SO Hengvotey

Programme Manager

With eight years of experience in research, Votey has built a strong foundation in policy analysis through evidence-based approaches. Her expertise encompasses both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, with a focus on the digital economy, digital trade and e-commerce, gender and inclusive development, good governance, and skills development. She holds a Master’s degree in Development and Sustainability from the Asian Institute of Technology and a Bachelor’s degree in Economic Development. Votey has previously worked as the policy researcher for the Digital Economy and Business Committee and Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI), and various development organizations, where she contributed to national policy formulation and international research projects. She is particularly interested in advancing digital transformation through the use of data analytics to support evidence-based policymaking, especially in response to economic shocks, crises, and broader development challenges.

Email : hengvotey.so@cdri.org.kh


SO Hengvotey

International Publications
'Worn Out’: Hunger, Debt Discipline, and the Gendered Contingencies of the COVID-19 Pandemic Amongst Cambodian Garment Workers

Drawing on 203 quantitative surveys with women workers in Cambodia and a further set of semi-structured interviews with 60 original participants, this paper is one of the very first to present empirically grounded research from garment workers on the financial challenges of navigating the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. We show how in the maki...

Cambodia Development Review 24 - 1
Understanding Political Knowledge and Participation of Cambodian Youth

Working Papers 116
Cambodia’s Young and Older Generation: Views on Generational Relations and Key Social and Political Issues

Youth make up one-third of the Cambodian population. This generation was born after the Khmer Rouge years and has grown up with the idea of regular competitive elections in a multi-party system. The youth cohort forms an increasingly significant proportion of the national electorate. This report analyses the results from a nationally representative...

The Survey on Skills Demand in Cambodia

This nationwide survey, conducted by the Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI) in partnership with the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MLVT), assesses current and emerging skills demand across provinces and municipalities in Cambodia. The study supports the recalibration of the TVET 1.5M Programme by identifying priority sk...

Turning Crisis into Opportunity: A Programme of Intervention for Cambodian Returnees

This project, jointly developed by CDRI and the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), provides a comprehensive policy and programme framework to support the reintegration of approximately 910,000 Cambodian migrant workers who returned from Thailand in 2025. The initiative outlines a coordinated response that combines emerg...

Survey on Assessing MSME Market Dynamics and Resilience in Phnom Penh: Challenges and Opportunities

Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) form the backbone of Phnom Penh’s urban economy, yet they are increasingly pressured by economic slowdown, and digital disruption. High business turnover reflects survival-driven entrepreneurship, with most firms remaining informal, micro-scale, and concentrated in low-productivity sectors. Given the...

CDRI Economic Updates

The CDRI Economic Updates provide regular updates on the state of the economy, specifically by tracking the economic cycle of wealth in Cambodia at both the macroeconomic and micro-household and business levels. It provides a brief summary of economic trends and their implications for each quarter, explaining the potential drivers of the curre...

Building Capacities for Civic Engagement, Peacebuilding and Inclusive Dialogue: Towards Inclusive and Participatory Governance

Over the past two decades, Cambodia has made significant economic progress, with growth being over 7%. The opportunity exists to underpin this progress towards an inclusive and equitable social contract by strengthening social capital, expanding trust among social groups and between groups and the government, establishing and improving access to pa...

Social Protection and the Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 in Cambodia: Longitudinal Research to ‘Build Back Better’ in the Global Garment Industry

COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe disruption of the global garment industry such as manufacturing shutdowns, consumer lockdowns, order cancellation of suppliers, and lack of raw materials. However, social protection in Cambodia remains limited coverage to address livelihoods as a result of factory suspension and layoffs.This study focuses on unde...

Cambodia Gender and Inclusive Development Analysis (GIDA)

This study aims to fill this gap in research by conducting a Gender and Inclusive Development Analysis (GIDA) combining qualitative and quantitative approaches. The GIDA is intended to inform USAID’s work plans regarding the Cambodia Country Development Strategy (CDCS) for 2020-2025 by providing a rationale, data and recommendations of which gender...

Education Research for Effective Policy Reforms

A five-year project called ‘Education Research for Effective Policy Reforms’ with a total funding of USD446,713 aims to produce independent, objective, high quality policy-relevant higher education research, and to maximise the accessibility of this knowledge to policymakers, influencers and stakeholders, and its policy impact. This project also wo...