Projects
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| After school job of the some rural poor girls in Preyveng Province, Cambodia |
Project of One-Dollar Scholarship Program in Preyveng Province, Cambodia PROJECT OVERVIEW - Project Title: One-Dollar Scholarship Program - Main Activities: Provide Scholarship to rural poor children, in particular girls - Target Areas: Rural Remote Areas - Target Groups: Children in grade 1-12 - Contact Person: Roeun Ran, Director Tel: (855-12) 577 331 - Bank Account : E-mail: yscambodia@yahoo.com / ysc_ran@yahoo.com Summary Youth Service Cambodia (YSC) will run a project entitled ‘One-Dollar Scholarship’ in remote rural areas in Cambodia where rural poor children do not have a chance to access education, due to family’s poor living conditions, although they wish to. YSC will be collecting US$ 1.00/month (one US dollar per month) from each able individual or institution, in particular students, who are willing to donate their savings to help out poor children in rural areas to go to school as far as they would love to. Each scholarship student will receive at least US$ 30 (equivalent to about 120.000 Riels) per month to cover both direct and indirect costs of their study. Therefore, 30 people donating US$ 1.00 each will be able to support one child to stay in school. COUNTRY BACKGROUND Cambodia, country in Southeast Asia, also known as Kâmpŭchéa. More than a thousand years ago, Cambodia was the center of the Khmer (Cambodian) kingdom of Angkor, a great empire that dominated Southeast Asia for 600 years. A monarchy since ancient times, Cambodia was a French protectorate from 1863 to 1953. A republic replaced the monarchy in 1970, and in 1975 a Communist regime known as the Khmer Rouge took power, naming the country Democratic Kâmpŭchéa. The Khmer Rouge’s brutal repression and radical socialist reforms devastated Cambodia’s society and economy. In 1979 anti-Khmer Rouge Communist forces from Vietnam and Cambodia overthrew the Khmer Rouge and established a more moderate socialist state. In 1989 the country abandoned socialism, and in 1993 a new constitution restored the monarchy. Cambodia’s official name is the Kingdom of Cambodia. Cambodia is bounded on the northeast by Laos, on the east and southeast by Vietnam, on the west and northwest by Thailand, and on the southwest by the Gulf of Thailand (Siam). The country’s capital and largest city is Phnom Penh. The population of Cambodia is 13,881,427 (2006 estimate). Population growth per year is estimated at 1.8 percent, one of the highest rates in Asia. The rate of infant mortality is also high. The population density is 79 persons per sq km (204 per sq mi), with the densest concentrations on the heavily cultivated central plain. The mountainous regions of the country, where malaria is widespread, are thinly populated, as are the poorly watered northern provinces. During the late 1970s, under the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge, all of Cambodia’s towns were depopulated, and residents were forcibly relocated to rural areas. A process of reurbanization began in the 1980s. PROBLEM STATEMENT Improved availability of education, better roads and introduction in the early 2000s of the government’s universal education policy, which provides for free registration up to grade nine, primary school attendance has increased in all communities (FitzGerald & So, 2007, p: 177). A majority of children are able to finish primary school in most communities. But many children from poor and destitute households, in particular girls, are still likely to miss out due to both economic and social factors. By living far away from schools, parents in rural areas would rather keep their children home than putting their children’s safety at risk. Moreover, poor and destitute households would find their children’s labor an opportunity cost; in other words, if they send their children to sell labor—no matter how old they are—they will at least received some amount of money to support their vulnerable living conditions. Although education is viewed as a key to comfortable living condition, many poor households cannot afford to send children to school or to keep them at school as long as they are supposed to. In a youth focus group interview in Tranpeang Prei Village, a female youth voiced positively about getting educated that, “Education is the most important asset of people in this world. Being well educated, one can find a good job with a high standard of living… With a good education, he or she can manage to have a better life or be able to set a clear goal…. An educated person never fears financial insecurity since he or she has a permanent well-paid job…For example, a literate adult woman is able to find a good job in a garment factory now… Those who have no education cannot find such fortune and become mobile laborers, a more risky job.” Most parents are aware of the value and benefits of education for the immediate and a long-term run, as they feel awfully sorry to have their children out of school. However, they can’t help but take it for granted as lamented by a parent in Khsach Chi Ros village that, “Because we are poor, our children quit school at an early age or after only one or two years in order to help their parents earn a living. Unfortunately, they cannot go as far as the rich do in obtaining skills to earn a living. As a result of being trapped in illiteracy, we have poor knowledge and are without ideas, remaining short-sighted and powerless.” “Education is a life-long learning process” has been perceived and acknowledged by most of the financially marginalized parents, explaining that failing to create schooling opportunity at a younger age would just mean a dread disaster into a life-long living, socially and economically. That is, they would not be able to get themselves exposed to the recent and global development or advancement, as they see themselves as frogs in a well; and the world is a circle of clouds they see from within. This has been expressed by another parent in Kampong Tnaot village, “Children are forced to quit their school to help their parents in fishing or selling labor in salt farms, while the children of the rich households are able to continue their education… Some of them are sent for further study in Phnom Penh [Capital City of Cambodia]. They not only get a good education but also have good networks and/or build ‘strong backs’ there. Then they still have more and wider economic opportunities…while the poor are economically confined in the bore hold [well] like a frog…What they can see is the cloud over the bore hole.” Not only parents perceived it that way, but children also regretfully agreed that they would have a much better opportunity for their future work and life, as a female youth in Prek Kmeng village claimed that, “We