Empowering youth and women:
Media & information literacy, women‘s issues
and documenting the past in Cambodia
Executive Summary | Syria
External Evaluation Report | Executive SummaryCambodia

01 /2017
10/2017

Background
The political environment in Cambodia continues to bemarked by human rights disputes and limits on freedom ofexpression. While the traditional media landscape is dominated by some powerful key players, communication on theInternet is relatively free. Social media play an importantrole in the country. They open up new opportunities forpublic discussion, but also pose dangers. The aim of DW
Akademie’s project in Cambodia (2015-2017) is therefore toeducate youth and particularly young women about theresponsible use of media in order to facilitate their access torelevant information. This can contribute to a greater levelof participation in social and political discussions among
the Kingdom’s young population.
The main focus of the project is training media competencies. In the field of “Media & Information Literacy” (MIL), DW
Akademie cooperates with Cambodian state actors as well
as non-governmental organizations. They include the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and the local NGO Open
Institute. Together with these local players, DW Akademie
developed MIL learning modules for a textbook on “Informa-tion and Communication Technology”, which was introduced
nationwide in 12th grade classes with computer facilities. Inaddition, DW Akademie partnered with the Cambodian NGOsMedia for Education and Development in Action (MEDIA One)and the Cambodian Center for Independent Media (CCIM) toimplement MIL activities for youth groups in two provinces.
As part of a second project line, DW Akademie aims to advance and improve how Cambodian media report on issuesrelevant to women. It has supported the independent media
organization Women’s Media Center (WMC) by training its
staff in multimedia journalism. Their journalistic pieces
are published on the radio, on TV and on WMC’s interactive
website, ensuring maximum reach for women-related topics. Moreover, employees of the Communications Department of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs have been trainedin multimedia reporting to better present topics for women’s
empowerment on the ministry’s website.
In a third project line, DW Akademie has supported the development of a multimedia Internet platform on Cambodia’s

DW Akademie Media & information literacy, women’s issues and documenting the past in Cambodia

Khmer Rouge history. Together with The Documentation
Center of Cambodia / Sleuk Rith Institute (DC-Cam), DW Akademie developed an interactive website aimed particularly at
young people. It makes that dark period of Cambodian history
come alive for today’s youths in a way that accommodates
their communication channels and behavior.
The aim of this evaluation, which was carried out by an external consultant, is a constructive assessment of the project
results after completion of the first funding phase (20152017) in order to allow lessons learned to be incorporated
into the development of future strategies. The evaluation isbased on the OECD/DAC evaluation criteria and uses a mixof methods, including document and literature analysis as
well as interviews with project managers, project partners,
and target groups on site. The recommendations have been
discussed with the project team and will be taken into consideration in future planning.

Conclusions of the project evaluation
Cambodia’s youth offer the strongest potential for change inthe country. The growing number of young Internet users
in rural areas can bring new political and social impulses
to the villages. A recent study on media use in Cambodia
by Phong et al. (2016) reveals that the relevance of MIL hasgrown even stronger since the beginning of the project. Inaddition, the topic of MIL hasn’t been appropriated by any
political faction in Cambodia. This can inspire young people
to participate in social and political communication and to
think critically without feeling the danger of being labeled
as opposition forces. Trainings conducted and websites produced under project lines 2 and 3 are also highly relevant
for supporting and expanding the activities of the project
partners. Therefore, the criterion relevance is evaluated as“comprehensively fulfilled.”

2should be better geared to conditions abroad and adapted to
the needs of country management and project partners inorder to make processes more efficient. Taking the administrative problems into account, the DAC criterion efficiency
has therefore been assessed as “partly fulfilled.”
The introduction of MIL in the first project line is a long-term
strategy, which only began with the start of this project. During the first project phase, various approaches ran parallel
to assess their effectivity in the Cambodian context. Their
strengths and weaknesses were determined as follows:
The school system with its teacher-centered method of
education reaches the majority of urban and rural youth,
but does not stimulate critical thinking and, thus, social
participation. In contrast, the transfer of MIL through NGOs
yielded well-trained facilitators who are able to use participatory training methods that encourage critical thinking.
However, the facilitators’ access to the target group wasincidental, which restricts the impact of their activities.
For project lines 2 and 3, the focus is on the constructionof multimedia websites and their editorial use. The aim of
the sites is to broaden the media spectrum reaching thetarget groups. This has been largely achieved. Against thisbackground, the DAC criterion impact is rated as “partlyfulfilled” for project line 1 and for project lines 2 and 3 as“generally fulfilled.”
As the MIL activities are still at an initial stage, statements on
the DAC criterion sustainability can only be made to a verylimited extent. As it stands, MIL has been institutionalized
by integrating it into the ICT textbook. In addition, sustainable local structures have been established or strengthened.
Therefore, the DAC criterion sustainability can be assessed
as “generally fulfilled.”

