Strategy
Plan’s strategy in Cambodia is committed to realising the rights of every child in the country.
Around 30% of the total population lives below the poverty line on less than half a dollar per day. Among the Kingdom’s overwhelmingly rural population (4 out of 5 people), more than 50% are children and youth.
Infant and child under-5 mortality rates remain a problem. Acute respiratory infection, diarrhoea, malaria and tuberculosis are the leading causes of child death.
Cambodian women are still dying at alarmingly high rates during pregnancy and childbirth. The maternal mortality rate is high at 472 deaths per 100,000 live births and has not improved in recent years.
Participation in lower secondary school is extremely low with only 33.9% (35% females) enrolment and 49% (45.9% females) completion rates.
Corporal punishment is a daily reality for Cambodian children. A Plan study has found that more than 35% of girls and 50% of boys aged 12 to 15 suffer corporal punishment at the hands of their parents. More than 24% of girls and 34% of boys suffer corporal punishment from their teachers.
Key goals
- promote child rights to keep communities and schools free from violence
- support public forums to influence policy makers regarding child-related issues
- coordinate children’s networks at provincial and national levels so that their voices can be heard
- provide preschool activities and scholarship packages to keep poor children in school
- improve health care access for disadvantaged children and mothers
- promote sexual and reproductive health among adolescents
- provide water filters in schools.
