On June 9 and 10, our Oxfam-funded project called Citizensosinglequoteo Voices and Actionsin Social Accountability made one more step towards the goal of familiarisingPhnom Penh residentswith their right to participate in local decision making processes. Ten young people from the Capital joined our two day training on the structure and specific responsibilities of the local administration, as well as on the opportunities ordinary citizens have if they want to get involved.Using dynamic andinteractive methods, our experienced trainers Sovanny Hong and Chhunneat Tak managed tobring complex topics such as the role and duties of various local officials closer to the audience.
The issue of social accountability proved to be especially interestingfor the participants when the discussion focused on concrete social service providers such as public schools and health centres in their districts. The idea that feedback is essential for any future improvement of these services turned out to be one of the conclusions of the training, and we are almost certain that these ten young people who have a lot of usefulrecommendations now know how tosend their proposals to the local authorities in charge.
