Overview

SK’s focus will remain on the same thematic areas from previous years, which is related to Human Rights, Good Governance and Natural Resource Management. In the sense of results-oriented and participatory approaches to address community’s needs. SK’s strategy is set to be more connected from the grassroots level to the national, regional and international level. Under this strategy, SK will have three main programs: 1. Natural Resource Governance (NRG) 2. Sustainable Natural Resource Management and Climate Change (SNC) 3. SK’s Income Generating Program (SIG) The first program which is the Natural Resource Governance (NRG) will focus on policy compliance at the national level. This program will engage in conducting studies and research and findings from these will be brought for dialogue with decision makers and stakeholders, shared through workshops, mass media, social media and websites and so forth. This program will also act as a mediator who takes the issues/problems intractable at the grassroots level to discuss with the policy makers, government leaders, and donor communities and other stakeholders at the national and international levels. This program will also play an important role to monitor whether the state and the companies comply with the regulations and laws in regard to Social Land Concessions (SLCs), Economic Land Concessions (ELCs), the land, forestry, fishery management and which support is given to women to access to NRM, especially to secure their right to land. At the grassroots level, the program tries to improve the behavior of the public officers to be more transparent, accountable, and timely in public services ‘delivery. From 2015 on, SK will focus on the good governance in natural resources. The Citizens’ Score Cards (CSCs) / Citizens’ Report Cards (CRCs) tools will be used by the direct beneficiaries for their rating on the quality of services on natural resources, provided by the public officers and the relevant authorities’ performance. The second programme, the Sustainable Natural Resource Management and Climate Change (SNC) will work at the grassroots level through developing the capacity of and empowering the fishery and forestry target communities to claim their rights to access and manage and sustainably use natural resources. Through the SNC program, SK will provide technical support to the target communities and empower them to demand for official registration of their fishery areas and make use of them to improve their livelihoods. In addition to legal capacity building, SK will also provide lawyers to represent them in court and provide psychological support to their families through social community support. In regard to climate change, SK will focus on practical implementation of knowledge which the communities have learned in the last 2 years, which includes climate change adaptation, climate change resilience, and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). This program will engage the target communities to advocate for inclusion of climate change in the communal investment plans. Lastly, the good governance component, which was set as a main program, will change its focus from general public services to the public services to NRM, especially the services for registration of the land and fishery communities. This includes specifically only four main elements out of nine good governance elements which are accountability, participation, transparency and responsiveness. The third program, which is the Income Generation Program (SIG) aims to generate funds to contribute as an own income to the above two programs. The Program on Volunteer Action for Cambodia (VAC), which in the future will be changed to be a component of this program, will develop a volunteer house to increase income for SK. Under this component consultancies for other NGOs will be conducted during the next three years. This program will help sustaining SK financially, in the short and the long run. Accounting Software, Auditing & Source of Fund To run the above programs, SK employs full-time 19 staff and 2 advisors (one is expatriate advisor). 12 of them are women). SK successfully manages annual fund between US$ 200,000 to US$600,000. SK produces three month, semi-annual and annual reports, and three years –report to its donors. SK uses Quickbook system for financial records, transactions and control. SK appoints an external audit company which complies with International Auditing Standards to audit its financial transaction every year (currently with KPMG). Internally, SK complies with its operation with financial policy and manual. SK currently supported by ANGOC, BfdW, Forum Syd, ILC, and ZFD. Another fund is from its own income generation.

Background

STAR Kampuchea is a Cambodian non-profit and non-partisan organization. It was established in August 1997 by a group of 14 men and women who were former staff of the Federation of Ponleu Khmer. STAR Kampuchea has become a well-known and respected organization with a solid reputation among civil society organizations, government bodies and donors. In 2004, the organization was internationally honored with the WANGO Civil Society Development Award. STAR Kampuchea has initially focused on access to land in order to improve livelihoods of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in Cambodia. The background of this decision was the opinion that access to land issues massively slow down poverty reduction and cause social instability. In turn, access to land and other natural resources is the most important factor in order to improve the people’s livelihood. In 2012 SK shifted its strategy from financially supporting NGO- and partner networks to directly supporting land-, fishery and forestry – communities in a process of repositioning itself by focusing on the same thematic areas which are Natural Resource Management and Good Governance. SK is committed of results-oriented and participatory approaches to address problems; SK’s strategy is connecting grassroots-level activities to the national, regional and international level. Regarding gender: STAR Kampuchea has a high percentage of female staff and senior managers. SK is focusing in its project implementation on empowerment of women in land-, fishery and forestry communities. SK currently has 16 staff members, 8 of them are female (50%). SK is governed by a Board of Directors with 5 members; three of them are women.

Value

SK follows democratic principles, adhering to highest standards of ethical conduct and empowering women and men within its own organization, its own programs and its target communities and stakeholders. In this respect, SK’s core values “OURR” are based on the core principles of Good Governance, including 1) Openness: SK is committed to sharing information openly and ensuring quality, and transparent, accountable and honest to the donors, target groups and stakeholders. SK is receptive to different ideas, not being confined or distant from different people and sources. 2) Unity: SK is always in being of mutual understanding, applies to participatory decisions approach, and builds cordial cooperation and good relations with different networks, target groups, stakeholders and staff in order to achieve a common goal. 3) Respect: SK respects laws and public opinions, and promotes gender equality with non-discrimination against race, religions and sex through gender mainstreaming in all of its programs and the whole organization. 4) Responsibility: SK responds to the needs and problems of its vulnerable target groups, and stakeholders; and the concerns of staff in an effective and timely manner and with high responsibility according to democratic principles and the rule of law.

Mission

STAR Kampuchea’s mission is to educate and empower people to advocate for good governance and sustainable natural resource management.

Vision

STAR Kampuchea envisions that Cambodian people live in democracy, peace and dignity.

Goal

To help poor and marginalized women and men enjoy their fundamental rights and be entitled to equal and secured access to natural resources.

Project Summary

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