OUR BRIGHT HOME

Supporting children in Cambodia through strengthening adoption and bottom-up interventions

390

children residing in slums or deprived areas reached by health and educational outreach services

200

children receive educational, medical and food assistance at CIFA and CIAI day care centers

180

Civil servants trained on the application of National Adoption legislation

Our Bright Home" aims to promote better care for Cambodian children in neglect or vulnerable situations through strengthening the national adoption system, direct center-based care, and outreach in difficult settings.

SUPPORT VULNERABLE CAMBODIAN CHILDREN

20,00 €
50,00 €
100,00 €
Other

BACKGROUND

THE SITUATION OF CHILDREN IN CAMBODIA: CHALLENGES AND STATISTICS

Cambodia is populated by about 16 million people, mainly ethnic Khmer (95%). Poverty affects 13.5 percent of the population (Cambodia Voluntary SDG Review, 2019). Among the nearly 6 million children, the birth registration rate required to access public schooling drops from 92 percent to 78 percent in Phnom Penh's slums. Despite the sharp reduction, many school-age children still work, especially in the slums, where the rate rises (in Phnom Penh's suburbs it reaches 40 percent) with slight male prevalence. Child labor is mostly employed in garbage collection, hospitality, fishing, agriculture, and industry.

Education is high in primary, but declines in secondary with a significant dropout rate. Specifically, in Phnom Penh, a dropout rate of 10.2 percent in primary, 12.3 percent in middle school, and 13.6 percent in high school is calculated. These children, who live within 277 vulnerable communities, are extremely exposed to risks such as drug and alcohol use, gang membership, problems with the law, and domestic violence.

OBJECTIVES

TACKLING JUVENILE NEGLECT AND VULNERABILITY IN CAMBODIA

Our Bright Home aims to provide assistance to Cambodian children in neglect or vulnerable situations through strengthening domestic adoption, improving center support, and in difficult settings. The project runs for 18 months and aims to reach about 180 civil servants and more than 550 children through:

the promotion of care alternatives and domestic adoption for children without a family;
the promotion of access to education for the most marginalized and vulnerable children, particularly those living in contexts affected by crisis or emergency;
the contribution to the development of child-friendly educational environments, suitable for supporting learning processes and promoting the psychosocial and emotional well-being and development of children.

HOW WE WORK

DUAL CHILD CARE: NATIONAL ADOPTION AND BOTTOM-UP INTERVENTIONS

TRAINING ON ADOPTION
, ACCOMODATION AND CHILD SUPPORT

Our Bright Home is a continuation and expansion of Our Bright Future, a CAI-supported project implemented by CIFA, CIAI, AIBI, and Aries in 2021-22 and is led by CIFA, with the participation of CIAI, NAAA, and local organizations Kumnit Kumar and TPO. The project aims to promote better care for Cambodian children in neglect or vulnerable situations by adopting a dual strategy of capacity building and bottom-up intervention.

With its institutional component, the project supports the Ministry of Social Affairs in inter-institutional coordination and training activities to improve and streamline the national adoption process to empower abandoned children to find a family within their country of birth. Through grassroots interventions, Our Bright Home implements a range of activities in the slums of Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville cities to promote access to education and provide mental health support. These interventions include the operation of childcare centers where vulnerable children can access education, meals, and medical care; outreach activities in the community to reach those children who escape the interventions of social services and other organizations; and through support for parents and children to improve parenting skills and resilience.

RESULTS

STRENGTHENING COMMUNITY RESILIENCE AND INSTITUTIONAL PROCESSES

The expected results of the project include a significant increase in the number of files of children in institutions "cleared for adoption," which currently stands at 4. We also aim to double the number of children benefiting from services offered by CIFA and CIAI, which currently stands at 240. Another goal is to maintain a school dropout rate below the national average for the children involved in the project, considering that the current dropout rate is 1 percent. In parallel, we plan to start at least 2 new training programs focusing on parenting and resilience, as none have been started at the moment.

Regarding specific activities: we are working to streamline the licensing process for the adoption of institutionalized children by training 180 civil servants. We want to improve the socio-educational conditions of 85 children in economically disadvantaged situations in the suburbs of Sihanoukville, enabling them to access food, educational and health services at Via del Campo. In addition, we will implement the Street to School Center as a participatory project, providing essential welfare services to 160 children residing in the disadvantaged community of Andong. We will provide educational materials and basic health care to 390 children who have dropped out of school and live in the slums of Phnom Penh. Finally, we are supporting 65 parents and children living in deprived areas, with the aim of strengthening their resilience and social and interpersonal skills.