General interest, Health Education

CIDI: Integrating Govt and NGO rehabilitation programs in Cambodia

  Author: 

Sophak (Admin/Outreach Coordinator, RCRC), Lee (Organisational Development Officer, RCRC) and Tokyo (Senior Program Manager, Australian Embassy, Phnom Penh) at the CIDI Network meeting.

On 28 February and 1 March, Sophak and Lee attended the final meeting of the Cambodian Initiative for Disability Inclusion (CIDI) Network.  By funding 55 projects, which have been run by 38 Cambodian local organisations, the Australian Red Cross’s CIDI network has been a great success, not only funding disability projects directly, but holding regular workshops to build the capacity of the Khmer staff of the member organisations.

RCRC has really benefitted from being part of this wonderful network, since we joined 18 months ago. We actively participated in the following workshops to develop understanding and skills in the following ways:

  • First Aid training
  • Self-help groups – we learned from each other’s organisations about the sustainable change that many SHGs achieve in small villages and in towns,
  • Advocacy – how to build better community understanding of disability; at present there is still a lot of discrimination against people with disabilities,
  • Quickbooks (accounting software program) training for some key beneficiaries of RCRC’s Access For All project,
  • Child Protection Policy development and implementation,
  • Monitoring and evaluation – with field experience.  RCRC worked with Muslim Aid Cambodia for a Peer to Peer Evaluation, with a visit by RCRC to Muslim Aid in Kampong Chhnang, and a return visit by Muslim Aid to RCRC’s Access For All project in Prey Veng.
  • And, we received financial support to send Sophak to the 2nd Asian Pacific CBR (Community-Based Rehabilitation) congress in Manilla, Philippines.

All the members of the CIDI network have really valued these meetings and workshops. They’ve helped build close relationships through sharing information, knowledge and experiences of working in the disability sector, and, crucially the network has made a big contribution to developing the capacity of Khmer staff in the above ways. We are all hoping very much that there is a way for the Australian Red Cross to be able to continue to run the network.