ODC was the only project from Cambodia that was selected to present at the Festival of Civic Tech for Democracy

Open Development Cambodia (ODC) was pleased to be part of the 7^th edition of the Personal Democracy Forum Central & Eastern Europe (PDF CEE). The three-day event – under this year’s theme “In whom we trust” – was held on April 4-6 at the European Solidarity Center in Gdansk (Poland) and included the third edition of the Festival of Civic Tech for Democracy.

The event brought together participants with varied backgrounds. Photo by Dawid Linkowski, taken on 04 April 2019. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

The PDF CEE is the largest forum in Central & Eastern Europe merging new technology, civic engagement and transparency. This year it consisted of a series of keynote presentations, hands-on-work workshop sessions, networking activities and fun side events. The event brought together participants with varied backgrounds, including CSOs members, private sector, development partners, local and central government officials, journalists, researchers, bloggers and civil servants. By including representatives from Central and Eastern Europe as well as from other regions, the Forum offered a wide range of different perspectives and ideas. 

It’s an ODC’s honour to have Mr. Thy Try, our Executive Director, participate in the event.

ODC was the only project from Cambodia that was selected to present at the Festival of Civic Tech for Democracy. There, ODC shared its civic tech experiences at the exhibition entitled Wall of Project. ODC’s work drew the attention of a number of participants and received positive feedback about its role in Cambodia and the Mekong region. In fact, representatives from Eastern European-based organizations showed their interest in replicating our model in their countries.

Through such conversations, ODC’s Executive Director Mr. Thy Try, delved into ways in which innovative technological tools can deliver more efficient policy implementation and enhance communication between the government and the public in the digital era. The debate also focused on tools for higher citizen engagement in the public sector, particularly in the areas of health, education and infrastructure

Mr. Thy Try was delighted to be a part of the event. Photo by Dawid Linkowski, taken on 04 April 2019. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

The workshops in which we participated provided practical training on fact-checking and verification tools for online verification of news, domain verification, wayback machine for historical print screens, impact verification, image metadata and videos and pictures analyses. ODC will use these tools and skills acquired during the PDF CEE to improve our platform, in this way meeting the demands from our users related to content on public services and information on the procurement process.

Mr. Thy Try (in the middle) took a photo with the participants from other countries.

The PDF CEE was an engaging opportunity to exchange ideas with other organizations and share lessons learned. ODC looks forward to participating in future editions of the event.