Project Summary
Many children in Cambodia are forced to drop out of school in order to support their families. But if a sponsor were found to match the income that the child would be able to learn, they would be able to remain in school. All it takes is $25 a month to change child's life.
Project Details
There are many non-governmental organizations (NGO) operating in Cambodia that provide full or supplemental education for the children. These NGOs work at the ground level; they know the children and the families that are in this situation and they know how to connect with them. They are in the position identify and direct funds to the kids that are truly in need of assistance. Sustainable Cambodia (www.sustainablecambodia.org), the NGO that I worked for last semester, is just one example of one of these educational NGOs.
The purpose of Give Education will be to provide a way for the educational NGOs to present these students and their situation to the world through a website. In other words, the Give Education website will connect people that want to give with the children in need. In order to get the funding, the NGOs will work with the student and family to explain their situation, provide with pictures and messages from the student, and the amount required to keep them in school. This information will be shared online through the Give Education website, where donors can choose to support any of the students featured. Once a donor is providing support to a student, the NGOs will be encouraged to provide frequent updates from the student to keep the donor engaged. When people get to read the individual stories of the children, choose a child to support and follow the progress of that child, they will be likely to continue to support that child until the child graduates. The donor will also be likely to share their experience with others through social media.
An example of this type of website is www.Kiva.org. Kiva provides a similar service, connecting people in the Western world to NGOs in developing countries, but instead of focusing on education it connects philanthropists to micro-finance NGOs.
The Social Problem
According to UNICEF, about 85% of primary school aged Cambodian children attend primary school. But this number drops 50% from primary school to secondary school; only 35% of secondary aged school Cambodian children attend secondary school.
Why is this? As children get older their ability to help their family by bringing in additional income increases, and children are forced to work instead of attend school. While this might help a family put food on the table that night, ultimately it only perpetuates the circle of poverty. Education is a child's only way out of poverty, and it is slipping away from them.
The Anticipated Impact
The impact of Give Education is simple, to give education to children who would otherwise be unable to afford it.
Looking at Kiva as an example, they experienced rapid growth, surpassing 250,000 users in less than four years. And now, less than twelve years after their startup, there are well over 2 million users on Kiva.
The impact of helping just one child stay in school until graduation is priceless. Give Education will enable many kids to stay in school, breaking the cycle of poverty and improving the educational system in Cambodia.
Grant Allocation
In order to make Give Education a reality, three major projects must be accomplished. The first is to create a website, this will require a web developer and a hosting site. Funding will be required for the website development and hosting. I hope to work with another Wesleyan student who has experience in this field. As this will be the most expensive project, I am hoping to allocate $2,500, or more, to the development and hosting of the website.
The second is to find and connect with NGOs in Cambodia. This will require about two months of travel in Cambodia, which will cost approximately $1,500. This is the part that I will do. After spending four months in Cambodia working with NGOs and schools there, I have gained an understanding of the people, the culture, and the education system that is necessary to find the children that need help and to make the connections with the NGOs.
The third is promotion. In order for Give Education to succeed it needs to reach as many people as possible. To market and publicize Give Education, again, I hope to work with another Wesleyan student who has experience with this. By doing so they would receive a portion of the funds, probably about $500.
Your Competitors
This is a massive problem, as a result there are many people who are actively aware of it. There are currently 3,500 non government organizations (NGOs) in Cambodia, that is one NGO for every 10,000 Cambodians. Yet progress in this beautiful, but struggling country is painfully slow. Clearly the problem is not the number of NGOs, the problem is the lack of unity and awareness. The problems that Cambodia faces will not be solved by individuals and individual organizations working in different ways in different parts of the country.
Give Education is different. Its approach is to unify and to promote existing NGOs through the individual student. Give Education aims to connect people in America to Cambodian NGOs and to the children they support. Through doing this Give Education will both promote the NGOs and bring them funding in a sense, as well as working to unite various NGOs under a single cause. In other words it will work to improve what already exists.
Budget Breakdown (optional)
Team Members
Name: Hannah Brigham
Email: hbrigham@wesleyan.edu
Major: Chemistry and Environmental Studies
Class: 2017
I took this past semester off of school to work for a NGO in Cambodia called Sustainable Cambodia. At Sustainable Cambodia I worked as a teacher, teaching English, science, and waste management. Throughout my four months there I met the children that Give Education hopes to help, children who can no longer attend school because their families cannot afford to not have them work. I gained an understanding of the culture and the educational system that were both the motivation for Give Education and will be crucial for its success.
I cannot describe the incredibly profound impact this experience had on me. It made me realize how incredibly lucky I am to have the opportunity just to complete my education, let alone do it at Wesleyan and do it in a relatively carefree manner. So, I have decided to use my education to give others the opportunity to have one as well. I am determined to find a way to give the children I met the opportunity to learn, to get an education, to find a job, and to pull themselves and their families out of poverty.
