Paper short abstract:

This papers discusses the findings of a Foreign and Commonwealth Office-funded participatory action research project in Cambodia to raise awareness and practice-based expertise on domestic violence law with university students.

Paper long abstract:

While in the past twenty years, unprecedented progress has been made in respect to the number and scope of laws designed to prevent domestic violence in the developing world, daily violations of women's human rights remain a pervasive problem. The hiatus between legal reform and transformative change for women is particularly pronounced in Cambodia which ratified the 'Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and the Protection of Victims' in 2005. This paper discusses the findings of a higher education-oriented participatory action research project in Cambodia funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Bilateral Programme Fund. Women's rights are a key issue for the FCO and are likely to continue as so in the post-2015 development framework. The 'Client Consultation Workshop and Competition' held in 2014 sought to raise awareness and practice-based expertise on this important yet understudied law among 100+ undergraduate students at Pannasastra University of Cambodia. The paper analyses pre and post project evaluation data (namely questionnaires and focus groups) on the impact of the training and competition on students' knowledge and understanding of domestic violence (law) and draws on the distinction between practical and strategic gender interests to examine the challenges of the short-term educational intervention to effect deep seated change.