For more than 10 years, the Amanjaya Foundation has supported Sipar's “Mobile Libraries” program, which aims to bring books and encourage reading habits, while spreading key messages, to isolated communities in Cambodia.

Born in 2000, the mobiles libraries program now has 11 vehicles (7 vans, 2 boats, and 2 tuk-tuks). They travel to more than a hundred different locations on the roads and waterways of seven provinces in Cambodia and the suburbs of Phnom Penh to bring books to disadvantaged people. The lack of infrastructure, such as public libraries, deprives communities in suburban areas and rural areas of access to books.

For more than four years, the Amanjaya Foundation supported the boat library project on Tonlé Sap, the largest lake in Southeast Asia. Today, the sites formerly served by the boat are completely self-sufficient, and all activities have been taken over by the local community. Sipar has set up micro-libraries there, each with hundreds of books, which are managed directly by local volunteers. While they are initially beneficiaries, children and adults gradually become actors and then leaders of the project. Empowering communities is at the heart of Sipar's DNA.

 The boat library now serves new floating villages in another commune on the Tonlé Sap.

"The Amanjaya Foundation is delighted to have been supporting Sipar for many years in the deployment of mobile libraries in Cambodia. Access to reading is always a fundamental step in accessing education, even more so in a rapidly changing world where traditional learning methods are quickly proving insufficient. Amanjaya appreciates the expertise and pragmatism that enable Sipar, in the midst of these changes, to find relevant and effective responses to a wide variety of situations." tells Alain Goyé, founder of Amanjaya Foundation.  

In addition to storytelling activities, free reading, and borrowing books to take home, the librarian-educators of the Sipar team offer academic support and awareness sessions on a variety of topics.

Among the most discussed topics:

• The environment: the importance of protecting it and how to do so, learning about Cambodia's biodiversity and its importance, raising awareness about plastic use, waste collection, recycling, etc.
• Science: science, technology, arts, mathematics, engineering... So many topics to help children discover the often impressive world of science, thanks to specially adapted educational materials.
• Health and nutrition: contribute to improving the health, hygiene and nutrition of children and adults for optimal development
• Road safety: raising awareness of road safety and wearing a helmet.

In a regional and international context marked by crises and uncertainty, Sipar continues its commitment to education and reading in Cambodia. Faced with humanitarian emergencies, fragile funding, and persistent challenges, Sipar remains committed to providing learning opportunities and hope to the most vulnerable children and communities.

Despite the signing of a ceasefire, tensions between Cambodia and Thailand remain high. Given the human consequences of this conflict, dialogue and respect for international law are more necessary than ever.

It is in this climate of instability that Sipar reaffirms its mission: to make reading and education essential levers of development and resilience for the most vulnerable populations.

Faced with this emergency, teams in Phnom Penh quickly mobilized. Drawing on its mobile library in the Siem Reap region, Sipar exceptionally suspended its usual activities to assist displaced populations, thereby ensuring that children had access to spaces for reading, learning, and support.

After a temporary closure of five of the high schools participating in our youth empowerment program, schools have now reopened. Throughout this period, our teams have remained in close contact with teachers and students to prevent school dropouts.

Beyond providing access to books, these initiatives help to rebuild reference points, support the well-being of children and young people, and preserve their fundamental right to education, even in crisis situations. They fully embody Sipar's purpose: to make reading a refuge and a tool for hope.

Beyond the border conflict, cuts in official development assistance are jeopardizing the future of many programs at the start of 2026. In response to this situation, Sipar's board of directors and management team are fully committed to diversifying our funding sources.

This strategy is essential to strengthen the relevance of our interventions and ensure, over the long term, high-quality support for those who need it most.

Today more than ever, your support is essential. Every donation helps to maintain and develop concrete actions: mobile libraries, access to books, educational support, and assistance for children affected by conflict.

By donating to Sipar, you are directly contributing to providing children in Cambodia with spaces for reading, learning, and hope. Together, let's make reading a real springboard for the future.

