Regions: Africa   Asia   Latin America


Name of Organization: Wathnakpheap (WP)

Country: Cambodia

Project Title: "Community-based education and skills training for children and youth at risk of trafficking and labor exploitation"

Project Timeframe: May 2005-April 2006

Location of Project: 31 villages in Krakor, Pursat province

Budget Amount: $60,522

NGO contact and website:
7, 3 St. 323 Boeung Kak 2, Tuol Kork
Phnom Penh Cambodia
Phone: +855-23-880854 / +855-1265-393
E-mail: wp@online.com.kh / wpdir@online.com.kh


Project's Primary Objective: Strengthen formal and transitional education systems that encourage working children and those at risk of working to attend school.

Description of Organization: Wathnakpheap (WP) is a non-political, non-religious, Cambodian NGO devoted to community empowerment, especially for girls and women, through the implementation of child rights. WP was formed from the Pestalozzi Children's Foundation, a Swiss international NGO, in 2002 as a local NGO. WP works in partnership with the government, as well as local and international organizations to strengthen local capacity. In its areas of operation, WP works through institutions established for development purposes at village and commune level. To date, it has worked towards the independent functioning of three local district organizations through its empowerment and capacity building strategies. It continuously builds networks with groups advocating for child rights, community development and localization issues such as NGO Education Partnership, NGO Committee on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and others.

Description of Project funded by CIRCLE: WP's CIRCLE project will initiate people-owned comprehensive development in order to reduce the risks to trafficking and labor exploitation of at-risk children in 31 rural villages of nine communes of Krakor District in Pursat Province. The project will promote non-formal education to enable children's access to public education, provide educational scholarship for girls and skills training for youth to reduce their vulnerability to trafficking for labor exploitation. The project will also incorporate awareness-raising activities on child labor and education for the Community Education Committee and Child Youth Clubs in the area.

At the end of the project, WP expects to see the following results:
  • 1,200 families with increased awareness of the importance of education
  • 600 at-risk children enrolled in community-based non-formal education and literacy classes
  • 150 children in non-formal programs move to public schools
  • 450 children get access to public schools through the Enrollment Campaign
  • 45 girls are given scholarships to secondary school
  • 93 youth enrolled in vocational training programs
  • A substantial increase in the number of functioning community-based education programs
Project Targets (Common Indicators):
Enrollment: 738 ( 600 in community-based non-formal program; 45 girls in secondary education; 93 in vocational course)
Persistence: 80% of those who complete education program
Transition: 150 in non-formal program move to public school
Completion: 90% of enrolled