The goal of McKnight’s Southeast Asia focus area is to strengthen local institutions and initiatives that sustain and improve the livelihoods of the most vulnerable people in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, through community building and empowerment.
To achieve this goal, we support efforts to increase self-determination for indigenous and ethnic minority communities; to increase community resource rights; and to manage natural resources in ways that foster local communities and biodiversity conservation.
Based in Kampong Chnang province of Cambodia, McKnight grantee Action for Environment and Communities (AEC) works to help create a society that is just and humane, with gender equality, where peoples’ collective action is geared towards empowerment and self-determined development. One example of how AEC advances this work is the women-led “village facilitators” project, which identifies, trains, and equips community leaders to carry out a range of activities, including organizing women’s groups, helping with cases of domestic violence, and mobilizing people for advocacy efforts. Beyond the gains in efficiency — this project has made AEC be more effective with fewer staff — otherwise unknown community leaders have been discovered and developed.
