Through our CBR programme, we currently support around 350 children with disabilities into school each year. We also support around 300 adults per year into vocational training or self-employment. However in 2009 we decided there was a need to take the education of people with disabilities to the next level and to start assisting them into university education. In the new post-conflict Cambodia, a lack of university education is one of the many reasons why persons with disabilities are struggling to keep pace with the country's rapid growth; and struggling to get into blue collar employment positions.
We are in the process of conducting research into the numbers of young people with disabilities at university in Cambodia. Our initial research shows a prevalence rate of 0.23%. The figure for women with disabilities is even worse at 0.04%. Now the task is to work with those numbers to highlight the significance of these findings, in a country where the number of people in higher education has risen nearly 300% in 6 years!
The Program
We have formed a partnership with our long-time supporters, the Nippon Foundation. The Foundation’s personnel share our vision: educational achievement for people with disabilities is a valuable way of breaking down negative perceptions within society and enabling individuals to reach their full potential.
Meeting potential students
Our plan is to recruit 40 persons with disabilities over the course of the next three years and support them through university, towards graduation and hopefully beyond. In addition to paying for their tuition fees and living costs, this project will also provide mentoring support and employment advice. To that end, we are hoping to work with local businesses to offer the university students some form of internships so that their CVs will have the benefit of some work experience.
Giving something back
In return for this support, we quite unashamedly want something back from our clients over and above a commitment to work hard with their studies. Firstly we would like to see our clients commit to undertaking an internship with an NGO in the disability sector during one summer break. We have also sought to make our clients aware that they have a responsibility to other persons with disability to “put something back” in a manner they feel able to offer. This could be speaking to groups of children with disabilities at school, mentoring other students with disabilities, or helping an NGO in their spare time post-graduation, for example.
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