We are committed to raising funds to support the incredible work of Damnok Toek and Mother’s Heart, our two partner organisations whose dedicated work and focused approaches help many vulnerable families and children in Cambodia.
Damnok Toek’s vision is for every child and youth in Cambodia to have their rights equally respected and their basic needs met. They provide protective services for children and youth, including those with disabilities to mitigate the risk of harm or abuse.
Operating for over 27 years, a total of 1,700 families now access their disability, education, child protection and safe migration programmes daily. DT’s approach is built on prevention, protection, rehabilitation and reintegration. Staff work out of the Cambodian provinces of Poipet, Phnom Penh, Neak Loeung and Kep.
DT is very well seen as a leader in its disability work as it seeks to destigmitise and empower those living with disabilities around Cambodia. With programs operating out of Neak Loeung, children and youth are supported through outreach work, in day care centres and small group home projects. In Kep, for young adults, a residence and a semi-independent living arrangement program has been set-up.
Examples of their work include:
Prevention – Putting measures in place to help prevent the unsafe migration of children by providing soft skills and vocational training to adults and young people, facilitating income-generating activities by offering entrepreneurship training and small loans for those aged over eighteen. By increasing job skills capacity there will be a reduced dependency on migratory labour which in turn mitigates many root causes of human trafficking.
Protection – Teams of social workers engage with street-involved children, youth and their families from the community. All are encouraged to visit the drop-in centre where they can eat, shower and sleep for free. DT provides training to community members, educators, vendors etc through the Child Safe Alliance to protect children from abuse and prevent them from being placed in abusive situations. Skilful Parenting Workshops teach parents how to identify traffickers who often target less educated parents and community members receive training.
Rehabilitation – Working with The Child Migrant Office to support victims of unsafe migration. Following deportation from Thailand, DT works effortlessly to identify children when the identity is unknown, find their families and where possible, reintegrate them into family life. The Reception Centre provides short-term emergency, immediate care and a safe place to stay; the Transitional Care Facility provides long-term care, accommodation, counselling and medical care on location 24/7 and the Group Homes Program provides a safe space for youth over 16 to live in semi-independent living arrangements. DT continues to support these young adults until they either graduate from higher education or secure a stable job.
Reintegration – The first option for children who are victims of unsafe migration is to try to reintegrate with family members. Where this is not possible or not the safest option, then the children have the opportunity to be enrolled in their Non-Formal Education program. This program also provides education to vunerable children from the community who are street-living, street-working or who are residing in DT’s alternative care centres.
Mothers Heart is a Crisis Pregnancy Counseling Service in Cambodia providing support for women facing crisis pregnancies. They empower, equip and educate women through counselling, support services, medical care and community involvement.
Their services include:
