Legal Aid in Cambodia: Practices, Perceptions and Needs - PRAJ

Legal Aid in Cambodia: Practices, Perceptions and Needs 7A Study based on a National Survey2.4.1 Open House WorkshopsThe first activity during each survey visit was the holding of an open house workshop withrelevant stakeholders. The workshops were held in the period immediately before the surveyteam arrived in the area concerned. The workshops were organized, hosted and facilitated bythe Survey Management Team and the staff of the CLJR PMU.Those invited to the open house workshops were key persons in the area working in thejudicial and legal sector. They included provincial and district government officials, cadastralcommissioners, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, paralegals, prison staff, police, NGOrepresentatives, representatives of commune councils and representatives of communitygroups.The purpose of the open house workshops was twofold: first, to introduce the survey and itsteam members to relevant stakeholders and provincial leaders. This served to gain theirsupport. Second, to create an opportunity for the survey team to identify relevantrespondents, particularly NGO providing legal aid services.Open house workshops were held in:• Phnom Penh (for participants from Phnom Penh, Kampong Cham and Svay Rieng)• Battambang (for participants from Banteay Meanchay, Battambang and Pursat)• Siem Reap (for participants from Siem Reap and Odor Meanchay)• Kratie (for participants from Kratie, Rattanakiri and Mondalkiri)• Sihanoukville (for participants from Koh Kong, Sihanoukville, Kampot and Kep)2.4.2 Structured InterviewsThese were mainly done by survey researchers with legal aid providers identified prior to orduring the open house workshops. Structured interviews were very helpful in clarifying thenature of services provided, the target groups for such services, the staffing arrangementsneeded to provide such services, etc. Members of the Survey Management Teamaccompanied researchers during these structured interviews.2.4.3 Focus Group DiscussionsFocus group discussions were carried out with persons from all focus regions of the survey(see Table 1 for a listing of provinces the survey covered) with selected users and potentialusers of legal aid services, numbering around eight persons per focus group. The discussionswere helpful in providing information on needs and gaps in existing services. Focus groupdiscussions with commune councilors gave a clear picture of problems needing to beaddressed. Steps were taken to carry out separate focus group discussions with male andfemale discussants, making it easier to analyze gender variations in legal aid needs.Participation in the focus group discussions of judges and prosecutors, provincial and districtgovernment officials, prison officers, police, and NGO representatives gave the survey theopportunity to arrange individual interviews or further focus groups discussions with a widerange of respondents.The focus group discussions were conducted by survey researchers with support from theSurvey Management Team and staff of the CLJR PMU.