Community Development Program (CDP):Child-to-Child and Young Leader ClubsQuarterly UpdateJuly 1st, 2011 – September 3oth, 2011

The Community Development Program consists of both the Child-to-Child and the Youth Leadership Programs.

Child-to-Child

Using an active learning approach, the Child-to-Child (CtC) initiative encourages children to identify the most pressing problems in their communities by working with other members of their Child Club. Currently, there are 18 Child Clubs, and 8 educators facilitate these clubs. Of the 25 clubs from last quarter, 7 of these have transitioned to Youth Leadership clubs, which are facilitated by 6 educators.

Through topic-based problem solving around health, environmental, and human rights issues, the Child Clubs learn about important issues while aiming to build life skills such as leadership, com-munication, teamwork, critical thinking, and decision-making. By building these critical skills among children in Chanleas Dai, we hope to further PEPY’s general mission: investing time and resources in people, connecting them with the skills, systems, and inspiration necessary to achieve their goals, raise their standards of living, and improve the quality of education in their communities.

Young Leader Club

The pilot Young Leader Club program began in 2011 and supports clubs in rural Cambodia for youths aged 15-25 years old. The youth clubs are voluntary action-based groups, where young people seek to identify, learn about, and solve tangible problems in their own communities, thus building life skills, leadership, and self-confidence. The purpose behind the project is to provide a youth development model appropriate for young adults, based on the success of PEPY’s Child-to-Child initiative.

3rd Quarter Updates

This quarter, Cambodia has been hit hard with heavy rains causing dangerous flooding, evacua-tions, and even many deaths. Most of our students currently reside in areas that have been spared the worst of the flooding, however the floods make commuting to and from school difficult, and have negatively affected students’ and teachers’ attendance rates.

Challenges due to this particularly intense rainy season in 2011:

• Child Clubs which normally meet outside have no safe place to gather.• Roads have been difficult to traverse, if not washed out altogether. Communities acutely affected by bad road conditions include Preah Lean and Rolom Svay.

Statistics in target areas: Child-to-Child

Child-to-Child Methodology

After many trials, assessments, and evaluations, our CtC educators came up with 6 steps to help the community easily identify and resolve the most pressing issues in their communities.

1. Discuss and identify the most prominent issues plaguing the community via a Town Hall meeting.

2. Investigate the factors and causes of the problem. CtC students and educators work together to identify and understand who or what is involved in the problem.

3. Gather information and reach an understanding. Our educators help empower the students to teach each other about their circumstances and how they can make a positive change.

4. Work together to find the best and most simple way to address the problem.

5. Execute the resolution. CtC educators help students understand the pros and cons of each proposed solution, then create a plan to inform and involve the community. In the past, students have used presentations, plays, and campaigns.

6. Evaluate the process to make sure the problem has been resolved. Identify the steps to mitigate the problem in the future.

Youth and Child Club activities in 14 villages

This quarter, Child Clubs are working on issues involving clean water, road safety, and health and hygiene. Most clubs are working on the fifth step and sixth steps in the Child-to-Child methodology, which involve sharing what they’ve learned within their communities, and evaluating the effective-ness of their strategies.

Young Leader Clubs have been working on issues relating to unwritten social rules and how to stay physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally healthy to increase good communication and re-lationships among their peers. Other topics discussed in Youth Leader Clubs include working on presentation skills, leadership, and time management skills.

In addition, Young Leader participants have been inspired to visit their peers in other areas to share their ideas. Examples include:• Exchanges taking place between Chanleas Dai and Tram Kong Village• Youths from Tram Kong taking the initiative to teach Khmer, Math, and English to community members in nearby villages • Young adults in Rolom Svay teaching Khmer to younger children in their own community

Oxfam Training

Earlier this year, Oxfam Australia reached out to PEPY’s Child-to-Child team for training in the Child-to-Child methodology. The contracting organization’s goal in collaborating with PEPY is to tackle a Water and Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) program with a new approach to improve program impact. WASH is being implemented by local government teachers and Provincial Education Department Of-ficers who work in schools in Kratie and Takeo Provinces.

While many of the participants have extensive experience with teaching, the training led by PEPY’s staff focused on developing facilitation skills. Two of the three trainings were held during the 3rd quarter, each of which lasted for three days:

Statistics in target areas: Young Leaders

Training covered the Child-to-Child concept and methodology, active learning, child participation lad-ders , facilitating activities which empower children, and assessing needs in a community. The events were organized and conducted by PEPY’s Community Development Program Manager, Mrs Khouth Sochampawatd, Community Development Officer, Mr Hem Saly, and Child-to-Child Facilitator, Miss ChokSrey Mao.

Homework Club

The CDP initiated a Homework Club this quarter at Hun Sen Run School for primary students. The project was run for a 3-month trial basis. Once a week, students excelling in Khmer and math helped those who are still developing their skills. Once the trial period ended in August, the CDP assessed the success of the club with a test to determine the students’ skill levels after attending the club. Final results show that 85% of the students who came to Homework Club passed the test.

In light of these initial positive results, CDP is currently looking into expansion of Homework Club to one additional school.

Lessons Learned:

The CDP did not conduct a formal closing ceremony when Homework Club concluded in August. In order to honor the achievements of the student participants and further involve the community, we will add a formal closing ceremony to the next Homework Club that we run, thus reaching out to and further involving the head school principal, parents of students, and senior managers and hopefully impressing upon them the impact of this program.

Life Skills Training

In August, the CDP provided life skills training to 90 children in two courses lasting four days each at Khnar Joh temple. The team provides this training to new members of Child-to-Child clubs at the beginning of each school year. Our intent is to improve the analytical skills of participants so that they have the tools to tackle whatever problems present themselves in their daily lives.

The training covered topics such as making decisions, problem solving, critical thinking, and leadership. The summer course focused on active and cooperative learning games. All the activities centered on teamwork and good communication. Children were asked to reflect on what they had learned after each activity.

PEPY conducted an evaluation of the program via individual interviews with the participants to compare their abilities before and after they joined the life skills training course. Through observation, we found that the participants seemed had improved communication and teamwork and were more comfortable working together.

During the three nights and four days of the course, the children experienced staying far away from the familiar environment of their home where they have the support of their family members. At Khnar Joh temple, participants learned to take responsibility for their daily life and solve their own problems without their usual support system.