A Somewhat Haphazard Village Meeting

This week we held a meeting in Lapo for the village elders, and other important members of the community. We wanted to talk about preserving architectural heritage, and gauge the views of the community about creating a sign at the entrance of the village that would highlight to visitors the indicators of traditional indigenous homes. At points it looked likely to be a complete failure, but in the end we got answers to everything we asked, extra information that we’ve been unable to source anywhere else, and ultimate permission to continue with our work here.

Arranging a meeting in Cambodia is an acquired skill. And working with indigenous communities, who are much less formally inclined (in comparison to UK expectations), increases this challenge. But I’ve often found the results more satisfying. Here are some top tips:

• Don’t seek to arrange the meeting too far in advance. Generally a day in advance is sufficient, and more than three days notice will severely impact attendance. In our most recent meeting attempt, the most effective method was to tell people the night before, and after the meeting had officially ‘started’.
• Get a few key people on-side. The chances are, if you have a respected member of the community already working with you, that alone will be enough to encourage attendance. We had several ‘pre-meets’ with a man who has worked with VSO-ICS before, is well versed in English and Tampoun (for accurate communication), and is popular within the village.
• Pick your venue carefully. Somewhere that is familiar to everyone, is flexible to fluctuating numbers, and is an established meeting spot, will suit well. Don’t design anything that requires electricity or running water, and perhaps source a back-up option. Although we were able to use Lapo Community Hall for our most recent gathering, we had no way of finding out if it would be otherwise occupied.
• When you decide on a time, leave at least 45 minutes before you expect the meeting to start. Timeliness varies, but generally ‘morning’ or ‘afternoon’ is considered specific. It’s less a culture of being fashionably late, and more a general understanding that nothing will start for a while, so there is no point getting there when expected. Although it can make it difficult to plan a day, the intermediary waiting time means the organiser is automatically on-time, with lots of opportunity for contingency.
• Provide refreshments. It’s an easy way to get people through the door, who would otherwise choose to do their own farm work or household work, and leaves everyone with a positive outcome. Taking people away from their day-jobs is generally time and money that they can’t spare, but simple cakes, some fruit and bottled water is a massive incentive.
• However, be prepared for the ‘take-away’ culture, and time it well. People often want to share with their families and will rarely eat the refreshments at the meeting. This first time this happened it was a bit bewildering, as I expected everyone to tear into the treats I’d pre-tested (delicious), but I’m very used to it now, and even prepackaged the latest refreshments to be removed from the venue.
• Prepare a set of ‘must-be-answered’ questions. If you’re calling a meeting, you must have a good reason for it, but in the discussion format, and with all the tri-language difficulties, the original intentions can sometimes get lost in the mix. After over an hour of spirited Tampoun/Khmer discussion at the village elders meeting last week, and everyone almost packing up to go, we realised we did didn’t have an official ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to our initially proposed sign plan.

Although often a source of stress, meetings with the community are definitely the best form of getting information about a society that it is almost impossible to otherwise research, and essential for directing our work!