SLS-8d2b Community Impact Study - Cambodia - The Second Phase - Community Learning Center

The second phase built upon this solid experience and knowledge. In 2014, we investigated into setting up a zero-carbon community learning center in the village. The center provides an informal learning space for village children and youths, both to supplement their regular school education, and to serve as a resource for continued education and self-guided study. The center is to be built from a recycled twenty-foot container, furnish it with solar panels, computer devices, Internet hotspot, books, and toys. A sustainable model would be developed by engaging local community leaders and empowering resident university students. Together with the community homeowners, the village chief, and a youth organization, we identified an area located in the center of the village.  The chief gave us permission to set up the learning centre on the site, to demonstrate their commitment. The center was installed during the summer of 2015. 

For sustainability and long-term upkeep, the ownership of the center belong to the village - not only in formal terms but also in the reality of day-to-day operations.  However, the village also had to be equipped to operate and maintain it. To build up their capacity, a scholarship scheme was set up for three resident university students, covering 50% of their tuition fee. In return, they organize and conduct a weekly 3-hour session for the village children in the learning center. Since volunteering was new to local students, and they did not have any experience with organizing or coordinating activities, hence we provided them with on-site training and established an online platform to give them emotional and technical support, and opportunities to share their experiences and reflections with the project team. 

A return visit was conducted six months after the installation of the learning center. It had become a public area of social activity.  On average 45 people (25 kids, 10 youths and 10 adults and elderly) visited on a regular weekday. Children usually visited after school to read and play with the toys, teenagers came in to access the Internet, adults used the space around to gather and share news and information, and the elderly residents came to learn basic communication skills in English. The community proactively contributed to the books and toys in the center. Two months after the installation, the villagers initiated a fundraising campaign to purchase additional books and other resources. In total, over 50 books in Khmer (the local language) were bought or collected, and other teaching resources, such as school bags, stationery, and coloring books were purchased. 

While running the community center, the community leaders not only enhanced their leadership skills but also built up their capacity to address the underlying structural issues that gave rise to their needs. Together with the scholarship students, they initiated a number of projects to serve the surrounding communities, such as an elderly care program for families from a nearby slum and an English workshop for the children nearby. In the meantime, one of the leaders, who was working in a local NGO, started to invite different overseas teams to join the homestay program and offered to organize short courses or construction projects for the primary school.