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Close to the capital, makeshift dwellings have proliferated since the COVID-19 crisis. Job losses, the search for a better life, rising debt, and climate change are forcing Cambodians to leave rural areas. They settle near Phnom Penh, in one of the 191 slums identified to date. While the majority of children continue to attend primary school, school dropout rates are high and the transition to secondary school is a challenge.

Families live in very difficult circumstances, in precarious sanitary conditions. Children are the first victims and need support with their schooling to ensure they grow and develop in the best possible conditions.

By promoting books as a tool for academic and personal development, Sipar encourages literacy and the establishment of reading habits from an early age. We give children in slums the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in life.

As with all of its programs, Sipar will install micro-libraries at each site, managed by volunteers. By directly involving the local population in the project, this ensures the project's sustainability and relatively rapid autonomy, enabling the tuk-tuk to serve other slums in need in the future.

Drawing on his past experience in slums, Sipar travels weekly in the library tuk-tuk to eight new sites selected in consultation with local authorities. Since February 2025, Sipar has already offered weekly reading sessions to more than 340 children and provides 1,200 fiction and non-fiction books as well as educational games created by our teams.

The librarian-educators offer two-hour sessions that include storytelling, free reading time, educational and creative activities to support learning for those who need it, and a book lending service. Each child is personally monitored by our librarian-educators to adapt to each child's individual needs and support them in their academic success.

The goal is for each child to read two to three books per month and see an improvement in their academic performance.

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A big thank you to the Magic Libraries Foundation for its commitment to educating the most vulnerable. Discover the other aspect of this partnership: a project to promote reading in hospitals, also in collaboration with Magic Libraries, by clicking here. 

*Magic Libraries Foundation is a Swiss foundation whose objectives include promoting the enjoyment of reading and literacy through reading.

There was no library in Dei Roneat before the arrival of the boat library. Only a poorly equipped primary school. Now, the boat library, equipped with 900 books and hundreds of educational games, is introducing reading to the 250 families living in the village on the water.

Docking near primary schools and community centers, our librarian-educators offer children (and everyone else) storytelling sessions, academic support, and a book lending service. The boat has been very well received, with an average of 180 children participating in the sessions. For many, it is their first encounter with books outside of school textbooks.

The village of Dei Roneat faces alarming challenges in terms of access to secondary education. The lack of a nearby middle school and logistical constraints force the majority of children to drop out of school after primary school.

To address this shortcoming, Sipar, in partnership with UNESCO and the Ministry of Education (MoYESof Cambodia, offers 15 young people from the village the opportunity to take part in the BEEP programme. It is a recognized middle school equivalency program that can be completed remotely using servers that allow tablets to be used offline. With limited internet access in the village, it was previously impossible for students wishing to continue their education after primary school to take online courses. The courses will be taught by our librarian-educators, who have been trained by the MoYES digital technology department.

This alternative and free education allows young people to obtain a middle school diploma without having to leave their village and their families. Thanks to a strong local partnership, every child now has the right to education in Dei Roneat.

Newly recruited, the new librarian-educator at the boat library firmly believes in the power of education. Originally from the village of Dei Roneat, Chandy is well aware of the obstacles children face in continuing their education beyond primary school. She grew up in a poor fishing family whose survival depended entirely on aquatic resources. In her community, many children drop out of school to help their families.

To continue her studies, Chandy had to move to another province, which brought its own set of challenges: finding accommodation, adapting to a new lifestyle far from home and on land, at her grandmother's house in Siem Reap province. After graduating last October, she successfully applied for the job advertised by Sipar in the community. Chandy is determined to lead the way for the young people of the village and support them in overcoming the challenges of growing up and living in the remote floating village of Dei Roneat.

She is assisted by the village teacher, who volunteered to accompany her on her missions. Two motivated librarians who are convinced that education is the key.

 

Useful links: 

Discover the mobile libraries program

Read our article on the second library boat in Phat Sanday