Meanwhile, the HRP has dedicated youth wings and runs free educational training centres throughout the country. According to Soksan Hing, the HRP also works with organisations such as the International Republican Institute, the UNDP and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. As a result, the party has sent young Cambodians to programmes both domestically and overseas, where they can study political systems, join multiparty debates, receive ‘future leader training’ and join the UNDP’s young political council.

Many organisations and some political parties have also started sending SMS text messages to young people, reminding them to register to vote, let them know how to go about doing so and, ultimately, to go out to vote when the time comes.

Colin Spurway also feels the fear many refer to when discussing young people and politics is mainly based around party politics, as opposed to civic participation.

“When people are pushed and asked: ‘When you refer to politics being dangerous, do you mean decisions like should this village repair the road or build a new school?’ people will say: ‘Oh no, that’s not the politics I mean.’”

As such, and in accordance with its findings from the joint study with the UNDP, on Sunday January 15, the BBC WST will begin broadcasting a new multiplatform media show called Loy9. It will start with a 45-minute TV programme at 8pm on CTN. The opening 13 minutes will be a drama focusing on a young woman and her friends in a village finding different ways to express their voice. This is directly followed by a magazine show and then, the following day, a radio phone-in show at midday. There will also be a website, Facebook pages that encourage interaction with characters from the drama and links to other useful sites and resources.

Each week, all of these media platforms will deal with the same aspect of civic participation, before the TV show introduces a new one the following Sunday.

“Young people respond better to examples of real life that they feel they can replicate,” explained Spurway. “Therefore our approach has been to use media to create a fun and entertaining space that will supply this kind of information: what the key civic institutions are and what they actually do; or key information like what documents you need to vote; or role models that people can replicate.”

With a resource as precious as the future of the country in its hands, the BBC WST is hoping to introduce young Cambodians to decision-making in a way they are comfortable with and that they understand. Spurway is clear that the organisation is not looking to run before it can walk, particularly with two elections on the horizon.

“I think it would be realistic to think that citizens would participate best if they knew what the National Assembly is and what a commune council does,” he said. “I don’t expect them to be able to give a lecture on the subject, I wouldn’t even expect a paragraph, but if we could get the majority of young Cambodians to know in a sentence or two what these institutions are then I think that could be regarded a considerable success.”