ODC, a Cambodian NGO, participated in the Paris Peace Forum 2019
Mr. Thy Try, Executive Director/Editor-in-Chief of Open Development Cambodia, was selected to attend the Paris Peace Forum 2019 on 12–13 November.
Mr. Thy Try is standing in front of the Grande halle de La Villette where the Paris Peace Forum was celebrated.
The Paris Peace Forum is an annual international meeting held in Paris for all actors in the area of global governance initiated by Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic. The first Forum was held in 2018.
Photo by Jonathan SARAGO / MEAE, taken on 12 November 2019. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
The Paris Peace Forum’s objective is to promote global governance as a condition for peace in a deteriorating international environment. The Forum addresses six main themes: peace and security, development, environment, new technologies, inclusive economy, culture and education.
The Paris Peace Forum promotes a multilateral network and coalitions by gathering actors with a specific interest in global governance: states and international organizations, NGOs, companies, foundations, philanthropic organizations, development agencies, religious groups, trade unions, think tanks, universities and civil society representatives. The Forum provides an opportunity to hold debates with high-level personalities on a global scale, to discover new solutions through projects presented and to encourage innovation around its hackathon.
Photo by Jonathan SARAGO / MEAE, taken on 12 November 2019. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
The first Paris Peace Forum in 2018 was attended by 75 heads of state, government officials and international organization representatives. 121 project teams displayed their proposed solutions, there were more than 300 speakers and panelists and more than 6,000 participants.
At the second Forum, held 12–13 November 2019, more than a hundred projects were showcased. The Forum is organized with a project-oriented focus, supporting normative or capacity-building solutions.
Photo by Jonathan SARAGO / MEAE, taken on 12 November 2019. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
From Try's perspective, this Forum was an important opportunity for several reasons. First, it brought together a very large number of participants and high-level experts from all over the world. This was an opportunity for ODC to make itself known and expand its network.
Secondly, he learned new knowledge and skills from the projects on display and following the discussions at the Forum. These projects were an excellent way to learn about current trends and initiatives in the fields covered by the Forum. They were inspiring and opened the door to partnership with several project leaders to prepare for the introduction of similar initiatives with Open Development Cambodia.
The speakers at the Forum also underlined the importance of data literacy, open data, data aggregation projects and data management projects in current and future development. They are calling on relevant stakeholders to support the development curriculum for these areas as well.
During his visit to Paris, Try met with former ODC interns from Singapore and France who are currently working and studying in France. The interns were excited to hear about the current development of Open Development Cambodia’s projects to promote the open data movement in Cambodia. They also informed him that they had shared their experiences during the ODC internship with ODC with colleagues and friends at their workplaces and universities. A great meetup with them!
Mr. Try took a photo with the former ODC interns from Singapore and France.
ODC hopes that the organizers of the 2020 Forum will select ODC’s representative to participate in that event to share key lessons learned and experiences from Open Development Cambodia.
