The Cambodia Celebration 100th International Women's Day

Phnom Penh, 8 March 2011 - The United Nations in Cambodia in partnership with youth organisations marked the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day (IWD) by taking part in a SMS Message Campaign.

The partnership was initiated following the Royal Government of Cambodia’s announcement of the theme for the centenary event “Youth Supporting Gender Equality”.

At the launch, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Douglas Broderick said: “Youth, as the future of Cambodia, are strong advocates for change. The UN is excited to be working in partnership with youth organisations on this International Women’s Day to promote the rights of women and girls in this country.”

UN Women Country Director in Cambodia, Wenny Kusuma said: “International Women’s Day is a global celebration of the economic, political and social achievements of women. Today is a day when women are recognized for their achievements and the progress made towards gender equality.”

\"It is an occasion to celebrate the contribution women have made in society’s struggle for equality, peace and development. It is also an opportunity to unite, network and work together for meaningful change,” she said.

The United Nations Country Team and its Youth Advisory Panel members as well as representatives from Youth Council of Cambodia (YCC), Youth for Peace (YFP), Khmer Youth Association (KYA), Khmer Youth and Social Development (KYSD), Youth Resource Development Programme (YRDP) and People Health Development (PHD) participated in the SMS message campaign.

The idea of the SMS is to take advantage of technologies that young people have available to them to learn new skills, gain access to information and in this case to spread important messages about gender equality. This is particularly relevant as the UN theme for IWD 2011 is to focus on equal access to education, training and science and technology.

As we see, Cell phones and the Internet, for example, can enable women to improve the health and well-being of their families, take advantage of income-earning opportunities, and protect themselves from exploitation and vulnerability. Access to such tools, backed up by education and training, can help women to break the cycle of poverty, combat injustice and exercise their rights.

Cambodia is still low in accessing to new media technology so it is a great chance for us, Cambodians, have chance more to use new media for our communication include study, researching so we use internet as a tool to help our activity now.

The UN in Cambodia is providing technical support to the youth organisations to inform, entertain and empower youth about gender equality and the rights of women and girls, and provide suggestions on ways they can make a difference this International Women’s Day.