HEY Channy (f), aged 22. Family from Siem Reap, but currently living and studying in Phnom Penh. Studies at the Royal University of Law & Economics and will be graduating with a major in Law in August 2025.
Channy’s Story of Change
Channy first joined the NGO-CEDAW ‘Youth’s Perspectives’ university debate in 2023. She had received information from her alumni, who shared about the debate, and was curious and keen to be involved. She went to the NGO-CEDAW Facebook page to find out more information, and signed up via there. Channy was motivated to join because she was concerned about the discrimination against women that she observed, especially the issues of violence against women and all of the unpaid care work that women undertake.
Channy had already been involved in previous debates within her university and networks, but she thought the NGO-CEDAW debate might help to inspire her, and inform and build hers and other young women’s confidence to discuss women’s rights issues. She was also really interested to see that the issue to be debated was ‘women’s unpaid care work’ as this was something she already felt passionate about and had observed that people place low value on the care work that women do, and that women felt a lot of pressure from society to take on these roles within their families on their own.
The ‘Youth Perspectives’ university debate project provided a range of capacity development support to the participants including training on debate preparation and researching the issues to prepare the key points to be debated. Channy talked about receiving a lot of support whilst being involved in the process, especially from her mentor and the event organiser who were both keen to ensure that all of the participants had equal opportunities.
“My mentor helped me to research the issue of unpaid care work, how to analyse the issues, and how to bring that information to the debate. When the debate finally happened, I felt well-prepared for it”
Channy discussed being very appreciative to NGO-CEDAW for providing this great opportunity for her to build her knowledge and debate skills, especially in terms of the confidence she gained to debate in front of a big audience.
In addition, she was provided with the opportunity to become a mentor for other young women coming into the next debate competition, which she described as a ‘golden opportunity’, because being a mentor for other young women has always been one of her goals. For Channy, being able to share her learning and experiences during the debate process with other young women has been particularly rewarding. When they first join the project, the young women have limited understanding of women’s rights and LGBT issues, and lack confidence to discuss them. But after being supported to conduct research, and critically analyse the information they are gathering to inform the debate, they grow in knowledge and confidence and it is very pleasing to be part of their journey. “Although mentoring can be hard work, it is very energising and motivating,” she said. Additionally, mentoring has enabled Channy to keep expanding and extending her own knowledge and skills because NGO-CEDAW is continually adding more topics for consideration during the debates.
Channy discussed being able to take her learning from being involved in the ‘Youth Perspectives’ debate into her daily life at university and within her family; and as a result, other opportunities have opened up for her. AusCam invited her to be a trainer with high school youth, to build their debate skills on the issue of online exploitation, and she has just completed an internship with Klahaan, which enabled her to explore women’s and LGBT rights in more depth. She takes every opportunity to disseminate her learning with her ‘sister’ students who are equally keen to learn more about women’s rights and human rights more widely.
(Channy is second left in the picture)
When asked about the changes she had noticed in her life and relationships with her family since participating in the debate project, Channy discussed how equality, and the sharing of housework and caring tasks is an important issue amongst her family members. Her father is a good role model, and her male cousin who lives with the family, follows her father’s example of doing his fair share of the housework and care work in their home. She talked about how other relatives, neighbours and community members have been inspired by this sharing of responsibilities, and have started to practice this in their own family homes.
“My community in Siem Reap is very rural. As they started to observe the role models, they began to help each other and increased their understanding of the value of house work. Before there was a lot of violence, with women being judged about their care work. This has reduced because caring is now being shared and people appreciate how hard care work can be.”
Channy’s message to other university students wondering whether to join the NGO-CEDAW ‘Youth Perspectives’ debates would be ‘Grasp the opportunity! You will learn about the process of preparing for, and being involved in debates, and you will build your knowledge on a range of issues relating women’s and LGBT rights, as well as human rights more widely”. “In addition, through building your knowledge and skills around debating, and building your confidence to speak and debate in public, other opportunities can open up to grow your network and continue your learning.”
“When my classmates heard that I had been part of the winning debate team, they started to call me a women’s rights activist, and that’s ok because I’m proud to be called an activist for women’s and LGBT rights!”
