Remarks by Ms. Solinn Lim
Country Director, Oxfam in Cambodia
Signing Ceremony: Partnership Agreement for Supporting the Implementation "Leading the Way for Gender Equality (LWGE) Program"
Thursday, Feb 22 2018
Your Excellency Dr. Ing Kantha Phavi, Minister of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs
Mr. Samuel Hurtig, Swedish Counselor and Head of Sida
Mr. Nick Beresford, UNDP Country Director
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of Oxfam I am very pleased to be part of this important event where Oxfam renew our formal commitment as a key strategic partner of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA), to deliver Oxfam’s sub-national level programs on: Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE), Ending Violence Against Women and Girls, and Women Leadership, under MoWA’s three-year program on ‘Leading the way for Gender Equality’.
Under your leadership Madame Minister, we have seen strategic investments in gender equality and women empowerment as well as strong collaboration between all actors including the royal government institutions, Development Partners, Private Sectors and NGOs. MoWA has been very inclusive and I can share countless examples of the collaborative spaces you have provided for dialogues and partnerships with civil society organizations. I am sure we all agree that MoWA’s coordination leadership is extremely important for all of us to contribute to fighting against discrimination against women and girls in Cambodia in a sustained way.
Last year, I was very impressed by MOWA leadership who set the right tone on Media’s Code of Conducts and launched a training on “Violence Against Women and Girls for Media Reporters” for 33 media organizations in collaboration with the Ministry of Women’s Affair and Club of Cambodian Journalist.
Last week, at the Annual Status Review led by the Cambodian National Council for Women, I was very delighted to learn about the significant achievements in 2017 and more importantly the 2018 Directives from Samdech Prime Minister which give us the confidence that the Royal Government will continue to prioritize Cambodia’s investments in Women Empowerment.
Madame Minister, Ladies and gentlemen; it would be pretentious of me and Oxfam not to point out that, while Cambodia has progressed so much and that we have come along away on the journey of ending gender-based violence and discrimination, we all know full well that the nation still has a lot of works to do. Cambodia as a nation, she is not where she wants to be yet.
However, we believe in your inclusive leadership Madame Minister. Oxfam will continue to prioritise our investment in Cambodia not only on women empowerment but also focusing on the empowerment of all types of vulnerable groups such as: People Living with Disabilities, LGBTQI, Indigenous and Ethnic Minorities, Women Facing Exploitation and Abuses and/or Violence, Age Discriminated Groups notably the young and elderly. This is our commitment to Cambodia to contribute to the royal government’s agenda to promote equitable growth by ending poverty and reducing inequality.
I would like to take this opportunity to express Oxfam’s gratitude to our long-time donors for this 3-years programme, the Belgian General Directorate for Development Cooperation, the Rednose Day Fund/Comic Relief Inc., and The Royal Government of the Netherlands for their invaluable supports to Cambodians women and girls as well as other vulnerable groups on this transformative leadership journeys.
Thank you!