National Workshop on Victim Assistance, held in Phnom Penh, from 05 to 06 September 2001.

Opening Speech addressed by Ms. Isabelle Plumat, Country Director, Handicap International - Belgium

Dear Excellency, dear colleagues,

I am still pretty new in Cambodia, but still I am stuck by the amount of resources available in the country. All the initiatives and services developed by ministries, local NGOs, international NGOs or international Organisation, or even private structures.

I am also amazed by the level of co-ordination achieved, formally through the Disability Action Council, the Cambodian Mine Action Authority and other co-ordinating bodies, but also informally.

And thirdly, being in Cambodia has also deeply strengthened my faith in the power of ordinary people, in the most desperate circumstances, to achieve real change in their own life. Let me share something more personal with you. I am not a specialist of the psychology of being disabled, but still working with them showed me how the sense of loss goes along with the discovery of hidden strengths; and how the feeling of being rejected goes with the ability to overcome rejection and being accepted as full human being.

Letting alone any kind of over optimistic attitude, it is fair to say that Cambodia has a lot of resources. What is missing is putting them together and exploiting them adequately. I bet this national workshop is also an opportunity for that.

At conceptual level the comprehensive integrated approach promoted by this workshop is taken for granted. This approach has been defined as providing a multi faceted services (ranging from prevention, physical rehabilitation to social and economical integration) to the individuals, their families and the mine affected communities.

If this holistic approach is crystal clear when we talk about it, still a great deal remains to be done top fully implement it.

Our challenge is to remain connected to a root reality, and not become remote decisions makers and opinions makers, but benefit from all the insight provided by these workshop and get down to the front line with a greater perspective on how to deal with that reality.

In that respect, talking on behalf of Handicap International, the challenges we are facing are:
- to shift from a service orientated approach towards a person an community orientated one;
- to make the best use of the resources at village, commune, district, provincial and national level, embracing medical, social and economical resources coming from all types of actors; and to find the shortcuts to be closer with the people and make them benefit from theses resources
- to keep our focus on the concrete reality of the people we are working with and for, and with pragmatism and realism, trying to increase our impact.

I guess these challenges are shared by most of the agencies working in the Mine Victim Assistance sector.

And I expect this workshop, as well as the regional one, as the culminate point of all the co-ordination and analysis work done before, will allow us to formulate enduring, and relevant principles and strategies, to whom we can remain devoted even in the face of difficult or changing context.

As always, the success of this workshop, as well as the future regional one, lies in its implementation. It will be measured by how broad it will open our mind, changing our attitudes, and affect our daily work, and ultimately the impact it can have on the people.

I wish to all of you a fruitful seminar, Thanks.