In Cambodia, 15-29 year olds represent nearly 43% of the population. In remote areas of the country, access to quality schooling is still very limited and the drop-out rate is high among young people entering the labour market, many of whom are unskilled.
Promoting the reading, education, guidance and volunteering of young people in rural society remains our priority.
2021-2024: 3 years for Youth
In this context and based on experiences conducted for nearly 10 years in the field of libraries in secondary schools and youth volunteering in rural areas, a new three-year project "Employability and civic engagement of youth" was therefore launched in October 2021, co-financed by theAFD, to improve employment prospects and strengthen civic engagement of middle and high school students, 55% of whom are girls, in 36 rural communes in 14 provinces.
This new project aims to transform 16 high school libraries into multimedia Vocational Orientation Centers (VOC) equipped with a digital laboratory serving nearly 27,000 young people, to strengthen and expand the network of 23 Community Based Youth Organisations (CBOs) and to design new printed and digital tools for the personal development and guidance of young people for the socio-educational development of communities.
youth clubs / CBO
Sipar and its local community partner Youth Star have been working together since 2011 to promote volunteerism in the remote provinces of Kratie and Prey Veng. The activities carried out by the members of these Youth Clubs (Community Grassroots Youth Organisations – CBOs) aged 8 to 20, benefit hundreds of children and adults, contributing to education and community development as well as to the promotion of youth engagement and the values of solidarity and democracy at the local level.
Clubs implement different actions within their community:
- Itinerant reading activities thanks to the "backpack library": book loan service for children and villagers and animations around reading
- School support for primary school students in difficulty to prevent school dropout
- Awareness-raising campaigns among village dwellers on various themes
Orientation in high schools
Since 2019, Sipar has initiated the establishment of three pilot Libraries Orientation Corners (LCO) in secondary schools. The first was set up at Hun Sen Kraing Sramo High School (Kampong Chhnang). Since January 2022, 13 libraries with orientation spaces in 13 institutions (out of 16 planned) have been set up and put into operation.
The partnership withPasserelles numériques NGO allows the installation of a digital laboratory, the NomadLab, offering students digital supports for guidance and the strengthening of digital skills.
Career Forum
Sipar organizes "career forums", a day of meeting between high school students and institutions, universities, NGOs and professionals from multiple fields to allow them to share academic opportunities or career prospects!
In 2022, Sipar and the high schools organized 11 career forums with more than 5000 participants !
15
BCO with 600 members
37
backpack libraries
89
little teachers
30
micro-libraries in rural villages
1 350
beneficiaires of school support
«
My favorite activities are the backpack libraries and tutoring. Thanks to these activities, I have a lot improved my ability to work in a team, my flexibility and my research skills. That allows me to learn new skills useful for my studies. I really hope Sipar's team will keep onsupporting our activities in rural areas.
HENG Sam Oun, 18 ans,
president of Peam Muntea CBO, Prey Veng