Overwhelming Cambodian youth say country moves on right direction: UNDP study

PHNOM PENH, Jul 21, 2011 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Ninety-five percent of Cambodian youth is optimistic about the overall direction their country is taking, but face challenges on the way to a meaningful participation in the political and socio-economic life of Cambodia, said a new study released by the United Nations Development Program-Cambodia (UNDP) on Thursday.

A lack of knowledge and understanding of democratic processes and difficulty to express issues of concern are among the obstacles to greater youth participation as citizens.

The study, titled "Youth Civic Participation in Cambodia", involved face to face interviews with 2,000 youth aged 15-24, of them 20 percent are urban dwellers and 80 percent are rural residents.

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Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at The World’s Communications Conference, ITEXPO West. September 13-15, 2011 Austin, Texas

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at The World’s Communications Conference, ITEXPO West. September 13-15, 2011 Austin, Texas

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at The World’s Communications Conference, ITEXPO West. September 13-15, 2011 Austin, Texas

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at The World’s Communications Conference, ITEXPO West. September 13-15, 2011 Austin, Texas

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at The World’s Communications Conference, ITEXPO West. September 13-15, 2011 Austin, Texas

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at The World’s Communications Conference, ITEXPO West. September 13-15, 2011 Austin, Texas

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at The World’s Communications Conference, ITEXPO West. September 13-15, 2011 Austin, Texas

It showed that respondents' knowledge of democratic institutions and their roles was very limited, particularly of elected bodies such as the parliament and commune councils.

"Ninety-two percent of youth had heard of commune councils; however, nearly a third of those respondents did not know what they do," said the study. "Parliament was the least familiar to youth, with just three quarters having heard of parliament, and two -thirds of these people did not know what parliament does." Youth are the key to democratic participation in Cambodia with two out of three people in Cambodia being under the age of 25 years old and more than 30 percent of the country's 14.3 million population aged between 10-24 years old.

However, about 95 percent of Cambodian youth said they are proud of being Cambodian and the direction the country is taking by valuing to history, cultural heritage, democracy, and political leadership and feel that all Cambodians are respected equally, stated the study.

On the media consumption side, the study found that about 90 percent of Cambodian youth have consumed to broadcast services such as radios and television.

It added that roughly 93 percent had access to a mobile phone and 42 percent had their owned phone; however, on the internet side, the amount of young internet users is still very limited -- only 6 percent.