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Life on the landfill
At 11 years old, Sophy lived and worked on the Steung Meanchey garbage dump. Sophy grew up here, raising her siblings, scavenging for food, and supporting her ailing mother.
Now she is on a full scholarship at the prestigious University of Melbourne in Australia.
Read Sophy's Remarkable StoryAlthough officially closed in 2009, the surrounding areas of the Steung Meanchey garbage dump remains an entry-point into Phnom Penh for destitute children and families with no option but to scavenge or beg.
CCF is breaking the cycles of poverty and abuse and creating change in Cambodia by building the capacity of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable communities: those with the most poverty, the greatest health and social problems, and the least access to basic resources.
Education is our driving force for change, but building resilient young leaders requires more
The community programs that support these two pillars help ensure an uninterrupted education, one that allows the child to study, grow and lead, knowing that their families are not sliding further into poverty without them.
However, our objective is not to just have young adults leave CCF with an education and the ability to look after themselves, but for them to be passionate, engaged young leaders that care for their community and their country.
CCF has helped more than 4,279 and their families with a pathway out of poverty
Students currently enrolled
Of the first 200 students to join CCF have gone on to university
Local community members currently accessing CCF services
Childhood poverty
More than two-thirds of CCF’s children once worked as scavengers. Very few had access to education and nearly all of the children were living in extreme poverty. Domestic violence and child abuse is widely reported, as are perpetual health problems resulting from malnutrition and environmental hazards.
The financial hardship of families is often the main obstacle preventing children from receiving an education. Parents simply cannot afford to lose a source of income by having their kids stop working.
Help make this the last generation to know poverty in Cambodia
Take an evening walk with Scott
Since 2004 Scott has visited the community nearly every night of the week he is in Phnom Penh. His days are filled with meetings, calls, and emails to fundraise for CCF. The evenings are for the community, for connecting with as many people as possible, for trying to understand their needs and how he can help.
Read Scott's story
Child Protection Unit
In a decade of transforming Cambodia's most impoverished kids by delivering education, family support and community development programs, CCF witnessed, with regularity, the collapse of criminal proceedings against suspected child rapists and those that injure children. This was almost entirely due to poor investigations, inappropriate or unenforced laws, and lack of education within the criminal and judicial systems. In response, CCF diversified its operations in 2013 to establish a Child Protection Unit to tackle issues of serious child abuse and commit to providing the highest level of services to child victims of abuse or assault across Cambodia.
No NGO in Cambodia has impressed me more than CCF. CCF, with relatively little funding and even less administrative overhead, has literally changed and saved hundreds of lives of children.
Our commitment to global action
Our approach aligns with the top six Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that were adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.
Our model explained
Watch this short animation on how CCF's community-based education model has evolved to more than 60 projects supporting the Steung Meanchey community.
They had never been to school
"We were walking around and we found these little girls and they’d never been to school. One was eleven, one was nine and one was five. I came back a couple days later and they were beaming. I sponsored one of them and she wrote me this letter, like she would watch these kids go to school and she was so wishing she could go to school. So, now she’s going to school and she wants to be a teacher."
- HEATHER GRAHAM, Actress and Director