By Sarah Reynolds | UK Country Manager
The new academic year started in Cambodia in November 2019 and we wanted to give you a quick update on what is happening with our Conditional Cash Payments programme in Angkor Thom district this year.
We successfully transferred 15 students (7 girls) onto the Ministry of Education scholarship programme when they were promoted to Grade 4 at the beginning of this year. This means that they will continue to be supported in a sustainable way, and this will help to ensure that they will continue to attend school regularly.
Meanwhile, our focus remains on children in Grades 1-3 (6 - 9 year olds). The aim of our programme is to ensure that children from low-income families have equal access to education. We want to remove the barriers that might prevent them from going to school so that they are able to learn during these important, formative years of their education.
This year, we are supporting 41 children (22 boys and 19 girls) from 3 different schools in the Angkor Thom district. At the end of November, we provided the first Conditional Cash Payment to their families and reiterated the conditions of the programme: some of the money must be spent on school uniforms and required school books; children must attend school over 80% of the time in order to remain on the programme; children will be supported when their families are classified as ID Poor 1 or 2 by the government (earning less than $1.50 per day).
We stay in close contact with our beneficiaries on this programme and in December, it was unfortunate that 7 of the children caught dengue fever. This has been particularly prevalent in Cambodia over the past 8-10 months and it can be fatal if not treated. We supported the children and their families and encouraged them to seek medical help. Five of the children went to their local health centres and received adequate treatment there. Two of the children were showing more serious symptoms and therefore we helped their families to take them to the children's hospital in Siem Reap. This can be a big burden for families with very low incomes, so we provided financial assistance to cover transport to the hospital and a small food allowance. With this support, and prompt medical assistance, all seven of the children are now healthy again and attending school as normal.
It is as a result of the Conditional Cash Payments programme that we are able to offer support to children and their families if they become ill. We are alerted if a child misses school for two consecutive days and together with the School Principal, we contact the family to find out the reasons behind that absence and what we can do to help.
Thank you so much for supporting SeeBeyondBorders and for enabling us to continue important programmes like this one in Angkor Thom.
Change Begins With Education.
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
