The Sports Diplomacy Project (SDP) aimed to reduce the presence of social dangers among ethnically mixed populations and promote community participation and improvements to the school environment through the construction of sports facilities, outreach awareness, and social events. The project was implemented in four provinces: Kampong Cham, Pursat, Kompong Chnang, and Kampot, and a total of thirteen primary, junior, and high schools, and three Islamic Centers in Sihanouk, Kandal, and Phnom Penh municipality. These target populations were selected based on reports from local authorities on demographics, school drop out rates, high drug use risks, high prevalence rates of migration, and areas in which Islamic schools were isolated from the state schools.
The Sports Diplomacy Project focused on constructing sporting courts and playgrounds in the targeted schools and communities, the promotion of social awareness-raising among youth, and designing local workshops and orientations in the community intended to promote key messages. These messages were disseminated through brochures designed for people of all ages to raise awareness on social dangers ranging from drug abuse, trafficking, child labor, and political extremism. World Education’s main implementation partner, Kampuchean Action for Primary Education (KAPE), ensured that these messages were effectively disseminated to communities not only in the 16 target areas identified by the U.S. Embassy but also in more than 100 schools with ethnically mixed populations.
World Education implemented the Sports Diplomacy Project in partnership with Impact International Solutions, Inc. (i2Si), KAPE, The O People, and the United States Embassy to Cambodia.