Increase Youth Participation and Engagement by Raising Awareness about Safe Migration and Prevention of Human Trafficking in Cambodia
Project period: December 2012 - September 2014
Funded by: Winrock International
Target group: Young people ages 15-30, Community-based Youth Network (CYN) members, and the public
Target area: Prey Veng, Svay Rieng, Kampong Cham, Siem Reap, Koh Kong provinces and Phnom Penh city
The project aimed to respond to human trafficking issues in the target areas at the community level by educating youth groups and communities on human trafficking while mainstreaming safe migration in commune development planning.
In order to implement this project, KYA created a simplified interactive learning environment intedended to enable youth groups and duty bearers to gain knowledge and skills on safe migration. Then, it used a participatory approach to allow them to identify problems, needs and solutions in their own community. During the project implementation, youth groups and duty bearers became information multipliers and encouraged community members to take collective action to prevent human trafficking by integrating safe migration into the commune development plan. Capacity building, public participation, awareness raising and advocacy were the strategies adopted in this project implementation.
Main activities included: training and coaching peer educators and Community-based Youth Networks (CYN) on key messages about human trafficking, provision of Information, Education and Communication (IECs) and behavioral change communication (BCC) materials to community members, community forums to discuss human trafficking and safe migration, creation of youth mobile teams. Through this project, we also supportted Community-based Youth Networks (CYNs) to participate in meetings with commune councils.
Sixteen CYN members organized seven public forums in the five provinces to strengthen the responsiveness of relevant stakeholders and to promote awareness about safe migration and Counter Trafficking Persons (CTIP II) to local people. 928 people attended the forum. CYN members and volunteers spread messages of safe migration and CTIP II to the public population through various methods including information cards, drama performances, break dancing, games, and quizzes.
By the end of the project, the target population showed better knowledge and increased capacity in confronting safe migration and prevention of human trafficking issues.