are not happy that we did not have a chance to stay long in school. It’s difficult for those who have little knowledge to make money. For example, if we cannot read or write, we cannot work in some jobs such as garment factories. When we are illiterate we do not want to go to Phnom Penh because we may get lost.” Along with concerns and regrets parents made about not being able to send their children to school, young people who are not able to attend school apparently proved that staying away from school or quitting school is a necessary obligation, as otherwise, the whole family’s living conditions couldn’t sustain. Anyway, they are truly aware of the opposite condition, as mentioned by a female youth in Ba Baong village that, “We also want to go to school like the better off girls here, but it is impossible for us since our parents are poor…Our parents face difficulty feeding the family…We have to help our patents or brothers row a boat for fishing and take care of our little brothers and sisters and look after animals… Those who have good education can find well-paid job in garment factories in Phnom Penh…Unfortunately, it is difficult for us even to go searching for work since we cannot read the signposts on the road.” Vision: All children in Cambodia will have equal chance to access education as far as they wish Objectives: (1) To ensure that children can complete at least secondary school education with a possibility of upgrading into skill trainings or tertiary education of their choice. (2) To decrease drop-out rate among secondary school children. (3) To increase their chances into job market (4) To raise awareness and to increase participation of all stakeholders, especially parents and their immediate community. Project Activities Strategy 1: Providing material supports to children The scholarship program will provide children with school materials every year. This is to cut the indirect cost of education the children’s parents have to cover, and will necessarily assist their study. Each student will receive the following materials: Items | Quantity | Note Books | 12/year | Pencils | 5/year | Pens | 5/year | Rulers | 2/year | Rubber Eraser | 1/year | Hand Board | 1/year | Uniform | 3/year | Sandals | 2 pairs/year | Bicycle | 1 | The children will be taught how to use and take care of their study materials. In the case that the children lose any material, a replacement should be made immediately. However, the children will have to explain the reason of the loss and will show commitment to taking better care of the materials. Strategy 2: Providing financial supports Financial supports will cover opportunity cost while keeping the children at school. Generally, poor families have their children work to earn some money to help sustain their livelihood. In some extreme cases, children are the bread-winners. Therefore, it is indispensable to provide financial supports to their family, so that the children will be able to remain at school. In addition, this financial support will help in emergency cases including medical treatment and the like. Strategy 3: Provide accommodation and food support Accommodation of their choice will be provided to the children who stay more than 15 kilometers from the school they go to. The aim of providing them with accommodation is to ensure their security and to save time for their study. The children will stay with female teachers who reside the closest to the children’s school. Budget for accommodation will be allocated to the teachers. In addition three meals per day will be provided to the children who stay with the teachers. Likewise, the children who stay with their family will also receive food support. The budget of food support will be allocated to the children’s family. Activities 1. Provide accommodation 2. Provide food support to the children’s guardians or caregivers 3. Provide food support to the children’s family Strategy 4: Following up the children’s study Follow-up activities will be carried out by YSC’s staff or its network agents (possibly the focal person in the village/community) to ensure their attendance at school and the challenges they face. The follow-up will importantly ensure the quality of their study. The follow-up activities will be done through various means as follows: Activities 1. See their teachers and/or school principals monthly 2. Examine their record books 3. Meet with their parents to find out their self-study at home 4. Conduct monthly meeting with the scholarship grantees. YSC’s staff or its network agents will meet the children’s teachers every month to find out the progress they have made and the weaknesses they have to improve. The discussion with the teachers or school principals will allow us to thoroughly monitor the children’s achievement and failure so that necessary actions can be taken on time. In addition, their record books will be taken into account, when finding out their progress or weaknesses. The scores or grades they get will be one of the indicators to measure their progress. Apart from their study at school, it is also necessary to monitor their self-study like homework. A monthly meeting will allow the scholarship grantees to share their learning experience among their friends, which significantly contributes to their progress. Strategy 4: Establishing community committee Community Committee will be established to provide support to the scholarship students. The main responsibility of the community committee is to give advice to the scholarship students when they have any problems. In the case that the committee cannot solve problems, they are supposed to report to YSC. Below is the organizational structure of the committee: 1. A Buddhist monk Head of Committee 2. Local Authority Deputy Head 3. A respectful senior person Deputy Head 4. A teacher Member 5. Two focal persons Members Sustainability of the Project It is expected that the educated people will have two choices. They will find a job. They will create a job on their own. MONITORING - YSC will conduct monthly meetings to collect and share information from field volunteers and parents - The researchers will make field reports and send them to the project director and executive director. - Executive director and project director will follow up on site through observation and participation EVALUATION - Executive director and project director will collect data from the field reports, research and workshop reports, and the feedback meeting with the villagers. - The evaluation will be done based on the analysis of the collected data from the above-mentioned sources. Project Significance and Urgency The project will for sure contribute to the CMDG, set by the government to be accomplished by 2015. Literacy will enable the poor to move out of poverty.
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