Welcome to Giving Circle Fund!
Cambodia Rural Schools Project
Thanks to the support of generous donors to Giving Circle Fund’s Cambodia Rural Schools Project (a non-profit World Assistance for Cambodia program), the construction of Giving Circle Fund’s first rural school in Kampong Thom province was completed in March of 2019! Giving Circle Fund partnered with the local Cambodia Ministry of Education to provide funding for the construction of rural schools to alleviate poverty in the poorest remote areas of Cambodia. Our support of the Cambodia Rural Schools Project will give impoverished children of the rural poor areas of Cambodia opportunities for a free education in order to break the cycle of poverty in their communities. The cost to build the three-room school was $45,000, including all classroom furniture and blackboards.
The completed rural school (#564) was named “The Giving Circle School” and has a Giving Circle Fund “Honors Circle” plaque placed on the school building recognizing the names of all donors who contributed $3,000 or more in support of the Cambodia Rural Schools Project. The location of The Giving Circle School is:
Province: Kampong Thom
District: Santuk
Commune: Boeng Lvea
Village: Trapaing Pdao
There is still a tremendous need for schools in many rural areas of Cambodia. Giving Circle Fund is excited to announce that we are currently raising funds for the construction of a second rural school in Cambodia. The building site of our second school has already been identified and we are hoping to raise funds for the construction of this school soon. Donations of any amount are welcome and appreciated!
Girls Be Ambitious Program
Giving Circle Fund will also be raising funds to participate in another World Assistance for Cambodia program: Girls Be Ambitious. The Girls Be Ambitious program runs off of the Rural Schools Project which has built over 560 schools. Attendance of girls in many villages remains low. The main reasons girls do not attend school are to help the family with work in the fields and to take care of younger siblings. As a result, the girls stay illiterate and are vulnerable to sexual or labor exploitation and destined to a future of limited opportunities and poverty. The Girls Be Ambitious program was launched to prevent the trafficking of Cambodian girls through an incentive program for the girls to stay in school. Among victims of trafficking, illiterate girls are the most vulnerable to be lured with false promises of jobs and then forced into sex work or exploitative labor situations. This program aims to improve awareness among these girls at risk by providing them with alternatives close to home and ways to improve their livelihoods through education. The Girls Be Ambitious program provides a monthly stipend of $10 to the girls and their families. An additional $5/month is put into a general escrow fund to provide uniforms, school supplies, counselor visits and scholarship support after graduation. The monthly stipend is based only on perfect attendance (except for excused absences), not on school performance. If the girl does not have perfect attendance, she will not be paid that month. The program will look into reasons for the absences and provide guidance to help the family keep their daughter in school. Please consider donating $180/year to Giving Circle Fund to sponsor one needy girl to stay in school.
To learn more about the Cambodia Rural Schools Project and Girls Be Ambitious Program, please visit their website: www.cambodiaschools.com.
