A Study of Community Participation in Community Learning Centers in the Kingdom of Cambodia: Components and Issues of Community Participation

Abstract

This descriptive research study aims to analyze the components of community participation in community learning centers in the Cambodian context and to study the problems of community participation in community learning centers in Cambodia. Besides, this research utilizes three main techniques to respond to research objectives, and those techniques are an in-depth interview with 03 experts in the field of non-formal education, conducting semi-interview with 06 community people (03 in Tboung Khmoum and 03 in Phnom Penh), and using observation.

 The result of the research is 1). There are eight components of community participation in community learning centers in the kingdom of Cambodia such as utilizing services, resource mobilization, attending programs, diagnosing needs, planning programs, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and decision making demonstrating that the previous components of participation are quite out-of-date and not so practical to imply in current situation; and 2). There are many problems of community participation in community learning centers in Cambodia, such as the lack of knowledge, confidence, trust in the CLCs, Cambodian cultures, unattractive of the program, disoriented career pathway, deficiency of trainers and teachers, family burdens, and migration. Hence, those issues of community participation, the governments, and relevant stakeholders should have taken into their accounts to alleviate the impacts of those problems.

Keywords: Community participation, Community learning center, Components of community participation