Last week we hosted our twelfth bi-annual Member Meeting with a record 180 stakeholders representing over 45 organizations in Cambodia. Chab Dai Coalition has now grown to 50 members, and as we continue growing there is an opportunity to also push-up from minimum standards to best practice standards! So, our focus this May was encouraging a “Commitment to Excellence” and promoting best practices in four main areas: protection, collaboration, participation, & transparency.
The following are a few reflection following the meeting, from a volunteer who joined Chab Dai for the first time and was especially encouraged by the participants’ joint-vision of ‘joining hands’ with each other!
When I arrived at the large conference room I was in awe to see it full of mostly Cambodian faces… these are the men and women doing the grassroots work of combatting human trafficking.
One of the best features of such a large meeting was the extensive networking, facilitated by a time of Speed Networking [see photo above, right] where we were asked to obtain contact information from five new people. Further connections were encouraged over coffee breaks and lunch.
On the second day of the meeting, we focused on child protection training. We called it the first-ever "Paperless Training" in Cambodia! For the day we were divided into four Khmer groups and one English group. Each group rotated through scenarios acted out by young volunteer actors that focused on a specific child protection issue. The participants engaged in the scenarios by exclaiming “STOP” when they felt the actions demonstrated were inappropriate. After, the person chose either speaking out what should be different or coming forward to take an actor's place. It was definitely a fun day of active learning!
If you didn't follow our live coverage on Twitter or Facebook during the meeting, check out the photos!
Next month Chab Dai’s leaders will be doing a road trip to visit every member, for members who want to commit to excellence, and sign The Chab Dai Charter that was joint-drafted at the meeting.
