FAMILY EMPOWERMENT

Family empowerment is key to the holistic and sustainable transformation of rural communities in Cambodia. No community can develop and prosper without adequate knowledge and resources. Educating rural communities means to empower them to live in equality and peace, and AOC is investing to help them to build their own communities. In rural communities of Cambodia, poor families lack basic knowledge such as: health care, lifestyle, migration, child marriage, and other key issues. In particular, women and girls need a lot of education and knowledge to help them confidently lead their families and communities.

AOC’s Family Empowerment Project (FEP) strives to transform lives, and restore dignity and fullness of life to those caught in the vicious cycle of poverty. The four key programs in the FEP project include:

Women’s Development Groups: a focus on forming separate groups of at least 15 women for education on a variety of topics; distributing sanitation packs; empowering these women to become advocates of change within their villages.
Days for Girls: empowering girls aged 12-14 years through women’s health, domestic violence, and human trafficking awareness training. Feminine hygiene kits are distributed to each participant.
Anti-Human Trafficking Awareness Training: targeting local government, police, village authorities, and villagers to bring awareness and accountability, reducing the number of people trafficked. See more below.
Community-Based Savings Groups: aimed at providing a safe, sustainable means for group members to both save and borrow money so they have the opportunity to increase their annual household income and have an increased standard of living.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING PREVENTION:

AOC partners with a key organization in Cambodia called Chab Dai, which provides anti-human trafficking awareness programs. AOC offers these programs to a broad range of society members, including local government authorities, police officers, and community leaders. This aspect of the FEP is linked in at all levels with the aim to bring education and accountability to the people who should be most aware and responsible for preventing human trafficking. As in most other countries with significant poverty, human trafficking is prevalent in Cambodia. However, it is often hard to clearly identify. Through education, we can teach communities what they should look for, key signs of trafficking and what they can do to prevent it.

For this program, we initially conduct one training session at The Hope Centre. This is for the government workers and police that are responsible for our target villages. They are trained and given resources to understand their role in preventing human trafficking. Afterwards, we conduct training in the villages for local commune and village leaders. In addition to this, we will pay local authorities a small per diem for their time and ongoing involvement in the program. Third, we conduct the training for villagers.

DAYS FOR GIRLS: TESTIMONIALS

Don Sengkim, Age 14

"Before, it complicates for me to attend school while I had my period. I am thankful that AOC provides free sanitary cloth pads that I can use every month."

Chi Chanpich, Age 14

"The [feminine hygiene kit] from AOC is beautiful, reusable, free and good for my body. Now I can go to school and not worry about managing my period."

Mom Vantana, Age 14

"I was excited when AOC gave me the sanitary cloth pads. The kit is beautiful and good for my health. Now I can save money and focus on my studies."