• Mith Samlanh
• ChildSafe
• Healthandlove.org
• Koliyan Mith - Siem Reap street children project

Support to Mith Samlanh

Friends-International founded the Cambodian organisation Mith Samlanh in 1994 and supported the organization since to develop its services to become a truly holistic street children program across all of its 12 projects.

• reinforcing its vocational training center by adding new training workshops (recently: car mechanics, electronics, electricity, and beautician)
• reinforcing the outreach team’s activities with the children living and working on the streets
• further developing child participation in all aspects of the services
• expanding cultural activities for children on the streets and in the centers
• creating innovative and creative education material

• developing prevention programs to reduce the number of children coming to the streets:
  • a series of responses to the increasing number of children affected by AIDS through improved identification (including day-care centres in hospitals), placement with extended families, a foster care project and emotional support systems.
  • a safe migration projects in four provinces in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs
  • home based production in the community for families of children providing them regular income that allow them to keep children in school instead of having them work

• launching the first formal holistic drug project in Cambodia covering prevention, harm reduction, detoxification and rehabilitation
• creating a project protecting children from sexual abuse by providing information and training to facilitators (people or institutions that facilitate the abusers’ access to children: police, taxi drivers, hotels, travel agencies).
• opening a youth center in the city of Kampong Cham in collaboration with the local social services

Ensuring the sustainability of the organisation:

• establishing training businesses to improve the quality of the training and the sustainability of the organisation (4 restaurants and a shop selling products from training centre).
• supporting Government at provincial level to build their capacity to run projects with street children (the basis of the government response).
• providing assistance to the management function of Mith Samlanh to ensure accountability and transparency.
• building the capacity of the teams in areas of need
• especially in new challenges for the country, such as substance use.
• facilitating access to funding and ensuring visibility for Mith Samlanh to ensure its financial stability. The audited annual expenditure for Mith Samlanh in 2003 was US$ 1,212,991.

Friends-International has been instrumental in the project design, implementation and capacity building of local staff and monitoring of these initiatives.

ChildSafe

Initiated in 2005, Friends-International’s Siem Reap project, Kaliyan Mith provides a comprehensive range of services for vulnerable children, youth and their families. Project activities include providing outreach services to children and youth living on the streets; supporting young people detained in the Siem Reap Prison; the provision of temporary accommodation through the Transitional Home; providing a safe space for young people through the Drop In Centre; providing education and training; and developing a community wide child protection network through the ChildSafe initiative.

Recently, Kaliyan Mith activities have been extended significantly and now include working directly with key government personnel to build their capacity in delivering essential services to the community. Friends-International together with the Siem Reap Governor signed a Memorandum of Understanding in April 2007 which enables both parties to work together to develop a sustainable project for vulnerable children and youth in Siem Reap province.

This is significant because previously the authorities have been implementing policies which involve placing young people in closed Government rehabilitation centres as a means of dealing with street living and working children/youth. Kaliyan Mith will now have the opportunity to work side by side with Government authorities to transform the existing Government centre into a facility that delivers effective and efficient services to children and youth, including much needed education and vocational training services.

The Kaliyan Mith team works with - an average 50 children and young people who are in Siem Reap prison. These children are provided with non-formal education, basic health care (in collaboration with the prison doctors), life skills and recreational activities. The team also works with the children and the prison authorities to prepare the children’s return into society once freed. Drawings by children in the prison

The ChildSafe Network is also being developed in Siem Reap. For a complete list of ChildSafe businesses in Siem Reap, visit www.childsafe-cambodia.org