Guidelines to enhance community participation in community learning centers in the kingdom of Cambodia

Abstract

The study aims to 1) analyze components of community participation in the CLCs in Cambodia; 2) study current states and desirable needs of community participation in enhancing community participation in the CLCs in Cambodia; 3) propose guidelines to enhance community participation in the CLCs in Cambodia. A semi-structured interview with 5 Cambodian experts has been employed, and all the keywords have been coded to analyze community participation components in the CLCs. Moreover, this research utilized a survey with the selected samples of 28 CLC committee members and 197 people using stratified random sampling by analyzing data through Means (x̅), Standard Deviation (S.D.), and Modified Priority Needs (PNImodified) to study current states and desirable need of community people in the CLCs in Cambodia. Lastly, the in-depth interview and Likert-scale questionnaire have been conducted with the experts to clarify and confirm the proposed guidelines' validity and feasibility. The research findings are as follows. 1. The components of community participation in the CLCs in Cambodia consist of utilizing services, resource mobilization, attending programs, diagnosing needs, planning programs, monitoring, and evaluation, and decision making in the CLCs in Cambodia. 2. The current states in enhancing community participation in the CLCs are at the moderate level (x̅=2.64, S.D.=0.67) meaning that there are a few the CLC committee and members participating in the activities of the CLCs while the desirable needs in enhancing community participation in the CLCs are at the high levels (x̅=4.41, S.D.=0.66) meaning that there is a high need of the CLC committee and members a taking part in activities of the CLCs. 3. Guidelines to enhance community participation in the CLCs in Cambodia comprise of vision, goals, and guidelines. The vision is to transform the CLCs to become lifelong learning centers in promoting informal, non-formal, and lifelong learning by 2030. The goals are to enrich human resources, physical infrastructure, finances, and enhance community participation in the CLCs to achieve future sustainability and become lifelong learning centers. The guidelines enhance community participation in diagnosing needs, planning programs, implementing programs, monitoring and evaluation, and decision making in the CLCs in Cambodia. Key terms: Community Participation, Participation, sustainable community learning centers, Community, Guidelines