PEPY – Empowering The Development of Rural Cambodian Youth

Organization Name: PEPY
Contact:contact@pepyempoweringyouth.org
Website: https://pepyempoweringyouth.org/

Tell Us About Your Organization

PEPY is a local NGO and non-profit organization providing personal and professional development training to rural Cambodian youth. We believe in a future where all youth can achieve their dreams, and we work to provide them with the resources, network, and opportunities to make this possible.

The NGO was founded by an American, Daniela Papi, to improve education in Cambodia. We operated as an INGO until 2015 when we localized to empower the local staff and hand over responsibilities to the team.

Now we are a team of 20-25 depending on the number of interns, and there is only one staff that is a foreigner, and they do not support on-the-ground initiatives. All of our solutions are local and come from the community.

We have key programs to holistically develop youth into job seekers and job creators.

Dream – Dream class is an elective course that provides rural high schoolers with future planning and soft skills lessons to help them identify what path they would like to go on after graduating high school. These youth do not see many opportunities outside of their village, so we bring the opportunities to them with skill fairs and fields trip into the city where they can meet with professionals from different industries and visit higher education institutions.
Scholarship– providing youth in our target areas with the most financial disadvantages the opportunity to continue onto higher education. Unlike most scholarships, they are covered for so much more than just tuition- we fund healthcare, transport, housing, vocational training, tuition, school supplies, etc.
Learning Center– vocational training provided to rural youth high school graduates to prepare them to be competitive with city-based youth. There is an English language, ICT, soft skill, and Intro to Business course. By the end of the course, they are credited with a certificate recognized by the local government and then can pursue skilled work.
Youth Innovators’ Space and Incubator– ages 20-35, IT for Business and Social Enterprise Incubator course to help entrepreneurs and business owners get the tools to succeed. This includes proposal development, soft skills for business, various IT applications related to marketing and time management, etc.

Location

Primarily Siem Reap Province in Cambodia. Our first project started in 2005 in Chanleas Dai in partnership with a Phnom Penh-based organization, American Assistance for Cambodia. At this point, Daniela realized the importance of investing in people and the ethos that surrounds the project was truly brought to life.

Today, PEPY operates in 5 distrcits: Kralanh, Srei Snam, Varin, Taing Kork and Kompong Leaeng. The project initially started in Kralanh, but once a strong base was established in this district, the natural progression to assisting nearby provinces kicked into gear. It was an ideal way for PEPY to transition with its programs.

Srei Snam is the research base for most of the work that is driven by PEPY. The reason they picked this district was for three reasons:

The community and school’s perceptiveness to the program.
The drop-out statistics against students going on to further education
Local government support surrounds the project.

PEPY always conducts a needs analysis study with each location to assess how much work is required to assist the destination. By taking these vital initial first steps, PEPY enables the support of local communities and leadership, which makes the programs even more sustainable and successful in the long run!

Vision and long term objective

Vision – a future where young Cambodians can pursue careers that improve the quality of their lives.

Our long-term objectives increase the % of youth moving into higher education and accessing skilled employment in our target communities to at least 70%. To build capacity in rural teachers and school workers to give youth the proper coaching and resources to identify pathways to success and follow their dream. Have community IT libraries and a thriving coding and IT club in Siem Reap so that the city is attractive to investors and has a more diversified economy.

Who We Are

We are young, we are Khmer, we are women-led, we believe education is the greatest weapon against poverty.

How can people help/volunteer with you?

We are looking for volunteers to support youths’ English learning in the Learning Center and consider soft-skill volunteers for music and sports and confidence development. We prefer people with actual teaching experience and hope they can support for at least three months as we do have onboarding. If you are interested and have some teaching or volunteer experience, you can reach out to us on the email above or follow our newsletter for more updates.

Writers, storytellers, and videographers are wanted to support our Communications team as we tell the success stories and ongoing activities within our organization through our website, social media platforms, and blogs! In the past, we have worked with University students and communications professionals, and talented writers.

PEPY offers exchange and tour programs with international youth organizations at their learning center in Siem Reap. It’s an incredibly unique opportunity for student groups and teachers to share in their culture and learn from each other, forming lifelong friendships as a result of doing so. International exchanges and projects are an integral part of the Youth Empowerment and English Language Class programs.

What makes you the proudest about your organization?

We are very proud to be a local and grassroots organization with a board and team from the communities we work in. Our team knows the challenges our youth face firsthand is the best equipped to help youth break the cycle of poverty in rural Cambodia. Our team is just (mostly in our 20s) but also adaptable and we have worked hard to expand our reach and support throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.