Creating Brighter Futures through ICT

Through quality ICT education, CCT will achieve a technologically literate, productive and critically thinking workforce by ensuring youth and educators have the skills they need for life in the digital age, and are able to compete in the global knowledge based economy, thus providing long-term sustainable solutions to poverty alleviation.

In today’s knowledge-based labour market, having access to modern technology during formative years puts students at a significant advantage. Unfortunately, for most Cambodian children such opportunities remain elusive. Many Cambodians still live below the poverty line and without access to basic services. In 2014, only 56% of the population had access to electricity, which most consider a basic necessity. Access to modern technology also remains very limited, and as a consequence, very few Khmer students get the chance to learn how to use computers as part of their education and little access to the opportunities this provides later in life. 

Our work is evidence-based and informed by years of formative research that has been gathered by experts in their fields. Our model supports the scientific method, an innovative environment, rapid-feedback experimentation, and entrepreneurial investment in new ideas. Our vision is being achieved via a multi-staged process, with each stage having clearly defined outcomes and indicators that are monitored and evaluated. We use a collaborative, integrated approach to delivery, leveraging the knowledge and expertise of our partners, lessons learned and outcomes from the previous three stages to help formulate and add value to the model and to demonstrate scale.  

In 2020, 20,000 Cambodian secondary students per year will be provided with free ICT education in their local high school. CCT and Grok Learning will ensure this by setting up the ICT labs, providing access to our online curriculum and training the local teachers in delivering the content. Moreover, an estimated 200,000 Khmer speaking students of all ages will be able to access free ICT resources in their own native language through our self-study website. This will be done in partnership with the Cambodian Ministry of Education to ensure the efficient scaling and future sustainability of the project.

Number of registered students - 20,000 students per year receive free ICT education in their own language

Track number of hits on website - 200,000 students use online self-study option

Number of teachers trained in regional teacher training facilities - 200 ICT Teachers Trained

Our model is unique in that unlike other programs, we provide a full package including functional ICT labs, an international-standard online curriculum, and trained local ICT teachers, all in close cooperation with the Cambodian government. Our innovative online curriculum, based on the Australian model, has been translated and culturally adapted for Cambodia, and is unlike anything else that currently exists in the country. Apart from the engaging content, the novelty of the curriculum is in its functions, e.g. online assessment and attendance, which diminishes any risk of mismanagement and corruption, which remains a serious problem in Cambodian schools. 

Our project aims to provide better opportunities and a brighter future for disadvantaged youth in one of the poorest countries in Asia. Our project specifically targets secondary students in public schools, who will be joining the workforce within the next decade. We aim to give this generation a better starting point in life than their parents by providing them with skills that are essential to succeeding in the knowledge-based economy, and are required to create the start-ups and companies that are needed to bring the Cambodian economy into the 21st century.

Our solution is available both physically and online. Our resources are currently provided to over 10,000 students in their native language, free of charge, in local public high schools. Our goal is to implement the project nation-wide making our project accessible to students in schools throughout the country. For students who currently do not have access to one of our schools, we have also developed an online platform, where students can access our resources for free from any computer. Thus, our solution is accessible to all Khmer speakers with an Internet connection at no cost whatsoever.

• Operational and financially viable for over ten years.
• Successful in securing institutional grants from USAID and UNICEF for our Holistic Family Preservation model.
• Raised over AUD $3 million dollars over the past 3 years thanks to an ongoing, committed Australian support-base of over >1,400 donors and >16,000 followers on social media.
• AUD $ 1.5 million dollars in cash reserves. 
• Established pro-bono advisors for legal, accounting, risk and compliance, marketing and publicity, child protection, social work and education.
• High profile and trustworthy reputation within Australia and around the world.
• Access to content created under an $11,000,000 federal grant awarded to Sydney University.
• Scaling through government resource schools, which are more cost effective and subsidized via ADB and supported by UNICEF.

Cambodia’s recent past has been characterized by political turmoil and violent conflict, and even though the past decade has been relatively stable, the risk of an outbreak of fresh hostilities should be taken into account. This is especially true during election years. However, the most recent commune elections in June 2017 were described by international observers as mostly fair and democratically sound with no major incidents of coercion or manipulation. If this is an indicator of how the upcoming national elections in June 2018 will play out, this should present no risk to the successfulness of our project.

https://blog.groklearning.com/preparing-young-khmer-for-life-in-the-digital-age-6b336d94df4a

https://www.cambodianchildrenstrust.org/

https://groklearning.com/launch/

By joining the Solve Community, we are hoping to benefit from a wide network of innovative minds to figure out new ways of using technology to bring ICT education to even more Cambodian children and youths. This could for example be suggestions for resource development, online tutoring and training, and any ideas on how technology could help us to achieve our goal in a quicker, better, and more cost-effective way. 

• Grok Learning – provide the online platform for delivery of course content and development of website.
• Sydney University – Educational expertise, access to ICT content and resources
• The Atlassian Foundation – Funding and strategic oversight
• The Ministry of Education – Cambodia – integration into public education network
• STEM PP – Robotics and technical support

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