The indicators specified in the logframe are only partly indicative of the project’s success, since they had to be defined
before the start of the project and thus without the involvement of the project partners. Since some indicators cannot beachieved until the end of the project, the criterion effectivityis assessed as “partly fulfilled.”

A productive exchange between German development cooperation organizations in Cambodia is taking place. Thisensures that synergies are being created and used. In projectline 2, DW Akademie’s activities are complementing those of
GIZ’s local women’s project. However, there is still potential tofurther exploit synergies with local media and youth actors,
as well as European donor organizations active in the country.
Against this background, the coherence, co-ordination, andcooperation criterion is assessed as “generally fulfilled.”

The project management and the project partners have
handled their funds efficiently. Due to the large numberof project and cooperation partners, these funds could beused to start and implement many aspects of the project
objectives. However potential for improvement was identified with regard to DW Akademie’s internal administrative
processes. In the future, financial and administrative issues

With regard to DW Akademie’s management of the project,
local project partners emphasized the professionalism of theDW Akademie team. There is an open exchange wheneverproblems arise. The management’s strategic approach is tocooperate with reform-oriented state institutions as wellas established independent media organizations. It also
makes good use of synergies with other German actors inDW Akademie Media & information literacy, women’s issues and documenting the past in Cambodia

the field of development cooperation. All this leads to anassessment of the quality of management as “comprehensively fulfilled.”

Key Recommendations
1. T he broad-based project strategy of including macro- andmeso-levels, ministries and independent media as well asurban and rural target groups has proven to be effective
and should be pursued further.
2. A
 s budget resources are very limited, one idea would beto extend the engagement on the macro-level in orderto strengthen the project’s impact.
3. A
 dvancing the promotion of women should be incorporated into all project activities. It should be a cross-cutting
theme instead of a separate project line.
4. I n order to better meet the demand of local partners
for media and MIL trainings as well as Train the Trainer
courses, the establishment of a local pool of trainers
should be considered. DW Akademie’s local project coordinator should be responsible for this.
5. F or the next project phase, it is recommended to examine
a new composition of project partners.
6. I n the initial phase of the project, much energy and funds
have been devoted to the development of training materials in Khmer. These should be used in the next project
phase with new project partners. Additional ways of applying them with multiplication possibilities should beexplored.
7. T he strategy should be focused to sharpen the profile ofDW Akademie in Cambodia.
8. D ue to the high relevance of the subject, the funds for anexpansion of MIL in Cambodia should be increased. An
analysis of the beneficial and hindering factors for theintroduction of MIL in Cambodia shows the potential toanchor MIL in the country. DW Akademie could play acentral role here.
9.		 T he logframe of the next project proposal should be coordinated with the project partners. With regards to thedevelopment of indicators for the monitoring system,
attention should be paid to achieving indicators basedon SMART criteria.

310. DW Akademie’s financial administration should cooperate closely with its Media Development department
on which tools are needed for the correct financial procedures and how these can be prepared for the project
partners on site in a user-friendly and transparent manner.
11. F or the harmonization of MIL activities in the country,
the following research would be helpful: (A) an inventoryof all NGOs and institutions in the country involved in
the implementation of MIL projects; (B) an inventory ofyouth organizations and networks which might have aninterest in carrying out MIL trainings.
12. T he Ministry of Education should include at least onequestion about MIL in the national exams.
13. F
 urther consultancy or financial support could be provided to the Ministry of Education to expand MIL toexisting curricula for younger pupils as well as for teacher
trainings.
14. A
 fter the expiry of the GIZ project “Access to Justicefor Women”, DW Akademie should define its position
towards the Ministry of Women’s Affairs independently.
15. A
 fter handing over the website to DC-Cam, it should bedecided whether DW Akademie can still be involved asa consultant for a limited time period.

DW Akademie
DW Akademie is Germany’s leading organization for media development and Deutsche Welle’s center of excellence foreducation and knowledge transfer. As a strategic partner of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation andDevelopment we strengthen the universal human rights of free expression, education, and access to information.

Contact
Dr. Jan Lublinski
Head Research and Evaluation
DW Akademie
jan.lublinski@dw.com

DW Akademie
53110 Bonn, Germany

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