List of abbreviations AC Agricultural Cooperative ADDA Agricultural Development Denmark-Asia ADHOC Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association BFD Buddhism for Development CBO Community-Based Organization CDHS Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey CDP Community Development Projects CFE CISOM Final Evaluation CHAIN Cambodian Horticulture Advancing Income and Nutrition CHHRA Cambodian Health and Human Right Alliances CIDO Community Based Integrated Development Organization CIP Community Investment Program CISOM Empowerment of Civil society organisations in Oddar Meanchey CISU Civil Society in Development CISUP Empowerment of civil society advocating for the rights of the urban poor in Siem Reap CMAC Cambodia Mine Action Centre COCIS Cooperatives and Civil Society Development Project CP Commune Professionals CPC CISOM Project Coordinator CRC Cambodia Red Cross CTO Community Translation Organization CSA CISOM Senior Advisor CSO Civil Society Organization CWM Consolidating Women Micro Credit DANGO Network of Non-Governmental Organization in Oddar Meanchey DANIDA Danish Foreign Aid DC District Coordinator DEU Delegation of European Union DIPW District Integration Planning Workshop DKK Danish Kroner DPC Deputy Project Coordinator EU European Union FFS Farmer Field School FOA Food and Agriculture Organization GIZ German International Aid HH Household IDE International Development Enterprise IIA Internal Impact Assessment Innovative Approaches to Food Insecurity for Urban and Peri-Urban Poor in Siem Reap INFOSE Province. IO International Organization IP Implementation Planning IWEP Integrated Women Empowerment Project KBA Khmer Buddhist Association LEAP Livelihood Enhancement and Association of The Poor in Siem Reap MAFF Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries MALIS Market Linkages for smallholders (FAO project) NGO Non-Governmental Organization NPDD National Program for Democratic Development ODM Oddar Meanchey Province PADEK Partnership for Development in Kampuchea PC Project Coordinator PCU Project Coordination Unit PDA Provincial Department of Agriculture PDWA Provincial Department of Women’s Affairs PSC Project Steering Committee PRA Participatory Rural Appraisal THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND – Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million), rev. January 2015 1 PVDP Participatory Village Development Planning RCEDO Rural Community and Environmental Development Organisation READA Rural Economic and Agricultural Development Agent RED Regional Economic Development SA Senior Advisor SHG Self Help Group SNA Sub National Administration SNV Netherlands Development Organization SMS Subject Matter Specialist SR Siem Reap TOT Training of Trainers VLA Village Livestock Agent WFP World Food Program THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND – Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million), rev. January 2015 2 2. Application text Structure: A. THE PARTNERS A.1 The Danish organisation ADDA has worked extensively with agricultural development, empowering women and strengthening of civil society organisations in Cambodia since 1996. ADDA has also implemented numerous projects in Vietnam and Tanzania. So far, Danida/CISU has supported 18 projects with a total of more than 125 million DKK. Additionally, ADDA has received two projects from EU and one from the World Bank, please see Annex A for an elaboration. ADDA has transferred knowledge on best agricultural practices, marketing and improved business opportunities; established - or strengthened - independent and democratic self-help-groups and agricultural cooperatives comprising rural poor; to create awareness of their rights; and to advocate for their interests. ADDA combines an activity and a process-intervention strategy. The activity strategy addresses areas that directly aim to improve food and livelihood situation of poor families. The process-intervention is building the capacity of partner organizations, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to improve livelihood of rural poor, and to influence local and provincial decision-making. This is accomplished by; (i) building advocacy capacity; (ii) facilitating interactions between villagers, authorities and other duty bearers and (iii) promoting positive changes in rural communities according to priorities of the poor. ADDA has a practical approach to agricultural development and organising poor rural communities into democratic organisations that gradually gain significant capacity to advocate on behalf of the poor community. Common for all ADDA’s projects is a bottom-up approach where the local community is strengthened, agricultural production increases which significantly decreases food insecurity and improve livelihood among poor people. ADDA train locals to become