Case Study
Mrs. Hak Sokha,
Kompong Svay Commune,
Pompong Svay District, Kompong Thom Province

Mrs. Hak Sokha, 52 years old, married with 7 children. All her children are in school. She has been resident of this village since the old days. Her husband is a school teacher and she is a rural traditional midwife. She has saved lives of many women and babies during labor regardless of the payment. For the poor, she would not expect anything. Saving the mother and her child is very important to her. Many people call her God Mother. She is a trustworthy person very popular. She was asked to serve as a member of the Village Development Committee, which added to her triple roles as midwife, wife and a mother. She has accomplished her multiple roles very well.

In 2001, Cambodia started its decentralization process, which led to the election of the Commune Councils February 3 rd , 2002 . Every political party was required to have 3% women candidates. The political party representatives went down to work with the village chief to select the female candidates. Mrs. Hak Sokha was then identified as the most qualified one. Even she had a lot of supports from the people she did not feel competent within herself and most importantly she encountered barriers from her husband and children who did not want her to get involve in politics. They view politics at the lower level is only the stepping stone for those in power and is dangerous. She was invited by the political party to meet and discuss the issue. Despite the encouragement from the party, she still scare of politics. She believed that women cannot work for politics or for the society. All women can do is the management of the household. This was the view of her family.

Fortunately, it was a coincidence that the WFP staff went down to her village for their program, Capacity Building and Empowerment of the female candidates. That was the first time that she attended the WFP session. She was pleased with the training. She felt equipped with all what she needed to fulfill the wishes of her people. Finally, she got elected as Commune Council for Kompong Svay Commune, Pompong Svay District, Kompong Thom Province on February 3 rd ., 2002. Even though, she still felt reluctant to go the office due to her lack of self-confidence, lack of family support. Besides, the male councilors did not recognize her qualifications and disvalued the female works. The sub-sequent training sessions of the WFP to provide support, and forum to the female commune councils to discuss issues/ problems and share their concerns allowed her to successfully practice at her local commune. She appreciates the program very much. She attended all the sessions. The WFP programs become the first priority in her agendas. The WFP has reformed her, she said. She has developed in many ways such as:

•  Change in her attitude
•  Improve her communication with authority of every level, concerned institutions and agencies.
•  Solve land disputes
•  Domestic violence and gang related issues
•  Education and information dissemination on health
•  The importance of the vaccination against the 7 diseases on children and different certificates such as birth, marriage, and death.
•  Successfully implement the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) from commune level to district, which is the WFP program goal. She become very popular and has full support for the next election.
•  Besides her role as Commune Councilor, she is also in charge of the Women's Affairs and children as health center network. She developed a project and submitted to UNICEF for support.
•  Contacted the Light Development Credit Organization to serve 12 villages to form self-help groups. Each village has 3 to 4 groups. The living conditions of the people in those villages have improved drastically.

In the end, she feels impressed with the WFP for giving her hope and changing her to become a good leader to contribute in the development of her commune as well as the whole nation. In addition her husband and the male councilors highly value her. Her presence at the meeting has become a necessity. She is proud to be able to serve as role model for women to move toward the leadership position at the local level as well as national.