Message from the Director

The NGO Coalition to Address (Sexual) Exploitation of Children in Cambodia, also called COSECAM was founded by ADHOC, CDP and CWCC on 21 November 2001. The coalition was established because together NGOs are stronger than working alone, based on the motto "One stick breaks easy, but a bunch of sticks is unbreakable".

Over the years the coalition grew from 6 members to 20 members. The increased membership required a more formal leadership and the committee of the three founding organisations was changed into an elected Steering Committee which functioned as the governing board with 5 members. The member organisations were represented in the three Delegate Meetings held ever year by the appointed Delegates. Sub-committees, functioning under the Steering Committee, were established to guide and assist each of the three programmes Advocacy, Institutional and Human Resource Development and Rehabilitation & Reintegration.

The Secretariat which runs the operations of the coalition grew also with professional staff to facilitate implementation of the three programmes and carrying out studies and gathering information. This structure and the professional Secretariat enabled a proper organization by the Management and good governing through the Steering Committee. This resulted in improved capacity of the coalition secretariat, membership participation in planning and the decision making process, accountability through audits and reporting and an efficient programme implementation.

At the programme level, COSECAM has focused on exploitation and abuse of children issues in the areas of prevention, protection, rehabilitation and re-integration. The interventions are for the most part implemented through the NGO working groups and networks established on central level and in the provinces, predominantly by the coalition members but also by many organisations and international agencies which are no member.

The Advocacy programme initiated activities to improve the legal framework, regulations and child protection policies. Also the empowerment of young female victims through the Girls Speak Out project is worth mentioning. The research programme – part of the Advocacy programme – carried out or commissioned studies on the demand factors of trafficking and exploitation; analyzed the situation of sexual exploited children; and collected information about NGO service providers to assess the compliance with ethical and professional standards which the coalition had developed.

The Institutional and Human Resource Development Programme aimed at improving the technical, managerial and leadership skills of management and senior staff of the member organisations, in order to strengthen the capacity of the child protection sector and avoid inefficiency and waste of resources.

The Rehabilitation and Re-integration programme has provided a sustainable economic empowerment to victims and those at-risk of trafficking and exploitation through the provision of scholarships. The clients were given a choice out a broad range of vocational skill training courses. Labour market studies assured that the training was appropriate and would result in finding a job. Job placement or running a small business was facilitated through the programme. In a period of 3 years more than 300 clients who graduated from the training courses benefited from these scholarships.

Through these achievements, COSECAM is now been recognized as an important partner for international and united nations agencies and government ministries. Coalition member or secretariat staff has been invited to participate as guest speakers or to participate in national and international events to share their experiences. In late 2006, COSECAM was selected by the NGO community to hold the Vice-Chair of the government Working Group on Protection and Re-integration. These Working Groups are the technical arm of the National Task Force to Eliminate Trafficking in Persons, a top-level ministerial committee.   

The international donor community has substantially contributed to these achievements. Without their financial and morale support COSECAM could and can not achieve such successes. I like to take the opportunity to thank our core sponsors American Jewish World Service, Kerkinactie and Stichting Kinderpostzegels Nederland, and other sponsors like CIDA, UNIAP, USAID/TAF, USAID/DAI, IOM, the British Embassy, GTZ and Anesvad Spain.

Yours Truly,

Tuon Vicheth
Coalition Director

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