trainers of the target groups, since this is a good way to keep knowledge within the communities, and to secure trainers with valuable knowledge on local conditions and habits. The ADDA board, which is the core of the Danish organisation, has a strong professional approach regarding development and agriculture. During the implementation of projects in Cambodia, ADDA has built effective partnership with local institutions (e.g. Ministry and Department of Agriculture, Department of Women Affairs, Public vocational training centers) local partner organizations (e.g. READA, Banteay Srei, RCEDO, CIDO and KBA) and NGOs in Siem Reap. ADDA is also a member of various networks in Denmark and Cambodia: The Danish NGO education network, the Danish Vietnamese Association, Civil Society In Development (CISU), the Cambodian gender and development network, the National climate change network, the coordination forum on food security (DEU). ADDA has a long experience on SHG formation and working with empowering women in Cambodia. Experience include: “Integrated Women Empowerment Project” (IWEP I and II from 2005-2013), “Livelihood Enhancement and Association of the Poor” (LEAP from 2009-2011), “Innovative approaches to food insecurity for urban and peri-urban poor in Siem Reap” (INFOSE from 2011 to 2015), “Cooperative and Civil Society Development in Siem Reap” (COCIS from 2014 til 2016), Strengthening and Consolidation og Women Microcredit Groups (CWM) and “Empowerment of civil society advocating for the rights of the urban poor in Siem Reap” (CISUP from 2014 to 2016). ADDA has worked extensively to strengthen the civil society; reaching out to more than 30.000 poor farmers, primarily women. ADDA has contributed to the formation of 175 SHGs and 10 ACs in Siem Reap. From these projects, and similar projects in Vietnam, ADDA has gained significant experience on project interventions similar to the current project proposal. A.3 The local organisation The project is implemented in close cooperation between READA in Siem Reap (SR) and the three local NGOs in Oddar Meanchey (ODM) in order to strengthen a dynamic, diverse and democratic civil society in ODM. The local NGOs in ODM comprises (i) CIDO covering Koak Khpos and Koak Mon commune in Banteay Ampil district, (ii) KBA covering Chong Kal and Samrong districts and (iii) RCEDO covering Anlong Veng and Trapeang Prasat districts. READA is transferring knowledge from SR and building further organisational capacity and advocacy skills of the NGOs based in ODM (reference to figure 1). THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND – Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million), rev. January 2015 3 READA - partner of ADDA: Transfer of COCIS concept from Siem Reap to Oddar READA Menchey. Project implementation. Local NGOs in ODM: Technical training, strenghten SHGs and develop strong ACs/civil society organisations in different geographical CIDO RCEDO KBA areas of Oddar Menchey. Organisationsal and advocacy capacity significantly built Capacity of 100 SHGs and 9 ACs strenghtened: SHG 1, 2.. to SHG 33 SHG 34.... to SHG 77 SHG 78.... to SHG 100 Income generation, improved food security, SHGs/ACs are developed. Advocacy on behalf of AC 1, 2 and AC 3 AC 4, 5 and 6 AC 7, 8 and AC 9 poor pepole significantly improve. Figure 1: The local organisation. Capacity of CIDO, RCEDO and KBA is further built during CISOM II, in line with lessons learned during implementation of similar actions in SR, e.g. IWEP, COCIS, INFOSE, CISUP and CISOM I. The local NGOs in ODM are very experienced and they have been operating from 13 to over 17 years on a number of projects related to agriculture, food security, community development & community based organizations, good governance, water and sanitation. They are thus very familiar with local conditions, they have outstanding sector specific expertise and long standing relationships with project stakeholder’s e.g. they have strong relationship with local authorities, target groups/final beneficiaries, NGOs and projects in ODM and they possess technical expertise very suitable for the implementation of the CISOM II project in ODM. Reference is made to organisational factsheets - annex B - for further details. CISOM will definitely help raise the profiles of the project partners as civil society actors. A.4 The cooperative relationship and its prospects ADDA and READA have cooperated since 2009 on the implementation of IWEP II, COCIS, CWM and CISOM in SR and ODM Provinces. READA has gradually taken over full leadership of project activities, which include strategic services, capacity building, formation of SHGs and Agricultural Cooperatives (ACs) and advocacy on behalf of poor people. A well-functioning partnership is established between ADDA, READA and the local NGOs in ODM since May 2010 (Reference is made to the final CISOM