The following approaches underlie our work:

Human Rights NGOs in Cambodia sometimes operate on a short-term case-by-case basis only, being reactive to human rights abuses rather than proactive in pushing for dialogue and broader policy and legislative changes. We want to engage in non-aggressive dialogue with all stakeholders including the government to bring about change.

We aim to encourage civil society to take a more sophisticated and collaborative approach. We want to see collaboration rather than duplication, specialization instead of non-strategic cover-all work, comprehensive recording and analysis of rights data rather than uncoordinated and incomplete documentation, and more innovative dissemination of information. We want to change the approach of civil society in order to provide a solid foundation on which to base collaborative advocacy and bring about change.

We want to ensure that marginalized communities are at the heart of our work. We want to empower Cambodians at the grass-roots level, enabling them to understand principles of democracy and human rights and giving them the voice and opportunities to set the rights and development agenda.

We want to make the CCHR more democratic, transparent, efficient and therefore effective. We are developing our decision-making processes and accountability, internal and external communications, internal polices, program and project management, staff appraisal and training, and results-based reporting. We want to pass on our knowledge in this area to the other NGOs with which we work, maximising the multiplier-effect and sustainability of any assistance we are given in this area.