With organisations

Collaborating at the local level

Cooperation with local NGOs in particular, has smoothed the process of taking children into care and offering young people different types of vocational training. Among the groups that Krousar Thmey collaborates with are Mith Samlanh (a programme run by Friends International) and the local organisation Vulnerable Children Assistance Organisation (VCAO), which offers young people the opportunity to sign up to courses in such fields as mechanics, make-up training or dressmaking.

Field teams participate in various networks of organisations and in initiatives that foster enhanced consistency and complementarity of activities. For instance, the Krousar Thmey team is involved within the NGO Committee on the Rights of the Child (NGOCRC) to strive together for the protection of children’s rights as defined by the United Nations. Work within the Child Welfare Group (CWG), an umbrella body of around forty local NGOs, is another example of the foundation’s local collaboration. Its objective, in this instance, is to coordinate activities and share information, in order to provide better hands-on support to children in need.

Regional and international collaborations

In the context of regional and international cooperation, Krousar Thmey bolsters the capabilities of its staff and facilitates exchange of experience by encouraging team members to participate in training and workshops abroad every year. Thus, training placements have already been arranged in neighbouring countries as well as in Bangladesh and in India, in particular.

In order to safeguard the health of the children in our care, medical examinations are organised every year by European specialists who come to the various centres to monitor the children over the long term. Of particular note is the work done by the Fred Hollows Foundation, which offers check-ups and regular eye care for our partially-sighted children. Equally active is the association “Enfants Sourds du Cambodge” (Deaf Children of Cambodia), whose members are hearing aid specialists, ENT specialists and French chemists, who since2001 have been coming regularly to Krousar Thmey’s schools for deaf children. Its main goals are to assess the hearing of young people who are deaf or hearing-impaired, adapt hearing aids to the needs of each child, and monitor the actions undertaken.

Other partners support Krousar Thmey financially: Foundation Dark & Light, Aide et action, Terre des Hommes Netherlands, the Johnson Foundation, the Pro Victimis Foundation, and the Fondation de l’Orangerie are other examples of contributors to our field programmes. All of them contribute to the sustainability of our projects (see the respective shares of our various donors in 2009).