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Cambodia
The Mith Samlanh/Friends vocational
traing program
Mith Samlanh/Friends have worked with
street children since 1994, and in addition to
accommodation provision, government
capacity building, advocacy and family
reconciliation, have developed a respected
training program. They have a number of
partners, which have included World Vision,
Save the Children Australia and UNICEF.
Their good practice is contributing to a
UNICEF initiative to address needs of street
children in Laos.
Mith Samlanh/Friends’ overall objective is,
in accordance with the Convention on the
Rights of the Child (CRC), to support the
social reintegration of street children through
reintegration into families, and reintegration
into public school, employment, the
Cambodian culture and citizenship.
Project objective
The objective of the Mith Samlanh/Friends
vocational training program is to provide
training to youth (aged 15–25) in need,
thereby improving their self-confidence and
access to income generating activities; this
leading to gainful employment and social
reintegration.
The trainings respond to the needs of both
the students and the market. Given that
street youth usually have very low academic
levels, the training is mostly practical. After
training, students are either oriented into
further training or supported to enter the
professional world (placement in companies
or creation of private businesses).
Outputs
• 11 vocational skill-training workshops are
offered to street children in mechanics,
masonry, commerce, welding, electronics,
electricity, farming, sewing, hairdressing
for men and beauty for women, and
domestic service/cooking.
• Over a one-year period, about 500
children register in the Training Centre.
Approach
Training is divided into modules. This allows
new students to start at any time of the
year. Each module corresponds to a level of
training and to a placement opportunity, and
concludes with an examination. A diploma
signed by the Ministry of Social Affairs,
Labour and Vocational Training is given to
students following the final examination.
Students are encouraged to be responsible
for themselves and this is effectively
implemented in the training. For example,
students write requests for buying their
training material, get the money from the
accountant, buy their material at the market
and return the receipts and the change
themselves.
The training produces goods and services
that are sold through contracts, external
orders, and businesses run by students. This
training in a real professional environment
provides revenue to the students, shows
them how to run a future business, and also
aims at bringing the training program to a
reasonable level of sustainability.
All students benefit from literacy lessons,
including: reading and writing, mathematics
(mostly accounting), history/geography, and
science (human body). Students who are
interested can have English lessons when
they are literate in Khmer. Cooking and
commerce students all have English lessons
because it is needed for their training.
During their training time, children also have
access to cultural activities (theatre, dance,
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