Cambodian Children's Fund

Cambodian Children's Fund

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Founded	2004
Founder	Scott Neeson
Type	Non-governmental organization
Location	Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Area served	Cambodia
Mission	Transforming Cambodia's most impoverished kids into tomorrow's leaders.
Website	cambodianchildrensfund.org

Cambodian Children's Fund (CCF) was founded in 2004 by Scott Neeson to aid the most impoverished of Cambodia’s children. Initially developed to provide a safe haven for 45 children in critical need, CCF now provides award-winning education to more than 2,400 children and through its community outreach, healthcare, childcare and vocational training programs serves over 12,000 people in Steung Meanchey, one of Phnom Penh’s most impoverished areas, with thousands more accessing various CCF services in underserved rural regions of Cambodia.

Origins

Founder Scott Neeson, a Hollywood film executive, was on a brief sabbatical in South East Asia in 2003 when he first visited the Steung Meanchey landfill in Phnom Penh. Hundreds of children – some of them abandoned or orphaned – lived and worked on the dump, sorting through the garbage to make less than $1 a day. Families struggled to get by, often incurring debts just to pay for basic living costs. Stunned by the poverty and inspired by the courage of the families and children at the dump, Neeson planned to get 45 children into an education program while splitting time in Cambodia with work in Hollywood. In 2004 he left his job, founded CCF and moved to Cambodia full-time.

CCF now provides education to over 2,400 children from the area. Nearly two-thirds of these children once lived and worked atop the Steung Meanchey garbage dump and almost 60 percent are young girls. The dump was relocated in 2009, but the families remain and many continue to rely on garbage scavenging as a means of survival, now wheeling their carts into the city each day or night.

CCF provides comprehensive care for these families and others from underserved rural regions of Cambodia through six interconnected programs: Education, Leadership, Community Outreach, Healthcare, Childcare and Vocational Training.

CCF also partners with other organisations to provide further services. The Child Protection Unit is a joint venture between CCF and the Cambodian National Police. World Housing is the world’s first one-for-one real estate gifting model and CCF is their “partner on the ground” in Cambodia.

Mission

CCF’s mission is to turn the country’s most impoverished kids into tomorrow’s leaders. At the core of CCF’s approach is the belief that providing access to education for children once thought unreachable will provide generational change and lift whole families out of poverty. However CCF’s programs go beyond education and schools, to provide the essential services to the community that make learning possible. CCF believes that all benefits provided should be part of a path to independence. Helping parents lift themselves from poverty through a variety of programs — while ensuring that their children have access to education — provides for the greater good and alleviates the burdens of the child.

Programs and Partnerships

CCF operates over 60 programs across the six program pillars: Education, Leadership, Community Outreach, Healthcare, Childcare and Vocational Training. CCF works with families to build plans for educating their children, escaping debt and developing job skills for parents and older children - working at the grassroots level to develop integrated, simple solutions to the complex issues of poverty.

Education

CCF offers an education program to more than 2,400 students across 14 educational facilities within the Steung Meanchey area of Phnom Penh, including 6 satellite schools. All students are integrated into public school, while also attending a CCF school to supplement their education. Many of the children enrolled at CCF are entering school for the first time after missing years of education, so a special curriculum is offered that allows them to catch up by covering two years of material in one year. In 2014 the overall public school pass rate for CCF students was 94% and the Year 12 graduation rate was well above the national average with 79% of high school graduates going on to local universities.

High-quality education is the backbone of CCF’s work, but the organisation believes that the best way to help make education possible for the children and lift people out of poverty is to work with entire families and not just the children. Under the six program pillars: Education, Leadership, Community Outreach, Healthcare, Childcare and Vocational Training, CCF offers over 60 individual programs to help families, such as debt alleviation and a free medical clinic. By alleviating those burdens, families have the freedom to enroll their kids in school and ensure they attend.

Childcare

In many cases, parents work all day, leaving their children unattended or at night take their children with them into the city to scavenge for recyclables. CCF runs a day care, nursery and night-time drop-in centre that provides a safe place for the children to play and learn or just sleep, as well as nutritional nourishment. Curriculum for the toddlers includes lessons in English, Khmer, hygiene and social values.

Some children suffer from abusive parents or malnourishment. In extreme cases of parental neglect, in-facility childcare within one of CCF’s residential units protects children from dangerous situations. CCF is focused on keeping families together, the majority of children enrolled with CCF live full-time with their parents, grandparents or other family members. Some live in residential facilities returning home to family on weekends or less regularly if home is further away. Only a small percentage of CCF students actually live full-time within residential facilities. CCF continues to work with the parents to address the family's problems and see how we can make real changes to their whole lives with the hope that eventually the child can once again live at home.

