Background
VBNK (www.vbnk.org) was established in 1997, born out of the desire to bring the best of international knowledge about social and organizational change into the Cambodian development sector. Since its inception, VBNK has benefited from a diverse range of people, their ideas, and the creative approaches they have brought to capacity development in the Cambodian social development context. Now, fully registered as a local NGO, VBNK is a totally Cambodian-led and managed organization that combines the best of creative, high-quality capacity development methodologies with the ability to engage and implement at a local level.
VBNK’s Main Activities
VBNK has a track record of significant achievements in the capacity development sector. It provides customized learning, capacity development, and consultative workshop services for multiple organizations, including Cambodian and international NGOs, government ministries, sub-national administrations, and the private sector. VBNK draws on its experience and expertise and the range of tools and processes that it has developed to ensure that it can provide tailored responses that directly meet the needs of the organizations and stakeholders. These include participatory and creative processes that assist individuals and organizations to adapt and change through critical analysis of their own work.
Partnership with Ponlok Chomnes
VBNK is implementing an action research study on ‘The ICT challenges of including the voices of marginalized citizens in democratic decision-making processes in Cambodia arising from Covid-19 conditions in the country’. The research will explore the challenges that development actors are facing in terms of including the voices of poor, vulnerable, marginalized, and often remote communities with low levels of literacy, in required democratic decision-making processes (also known as D&D) for social and environmental protection in Cambodia during and post Covid-19. The research aims to provide a much-needed snapshot of the challenges that different types of agencies currently face in adapting to working online and remotely to fulfil their objectives and engage with and meet the needs of their target constituents. There is also a need to understand clearly the extent of the digital gap that exists between urban and rural populations – especially in relation to individuals and systems of national accounts (SNAs) in rural and remote communities having access (availability and cost factors) to the internet and their ability to utilize ICT and online platforms effectively; and the implications and impact of that gap in terms of rural populations being served effectively by duty bearers. VBNK recognizes that this is an issue that affects many different agencies and has implications from ground-level practice to high-level policy.
Publications by VBNK under Ponlok Chomnes
- The ICT Challenges of Including the Voices of Marginalized Citizens in Democratic Decision-making Processes in Cambodia Arising from COVID-19 Conditions in the Country, published in June 2022
Please click here for more information about VBNK.