...How can we bring about real and sustained positive change in the lives of urban and rural women, men, young people and children living in poverty? That’s what we asked ourselves, our partners and the citizens groups we work with while we were developing this six-year strategy.
Our previous strategy from 2008-2012, Justice & equality is possible: Search for alternatives, positioned us to achieve many successes. Adopting community empowerment processes and community led actions with our local partners has helped ActionAid Cambodia bring positive changes in the lives of thousands of vulnerable and excluded women, men and children across 15 provinces in Cambodia. Securing sustainable access and control over their livelihoods and ending violence in the home are just two. In this new strategy period, we will build on our grounded empowerment work with communities particularly women and children. We will continue to support community organizing and mobilizing work led by the people, for the people, to strengthen food security through promotion of climate resilient sustainable agriculture. We will, continue to empower women and girls so that they too can enjoy their rights to development and enjoy their rights to mobility in cities.And we will increase our focus on ensuring all children in the communities with whom we work enjoy their right to quality public education. We will also ensure that women rights, disaster risk reduction and governance are addressed in all aspects of our work. We reaffirm our commitment to respond to emergencies in the communities where we have a long term presence.
But more change is needed.
ActionAid Cambodia works with tens of thousands of people across the country every year to end poverty and injustice. In this strategy we make clear how we believe change happens and what our role and approach will be in bringing positive change about. We commit ourselves to three strategic objectives, and ten change promises, on which we will hold ourselves to account. People living in poverty can lead the struggle to end poverty. We know this because we have been working with passionate, committed Cambodians for the past 13 years. Every day we help people to change their own lives for the better, for good. We take a human rights-based approach to everything we do because basic needs, such as food and education, are basic rights. And when people know their rights, and can act on this knowledge, long-term change is more likely. Together with our partners we work side by side with the most marginalised and poorest women, men, young people and children in both urban and rural areas over the long-term and connect their realities and dreams to bring about local and national change. In other words, we believe that an end to poverty and injustice can be achieved through purposeful individual and collective action, led by the active agency of people living in poverty and supported by solidarity, credible rights-based alternatives and campaigns that address the structural causes and consequences of poverty. This is our theory of change. This strategy outlines what we want to achieve by 2018 and gives a roadmap to get there.