married to disabled men, women that are ex-Khmer Rouge leaders
and those involved in trade.
1.3Participatory landuse planning will be used as a means for the communities
and project staff to identify appropriate community based development
intervention activities. During this process women will be given opportunities
to identify their own resources, prioritise them, draw them on the plans and
discuss resource use problems and solutions.
1.4Women will be supported to join informal education networks in their
community where they will learn basic literacy skills and learn more about their
value, rights, responsibilities and opportunities in the Wildlife Sanctuaries.
Through the Women’s and Veterans Affairs some young women may be given
the opportunity to take up skills training unrelated to project activities, but will
provide them with other income generation options in the future.
1.4Women will be elected onto the Protected Area Community Committees as a
result of the participatory landuse planning activities. This committee will be
responsible for implementing resource management plans the community
decide upon.
1.5With the assistance of the Women and Veteran’s Affairs representatives
women will be organised into food security groups where they will manage
either rice and potato banks, or pig and chicken banks. The primary recipients
of these activities will be women headed households to ensure they have
enough resources to get through the hungry season (the 3-4 months/year
without rice) and learn new skills within a support network.
2.1With the assistance of MoE, Women will be trained in fruit tree nursery
propagation skills such as grafting and pruning. They will also be trained in
setting up and running a nursery which where they will also learn how to
germinate rare native tree species which will provide resins and other
resources for their children in the future.
2.2Women will be trained as field guides, learning wildlife identification, tree
species identification and the roles and responsibilities of resource users in
the Wildlife Sanctuary. They will also be part of community forest patrol teams
who will be trained about how to control and protect against forest fires.
2.3Research will identify the growing conditions of forest spices, improved
harvesting and propagation techniques. Women will then be trained in
propagation and maintenance techniques of cardamom and join in
domestication trials which plant it in mixed fruit-spice gardens. Improvements
will also be sort in the cardamom marketing links, finding new products and
training women accordingly with the assistance of Women and Veteran’s
Affairs.
3.1Assessment of training activities facilitated by the Women and Veteran’s
Affairs and training of their staff in participatory landuse planning process and
environmental awareness.
11/8/2010 26

3.2 With the assistance of female staff design a workshop to mainstream gender
into project implementation activities, increase the awareness women in the
environment for MoE, District government, village leaders and commune
councils and military.
3.3Short term employment of women student interns to provide ensure women
get field experience in conservation projects.
3.4Provide technical training opportunities to female project staff to increase their
capacity to lead field teams and provide technical advice to communities
regarding natural resource management.
Reporting Outputs
The project will provide an annual report outlining the activities accomplished under
each objective during the year. We have outlined the probable results which seeks
to assist women in 6 villages from participatory planning, organising, choosing their
own development projects, increase in skills both basic literacy and in natural
resource management and improve their socio-economic situation. At least three of
these target villages will be in Mt Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary and at least 2 of which
will be in Mt Aural Wildlife Sanctuary.
Year 1.
1. Researching Women’s Issues in the Communities and Assessing the
Impact of Conservation Policy on Local Women’s Survival Strategies.
i. Survey results indicating the number of women headed households
in each Wildlife Sanctuary.
ii. Documentation of 4 women’s survival stories.
iii. Participatory planning in 4 villages.
2. Empowering Local Women in Terms of Natural Resource Management
iv. Research on Cardamom harvesting and marketing options and the
role of women in O’Som Commune, Mt Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary.
3. Encouraging Cambodian Women to Work as Conservationists.
v. Assessment of the activities of Women’s and Veteran Affairs.
vi. Women and Environment Checklist guide for ensuring gender
mainstreaming in project implementation activities engaging
communities.
vii. Employment of a female student summer intern.
viii. Train female staff on participatory landuse planning and the use of
Geographic Positioning System
Year 2.
i. Documentation of 4 women’s survival stories.
ii. Participatory planning in 2 villages.
iii. Women’s informal education network is supported to increase the
skills development of local women in Pramaoy, Mt Samkos Wildlife
Sanctuary.
iv. 2-3 villages elect members of their Protected Area Community
Committee, with a target of 50 % representation of women as
committee members.
v. 2-3 women’s groups trained and operating a rice bank or pig bank in
two villages
11/8/2010 27

vi Nursery set up and training of 2-3 women’s groups in plant
propagation techniques
vii 2-3 groups of women are trained as field guides and learn about
controlling forest fires, identifying wildlife and reporting illegal
activities.
viii Spice propagation plan is developed with farmer-to-farmer
exchanges to assist in the training of 2-3 other Protected Area
Community Committees or women’s groups.
ix Women’s and Veteran Affairs are supported to provide skills
training to 4 young women from Mt Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary
x. Women and Environment workshops are held for MoE staff and
government and military officers that have duties in both Wildlife
Sanctuaries.
xi. Employment of a female student summer intern.
xii. Provide on the job training of female staff on one of the following;
wildlife identification, tree propagation techniques and animal
raising.
Year 3.
i. Documentation of 4 women’s survival stories.
ii. Women’s informal education network is supported to increase the
skills development of local women in Pramaoy, Mt Samkos Wildlife
Sanctuary.
iii. 2-3 villages elect members of their Protected Area Community
Committee, with at least 50 % representation of women as
committee members.
iv. 2-3 women’s groups trained and operating a rice bank or pig bank
in two villages
v Nursery set up and training of 2-3 women’s groups in plant
propagation techniques
vi 2-3 groups of women are trained as field guides and learn about
controlling forest fires, identifying wildlife and reporting illegal
activities.
vii Forest spice propagation trials are begun by 2-3 villages as part of
their fruit-spice gardens farming system.
viii Women’s and Veteran Affairs are supported to provide skills training
to 4 young women from Mt Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary
ix. Women and Environment workshops are held for village and
commune councils in both Wildlife Sanctuaries.
x. Employment of a female student summer intern.
xi. Provide on the job training of female staff on one of the following;
wildlife identification, tree/cardamom propagation techniques and
animal raising.
11/8/2010 28

Local Partners
Cambodia Ministry of Environment – Department of Nature Conservation and
Protection (DNCP) – government agency responsible for the wildlife sanctuaries in
law. A new office dealing with Communities in Protected Areas has been set up and
seeks to address issues such as lack of tenure security and livelihood opportunities
in Cambodian Protected Areas. Their capacity is low in terms of understanding the
social issues of conservation, especially women and participatory.
Women’s and Veteran’s Affairs Department, Pursat Office – government agency
responsible for improving the well being and socio-economic situation of Cambodian
women and disabled war veterans through skills training and livelihood projects.
Their capacity is low in terms of understanding the environmental consequences of
some of their projects.
Lutheran World Federation (Aural Office)
A highly reputable, well managed and effective rural development and community
empowerment NGO which assists communities in Aural district in Phnom Aural
Wildlife Sanctuary.
Cedac (Centre détude et de Developement Agricole Cambodgien)
A Cambodian non-profit research and development NGO having extensive expertise
and experience in the field of eco-friendly agricultural techniques and rural
development. It is assisting villages in O’Som commune, Veal Veng District, some of
which collect cardamom from Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary.
Monitoring & Evaluation
The gathering of women’s survival stories every year will assist us to continuously
review our understanding of the future impacts of this project. In the short term we
can only hope to increase the number of skill women in communities and stabilise
livelihoods of some women headed households in the six villages we are assisting in
this project.
We will be asking the women we assist to evaluate how well they think
implementation activities have been conducted as part of a commitment to their skills
enhancement. This feedback will assist us to make any changes necessary to
increase the effectiveness of our activities or adjust to new circumstances.
11/8/2010 29

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