PHNOM PENH: The Secretary of State of the Ministry of Interior, Ngy Chanphal, has stated that the active participation of the people has allowed for the practice of good governance and democracy in Cambodia, as the people have participated in maintaining peace and many new opportunities for equal participation have also been opened without discrimination in society.

Secretary of State Ngy Chanphal made this statement at the ‘Grant Project’s Official Awarding Ceremony for CSOs’ by the Civil Society Fund and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on Friday, 24 February 2023. Many representatives of the UNDP in Cambodia and the Japanese Embassy were present at the event, along with the Executive Director of the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia.

The Secretary of State stressed that this project is very important as civil society organizations (CSOs) play an important role in contributing to development and peace building, and especially in connecting the people with government actors at both the national and sub-national levels. He said part of this project focuses on building the capacity of CSOs by strengthening their resilience through the provision of ongoing support to NGOs at the sub-national level.

He explained that the UNDP conducted a study aimed at gaining an in-depth understanding of the challenges CSOs face, and found that establishing financial resilience and a stable infrastructure for performance were the main challenges affecting the sustainability of CSOs. He stressed that these findings evidence the importance and necessity of the grant project to connect people with government actors at both the national and sub-national levels.

The main purpose of the Civic Engagement project is to promote democratic governance initiatives, build peace, environment and social equity by expanding opportunities for participatory environmental participation through dialogue mechanisms.

UNDP Representative, Alissar Chaker, said that the UNDP has identified strengthening the capacities of civil servants and CSO sustainability as very important to addressing people’s socio-economic development needs. She said the roles CSOs play depend on the social and economic situation and evolution, and vibrant civil society remains crucial for this matter as CSOs represent the values and interests of the people at the grassroots level.

This Grant Project is a continuation of the Civic Engagement project initiated and supported by the Government of Japan and the UNDP. The project began in March 2020 and will run for four years.