Family Preservation: Riverkids Project in Cambodia
One family preservation model being used in Cambodia is the Riverkids Project.
Its goals are the following:
- To prevent the sale and exploitation of children
- To find non-exploitative labour alternatives for children and families
- To transform families and communities as low-risk for child trafficking and exploitation.
Their mission aims directly at the root causes of poverty and keeps the children safe from trafficking.
An adoptive parent helped start this NGO in 2007. There are now 3 sites: Alexandra, Blum and Railway 2, with more than 400 children in Phnom Penh.
The team of people involved in this NGO include social workers, teachers and microfinance assistants. There are 4 areas that this model involves: Education, Health, Social Work, and Income (Business and finance training and community loans).
The Riverkids Model begins with due diligence in identifying the community. “With more than four hundred slums in Phnom Penh, Riverkids has a waiting list of slums notorious for child trafficking and exploitation. We work in communities that do not already have a strong NGO presence, especially slums that are even more marginalised because of ethnic minorities or sex workers in the slum. Our first task is to find out as much as possible about the families and children at risk in the community.”
We invite our readers to read more about their projects, stories and fair trade shop and support this grassroots effort to help at-risk Cambodian families.
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Recent Comments