Cambodian Childrens Fund

CCF aims to transform the country's most impoverished kids into tomorrow's leaders, by delivering education, family support and community development programs into the heart of Cambodia's most impoverished communities.

By investing in the health, education and well- being of impoverished children and youth, we are building the skills, confidence and integrity they need to become leaders of positive change in their communities.

We take a holistic, on-the-ground approach to developing integrated yet simple solutions to the complex issues of poverty. We work hand-in-hand with local families to deliver support programs, strengthen self-governance and grow safe, supportive communities where children can thrive.

Our mantra is that the suffering of these children ends with this generation. We believe that with the right education and support, one child has the potential to lift an entire family out of poverty and that a generation of educated children has the power to change a whole society. Through intensive, long-term investments in children, CCF is helping students build the skills, confidence and integrity they need to become the progressive leaders of change in their communities.

Our approach is based on a fundamental belief that education will provide children pathways out of poverty and that by developing the leadership potential of our students, leaders will emerge that will create generational change and a better future for Cambodia.

At CCF, the child is the nucleus of our programs, but the change sought is broader. We invest in each child’s development of a mindset of eagerness to use the skills they have developed to bring positive change into their communities. Such an undertaking requires a range of interdependent community services and programs, from clean water and nutrition to learning local values and history, to developing the skills and resources necessary to achieve independence. Our approach to poverty reduction and community development is based on three key principles:

1. Access to quality education for those who have fallen outside the public school generational cycle of poverty;

2. Removing the barriers to education, addressing urgent food, clean water and healthcare needs, and addressing issues such as domestic violence, to ensure that the access to quality education is most effective;

3. If children are to prosper, their families must be supported, so CCF spends a great deal of time and energy in creating a community environment around the children that is safe, caring and supportive. This environment in-tills pride, integrity and respect into community members.

CCF offers simple but innovative solutions to deal with the complex issues and deeply rooted challenges of poverty. It is consistently generating a path to higher education and employment for the poorest and most vulnerable of Cambodians by creating an environment where food security, housing and health care remove the most ingrained barriers to education. Merely creating classrooms was never going to be enough; children would soon be pressured to go back to work in order to support their struggling families.

In our approach to community development, CCF operates 64 inter-connected projects across six core program areas – Education, Leadership, Community Outreach, Healthcare, Childcare and Career & Life Skills. While not all programs are education-focused, each plays an essential part in ensuring children (once labeled “unreachable," by the public school system) and their families are prepared for and have access to the supports needed to support participation in a high-quality education.

CCF's talented team is made up of passionate and skilled individuals from all over the globe with diverse backgrounds, and along with the support of dedicated sponsors, donors and volunteers, the entire team is dedicated to ensuring CCF's programs are transforming lives.

CCF’s five international offices work diligently to encourage support of CCF’s mission across the globe.

More than 97% of CCF's 450 staff are Cambodian, many from the Steung Meanchey community, including local mothers who are hired and trained as childcare staff, and former CCF students who have graduated and seek employment with CCF in hopes of helping younger generations of students just as those older helped them.

Additionally, CCF has formal partnerships with numerous government ministries, local hospitals, medical clinics, schools, colleges, universities and other NGO's (Marie Stopes – Maternal Health, Pour un Sourire d'Enfant – vocational training, World Housing – secure accommodation, Reproductive Health Association Of Cambodia – healthcare check-ups for child victims of rape, Australian Centre for Education – English language training for staff and students, University of Nottingham) and more than 200 Phnom Penh businesses that provide internships and employment opportunities to CCF students. Additionally, international corporate partners such as Velcro Companies, Credit Suisse, GE, and Microsoft provide financial support while also providing critical capacity development, e.g. skilled employee volunteers, equipment, supplies and technical expertise.

Since 2004, we have successfully supported more than 2,900 Steung Meanchey children and over 8,000 family and community members with our poverty reduction model. Statistical data provided (2015) by the local authorities indicates there are 16 villages in Steung Meanchey. There are 11,930 families and a total population of 75,121 people. CCF operates in four of the poorest of these villages where there are 4,537 families and a total population of 26,898. CCF’s services are reaching 30% of the local population at various points of ground-level contact. As a model for replication, escalation of reach at 30% of the population in Cambodia alone could reach 600,000 of the 2.2m Cambodians living under the national poverty line.

In 2019, 16.7% of females in Cambodia aged 18-24 were enrolled in university. At the same time 76% of CCF females of that age were enrolled in university. CCF’s model intrinsically drives gender equality placing girls, young women, single mothers and grandmothers at the heart of the model, providing access to internationally recognized academic curricula and resources, maternal care, social housing and community and cultural services.

As of today, 7 CCF students (all female) have been successful in obtaining international university scholarships to study their undergraduate degree in Australia and France.

Of the first 210 students to join CCF, 88% are at university (22% going onto vocational training or being reintegrated with families prior to completing Grade 12 with CCF).

By 2020, a total of 94 students have graduated from University since the first year of graduation inauguration. Of the 12 graduated students in 2020, and 99% of these students are on employment.

According to the spread of COVID19, either international and local Robotic competition has been postponed, but CCF arranged the Internal Robotics competition held at NCA with senior and junior categories within 40 participants.

The introduction of a STEM curriculum coincides with CCF’s long term strategy to improve the quality of education. The NCA will be the flagship of CCF’s STEM curriculum where hands-on, experiential classes will be taught. This advanced learning center also focuses on teacher training of CCF teachers as well as educators from the whole country, essential to build capacity so teachers have the skills to produce quality education for all Cambodian children. The NCA offers a real opportunity to effectively enhance Cambodia’s education quality across all levels, from primary to graduate school.