Working for gender equality in Cambodia

This past January, our team of 6 departed for Cambodia on a 21-day trip of adventure travel, project work, and cultural immersion. We spent 10 days in Siem Reap, working with the Ponheary Ly Foundation (PLF) and the Women’s Resource Center (WRC), and exploring the vast wonders of Cambodian culture. Beginning with an orientation from Vanthat with the WRC, we had a full day learning about their workshops and outreach programs, and then went with the PLF to one of the schools they support in Kohker village - about 3 hours from Siem Reap - to give 162 (or so) students lunch as well as new backpacks for the school year. In total, we had three full days of demolition clearing and site preparation at the WRC, followed by two days spent priming, painting, and decorating for the weekend community gathering.

Each of our partners have critical, holistic programs for women and girls who have, in many cases, experienced some form of gender violence. The WRC is a comprehensive system of social work, education, and community-building, and provides women around Siem Reap with emotional support, counseling, and referral services. They offer both in-center programs (on women’s health, women’s rights, gender roles, positive parenting, youth development, and financial literacy) as well as community outreach workshops in surrounding villages. This past year, they have supported over 1,200 community members through more than 40 workshops and outreach sessions and related counseling services. We are currently working with them on developing their childcare program and expanding their outreach impact through ambassador programs that will leverage a collaborative approach with community leaders for deeper integration with the rural communities. 

The PLF provides a comprehensive education program that supports bright students in remote areas by giving them access to primary, secondary, and now university schooling. The PLF currently supports 61 university and vocational training students, 52 of which are female, and has seen 27 students graduate college. They operate seven computer labs, one for each of their facilities, and assist over 2,000 students living in the countryside. We are currently assisting their staff in building out programs related to their girl’s program, as well as their secondary programs to provide young rural Cambodian students with the opportunity to attend career fairs, hear guest speakers in relevant fields to their interests, and interact with Cambodian university students as part of a growing need for mentorship and alumni engagement. 

As an organization, our primary community is other, small grassroots organizations that are under the radar of bigger, national foundations and nonprofits. We vet our partners and cultivate relationships with them, ultimately providing the resources they need to do their vital community work. Our model is to research and relationship-build with 1-2 organizations at a time in a lower-income country; discover what needs-based projects they operate in their community and how we can help expand their existing impact for women and girls; collaborate on a project together; and then plan a volunteer trip around each project. We recruit volunteers to work with us to raise funds for our projects. As part of the volunteer journey, we plan an international trip that includes project work (a small portion of the project, usually non-essential or supplemental labor), cultural activities and immersion, and adventure travel. Following our project trip, our in-country partners keep in contact with us regarding needs their organization has relative to the project, and our mutual interests of women’s empowerment.

Moving forward, our work will be figuring out how the best way of partnering with different for profits and nonprofits so we can continue to research, support critical international grassroots organizations that work deep in their communities, and provide them with much-needed support. Our long-term goal as an organization is to build a portfolio of small grassroots organizations working for women’s empowerment in their respective communities, and to connect them in meaningful ways to each other, to our generous donors back home, and to our volunteer workers. Each group represents a stakeholder in our growing coalition, and we seek to bridge the relational gaps that would otherwise separate them. Besides creating avenues of sustainable development, we want to create meaningful channels of philanthropy for individuals who want to take real action in solving one of the world’s biggest challenges: gender inequality, and everything that stems from it. 

What really drives us is to be the change we wish to see; and we know change begins by finding people embedded in their communities who have been dedicated to improving them for years. We invite you all to watch our video, learn more about our projects, and work with us to achieve our mutual vision of women’s and girl’s empowerment!

Thanks for reading :) 

Oh, and if you'd like to learn more about what we do, below are links to our website and Facebook!

https://wecoalition.org

https://www.facebook.com/wecoalition/