Despite its growing tourism sector, Cambodia remains one of the poorest and least developed countries in Southeast Asia. Development in the country is very uneven and many rural communities are still affected by poverty as corruption and selfishness hamper the country's growth.

Kampong Kdei High School is located in Por Serey Village, Kampong Kdei Municipality, Chikreng District, Siem Reap Province, Cambodia. The school is approximately a two-hour drive from the city of Siem Reap, which is north of central Cambodia.

Kampong Kdei Municipality has a population of 20,196 inhabitants living in 4,201 households. The majority of the population earn their living from plantation work and subsistence farming. Kampong Kdei High School was founded in 1962 and currently has eight school buildings with a total of 40 classrooms. The school has 2453 students (1034 boys, 1419 girls) aged 12 to 18 and employs 64 teachers (35 men, 29 women).

The Kampong Kdei High School has a fairly large catchment area, the students come from around 17 villages in the school service area. Students living further from the school must either have access to public transport or be able to live closer to the school. Those who can afford it rent rooms, but for many that would be too expensive until the end of their training. In some cases, students even sleep in the school's classrooms and put their things away before school starts every morning.

Currently 61 boys and 75 girls live in places around the school. In 2016, the school and the community built two tin container houses for students who live far from the school. These shelters are small, very hot and severely overcrowded. As the school's enrollment continues to increase, there is an urgent need for a new standardized boarding school for boys and one for girls.

These new boarding facilities will underscore the importance of education to the community and provide an incentive for students to properly complete their high school level and continue their education. In addition, we will build twelve new toilets to improve sanitation standards at the school and prevent hygiene-related illnesses, thereby also reducing school dropout rates.

 Implementation:

Kampong Kdei High School is a state registered school. Teacher salaries and training are supported and managed by the government. Our approach is to always involve the community in the project to encourage ownership and community development. For this project, the villagers have agreed to contribute by preparing and developing plans for the boarding school, preparing the foundation for construction, connecting the boarding schools to electricity and water supply and organize the opening ceremony after construction. The school and the community are responsible for the operation and maintenance of the boarding houses.

A trusted local contractor will be selected to coordinate all phases of construction and purchase materials locally. The foreman is responsible for selecting the construction team and is responsible for all labor costs and construction materials. The contractor will be paid in four installments as construction progresses, with 5% of the total cost being retained for six months as a guarantee of the quality of the work. The school site is accessible all year round. Construction will start in June 2022 and is scheduled to be completed in November 2022.