Empowering coastal communities through digital skills

On 2 May 2025, Open Development Cambodia (ODC) organized a training workshop aimed at equipping coastal community representatives and youth leaders with essential social media skills. This training empowered participants to harness digital platforms to amplify their voices and promote sustainable development efforts within their communities.

The workshop was conducted under the project “Strengthening CSOs to Take Action on Economic Governance (SCAEG) 2023–2026,” co-funded by the European Union, with the support of our provincial partners: the Children and Women Development Center in Cambodia (CWDCC), Mlup Prohmviheathor Center Organization (MPC), and the Cambodian Natural Resources Organization (CNRO). The event focused on social media content creation and page management, attracting strong engagement from 27 participants—6 of whom were women—representing community fisheries (CFIs), community fish refuges (CFRs), and community protected areas (CPAs) across the four coastal provinces: Kampot, Kep, Koh Kong, and Preah Sihanouk.

The workshop was designed to:

• Equip​ participants with practical skills in social media content production, including the use of design tools and photography basics.

• Strengthen participants’ capabilities in creating, managing, and engaging audiences through Facebook pages.

• Provide hands-on practice and continued support to implement effective online outreach campaigns.

The full-day training comprised four carefully curated modules, developed by the ODC Communications Team and delivered by Mr. Vort Channara and Ms. Sours Thida. The training emphasized both technical and strategic aspects of social media management, intending to increase digital literacy among participants.

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We believe that these skills will enable communities to enhance their online presence, raise public awareness about their conservation efforts, and draw greater attention from key stakeholders to issues of sustainable development and economic governance along Cambodia’s coastline.

The workshop began with welcome remarks from Ms. Siv Vatana, ODC Research and Web Content Manager, who introduced the overall goals of the SCAEG project, the specific objectives of the training, and the upcoming activities ODC will support.

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To evaluate the effectiveness of the workshop, participants completed pre- and post-training assessments. The results were encouraging: around 80% of participants reported high satisfaction with the training and expressed willingness to recommend it to other community members. Feedback also highlighted tangible improvements in participants’ skills, including managing Facebook pages effectively, creating and scheduling content, using design and video editing tools like Canva and CapCut, and taking high-quality photos with smartphones.

This training marks a progressive step toward strengthening the digital capacity of local community leaders, ensuring they are better equipped to advocate for their environmental and economic priorities in an increasingly connected world.