STT Workshop Archives - Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT)

Meeting to Presentation on Climate Smart Change Guideline

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On August 04^th, community 15 person who are coming from Samaki Rong Roeurng community that they are living along Beong Trabek’s canal participated on Climate Smart Change Guideline that provided by Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT).

The objective of this is to obtain adequate housing with functioning infrastructures in accordance to Cambodian policies and international human rights standards as benefit during project implementation and in the future for their community. Moreover, it is the opportunity to made relationship among communities and STT’s through exchange experience, working together and discussion.

This activity is a part of small upgrade community, funded from MIS and implement by Sahmakum Teang Tnaut.

Joint Letter to US Secretary of State John F. Kerry

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Phnom Penh, January 25, 2016

Dear Secretary Kerry,

We, the undersigned Cambodian civil society groups, urge you to call on the Royal Government of Cambodia to commit to upholding human rights and democratic obligations as a condition of strong and prosperous relations with the United States of America. During your visit to Phnom Penh ahead of the US-ASEAN special summit at Sunnylands we request you to consider the numerous actions of the Cambodian government that clash with the fundamental values of the United States of America and are harmful to the rights of Cambodian citizens and the economic growth of Cambodia.

Participants use STTs computer lap to learn about the internet

Community Training in May

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This month the ICT project conducted two training sessions in order to strengthen the skills of community activists by securing their access to computers, smartphone, the internet, and other online tools.

On the first session, held May 22nd, participants learned about the Internet, with a focus on its definition, history, useful tools that are available online, and effective search engine methods. The second session, held on May 30th, focused on E-mail services; its definition, uses, and how to properly create and manage an E-mail address. The participants of the ICT project come from urban poor settlements in Phnom Penh, and many do not have access to the internet, computers or otherwise have the opportunity to learn about standard services such as E-mail.

The overall goal of the ICT Project is to offer training courses to community activists on how to effectively use computers, smartphones and social media to strengthen their knowledge and effectively advocate for human rights and land issues in Cambodia.

Hands on training at the STT computer lab

ICT Training Project Begins

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Yesterday, on March 18^th, 2015 STT conducted their first training session as part of the ICT Community Training Project. Ten community activists arrived at the STT computer lab in order to receive training on basic technological skills such as how to use standard computer programs. Future sessions will include how to use smartphones and different social media applications. The project will occur regularly each month until December of this year.

The purpose of conducting these sessions is to facilitate access to 3G+ devices for members in urban poor communities, which will allow their voices and opinions to be heard through social media. In the long run, the objective of the trainings sessions is to enable human rights defenders and community activists to use the best communication technology to report promptly, safely, and accurately. Through the mechanisms and strategies taught throughout the program, participants have the knowledge and means to raise any alerts when confronted by human rights violations in Cambodia.

Hands on training at the STT computer lab

ICT gives activists computer trainging — ICT gives activists computer training

New Year, Same Issues

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Nick Jones (February 5^th, 2015)

Last month, Surya Subedi ended his six-year mandate as the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in Cambodia. During his final news conference, he stressed that Prime Minister Hun Sen must make a more concerted effort to make government institutions—such as the judicial courts—more independent. “Many of the state institutions responsible for upholding people’s rights are unfortunately still lacking accountability and transparency needed to command the trust and confidence of the people”. However, he has seen progress in regard to the growing public demand for their rights. “People have woken up… and they are ready to fight for their rights…so far, the courts of Cambodia have not delivered justice in the way demanded by all Cambodians” (Reuters, Jan 23^rd).

Human Rights Watch (HRW), recently released its annual World Report. They found that “2014 was one of Cambodia’s worst years in recent history in terms of human rights violations, citing ‘killings by security forces, arrests of activists and opposition politicians, summary trials and crackdowns on peaceful protest’” (Phnom Penh Post, Jan 30^th).

In November of last year, 19 land rights activists were controversially arrested and sentenced to prison by a court the following day. These activists (including residents of the Boeung Kak, Thmor Kol, and Toul Kork communities; monks; and CNRP members) recently had their appeal denied by a court whose proceedings were notable for their lack of due process.

