Children's aid in cambodia - welcome to the ibm corporate citizenship blog in germany

July 30, 2015 | Written by: tanja.schmid

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Author: Jennifer Glindemann

Our association would like to draw attention to the difficult living conditions of the children of Cambodia through various campaigns and support the continuation of selected projects in Cambodia with donations.

As the most vulnerable population in the country, the children of Cambodia are among the greatest victims in recent history. Because of the one-sided, uneven development of the economy and the political system, even their most important basic needs such as food and clothing cannot be adequately covered – not to mention school education. Because most parents can posts for school attendance including registration fees, school uniform, school supplies and unofficial fees. It is important to our association not to support a faceless organization, but to see directly how the donations are used. That is why we only carry out projects that we can manage together with selected partner organizations directly and without “obfuscation”. For example, we finance the school and university education of 6 children and run 3 schools in which all children are given free English lessons. Computer courses and hygiene training are also offered there. Another school is currently under construction. These educational centers help the surrounding families because the lessons are supported by volunteers from all over the world and these, mostly young adults, live in schools. They feed themselves in the village and thereby boost the economy. Small shops and cafes are created. Together with another organization, we distribute drinking water filters in the area and build toilet houses. In 2013 we opened the first kindergarten in northern Cambodia, where the development is still far behind the development of the capital cities. A second kindergarten was opened in 2014 – also thanks to the contribution from IBM.

Improvements / solutions (IBM Know How):

My project management skills make it easy for me to manage this association and to plan and implement donation projects. I can also contribute my IBM skills to the identification and support of partner organizations.

As an IBM consultant and project manager, I have a lot of experience in the topics that I also need when founding the association, its management and marketing.
Our IBM Practices are also used here – whether in business or social use, they lead to significant success.

Thanks to my personal commitment, the association has already made several large donations to SCAO. Since 2010, we have already collected over € 100,000, which my colleague will use together with the partners. Transparency and earmarked use of donations are our top priorities. We keep our costs at a low level of approx. 1% – so the money goes directly to our children’s aid projects with almost no deductions.

I have been working for IBM Germany since 1999 as a senior consultant and project manager in service projects. Since 2005 I have been working part-time mainly with customers in the insurance industry, initially in strategic outsourcing for GTS, since 2013 for GBS. Since I have two small children, I am only available part-time (30 hours) to IBM and our customers.

I decided to found the humanitarian association because a fellow student oversees the local children’s home. Together, the idea arose to support this from Germany. Since I was on parental leave and thus had free capacities, I was able to put all my strength into establishing and planning the project. Now I juggle sometimes with the many demands from family, work and club, but so far I have been able to keep all the balls in the game.

“I have seen many children in Asia who live in poverty and have no chance of a better life. Since I myself two healthy I have even more awareness of having children, how important is a carefree childhood. Unfortunately, many children in Cambodia do not have the privilege of growing up in orderly circumstances. With this project I would like to thank my children for this privilege. ”

Children’s aid in cambodia – welcome to the ibm corporate citizenship blog in germany

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