Story board of community youth leadership ambassadors Ms. Oul kanhchna

My name is Oul Kanhchna. I recently graduated from the Royal University of Law and Economics. During my childhood, I experienced an injustice that affected my family. I often asked myself what I could do to freely express my own opinions and perspectives, while also contributing to the promotion of justice and awareness. Because of this, I developed a primary goal of choosing law as my field of study to complete my bachelor’s degree. During my second year of study, I began seeking additional learning opportunities through a workshop offered at the university. Later, I continued to actively participate in programs at other universities in Phnom Penh, until I eventually joined training courses organized by several civil society organizations that aligned with my current field of study. After going through these extracurricular trainings, I gained another perspective related to the methods taught and shared by facilitators or mentors. The way I gained knowledge and experiences from young people of different ages, diverse backgrounds, and various fields of study from universities and institutes across provinces and cities has given me quick insights, an appreciation of freedom of expression, and exposure to the changing perspectives of youth.

At the age of 20, I applied to join the ‘Youth Camp for Housing Rights’ under the Community Youth leadership Program, which lasted 5 days and 4 nights. The camp included activities such as sharing experiences from affected community representatives, learning about topics related to human rights and advocacy, the right to adequate housing, leadership, environmental justice, and foreign direct investment, among others. During the team building activity called building house, I learned a great deal about making use of available resources, time management, patience, exchanging ideas, listening to others’ opinions, and making collective decisions. This activity reflected the importance of true solidarity.

In June 2025, through the Community Empowerment and Networking Project, an internship opportunity was announced for youth. I pushed myself to apply, even though I believed I had only one percent chance. As a result, I was accepted. An achievement that came from my participation and courage to take risks. Although I had previously engaged in some work related to my field and joined relevant training sessions, I still felt that my abilities were insufficient and that I could not accomplish anything. During my internship, however, I had many opportunities to strengthen my skills in facilitation and to learn about the realities of poor urban communities. At first, I had never known that such communities existed in the city that lived along canals, lakes or rivers, and in such environments. This experience made me realize that, in truth, our society today faces many problems that youth can actively help to solve.

In my internship period, I also had another opportunity to become a youth ambassador for the secondseason of the Community Youth Leadership Program (CYLP). I learned a lot through practicing activities and leading a project, understanding what needs to be done before, during, and after completing an activity. Identifying problems and participating in solving those challenges was a valuable lesson for me in initiating ideas and turning them into actions with other young people. Before launching any initiative, we must clearly identify the problem and have a concept plan, including researching different findings we can reference.We also need to consider what can be doneto write a budgetproposal to support projects that benefit the community and youth,contributing to solving issues that happened in society. In addition, online advocacy is another effective approach. It has influence, delivers information quickly to stakeholders, and spreads awareness among young people and the public about many issues our society needs to address. This was a turning point and the most valuable experience for me to express my perspectives on youth, building extracurricular capacity, and sharing short messages about the environment as well.

I began to understand what responsibility means, how to carry out activities, and most importantly, the importance of teamwork through leading and dividing roles according to the skills of each youth member. What matters is knowing how to respond when urgent problems arise, having at least two plans prepared, and being able to assess risks. Up to now, I have gained confidence in implementing projects and have overcome much of my shyness. These activities are my way of responding to the problems I have observed in vulnerable and at-risk communities, through actions that youth can actively participate in.

Through the above experiences, I hope they can serve as an example for other young people as a sourceof encouragement to overcome their own fears, to allow themselves to change their thinking, perspectives, and adapt to new contexts, meet new people, create new experiences, and gain knowledge from different environments as resources to better understand who they are. Who am I?  This journey is also about finding spaces that provide freedom to speak, share, express personal points of view, and build one’s own capacity.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude for the opportunities I have received, which have made me braver, more confident, and strengthened my abilities to another level.  My key message to young people who are walking on this difficult path of life please keep moving forward with your work and steps. Sooner or later, you will reach the goal you desire. Sometimes, the place where you are standing now may be place where others are dreaming of reaching.