Socheata Sim

Since (re)joining Oxfam in July 2014, Socheata has served in various positions, and her current role is the Mekong Regional Water Governance Program Manager. Considering herself as a gender and women's rights advocate, for various development works over the past 15 years, Socheata seeks to provide platforms and voices to people who are not often being heard. Born and raised in the village by the Mekong River, she sees the interconnection between women, river, and water in sustaining life and livelihoods as essential; and this is the reason why ensuring women's participation and leadership are the keys to achieving equitable access to sustainable water resources management in the region.

"In our work, we often receive stakeholders" feedbacks on the difficulties to do gender inclusion and promote women's leadership in the water resources work. Our experiences in delivering the Inclusion Project in the past 5-6 years demonstrate that women and river champions are able to and exercise their leadership to bring about changes at different levels in water resources protection and management. Facilitating them to access to space, information, and platforms where their voices and aspiration could be heard by decision makers is among the core missions of the program."

Oxfam demonstrates its strategic interventions to promote women's leadership by providing nurturing space that enable emerging women to grow their potentials in the leadership positions within the predominantly male-dominated field.