The holistic Mesang Village Development Program focuses on building families’ capabilities to lift themselves out of poverty. Education programs, essential to breaking the poverty cycle, are delivered in the following areas:
- Sustainable farming
Provides training and equipment for families to grow crops, raise chickens, ducks or pigs and start fish farming. - Income generation
Provides microfinance loans, access to small business mentoring, technical expertise and advice on how to develop savings plans and identify and develop small business opportunities. - Education
Education is essential to breaking the poverty cycle. As well as providing uniforms, books and classroom resources, CLA extends its education approach to encompass awareness raising in the whole village. This encourages regular school attendance, reduces drop-out rates and increases levels of literacy. - Health
Health education focuses on nutrition, maternal and child health, clean drinking water, hygiene, sanitation and HIV/AIDS. - Food and nutrition
Provides rice, cooking equipment and vegetable seeds to create home gardens, increase income and improve food security. - Child rights and protection
Youth programs encourage young people to take ownership of the project by helping others and forging a sense of unity in their villages. The Child Protection Network, comprising village leaders, raises awareness of social issues and acts to prevent child abuse, trafficking, labour exploitation and begging.
Download CLC brochure about the Mesang Village Development Program.
The Mesang Village Development Program is implemented on the ground by our partner organisation the Children and Life Association.
About Mesang District
Mesang is one of the poorest districts in Prey Veng Province, Cambodia – a country recovering from genocide, war and 30 years of civil unrest.
Many families are hungry and without enough food to eat for up to six months of the year. Survival depends on the labour of the whole family, which often results in children dropping out of school after only one or two years of education.
Without sufficient food and lack of access to safe water, sanitation or toilets, rates of sickness and malnutrition are very high. Lack of education and job opportunities means families, in particular children, are vulnerable to exploitation and human trafficking.
Since 2008, CLC’s funds have been helping the people of Trorkeat Village to transform their lives. Families are now growing enough food to eat and to sell in their small businesses. All children in the program are going to school regularly. Families are learning about health, hygiene and good nutrition. Child rights training has seen the rate of child abuse and labour exploitation of children plummet and there have been no reported cases of child trafficking.
Once all families in Trorkeat Village are able to meet their own basic needs, CLC’s program will gradually transfer to the next desperately poor village in Mesang, and then the next, for as long as your generous support allows.
