Koh Kong Kids is an education foundation that serves in aiding the development of Cambodian school children. Our committment is to ensure 100 percent of donations go to help nuture schools through our non- profit and non-political foundation. Education is a prominent component of human rights and we work hard to ensure that every child has acess to dignity, knowledge, freedom of choice and personal expression. 


Who are we? I am a 38 year old New Zealander working as a primary school teacher in Thailand near the Cambodian border. I have worked in the 'aid industry' for several years, prodominently in Central American countries, and have travelled extensively around the world before coming to settle in Asia. I have worked with organizations and NGO's and have many friends who have careers in this industry. I have researched and obtained a lot of knowledge regarding the structure and management of NGO's.
I personally know many people who have sponsored children through various international aid organizations and in most cases that I have observed, including my own, nearly everybody involved always has the same questions. Where does my money really go and how well is the project going that I am sponsoring?

As a worker in the industry and as a former sponsor of children I realize that sponsors are not satisfied with the feedback they receive, nor do they see any evidence of their project's progress. Accordingly, I (with a lot of help from some awesome friends) decided to create this foundation in order to establish a new paradigm in the field of NGO's. I believe that a system should show both financial and visual progress in order to ascertain goals. Therefore, both the foundation and sponsors will know of the progress towards these goals as set out in our programmes. I believe a sponsor should know exactly where, and to who their money is going and what has been done or purchased.

Although this is the first formal project, I believe that it will be a success and the first in a long history of successful projects that:
1). Makes sure the donation gets to the specific destination.
2). Stops corruption at all levels.
3). Pleases the sponsor in such a way that they are satisfied with the results and can see the progress of their input.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this. If you have any comments or suggestions please feel free to contact me.  

mjmillernz@gmail.com

Objectives The foundation emerges due to the chronic lack of primary education services in Cambodia. The overall objective is to provide and improve education for Cambodian primary school children by utilizing specific programmes that target the problems the majority of Cambodian primary schools face today.

Each of our programmes has its own specific goals and objectives according to the need. However, the programmes are designed to interact in order to achieve the educational objective of:
 1) Increasing the enrolment rate
 2) Decreasing the repetition rate
 3) Increasing the completion rate for primary school children ages 5-11.

Moveover, the objective is to ensure the children will develop physically, emotionally, socially, and cognitively due to the support they are being provided by Koh Kong Kid's programmes and helpers. Finally, although each programme predominantly focuses on the needs of the children, we expect that the positive outcomes of the programmes will benefit the community and country in an economic sense, as well as one of social and pyschological development.


Philosophy There are many factors impeding primary school education in Cambodia and our answer is a qualitative one instead of quantitative. We believe it is better to help thoroughly rather than partially. By using this method, we can provide the children with the best chance to develop more quickly and integrally. Accordingly, we will try to integrate every one of our programmes in all our associated schools. This will provide every element needed, both for the students and staff, in order to run a successful school.

We also adopt the community philosophy of 'helping people help themselves'. We believe that by involving local communities in their own self-managed programmes leads to long term success and sustainable community growth.

We never assume that our perception of the need is 100 percent accurate. Therefore, we take the stance that the benificiaries  know better than we do. In this manner, we engage, teachers, parents, students and directors of schools in order to assess their priorities and try and assist them with their goals. Engaging and working together with local people shoud be one of the most essential priorities on the lists of any aid organization and it is the most important philosophy because of what we like to label the 'Proprietorship Process Paradigm':

1. Pride. When local people are given the opportunity to make a difference in their own community instead of sitting back and watching, they feel more pride in the ongoing projects, themselves and the community. This sustains the enthusiasm to continue with projects and programmes.

2. Proprietorship. The initiation and carrying out of their own ideas by the community creates a sense of ownership of the project itself.

3. Participation.The more local people that participate in the projects, the more trust is gained and this increases community interaction and participation.

4. Productivity. Local participation also increases productivity because personal and community goals are being met. It is a hope that this attitude can be generalised to other aspects of community life.

5. Prejudice. When projects are perceived as being their own, the community no longer feels resentment towards the foreign sponsor. Unwanted tensions and misunderstandings are diminished. Moreover cultural differences and tolerance prevails.

6. Process Philosophy. The above 5P's illustrate that interaction creates a sense of unity for people involoved in the development of their community; so much so that they begin to see that development is essential and a process. Community members realize the importance of their community and their own part in its structure. Moreover, they begin to idealize their own personal and community process philosophies; taking on the community and acting for their own development.

Donations Because we are an independent organization there are no mismanaged funds or expenditure on unnecessary items and staff. Most sponsors do not quite realize the big impact unnecessary administrative costs and mismanagement of funds make to their generous donations. Koh Kong Kids sponsors can be assured that 100 percent of their money will go to the specific programme and project of their choice and every cent can be passed on to the very people who need it most.

Feedback Our unique system of displaying the progress of our projects visually, as well as openly showing project costings is carried out so that the sponsors can specifically see where their money has gone. Moreover, sponsors are able to see the needs of the school and what needs remain in order to get the project to a standard where it can be characterized as a basic quality primary school. We understand that the compassion and effort of the sponsors to help make a difference should be acknowledged more. Sponsors should feel like they are an intergral part of the project, because without funding from sponsorship, the projects would cease to exist.