The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) has made significant progress in developing its social protection policy framework, aiming to be more inclusive and address the needs of the most vulnerable. However, the COVID-19 (C19) crisis is highlighting challenges and gaps that the current social protection system is facing. The crisis has led to the closure of businesses, suspension of garment factory production, and consequently job losses for thousands of people. Various measures are being taken by the RGC to respond to the crisis through the introduction of temporary social assistance measures, such as ‘On Demand’ ID Poor for the C19 cash transfer program for the most vulnerable population, and subsidies targeted to the most affected sectors such as garment, agriculture and tourism sectors. However, the lack of adequate and comprehensive coverage and accessibility barriers to various schemes, including the ID Poor program (e.g. mobility, homelessness, lack of documentation, unclear division of responsibilities between line agencies, discrimination at implementation level, attitudes and behaviors) of vulnerable groups (e.g. the homeless, migrants, women and children, persons with disabilities, persons living with HIV/AIDS, the elderly, informal economy workers, and the ‘near poor’ at risk of falling back into extreme poverty), are impeding the effective response to this crisis. This is compounded by the limited effectiveness of the National Social Protection Policy Framework (NSPPF), underdeveloped social protection accountability mechanisms, limited promotion of participation mechanisms, lack of resources, and restricted fiscal space to improve and expand the social protection system. C19 is considered as a stress test for existing systems (social assistance, social security and health schemes) and has underlined the urgent need for the NSPPF to be more gender and shock responsive to withstand current and future crises.

CCFC has worked the Objective of the Action, in the context of socio-economic insecurity, is to strengthen the community members between the RGC’s social protection institutions and the Cambodian citizens by building a more inclusive, rights-based, gender and shock responsive social protection system.
The main objective of social protection scheme that CCFC has been implementing, aimed at:
toward sustainable development in place.
- Practicing civil and political rights and any other common rights and freedom.
- Awareness raising on the fundamental social protection toward small scale farmers linked into informal economy sectors.
- Registering to NSSF and receiving equitable cards for the health care services from the referral hospital to the level of HEF.
- Initiatively work on their common work plan for its small scale farmer needs and interests for their community development with gender responsiveness.
- Seeking new strategy for any circumstances occurring the negative impact to the farmers’ living conditions to be better.
- Promoting either the local leaders and activists or its members are able to work in participatory learning, planning in advocacy initiative for their rights, interests, and in the needs for transformative changes.