Health Care

In Cambodia, a health problem can spell disaster for a poor family. Already struggling to make ends meet, a trip to the doctor, or worse, a stay in hospital, can plunge a family into debt for a lifetime.

CCF operates a medical clinic providing free consultations, health treatment and medicine to approximately 3,000 patients a month made up of students, their families and community members. Hospital referrals and additional support are arranged as necessary. CCF also has a dental clinic and runs a Critical Nutrition Program.

When children first arrive at CCF, they are given a complete physical examination, immunizations, dental check and treatment for any pre-existing medical conditions. A maternal care program provides support to expecting mothers. As at the end of 2014, almost 800 children have been born through the Maternal Care Program with no maternal fatalities.

Community Outreach

CCF’s Community Outreach services cater for student’s families and extended communities, from poor, ill adults to the old and vulnerable, providing all basic needs ranging from food and fresh water to family assistance, counselling and advocacy.

The Community Outreach Program has trained counselors working to reduce domestic violence. Small Business Help Loans offers the means for budding entrepreneurs to launch a business. Community loans help families burdened with debt. Several programs, including free and subsidised rice, ensure that families are fed nutritious meals.

The unique Granny Program ensures that the elderly women of the community, as well as elderly men, - all of whom survived the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge - receive the care they need. The program is administered by students enrolled in the youth leadership program. These students are dedicated to making house calls to check up on the grannies and providing them with essentials and in return the grannies teach them about Khmer culture.

Vocational Training

As older students near the end of their CCF and public schooling, some opt to continue their studies for future enrollment at local universities, while others opt for vocational training. It is CCF’s aim to provide all its students with access to a university education, and if students do not attend university they are provided with vocational training options including include garment design and tailoring, childcare and administrative skills.

Child Protection Unit

The Child Protection Unit is a joint venture between CCF and the Cambodian National Police that brings child abusers to justice while protecting victims. Since the CPU began operating in July 2013 it has investigated 364 cases of serious child abuse, child rape and homicide with 86% resulting in an arrest and almost all resulting in a conviction. In July 2014, the CPU was credited for the high profile arrest of a school director accused of giving pedophiles access to children in his care.

The three key goals of the CPU are to: increase the arrest rate through close participation with the Cambodian National Police; build the capacity of the local police to ensure a high standard of investigative practices; and minimize trauma for victims from first point of contact to post-trauma care.

World Housing

World Housing is the world’s first one-for-one real estate gifting model, a Canadian-based social venture “conceived and created to provide housing to the most disadvantaged people on earth: families subsisting in garbage dumps”. CCF is World Housing’s “partner on the ground” in Cambodia, and the evolving partnership has been, and continues to be, an important factor in World Housing’s success around the globe.

As at July 2015 over 300 World Housing homes have been built for CCF families within the Steung Meanchey area. Each house is 13m², insulated, solar powered and built raised above the ground in traditional Khmer (Cambodian) style, with a concrete pad below. A CCF family is eligible for a World Housing home provided they show a commitment to their children’s education, provide a safe home life and agree to prevent their children from undertaking paid labour.

Awards

In 2007, Quincy Jones awarded CCF founder Scott Neeson the inaugural Harvard School of Public Health “Q Prize” in recognition of his extraordinary leadership in advocacy for children through CCF, calling Neeson’s “selfless, remarkable commitment to the children of Cambodia." In the same year, CCF received the Rex Foundation Bill Graham award for creating a sanctuary for Cambodian children to thrive, learn and grow.

In July 2008, Neeson was awarded the Peace Award by the non-profit organisation Ambassadors for Children, for his devotion to serving the disadvantaged, abused, and abandoned children of Cambodia.

Neeson was honored with the Ahimsa Award in 2012, presented annually at the House of Commons to an individual who embodies non-violence and compassion. Previous Ahisma recipients include Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama. Years later, Neeson had the honor of sharing his journey in the presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama at an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce (WA) event in Perth.

CCF received a 2012 WISE Award, recognising its transformative impact on education and society. The WISE Awards identify, showcase and promote six innovative educational projects each year.

Neeson was selected as a South Australian finalist in the 2013 Australian of the Year Awards.

In 2014, Neeson was a finalist for Rotary International's The One humanitarian award and the recipient of the Standing for Something award, presented by the Church of the Latter Day Saints in recognition of "the powerful contribution that he has made to those in need".

In 2014, CCF was the number one education charity on charity review site Great Non-Profits. The same year Charity Navigator awarded CCF a perfect “four star” rating for both financial performance and transparency. In 2015 CCF’s overall Charity Navigator rating increased to 99.05%, with 100% for accountability and transparency.

External links

• Cambodian Children's Fund
• "Streets With No Names". Australian Broadcasting Corporation, "Australian Story" episode broadcast April 16, 2012