This project aims to improve Cambodia’s capacity for monitoring and analyzing the way in which Violence Against Women and Girls (VAW/G) is portrayed in print media as well as through television and radio. The evidence generated from the MMEVAW project will help inform future strategies to improve practices in the Cambodian media to condone and prevent VAW. The project is funded by UN Women who have supportedthe development of the new NationalAction Plan to End Violence Against Women (NAPVAW) in Cambodia, which calls for greater attention on primary prevention of VAW by changing social norms, attitudes and behaviors.
The MMEVAW project has created a comprehensive plan to monitor and analyze Cambodian media in order to create a base of evidence from which we can ultimately develop strategies to address the ways in which the Cambodian media perceives and portrays VAW/G. It is impossible to monitor every article, broadcast or show that is created in the media, thus priorities need to be established so that we can be selective about what types of material we monitor in order to most effectively track VAW/G in the Cambodian media. Several media sources have been selected for monitoring due to their wide circulation and influence in Cambodia. They are three print media, three TV stations and three radio stations.
The project will track and record information about VAW/G so that we can start to develop strategies to significantly lower the tolerance for violence and reduce the negative portrayal of women in the media.
Beneficiaries: The direct beneficiaries of this project would include journalists, media outlets as well as organizations that work with women’s rights and issues related to VAW/G. Additional beneficiaries would also include government institutions such as the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA) and other organizations that may utilize the monitoring reports for future policy development.
Partnership: The project cooperates with the Cambodian Journalists’ Council for Ethics and the Club of Cambodia Journalist to work together on the development of a strategy for improving portrayal of VAW and its victims through the media.
Two main expected results from this project: