The USAID Cambodia Advancing Youth Leadership (AYL) Activity is a five-year (October 2023 – October 2028), $14.9 million project implemented by Chemonics International. AYL aims to enhance the capacity of youth, including those from marginalized groups, through leadership skills building and practical action opportunities and empower youth to participate in civic engagement and fully participate in community development.  AYL will be implemented in cities and provinces where there is high population density and/or where there are high concentration of youth and marginalized communities, including, but not limited to: Phnom Penh, Kampong Thom, Siem Reap, Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Kampong Chhnang, Pursat, Kampot, Takeo, Prey Veng, Svay Rieng, Stung Treng, Mondulkiri, and Ratanakiri. Activity interventions will place special emphasis on engaging youth from traditionally underrepresented groups including, among others, girls in all their diversity, youth living with disabilities, youth in the LGBTQI+ community, ethnic Vietnamese and other ethnic minority youth, the Cham and other religious minority youth, young Indigenous Peoples, and young survivors of gender-based violence.  

The Social Norm Exploration Tool (SNET) is one of AYL’s key activities to fulfill the project’s commitment to gender and social inclusion and combatting gender-based violence. In Year 1 AYL conducted an SNET in Phnom Penh through which AYL identified key influencers and social norms driving behaviors of interest with critical inputs from communities and key main population groups. This work led to the development of AYL’s social behavior change communication plan to inform the design of social and behavior change intervention approaches through community engagement, to increase awareness and catalyze action via strategic campaigns in social media, radio, television, community events, and other methods to promote the social inclusion focusing on gender-based violence and identity-based discrimination.