Placing Weapons on The Agenda
• Placing small arms on the national agenda results, in part, from WGWR pioneering work on the issue in 1998.
• WGWR began in a period when issues regarding small arms and light weapons were not addressed. Shortly after WGWR was established and activities, the municipality of Phnom Penh and the Royal Government of Cambodia began to pay attention to the matter.
• Consequently, the international community began to see Cambodia as a setting where management and reduction of small arms could take place.

Cooperating with the Cambodia Government
• The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) increasingly recognizes WGWR as a source of expertise, links, and information. GRC’ s statements on weapons reduction and destruction efforts increasingly echo arms similar to WGWR.
• In June 2000, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) and WGWR co-organized the first national workshop on the issue of small arms in Cambodia.
• The MoI Department of Public Education and Promotion participated in a national public campaign together with WGWR.
• The Council of Demobilization of Armed Forces (CDAF) invited WGWR to monitor demobilization activities, allowing for the
first practical introduction of small arms issues within the context of demobilization.
• The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and WGWR was signed the Memorandum of Understand (MoU) for implementing the Disarmament and Peace Education Project in schools of Kampong Chhnang and Kampong Thom provinces.
• The National Commission for Weapons Management and Reform (NC) sent the
endorsement letter to WGWR for supporting and cooperating with WGWR in
implementation of activities related to small arms and light weapons in Cambodia.
• In June 2003, NC and WGWR co-hosted the Inter-provincial workshop on small arms collection campaign: Reviewing and future action plan.

Advocating for Weapons Destruction
• Earlier Government weapon collection efforts did not include weapons destruction until the idea was introduced at a workshop co-organized by WGWR and the municipality of Phnom Penh in December 1998.
• WGWR advocacy efforts contributed to the destruction of more than 111,000 of the 120, 000 weapons collected (as of June 2003).

Creating Opportunities for Involvement
• WGWR partners with local NGOs to develop community level responses to the problems of small arms and security. In this way, an increasing number of partners are adding peace- building activities as a component to their on- going development work.
• WGWR assists NGOs in advocacy efforts such as the NGO/IO Weapons Law Working Group that, upon the invitation of the MoI, made recommendations on the draft weapons law.

Generating Information on Small Arms
• Before the 1998 feasibility study and the creation of WGWR, virtually no weapons-specific information exists in Cambodia.
• WGWR has generated information on small arms, security and peace building including an opinion survey, research reports, a peace mapping study, and workshop reports. See the WGWR Reading List for documents available in both Khmer and English.

Raising Grassroots Voices
• Though a network of concerned local and international NGOs, WGWR provides local communities with a voice on the issues of weapons collection and destruction, and community security.
• Before WGWR organized these activities, there were few opportunities for citizens to become aware of small arms and security-related issues or feedback their own concerns to the government.
• Provincially organized workshops and roundtable discussions are one of the ways in which WGWR has been able to strengthen civilian voices on community security, civic military relations, and peace building in Cambodia.

Creating Opportunities at Regional and International
- WGWR is a member of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) and was elected as Steering Committee (Facilitation Committee) member in 2001 to serve as a representative of Southeast Asia region.
- In May 2002 in Phnom Penh, WGWR co-organized a seminar with the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO), Center for Humanitarian Dialogue (CHD), and Southeast Asia Quaker International Affairs Representatives (SEAQIAR) on issues related to the demand for small arms with a focus on Southeast Asia.
- WGWR in Phnom Penh, along with Gaston Z Ortigas Peace Institute in Manila and Nonviolence International in Bangkok has recently formed a coalition of NGOs in the Southeast Asia region dedicated to addressing the issue of SALW violence. The Regional Action to Reduce Armed Violence (RARAV) has been established as an open network of Nongovernmental Organizations who are concerned with the impact of weapons and armed violence in Southeast Asian Society.
- WGWR also has relationships and co-operations with other international organizations and institutions around the globe in working together for promoting small arms and light weapons, security, and peace.
- The UNDDA in partnership with the Hague Appeal for Peace (HAP) and in cooperation with the WGWR has developed the project called “Disarmament and Peace Education Campaign: Sustaining Weapons Collection and Preventing Violence” is implementing for two-year pilot project in schools.

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