How Linklaters Helps Change The Lives of Our Students  

ISF is a garden spot of education in the challenging Cambodian landscape, offering underprivileged kids and families many social services beyond reading and writing. That includes sport and coaching, literacy programs, healthcare and more — all changing lives for the better, one by one.

Ultimately, everything ISF does is intended to boost the ability of beneficiaries to find a self-respecting job that pays the bills, keep families together and lead to individual growth. Students’ personal ambition and their determination to do better in life — that’s where Linklaters really makes its mark.

Linklaters is a London-headquartered international law firm that includes 2,800 lawyers in 20 countries and 30 offices, including Hong Kong. Linklaters has supported ISF for four years, including the ISF Employment Programme, created to give students and their family members the skills to lift themselves out of deep poverty. The programme, based on research specific to Cambodia, identified skills to enhance students’ job potential, whether for full-time and part-time pupils, or for kids forced to drop out for financial reasons.

The ISF programme also helps parents lacking literacy, qualifications and money, supporting them with learning materials, transportation, food and, in some cases, stipends to help pay bills and keep family members in the system.

Since 2019 and up until today (and into the future), Linklaters has contributed to ISF efforts with financial support, career talks and, in particular, mentoring to help students continue higher education.

Students need to know: Which kind of job should I be looking for? What’s it like to interview for a job? What specific skills should I focus on? What kind of pay could I expect for certain jobs? How can I improve my study habits? Should I try to attend university? Can I go to university and work at the same time?

Those are questions that young students ask, and that Linklaters volunteers answer, in one-on-one mentoring sessions once a month and lasting 45 minutes to an hour.

During these sessions with Linklaters’ mentors, ISF students in grade 12 have explored an amazing range of topics and job interests. They touch on such areas as accounting, architecture, management, teaching, language learnings, tourism and law.

The mentors, in turn, have focused on helping students with their general knowledge of higher education, business, motivation, critical thinking, networking, English-speaking skills, Korean-language ability, job interviewing, personal start-up ideas, and on and on.

Out of 18 students participating in the program in early 2022, the students say they learned a lot from mentors’ own study methods and employment experiences. Also covered: finding information about specific jobs; interviewing for a job; and the idea of working outside of Cambodia. The mentoring is all about practical knowledge and action, but also inspiration.

It’s a measure of the students’ determination that mentoring sessions are taking place despite hardships at home. Some are busy with school and family concerns about money. Others have a hard time connecting due to a shaky internet. Two of the students lost their phones and had no way to connect with Linklaters mentors. But 14 of the 18 students were satisfied with the program and 17 of 18 planned to continue.

For Linklaters, working with ISF is highly gratifying. The international law firm describes ISF as “one of our valued charity partners and has been a source of hope and happiness for our colleagues throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Our partnership has provided a positive and meaningful way to give back during difficult times.”

In addition to donating financial resources, the law firm bases its collaboration with ISF on making “a real impact in people’s lives” with a contribution of “time and skills in order to make a greater impact.”

Linklaters is especially happy with its “Career Insights” mentoring efforts with students. “These hour-long sessions allowed our volunteers to share their career journey with ISF students who always attend prepared with insightful questions about how to pursue their own career aspirations.”

Looking ahead in five years, Linklaters hopes “to see ISF Cambodia continue to make headway in creating sustainable pathways out of poverty for the youth of Cambodia,” with more kids going to school, getting educated and “creating a lasting and fundamental change” in the country.

Thus, Linklaters’ hopes sync up perfectly with ISF goals.