Gender Equality Cambodia Project #28935

Empowering Women Forest Defenders in Cambodia

by Peace Bridges Organization

Project Report | Dec 30, 2020
Wrapping up 2020

By Peace Bridges | Project Manager

Hello supporters and friends -

As we draw to the end of 2020, we look back at a strange and challenging year. Many of our peacebuilders struggled when the country shut down due to COVID-19 and when their children could not go to in-person school. We had to stop meeting with peacebuilders in-person and switched to an online video format for our peace lessons. Unfortunately, some of our peacebuilding workshops, celebrations, and interventions were canceled because it was not safe to organize them in light of the virus.

And yet, we see we have been very blessed as well and are so thankful for your support. Thanks to technology, our peacebuilders learned to watch our videos and interact with each other in several chat groups.

To celebrate the end of the year, we organized a tree planting and green environment event with our partner, Asian Human Resource Development Institution, and many students who participated in our peace workshops. There were 40 people who helped plant 60 trees and install an irrigation system to water them.

Thank you for your support and care. We look forward to 2021 and hope some things can get back to normal. As always, stay safe and healthy.

The Peace Bridges Team

Links:

Peace Lesson Videos

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Sep 2, 2020
Faith Leaders Building Trust, Protecting Forest

By Peace Bridges | Project Manager

Photo taken prior to COVID-19 outbreak.

Since 2015, Peace Bridges has partnered with leaders who live near the endangered Prey Lang forest, including indigenous members of the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) and religious leaders from various faith groups. Through nonviolence workshops, interfaith dialogue sessions, and tree plantings, they have slowly built relationships and trust across their differences. Today there are Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, and Animist peacebuilders collaboratively responding to environmental issues. In the process, they are building stronger communities that can respond to family, interfaith, and interethnic conflict.

Now we are working to replicate this project in the Prey Vihear, Steung Treng, and Kratie provinces. First, we are reaching out to Christian church leaders to engage them in active nonviolence and peace trainings. Due to COVID-19, however, we had to move this project online. Through Facebook, the most popular website in Cambodia, we have introduced church leaders from each province, posted lessons on biblical lessons of peace, and facilitated group dialogue. When appropriate, we have connected these church leaders with the forest communities so that they can build a mutually trusting and supportive relationship.

We are excited about what the future holds for this project. We hope that someday we can continue these activities face-to-face when health authorities deem it safe to do so. In the meantime, our videos on peace lessons are available to all on our Facebook page.

Peacebuilders Respond to COVID-19:

In March and April 2020, we connected with some of the Cambodian peacebuilders in our network to see how they were coping with the effects of Covid-19. We were inspired by the stories that our Peace Builders shared with us and obtained permission to share these stories in this short video.

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May 5, 2020
Coping with COVID-19

By Peace Bridges | Project Manager

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