H.E. Dr. Ing Kantha Phavi

H.E. Dr. Ing Kantha Phavi was appointed Minister of Women’s Affairs in July 2004 following the formation of the new government. She is responsible for the management and leadership of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. In 2005, she was appointed Deputy High Commissioner for the Supreme Council for State Reform.

Prior to becoming Minister, Dr Phavi served five years as Secretary of State of Women’s and Veterans’ Affairs, where she was responsible for elaborating gender-responsive policies, strategies and plans of action. She ensured the management and follow-up of technical programs in health and economic empowerment and of the capacity-building program of MWVA staff on financial and administrative management. She was an active contributor to several international and national workshops and seminars on gender mainstreaming in reproductive health and HIV/AIDS issues, and on women’s economic empowerment. Dr Phavi was directly involved in the National Poverty Reduction Strategy drafting process.

In the 1990s, she worked mostly in France, as a private medical doctor from 1990 to 1994, and as Director of the Drug Research Department at ABR (a French enterprise involved in medical-drug marketing and drug research) from 1997 to 1998. Dr Phavi also served as Deputy Secretary General in a medical NGO, AMC (Association des Medecins Cambodgiens), a membership organization of more than 200 physicians. AMC is mandated to provide medical and social assistance to Cambodia through the donation of medical equipment, material and drugs, as well as by sending a medical team to Cambodia to care for poor rural people and upgrade the capacity of the local medical team. From 1995 to 1997, Dr. Phavi worked in Cambodia as a Technical Advisor to the Ministry of Rural Development, where she was responsible for community health (nutrition, hygiene, health information) and community development programs, including micro-credit and water manage¬ment and sustainable small-scale agricultural production.

Dr. Phavi holds a Brevet in Public Administration from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA), Paris (1995). She participated in the executive education program “Leaders in Development: Managing Political and Economic Reform” at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (2004).