Strengthening Education Employability in Kampuchea (SEEK) Project

Although poverty levels have declined over the last 10 years and economic growth averages about 7% annually, approximately 71% of Cambodians still live on less than $3 per day. Surprisingly, the official youth unemployment rates are quite low, at 3%, but most youth is engaged in low-paid jobs as unskilled labors. EMIS 2018 reported that the dropout rate at lower secondary was at 17%-19% in Cambodia. The low level of attendance at the end of the basic education cycle contributes to a gap in skills and a lack of relevant expertise, which are further exacerbated by the shortage of life skills subjects or  any form of career counseling in schools.

 

SEEK is designed to increase the fulfilment of the social and economic rights of vulnerable youth, with a particular attention to young women from the Cham’s ethnic minority, through access to inclusive quality education, vocational training and fair and more decent work. This project is funded by the European Union and is implemented by Kampuchea Action to Promote Education (KAPE), WeWorld-GVC, Buddhism for Social Development Action (BSDA) and Youth Council of Cambodia (YCC).

 

• To make children and youth’s access to education more inclusive in a way that improves their employability skills, especially that of girls from Cham communities.
• To further involve and empower civil society in finding community-based solutions to social and economic exclusion among vulnerable youth and to promote vocational training, career orientation and employability.
• To increase youth’s networking and advocacy capacities.

 

Output 1:

• Set up tutorial classes  to ensure adequate literacy and numeracy skills  to transition to secondary school;
• Establish Early Warning Systems at target schools to prevent dropout;
• Create a database to track children and youth at risk;
• Link life skills education with Income generating grants for families’ of  scholarship students;
• Provide scholarships to secondary school youth at risk;
• Offer life skills classes using over 30 manuals developed by MOEYS and civil society, including safe migration;
• Enable the use of a new e-counselling app (Trey Visay App).

Output 2:

• · Set up an intelligent mapping system of all the services related to employment opportunities;
• Establish three pilot SEEK Centres;
• Build capacity of civil society to improve their central role in raising awareness on children and youth’s needs and referral activities;
• Develop an internal participatory research unit;
• Provide grants to CSOs and VTPs to enhance vocational training and career orientation services for youth;
• Matching opportunities.

 

Output 3:

• Peer to peer social initiatives in SEEK Centres, creating self-supporting peer groups;
• Sensitization campaigns on youth and girls’ socio-economic rights using multimedia tools and peer engagement.

 

• Timeframe: three years (01 January 2020 to 31 December 2022)
• Location: three provinces (Kampong Cham, Tbaung Khmum and Kampong Chhnang )

 

 

• KAPE                 www.kapekh.org
• WeWorld-GVC    www.weworld-gvc.it
• YCC                   www.ycc.org.kh
• BSDA                 www.bsda-cambodia.org

 

This programme is implemented by KAPE, WeWorld-GVC, BSDA and YCC. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.