Rise Up!  

 

Reducing gender-based violence in rural Cambodia so women and men can be equal partners in managing natural resources.

Rise Up! is a project to reduce gender-based violence in Cambodia’s community forests and community-protected areas sites so women can fully and safely participate in leadership roles. It seeks to help women gain from rights over natural resources and build resilience to climate change. 

Campaigns for positive change will be led by members of community forests and community-protected area women’s networks.  

Rise Up! is led by RECOFTC working closely with the non-profit Gender and Development for Cambodia (GADC) Cambodia's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries , Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Women's Affairs and the Youth Leadership Lab for Gender Equality. 

Rise Up! was one of five winners of the 2022 Resilient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Environments (RISE) grant competition. RISE awards are funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and managed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

Community forests and community-protected areas are important biodiversity hotspots. They are two community forestry models formally recognized in Cambodia. In Cambodia, community forestry is a key government-mandated approach for reducing rural poverty, promoting sustainable use of natural resources and providing equitable benefit sharing.  

Women need to be full partners in managing community forests and community-protected areas. But they routinely face resistance from their families and communities when they attempt to participate in managing natural resources through community forestry. This puts them at risk of harassment, physical and psychological stress, and sexual assault.   

What Rise Up! will do 

Rise Up! will encourage men, women, families and communities to acknowledge women as essential and equal partners in community-based management of natural resources. It will focus on prevention and attitude and behaviour change at the individual, interpersonal and community levels. Men will be included in the process. 

To meet these goals, the project will 

• Conduct a series of launch activities to share the goals and objectives of the project with staff and national, provincial and community stakeholders  
• Provide training to project staff on key principles and approaches to ensure they understand the project and have the skills to implement it
• Carry out a gender assessment in each of the project sites and prepare a report on it
• Design and deliver training toolkits to community forestry network members
• Build the capacity of network members to prevent gender-based violence and promote gender equity
• Strengthen collaboration across sectors to share knowledge on the links between gender-based violence and environmental spaces
• Use national, regional and international moments to share learnings to benefit a wider community involved in community-based natural resources management. 

​​​​​A total of 1,200 members of communities involved in community forestry will benefit directly. All members of community forests and community-protected areas who have already seen the benefits of sustainable natural resource management and have fewer barriers for women’s participation will also benefit indirectly.  
 

Rise Up! activities will take place in three community forests and five community-protected areas. These eight sites are led by management committees in which women have leadership roles.    

 

 In Pursat Province  

• Reang Khvav Community Protected Area in Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary 
• Tompor Community Protected Area in Phnom Somkos Wildlife Sanctuary  
• Koh Tonlea Kras Community Protected Area in Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve  
• O'bak Tra Community Forestry 

In Kampong Chhnang Province   

• Steung Sach Sor Community Forest in Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary  
• Pichchongva Laor Chhert Community Forest in Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary  
• Phnom Jerng Leang Community Protected Area in Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary  
• Prey Thom Anlung Thmor Community Protected Area in Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary  

For more information email cambodia@recoftc.org