Young Focus
In the ‘Smokey Mountain’ area of Manila, thousands of families rely directly or indirectly on the garbage ‘industry’. Jobs range from scavenging for recyclable materials to driving bike taxis. The average family income from these jobs is around US$5 per day. Extreme financial hardship, as well as a lack of social support, means that a significant proportion of children in the area are unable to complete any meaningful education.
Young Focus provides a range of education-related services to help young people realize their potential and, in doing so, escape the cycle of poverty. Young Focus’ programs include:
- early childhood education for 3-5 year olds
- scholarships and bridging education for school-age children
- life skills training and vocational support for marginalised teenagers who have never received an education
- food relief and nutrition education to address malnutrition in the area
- social care and community development services
The Phoenix Foundation provides financial support for all aspects of Young Focus’ operations, which provide an invaluable lifeline to many hundreds of children, as well as their families and the wider community, every year.
PEPY - Empowering Youth
PEPY is a Cambodian NGO dedicated to helping rural youth maximise their educational and vocational potential, so as to break the cycle of poverty in their communities.
Operating in Siem Reap province (one of the poorest provinces in Cambodia despite the tourism industry associated with Angkor Wat), PEPY runs integrated programs to make rural youth aware of their own potential and career opportunities, and provides holistic capacity building, relevant context-based instruction, and community outreach services.
PEPY also provides university and vocational college scholarships, which include academic, vocational, practical and emotional support, to a cohort of carefully selected, highly motivated students each year.
The Phoenix Foundation provides financial support for all aspects of PEPY’s operations, which have significantly increased the tertiary education participation rates in the target communities, and which have seen nearly 100% of the organisation’s scholars graduate and go on to find meaningful employment.
Stairway Foundation Inc.
Stairway was established in 1990 as an alternative program for the most marginalized and endangered street children in the Philippines. The organization is now a leading advocate on children’s rights in the region, especially in respect of the protection of children from sexual abuse and other types of exploitation.
In addition to their advocacy work on children’s rights, and in response to obvious needs in their local community, Stairway established a local Community Assistance Program (“CAP”) to provide: educational assistance bursaries for hundreds of poor and deserving students each year; a summer resource and recreational program; community education and crisis intervention; a school feeding program; a medical program; and a livelihood program for the local indigenous people.
The Phoenix Foundation supports Stairway’s activities through the provision of funding for CAP, which has increased in significance since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, through which a significant proportion of the local community lost their livelihoods.
Through the CAP program, Stairway provides scholarships and financial support to almost 700 local children (and their families) each year. CAP also provides the broader community with support and education in respect of nutrition, health, sustainable income generation, and child protection.
Teach for the Philippines
Teach for the Philippines (“TFP”), a member of the ‘Teach for All’ global network, is dedicated to transforming the Philippines’ public education system to ensure all children have access to relevant and excellent education.
TFP selects and intensively trains some of the country’s most promising graduates and young leaders, and places them in 2-year teaching posts in schools in underprivileged communities throughout the Philippines. TFP’s ‘Teacher Fellows’ educate and inspire thousands of students each year, who consistently show significant improvements in educational attainment compared to control groups.
After their 2-year teaching placements, the Teacher Fellows are provided with career counseling, mentorship, leadership training, and networking opportunities to help them secure meaningful work in the fields of education, government, social enterprise, and the private sector. Nearly 80% of TFP’s alumni go on to work in ‘Education Reform’ – decision-making roles in the fields of education, government, development, and social enterprise.
The Phoenix Foundation provides support for all aspects of Teach for the Philippines’ operations.
Krousar Yoeung
With nearly 20 years’ experience in the field of Early Childhood Care and Development (“ECCD”), Krousar Yoeung (“KrY”) is recognized as a leading Cambodian educational NGO, through its establishment of community-based and primary school-based preschools, innovative pedagogy, community mobilization, parent support, and education advocacy activities.
Since it was established, KrY has supported rural and sub-urban communities in establishing hundreds of pre-schools, approximately 85% of which continue to function sustainably (long after KrY’s involvement has ceased) thanks to the community leadership and management, and, in many cases, the adoption of the schools’ ongoing running costs by the government.
With the Phoenix Foundation’s financial support, KrY has already established 16 new pre-schools (and associated community mobilization and education advocacy programs) in four districts of Preah Vihear province, and will further expand the project to set up 10 new pre-school facilities in two new districts in coming years.
Human Practice Foundation
Human Practice Foundation creates schools, quality education, and entrepreneurial projects that give children and their communities the power to build a better future.
The Phoenix Foundation supports Human Practice Foundation’s programs in the Taplejung district of Nepal. The families living in this area have little or no income and therefore rely on smallholder farming to get food on the table. One key reason for the lack of jobs and opportunities for income generation is that the educational sector is severely challenged by a lack of government resources due to the remote location. The school facilities are often damaged, timeworn, and insufficient, and most teachers only have a 3-month long education after secondary school. Because of the unstable situation of their parents, many students are not attending school and it is common for teenagers to travel to the Gulf states to work under inhumane conditions to provide for their families.
Human Practice Foundation’s activities to uplift the schools and communities in the region are having a demonstrable impact, with significantly improved academic outcomes and dramatically reduced drop-out rates.
The Citizens Foundation
The Citizens Foundation (TCF) is a professionally managed, non-profit organization set up in 1995 by a group of Pakistan citizens who wanted to bring about positive social change through education. 28 years later, TCF is now one of Pakistan’s leading organizations in the field of education for the less privileged.
TCF builds and manages schools in the heart of urban slums and rural communities, ensuring a high quality of education and holistic support for its beneficiaries.
Catering to the most needy, and with an all female faculty and a 50% female student gender ratio, TCF works to remove barriers of class and privilege to make all citizens of Pakistan agents of positive change.
The Phoenix Foundation supports TCF through the provision of funding for an innovative program which gives children in remote communities access to secondary education.
Bahay Tuluyan
Bahay Tuluyan is an award winning, grassroots-level NGO dedicated to preventing and responding to abuse and exploitation of vulnerable children in the Philippines.
Beginning as a drop-in centre where children could go to have a bath, rest, eat and play in the Malate area of Manila in 1987, the organisation currently manages an integrated suite of child-centred programs across three sites in areas including:
- Emergency and Residential Care
- Social Work and Case Management
- Formal and Informal Education and Training Services
- Community Outreach through Mobile Units and Street Educators
- Advocacy and Research.
Bahay Tuluyan provides intensive, individualised services to hundreds of extremely vulnerable children each year, with expert case management and direct services aimed at healing and assisting recovery. They also touch the lives of thousands of children and their families each year through their community-based activities. The Phoenix Foundation is proud to support all aspects of Bahay Tuluyan’s work.