About This Life Cambodia

 
 

This Life Cambodia:   is  focused  on  developing  educational programs that directly benefit the lives of children and their communities in rural Cambodia. We believe that every child has the right to free, high-quality education.  Education enables children to develop the essential skills needed to make positive changes in their lives, and break free from poverty. Without an education, a child is immediately disadvantaged and far less likely to achieve their true potential. Our strategy is to improve the quality of life for underserved and  vulnerable  groups  in  Cambodia. Please  click  on the  link: WHY EDUCATE CAMBODIA



The Mission of This Life Cambodia is:


  1. •    To assist grassroots organisatons in developing projects in an ecologically sensitive and socially just manner;


  1. •    To implement and coordinate community development and educational programs in various rural areas of Cambodia;


  1. •    To facilitate people-centered learning through supporting community-based and individual educational programs with an emphasis on human rights, social and environmental issues;



Where We Work:


Cambodia has a population of nearly 14 million and is situated in the South East Asian Mekong region, bordered by Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. This country has been at the center of war, oppression and desperate poverty for three decades, and is still recovering from the genocide of the Pol Pot regime and the bloody civil war that followed. An estimated 1.7 million people died from execution, forced hardships, and starvation during this time.  Subsequent years of neglect to the social services sector has also forced Cambodia into poverty.  Cambodians are among the poorest people in the world with per capita annual incomes of under US $300. 40% of the population is living on less than $1 per day. Approximately 85% of Cambodia’s population lives in rural areas where access to basic services is almost non-existent. Corruption in Cambodia is endemic, with every level of bureaucracy including teachers accepting or expecting bribes for their services. View article on Corruption and Bribing in Education. Please click on the following link: CAMBODIA FACING UNEDUCATED FUTURE




Full Name:  Kingdom of Cambodia


Land Area (sq km):    181,035


Population Size:    13,995,904            


Population Density:    77.73


Year of Independence:    1953


Age Structure:               


0-14 years: 38.8%

0-24 years: 60.4%

0-34 years: 72.3%


Ethnic Groups:  Khmer 95%, other 5%


Languages:  Khmer (official) 95%, English, French


Religion: Theravada Buddhist 95%, other 5%



How We Do It:


This Life Cambodia is based in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We work directly with established grassroots non-governmental rural organisations, providing them with technical advice, direction, training and community development funding. We also run our own projects. Our educational and  development projects are backed by experience and our research is thorough and constructive. We believe in building alternative futures free of poverty, founded on experience and on community-level capacity. In this respect we are innovative and creative. We have adopted the Think Globally, Act Locally concept when undertaking projects. This Life Cambodia is committed to delivering 100% of donor funding directly to the selected project or program of their choice.



Think Globally, Act Locally:


Think Globally, Act Locally refers to the argument that global environmental problems can turn into action only by considering ecological, economic, and cultural differences of our local surroundings. This phrase was originated by Rene Dubos as an advisor to the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972. In 1979, Dubos suggested that ecological consciousness should begin at home. He believed that there needed to be a creation of a World Order in which ‘natural and social units maintain or recapture their identity, yet interplay with each other through a rich system of communications’. In the 1980's, Dubos held to his thoughts on acting locally, and felt that issues involving the environment must be dealt with in their ‘unique physical, climatic, and cultural contexts’.


Eblen, R. A. and Eblen W. (1994) The Encyclopedia of the Environment Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.