We developed our Employment Support for Cambodian youth because as our students grow older, often pressure to contribute to their family’s income becomes greater. This means many students can end up in low-skilled and unstable jobs without opportunities. Our support is designed to keep youth in school and to equip them with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in the job market.

Earlier this month, we held an informative session on our Employment Support at both our education centres. The project was introduced by Vicheka, ISF’s country manager, and outlined what our project offers and who it’s benefited to date.

Head of Employment, Chamnan, also spoke on the importance of soft skills and vocational skills to Cambodian youth and summarised the various training opportunities that having been provided by ISF how crucial the support and cooperation from parents and communities are to the success of the project. 

Past students and beneficiaries of the project who spoke included: Eam Tola who completed an air conditioning and started his own business; Lun Pong who participated in a barber course now runs his own hairdressers; Ton Vouchlang who attended classes on cooking and drink-making who is now a barista at a local coffee shop and Yem Vandy who completed driving classes and is now working as  driver at a local NGO.

In addition to vocational training, careers counselling and soft skills training, we also offers lessons in basic and work-place English to participants.  We currently support Cambodian students who are aged 14 years and upward and engage 40 youth, 47% of whom are female. Some participants are still in full-time education, some are working part-time in order to earn an income, and the remainder have dropped out of school.