Skip forward to this year, on February 4^th, the Phnom Penh Post reported that the authorities in Battambang town have notified 600 families living in Prek Preah Sdech commune that they need to relocate to make way for the construction of a large public garden. The villagers’ have been told that they live there illegally and are expect to leave as soon as possible. Some families have lived there for over 20 years and have very little hope of receiving adequate compensation to relocate.

On the same day, “more than 100 families in Rattanakkiri’s O’Chum district are demanding a solution after a Chinese company allegedly bulldozed their land and [about 300] nearby family graves to create a rubber plantation” (Phnom Penh Post, Feb 4^th). The clearing began on Sunday, February 1^st, and only stopped when villagers protested in front of the vehicles. A representative of the company stated that they had already received permission from the government to clear the land. He even made the extraordinary claim that “[the villagers] want to grab the state [land] and control it privately”.

Despite clear warnings from the UN envoy for Cambodia and unflattering reports from internationally recognized organizations, the government remains indifferent to the basic human rights of the people it is supposed to protect. In Cambodia, ‘strong government’ is not synonymous with ‘good governance’. Expect a similarly scathing evaluation in next year’s report from Human Rights Watch.

Design Intervention for Urban poor community Workshop

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From the 22nd August, STT will be conducting a 3 day Urban Poor Community Design Intervention Workshop at Niroth Boeung Chhouk Community. Approximately 30 students of architecture, urban planning, engineering and other young people will take part. They will gain knowledge and skills in poor urban planning design and relocation sites, and the effects of forced eviction.

Urban Voice for Urban Development Workshop

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On July 31, 2014, from 7:30 am to 5:00 pm, STT (under a media project of Urban Voice) organized a workshop on “The Urban Voice for Urban Development”. Mr. Ee Sarom, acting president of STT, opened the program by welcoming the participation of students, community representatives, civil society,and other related organizations. The purpose of the program was to provide opportunities for participants to post comments and exchange ideas and experiences that they have encountered in the region.

Through the Sahmakum Teang Tnaut organization, this workshop provided a valuable learning experience and an active debate forum for finding solutions to problems that the participants had encountered. Under Mr. My Sovann’s guidance, the workshop followed a pre-arranged plan to make participants aware of many other challenges that occur in the city. After the debate, STT also organized games that asked participants to use simple patterns and work together to solve hypothetical problems.

Participants and organizers all had lunch together. This included a special activity in which participants had to debate and find a way to solve different problems. After a timeout, the seminar resumed and the organizers distributed the participants into separate groups in which they shared advice on the continuing development of the city and also explained some of the lessons from the workshop.

It took nearly a full day, but the workshop was very beneficial for the participants and organizers who were all able to learn from each other. They all picked up important pieces of experience and knowledge and, moreover, participants were given the opportunity to solve problems that regularly occur in Cambodian society. Although this workshop only lasted for a day, it made everyone more conscious of the contributions they can make to this city’s social development, which is a big step in the right direction.

At the end of the program, everyone had a better understanding of the problems that occur in society and how to solve them through participation and future development. STT was delighted to provide more understanding and awareness of urban development challenges and to promote collaboration to solve issues and help people living in Phnom Penh.

What is Open street map

OSM Workshop at Development Innovation Cambodia

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On 05-06, July 2014, there are around 25 participants come from different universities are attending the Open Street Map at Development Innovation which organized by Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT).

The goal of the workshop is to train university students to know how to update OSM and to build commitment among them to further update the urban poor community map in Phnom Penh to become increasingly visible on OSM.

The first day of workshop provided the great opportunity for participants to learn about theory and practice on OSM and GIS. In addition, the participants have a chance outreach to poor community for tracking data, which related to poor community housing and street under the coordinated by workshop organizers.

On the second day, participants will take the data from community in order to upload it into OSM to make a community map. We, workshop organizer expected that participants would learn about GIS, OSM, and increase more interest on OSM. In addition, the human resources on OSM and the data on map will increase; especially the data on urban poor communities have been demonstrated on the OSM to enhance the land secure in the urban poor communities.