Australian Bank Details:

Account Name: EDventure Worldwide

BSB: 033031

Account: 287324

 Our Proposal

• Build an educational institution that offers free education for children and young adults from the surrounding poor and impoverished community.
• Create a space that will also be utilised by the community for community-based development initiatives. i.e. health education, language education to improve employment opportunities, information sessions focused on sustainable farming initiatives, community meetings and skill based education sessions.

Purpose

• Create a sustainable community-run asset that offers free education to children who do not have access to educational resources, i.e. schoolbooks and teaching staff.
• Empower the local community to improve their living standards.
• Create a space for the local community to meet, collaborate and deliver valuable community services, i.e. health information, adult learning opportunities, community meetings etc…
• Prepare the children of rural Siem Reap, Cambodia for success in the continually developing global and local economic landscape.
• Promote community awareness and empowerment though education and community involvement

Project Location

Phum Ou Village, Kandek Commune, Brasat Bakorng District, Siem Reap Province Cambodia.

Current Situation

The students that we are benefiting live on the poverty line. These students and their families live traditionally: growing rice and vegetables on small plots of land, depending solely on a successful crop to provide enough food and income for the family. However, due to the vulnerability of the private farming industry, the families’ income is unstable and quite often temperamental. The students we will be teaching, work with their parents in order to survive and to keep the family out of complete economic disparity. As a result, education is often tossed to the wayside and seen as unimportant. Cambodia, and this community in particular are entering a new stage of modernisation: farmland is being sold to property developers, and the tourism industry is booming. As a result, there will not be enough land to support this young generation to continue the tradition of subsistence farming without greater education and awareness. As it’s abundantly clear, the children are at grave risk of being part of the poverty cycle’s repetition, without some intervention, to develop access to quality education. Therefore, this school will be designed to create opportunities for the community and it’s younger generation to empower themselves to improve their quality of life.

Operations Overview

All building materials will be locally sourced and expert advice will be sought in country to provide jobs to locals from within the village.

Phase one - Sponsored by LendCare Capital Inc:  http://lendcare.ca/en/

• Level the land
• Construct the first building which will house two classrooms
• Construct lavatory (necessary to support sanitary education)
• Provide Electricity to the newly built structure

This stage will allow the school to begin operating and to promote itself to the local communities and seek further funding and support to deliver its educational outcomes.

Phase two

• Supply the school with all the operational and educational resources it requires
• Construct and purchase desks, tables, whiteboards, erasers, markers, chairs, clocks, fans, text books, workbooks and reading books for teacher and student use. (Priority)

Phase Three

• Build a sustainable agricultural facility to promote nutrition and community involvement. These facilities will be designed to create a surplus of varied produce. They will not only provide the students with a more balanced nutrition but will provide enough excess produce to be sold at market, with all profits going towards educational resources required by the school.
• Maintain existing infrastructure (classrooms, facilities, road)
• Construct an auxiliary building to house a small library and repair the old existing makeshift classroom.
• Construct an auxiliary lavatory for staff and teaching volunteers
• Construct a playground to provide a space for the children to play.

Goals and Objectives

It is our absolute intent to instil educational value to families that would put a stop to the cyclic nature of poverty. Utilising education as a vessel, we intend to empower the children of these rural communities to have control over their personal, educational, and financial futures. Provide community skill-based education to create opportunities intended to develop and further sustain agriculture structures. Develop health initiatives and training for community groups that can provide sustainable forms of income.

Background:Educational and Social context: Cambodia

Cambodia is currently in a challenging dynamic. The influences of the scars are still felt from its horrific past where the Khmer Rouge eradicated the intelligent population of the country in the early 70’s. A generation later, job opportunities are growing, along with a rapidly rising tourism industry. Whilst some opportunity exists, broad corruption means that Cambodians receive minimal to zero social support, whilst the value and quality of education truly remains below standard.

Many families are living on or below the poverty line and, while the value of education is understood, the temperamental rice farming conditions result with families living hand to mouth and would prefer their children to stay with them to work on the land, rather than be away at school.

The unique demographics present in Cambodia currently see 50% of the population under the age of 25 years old. The social development of the country has impressively adopted an attitude of always having a sunny disposition, despite their every right to be full of angst and frustration with what was taken from them. Rather, they take the opinion that they are lucky to have any educational opportunities they may lay before them.

This younger population is desperate to capitalise on any opportunity to progress themselves as individuals and view any form of education as a true privilege.

Therefore, this is a very unique situation whereby Cambodians are desperate to learn; however, lack the capability to provide educational opportunities to their own communities. EDventure strongly feels that as educators, we have a duty to provide the broader community with an understanding of the benefits of education and provide ongoing skills based training to empower them to find alternative ways for their families to produce enough money to put food on the table. We currently have a solid and binding connection with the community and are very confident that they will significantly benefit from the positive impact of building this school and community centre.

Assessing the current demographic:

Currently we have local teaching volunteers speaking with families in the surrounding village about the development of this new and exciting opportunity for the younger generation and community alike.

Information provided to the families will be structured to highlight the benefits of sending their children to school, the wider benefits of education and how this development will provide broader opportunities for their community.

Our Khmer school director and head teacher, will be spending time with community leaders to develop a more in-depth plan in relation to how the space can be utilised best by the community.