Friends-International Blog

Today a team from Levi Strauss & Co., who are corporate supporters of Friends-International, arrived at our Phnom Penh headquarters on a mission. That mission? To find out more about Friends, the work we do, and in particular how our Home Based Production initiative works to support caregivers to put their children to school. First [...]

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This week has seen Friends Board Members, Program Directors, International Coordinators, managers and staff from across the world gathering together in Phnom Penh at the FI HQ building for our annual sharing meeting. This is a rare opportunity for us all to get together, to share our achievement from the previous year and to look [...]

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Cambodian Sihanoukville-based NGO M’Lop Tapang is a long standing Friends CYTI Alliance partner.  Within the CYTI Alliance, sharing of best practice is a key outcome for Alliance members. So it was with great excitement that our Friends-International Peuan Peuan (Thailand) program team based in Bangkok said ‘welcome’ this week to a team from M’Lop Tapang [...]

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One hand holds the customer’s hair, the other moves deftly with scissors, as former glue user Srey Phear*, 20, concentrates happily on the new hair style she is creating for her customer. She is employed at a beauty salon near Independence Monument and also studies accounting at the Human Resources University in Phnom Penh. “My [...]

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For International Women’s Day, we focus on two of our amazing female staff from the Peuan Mit program in Lao PDR. Let’s meet Davanh Keoninanluck, the school follow-up and case manager (part of the Peuan Mit Reintegration Team) and Parsialy (Sia) Boualong, a non-formal education teacher and case manager, part of the Drop In Center/Outreach [...]

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A success story from our Peuan Mit program in Lao PDR – how referral, vocational training and case management all combined to build a stable future for a young man with a troubled background. This month, former vocational training student Mr. S. will be taken off Peuan Mit’s job placement books. In January 2012, he [...]

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Sport is a great way to build confidence in marginalized young people. This  half-time report on the mixed fortunes of our Kaliyan Mith youth football teams in Siem Reap from our man on the touchline, Friends Social Work Technical Advisor James Farley, gives us the lowdown on progress to date… ‘As the Siem Reap 7-a-side [...]

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Vuthaya Charoenpol (Ann), our Country Program Manager for Thailand sent us this recent piece on a fantastic fun-filled day held in one of the communities the Peuan Peuan team works with in Bangkok. ‘Saturday 12th January was national Children’s Day in Thailand. Peuan Peuan along with other local authorities and companies organized fun activities for [...]

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Marissa Carruthers is a journalist from the UK who is currently writing a series of articles about Friends-International. We are delighted that she has contributed this guest blog post to us, giving her personal perspective on the work we are doing in Cambodia… thanks Marissa ‘I can remember during my first trip to Cambodia the [...]

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The Siem Reap half marathon, held in Cambodia each December, is not just a test of stamina and skill for participants but also forms a significant part of the fundraising calendar, with many runners pushing their physical limits to raise awareness and funds for their favorite cause or issue. So it was for FI volunteer [...]

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