Location
Phnom Penh, Prey Veng, Kampong Cham and Bantey Meanchey provinces, CAMBODIA
Background
In Cambodia, for various reasons, the number of vulnerable children is sizeable. Many end up living on the streets, are abused or at a high risk of being abused. More often than not, education ends up being a distant dream for these kids.
Some of the issues:
- Poverty, domestic violence and difficult family situations lead children and youth to the streets.
- A growing number of them are sold to criminals as prostitutes, cheap labor or beggars.
- There is a lack of awareness about the dangers of narcotics among children.
- Human trafficking and unsafe migration constitute major risks faced by the children, often leading to loss of housing, trafficking, dangerous forms of labor and a lack of access to public services.
- Marginalized children’s weak education level and low self-esteem are major hurdles to them being successfully and sustainably re-integrated into school.
- There is a lack of effective non-formal education options for these children. Methodologies and materials that have been adapted to the situation and the needs of homeless children are missing.
Our Actions
Our approach to these issues has 4 cornerstones:
Improving ACCESS
Promoting QUALITY
Strengthening the SYSTEM
and INFLUENCING for policy and behavior change
The overall goal of this project is to save the target groups from their traumatic experiences and reintegrate them into the family and society through safe shelter and give them access to various services according to their needs.
The way we do this is by
- Preventing and reducing all forms of abuse of 1,800 street children, abused children and children at high-risk of abuse (such as exploitation for labor, sexual abuse, trafficking, unsafe migration, domestic violence, drugs abuse, and so on).
- Providing safe shelter in a family-like environment to victimized and vulnerable children.
- Providing these children with education support adapted to their needs and capacities, adapted vocational training and/or internships.
- Reintegrate the children in Cambodian society and into their family whenever possible.
- Build the capacity and knowledge of 220 educational managers, 3,200 community members and the local authorities on children’s rights and related issues.
Partners