Children’s Day

In celebration of the 67th International Children’s Day 1 June 2016, local urban NGO Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT), in partnership with People in Need (PIN), will be holding a “City for Children” event for children and parents in Village Khor, Chrang Chamres II, Phnom Penh.

The event will be held at on Wednesday 1^st June 2016, at “Vihea Thom” (the Large Mosque) at Kilometer 09, in Village 3, Sangkat Chrang Chamres Mouy, Khan Russey Keo, Phnom Penh from 8 am to 11 am.

STT and PIN are holding this half-day event for 100 children and their parents from Village Kor, an urban poor village in Chrang Chamres II, Phnom Penh. Children living in the 340 urban poor settlements identified by STT’s 2014 research report, The Phnom Penh Survey, are subject to poor living conditions, such as poorer quality or lack of access to water supply, sanitation, sewage, and power. According to research published by PIN and last year, every third child in the urban poor communities is undernourished and are smaller, weaker and do worse at school (if they attend one) as a result. This event encourages children to think about their urban living environment through discussions about their “ideal city” which they will then create through drawings.

“This event is an opportunity for these children to bring their aspirations for their home to life through fun activities. It is also means that these children are learning from an early age that they can have a voice in the development of their city.” Mr EE Sarom, Executive Director, STT

In 2016 STT, PIN, UPWD and the Open Institute launched the second phase of the collaborative “City for all – Human Rights Based Spatial Planning” project funded by the EU delegation in Cambodia and the Czech Development Agency. This three-year project promotes a rights-based approach to urban development. Currently the project works with village Kor in the area of Chrang Chamres II, where communities live under threat of eviction. In the coming years the project will also work with villages in the Boeung Tompoun area. The project works with communities and local authorities to provide residents with assessments of their legal tenure claims, and to develop new urban plans for onsite upgrading to make the land use more effective, while avoiding involuntary resettlement.

“International Children’s Day is an opportunity to reflect on the rights and well-being of children, especially those living in urban poor communities in Phnom Penh. Poor living conditions and the risk of eviction threaten those rights. The Human Rights-Based Spatial Planning project is an important step towards putting the rights of all Phnom Penh residents at the centre of urban development.” Mr EE Sarom, Executive Director, STT

In addition to the on-the-ground work carried out in urban poor communities, the “City for All – Human Rights Based Spatial Planning” project engages students in Phnom Penh in a “Spatial Planning Lab”. This involves a series of workshops and lectures such as Disaster Risk Sensitive Land Use Planning, Human Rights Based Spatial Planning, Gender and Spatial Planning etc., to help future urban planners consider the importance of a rights’ based approach to the development of Cambodia’s capital city. PIN and UPWD will also conduct assessments to identify the most disaster prone areas and the local capacity to cope with disasters and suggest a set of appropriate mitigation measures.

For additional information please contact:

Mr SAO Kosal, Technical Programme Manager, STT: 017 555 887 (Khmer, English)

Mr SASIN Piotr, Country Director, PIN: 011 676 331 (English)

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