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Gender and Development for Cambodia (GAD/C) is an NGO that promotes gender equity as a fundamental human right and as the necessary basis for social, economic, and political development. Gender equity means that both boys and girls and men and women have equal opportunities and equal access to education, employment, and services in order that women can participate fully as equal citizens.

The proposed Gender Team would also work with the media to improve the way that women were portrayed, distribute GAD resource materials, and explore the area of women and the environment. Therefore, in 1996, the GAD Team was formed as a special project of the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia (CCC), the umbrella co-ordinating council for local and international non-government organizations working in Cambodia, and housed in the CCC office in central Phnom Penh.

From GAD Team to GAD/C

With the financial support of The Royal Netherlands Embassy, the Gender and Development Programme for Cambodia (GAD/C) was established on 1 March 1997 as a semi-autonomous unit within the CCC.

During May and June 1999, GAD/C conducted a four-week evaluation of its organizational and programme competence to determine its ability to continue to respond to its mandate, especially in view of the imminent phase-over of the expatriate team leader and adviser to local management and direction.

In compliance with the major recommendations of this evaluation, in 2000, GAD/C applied for official registration as an independent, local, non-government organization and redefined its main objectives.

The specific aims of this programme during its initial phase to 29 February 2000 were:

• to increase understanding of the importance of incorporating gender into development planning
• to build capacity for achieving that aim
• to heighten gender sensitivity
• to identify critical areas of gender research
• to liaise with the Cambodian Ministry of Women's and Veterans' Affairs in strengthening the local women's movement through a capacity-building programme.

As a Cambodian non-government organization, GAD/C adopted a mission to promote gender equity in social, economic and political processes in Cambodia by:

• Promoting mutual respect between men and women,
• Establishing policy makers and institutions to develop and carry out plans and programs that address gender inequalities, and
• Strengthening support structures at the national and local levels in order to eliminate gender inequalities.
  

To carry out the mission, GAD/C adopted the mutually supporting strategies of advocacy, networking, training, and research. It would employ these strategies while working in partnership with other Cambodian NGOs, international and multilateral organizations, state institutions, and other structures of civil society.

This redefinition has resulted in a diffusion of GAD/C's previous function as a gender trainer, either in trainer's training or in raising awareness. As the level of gender awareness within the development community and among government agencies has risen, GAD/C can now expand its activities into the essential roles of advocacy and related research and information-sharing.