Cambodia: Creating an environment where cultural industries can thrive

Activities undertaken
During their first country visit in July and August 2012, the experts carried out an initial assessment of the current situation and trends for the cultural industries in Cambodia. They notably met and consulted ministerial representatives, national experts and international cooperation partners (notably from the Delegation of the European Union to Cambodia) in order to fully understand the challenges and opportunities involved. Through these exchanges they notably grouped a large quantity of documents regarding the culture sector in Cambodia, the country's economy and past initiatives carried out by international organisations. The resulting knowledge helped shape the direction and scope to be given to the policy frameworks, where the role played by culture both as a social and economic vector for development needed to be emphasised.

The drafting process initiated ahead of the second country visit in September 2012 was complemented by numerous interactions and exchanges with civil society representatives and cultural operators across the country, as well as further research on the situation of cultural industries in the country. Key stakeholders were concerted throughout this process in order to guarantee that the final draft policy frameworks were locally designed and corresponded to the needs and priorities of the cultural industries in Cambodia.

Results
The resulting policy documents were presented at the end of the second visit during a press conference: 1) a Sub-decree "Empowerment of cultural production and dissemination to enable creative industries development" aimed at raising awareness on the social and economic importance of arts and culture; 2) a Sub-decree "Continuous professional development in arts and culture", aiming to increase the number of artists, cultural managers and consumers, notably through increased educational possibilities; 3) a set of recommendations aimed at further developing key areas of the cultural policy, such as cultural data, copyright issues, and artistic training. Finally, a number of pilot programmes and actions were suggested, ranging from setting up an inter-ministerial committee on media, to launching no-budget cultural actions such as prizes and other recognitions of excellence.