Sponsor Cambodian graduates, help their community!

A big thank you to all of our Globalgiving donors. Your donations will help make a lasting difference to our volunteers and the Cambodian communities in which they serve.

 Many of our volunteers have limited experience of life in rural Cambodia, which is why we take such care in training them to understand and respect the communities in which they are placed and support them while they are there. Our experience is that these communities welcome our volunteers and appreciate the educational assistance, youth development and specific projects they undertake. Our volunteers develop skills and social awareness that will benefit them for the rest of their lives.

To date our Youth Star volunteers have worked in four Cambodian provinces and our aim over time is to expand our program further into these and other provinces. In 2014 we expect to have 20 volunteers out in the field working on diverse projects of great importance to these communities.

It costs Youth Star $3,000 to place each volunteer living in the community for 12 months. These costs include training, support, a small stipend for the volunteer and materials assisting them in their project. Your donations will help make these 2014 volunteer placements possible and I’m looking forward to keeping you updated on how our Youth Star projects develop throughout the year.

Last weekend (7-8 December) two Youth Star volunteers each led two campaigns: 'We are Good Men', supported by Paz Y Desarrollo, and '16 days of Activism against Gender Violence', supported by UN Women. The campaigns were in Kampong Thom province where both volunteers are based. Four hundred people in the local communities participated in these campaigns to raise awareness about violence against women and girls. Participants of the ‘Good Men’ campaign were dressed in white T-shirts and supporters of the ‘Gender Violence’ campaign in orange T-shirts.