A Convening to Remember in Cambodia

by Coalition for Good Schools | Jun 7, 2026

In April, the Coalition’s Asia Hub convened 15 practitioners and advocates from 11 organisations across South and Southeast Asia in Siem Reap, Cambodia, for three days of strategic planning, shared learning, and coalition-building.

Members in discussion during a session on developing a strategic action plan for the Asia Hub.

Our key takeaways included:

Global South civil society actors must move from being viewed as implementers to being recognised as essential partners in shaping policy, evidence, accountability, and solutions at scale.

Children’s participation emerged as a central regional priority, including commitments to establish advisory structures for the Hub and work alongside child-led advocacy.

Members identified the need for stronger regional coordination and shared advocacy language to elevate VACiS prevention in policy and public discourse.

Discussions highlighted the breadth of expertise across the network — from government partnerships and evidence-based curricula to restorative practices, child participation, community engagement, advocacy, and systems reform.

Hosted by Samya Development Resources and joined by members from organisations including Breakthrough, Enfold Proactive Health Trust, CWIN Nepal, Voice of Children, Child Rights Coalition Asia, PKPA Indonesia, This Life Cambodia, Girls Congress, and Stop Child Cruelty Trust, the convening surfaced a powerful regional vision:

Schools must become safe, accountable, and inclusive spaces where children are not only protected from violence, but are actively engaged in shaping both prevention and field-building efforts like ours.

Asia Hub members visit the vocational training centre of This Life Cambodia in Siem Reap.

A deeply connective space

Beyond these, the space was deeply connective. Hub members Enfold Proactive Health Trust (India) walked the group through a powerful restorative circle, in line with their work on restorative approaches in India. You can read the white paper Enfold, and the Asia Hub produced on restorative approaches on our website here. Members KidPower India and KidPower Nepal also demonstrated their personal safety skills practices – you can get a flavour of these approaches focused on positive communication and personal safety skills, here.

The Asia Hub has also launched preparations for coordinated advocacy leading into the 2026 Manila Ministerial, including a regional communications campaign and a civil society accountability report tracking progress on government pledges since the 2024 Ministerial Conference in Bogotá.