UWS is taking action to make school an everyday possibility for children living in rural Cambodia. This starts with providing a close and safe space for learning and extends to working with government ministries to drive system-level change.

Restoring education in rural regions

In 1975, Cambodia’s infrastructure was decimated by civil war and the Khmer Regime – an administration that saw education as a threat. 30 years later, although education recovery was underway at national level, few improvements were reaching the remote regions. In 2008, UWS was established to change this. Our work started with building schools but has grown over time to securing change at a system-level, training local teachers, and delivering community workshops to tackle some of the cultural barriers stopping children attending school.

As always, our aim is always to build capacity, not dependency. So far, of the 136 schools UWS has built in Cambodia, 40 have transitioned into the national education sector.

Nurturing local, multilingual teaching

There are 27 languages spoken in Cambodia. In Ratanakiri Province, which is home to many indigenous people, language barriers have contributed to an adult literacy rate of just 45.9%. By building local, multilingual teaching capacity, we’re giving more children access to engaging learning experiences. In 2022, his Majesty of Cambodia awarded UWS the Moni Sarapoin Mohaserey Wat Award in appreciation of our contribution to education and literacy.