| BAB Cambodia Trains Cambodian Railways Communities with New Educational Resource on ADB Involuntary Resettlement Safeguards |
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Commencing in 2007, the Railway Rehabilitation Project is part of the ADB’s larger Greater Mekong Sub-region Program, which has the stated aim, among other things, of increasing commerce and reducing poverty in the region. Providing the Cambodian Government with a total investment of $84 million, or 60% of the overall $141 million rail project budget, ADB is financing the rehabilitation of approximately 650 km of the country’s railway system, which fell into disrepair due to damage caused by Cambodia’s nearly thirty years of war. The Cambodian Government received an additional $21.5 million grant from the Australian Government for the project, which is scheduled to be completed by 2013.
It is estimated that more than 4000 households will be affected by this project. Yet, many affected people remain unaware of their rights and entitlements under ADB safeguard policies.
On the last day of the workshop, participants committed to monitor the resettlement process on the ground and disseminate the information they learned during the training to their communities. They decided to form a network of community monitors and work together to conduct collective advocacy on their case. After the workshop, the community monitors began putting their newly acquired knowledge to work by monitoring the resettlement process on the ground with ongoing support from BABC.
The community representatives trained by the CELA program have since taken on the role of community-based “paralegals,” providing quasi-legal services to their communities with the support of BAB Cambodia lawyers. As of June 2011, these community paralegals have assisted affected households in submitting over 300 official complaints from all over the country. Equally important, these paralegals continue to educate their communities about their rights under the ADB Safeguard Policy, thereby increasing community participation and providing access to grievance mechanisms and remedies that were previously inaccessible to these families who have been harmed as a result of the project.
While this process has only just begun, it is already a fascinating case study in the power of community legal education to increase access to justice and bring about tangible human rights change on the ground. It should also provide the ADB with an important lesson about how it can make its policies and accountability mechanisms more accessible to project-affected people across Asia.
A Community Guide to the ADB Involuntary Resettlement Safeguards was improved based on participant feedback during the initial workshop and published in June 2011. As the Railway Project continues to be implemented and other ADB-financed infrastructure projects are approved, BAB Cambodia and our partners intend to continue using this training resource to empower affected communities to defend their right to be protected from the harmful impacts of displacement and, indeed, to benefit from the development of their country.
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BAB Cambodia field-tested its latest community education resource, A Community Guide to the ADB Involuntary Resettlement Safeguards, during a four-day workshop in Phnom Penh, held from September 19-23, 2010. The training workshop and accompanying guide aimed to equip communities facing displacement as a result of projects financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with an understanding of their rights and entitlements under the ADB Resettlement Policy Safeguards and available remedies through the ADB Accountability Mechanism. The workshop was attended by thirty-four representatives of communities throughout Cambodia that have been displaced, or face immediate threat of displacement, arising from the ADB-funded Railway Rehabilitation Project of Cambodia, a project aimed at rehabilitating approximately 650 km of Cambodia’s derelict railway system. 
A Community Guide to the ADB Involuntary Resettlement Safeguards is an interactive and accessible training guide that aims to provide affected communities with the tools they need to defend their rights and hold the Government and ADB accountable if their rights are violated. In addition to field-testing the guide prior to its publication, the workshop provided an open forum where Railway Project-affected community members could share their experiences and concerns regarding the resettlement process with similarly affected people throughout the country. Among the issues discussed were the consultation and information dissemination process for the project; the effects of resettlement on families’ household income and living standards; access to education, healthcare and other essential services at relocation sites; and accessing local grievance mechanisms.