Youth in Prey Veng province are transforming their schools in radical ways. Through the Youth on the Move project, youth are empowered and mobilized to play a more engaged, participatory role in the development of their schools, communities and their own life skills. This resource documents the project’s unique approach and illustrates key achievements to date.
World Education’s Youth on the Move project has impacted nearly 15,000 youth through targeted interventions that strengthen essential skill-sets, mindsets and support systems so youth can learn, serve their communities and lead healthier lives. For three years, the project has built the capacity of in and out-of-school youth, as well as educators and officials, to revitalize student-led organizations and engage youth as vital resources for positive change.
At the age of 16, Srey Nich dropped out of school to take care of siblings and grandparents while her parents migrated for work. During that time, she heard about a non-formal ICT course offered in her village through World Education‘s Youth On The Move program. The course changed Srey Nich’s path and she went back to school. Now in her last year of school, Srey Nich is empowered to build up Cambodia’s youth.
Literacy is fundamental to all education. World Education has developed programs that promote children’s literacy for more than 50 years. This brochure highlights World Education’s approaches to early grade reading at every level- from schools and communities, to teachers, administrators, and parents. Innovations and our different approaches to monitoring and assessing skills are also included. Successful projects from various countries are also highlighted, including Cambodia.
This baseline survey was conducted as a basis of comparison for future mid-line and end-line survey results, as part of the YOTM project monitoring and evaluation plan. The surveys are intended to explore the extent to which the project achieves our expected long term impact: Improved learning outcomes, life skills, knowledge about safe migration, school engagement and perceptions of school relevance among students at target schools in migration-prone areas.
Twenty-four lower primary school students from Prey Veng province were interviewed before the beginning of project activities in their schools. The baseline survey assessed the likelihood of students to drop out of school and migrate, as well as their perceptions of the quality and relevance of the education provided by their schools, their own level of engagement and voice in school affairs, and knowledge about safe migration.
World Education is working to reduce the vulnerability of Cambodian youth to trafficking and exploitation through innovative activities with a focus on learning through technology, livelihoods training, and student leadership development.
The AIMS project developed the first-ever Khmer language website and IVR (interactive voice response) system on safe migration. You can read more about the project in this infographic.
In the Technology for Education Systems Transformation project (TEST) project, World Education developed, tested, and implemented a digitized and automated early-grade reading assessment. The benchmarks and assessments used for the TEST app were developed by the Total Reading Approach for Children (TRAC) project, and were formally endorsed by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) at the conclusion of TRAC, The TEST project worked with over 2,000 students and 57 teachers to develop the app and optimize its usability; at the conclusion of the TEST project, the app was ready for scaling up in an additional hundred schools.
TEST was supported by DAI through their Development Innovations Project, which is funded by USAID.
Watch the story of Srey Neth student in a rural Cambodian school, and how World Education’s Total Reading Approach for Children (TRAC) helped involve her family in her reading practice.
Chhaya, a 10-year-old boy, currently studies in Grade 2 at a school where World Education, Inc. is implementing the Total Reading Approach for Children Plus (TRAC+) project, with funding support from World Vision. Chhaya has lived with his grandparents since he was four years old, following his mother’s death and his father’s remarriange. His grandparents are agricultural day laborers, and thus do not have regular income. As his grandparents are very busy, they do not have much time to look after him. At the start of the school year Chhaya was often absent from school for extended periods of time, and was unable to keep up with his studies and acquire the necessary reading and writing skills.
At school in Siem Reap, a province in northern Cambodia, students crowd to the school library during break times. At the sound of the bell dismissing morning classes, the room fills with students who move quickly, pulling books from the shelves and settling into a corner to read.