Raising awareness among the population for topics such as environmental conservation and climate change is one of the most important ways to create understanding and to change behavior in the long term. Only if communities are aware of environmental issues, and understand causes and effects and their own role can we initiate lasting improvements. In order to find out more about our projects in this area please check out or project descriptions below.
Access to information
Sato Yama Umi (SYUMI)
Location Kampong Trach
Area program Kampot province
Funding period July 2017 – April 2020
Funded by Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund (KNCF)
With support from KNCF, Mlup Baitong is implementing a conservation and education project in Cambodia’s Southern Kampot province. These coastal wetlands are an important feeding ground for the endangered Sarus Crane. Sarus Cranes are a vulnerable bird species that has already gone extinct in several Asian countries. Up to 30% of Cambodia’s Sarus Crane population visits the wetlands in Kampot during the dry season to feed. Degradation and loss of wetlands, use of pesticides and hunting all contribute to dwindling populations of these large birds in Cambodia. The project thus focuses on protecting these valuable wetlands and educating local people about environmental issues and conservation. By creating materials for education and awareness raising at schools and working with teachers to deliver the lessons, the project is aiming to engage the young generations first, followed by capacity building for local communities in general.
Environmental Education for Conservation of Sarus Crane in Cambodia (EEC-SCC)
Location Beung Sala Khang Tbong and Preak Kreus communes
Area program Kampot province
Funding period October 2013 – September 2016
Funded by JEEF
Sarus Cranes are a vulnerable bird species that has already gone extinct in several Asian countries. Up to 30% of Cambodia’s Sarus Crane population visits the wetlands in Kampot during the dry season to feed. Degradation and loss of wetlands, use of pesticides and hunting all contribute to dwindling populations of these large birds in Cambodia.
Raising awareness among the population is often the first step to successful conservation. People who are aware of the animals, their behavior and habitat, and their own positive and negative impacts on them, can start changing their mind-sets and behaviours. Therefore Mlup Baitong’s project aimed to raise public awareness, starting with the young generations.
Mlup Baitong worked with villagers, students and teachers to establish a participatory mechanism for environmental education for wetland conservation and Sarus Crane protection in several target schools. This involved developing an education program and education materials, including teachers’ guide books, training teachers, and establishing conservation education centers at the schools.
Success & feature stories
Student booklet on environmental education & sarus crane conservation (khmer)Teacher booklet on environmental education & sarus crane conservation (khmer)
10 Environmental Lessons
Increase Access to Public Information (IAPI)
Location Samrong Tong and Phnom Srouch districts
Area program Kampong Speu province
Funding period January 2013 – December 2015
Funded by EU & Albert Kunstadter Family Foundation
In a country where democracy and rule of law are fragile and where large parts of the population live in remote rural areas with little contact to provincial and national governments, access to public information is crucial to enable citizens to participate in democratic processes. Public information includes e.g. knowledge about sub-national development plans, official fees for public services, local councilor’s roles and responsibilities, participation possibilities in commune development, and how to raise issues and concerns with local authorities.
This project aimed to increase the public’s access to information by focusing on 4 strategies:
- Improving local councils’ capacity to provide public access to commune and district information (e.g. through a practical and user-friendly information management system and a professional filing system).
- Increasing people’s understanding of their own rights to access public information: People actively access public information, and target communes use citizen feedback mechanisms and tools to express their satisfaction with the elected councilors.
- Enhancing capacities of civil society organisations working at the sub-national government level to demand and advocate for greater transparency and information disclosure.
- Increasing public dialogue on access to information by sub-national and national government officials, the Cambodian Parliament, UN agencies, civil society organisations and donors towards supporting and developing the passage of an Access to Information Law.
Through trainings and workshops, study visits, discussion forums, printed materials, media campaigns, community forums, and radio broadcasts, Mlup Baitong reached out to almost 200,000 people in 320 villages, including women, young people, elderly people, farmers, fishermen, disabled people and members of community based organisations.
