From September 2015, the Albatros Foundation will support the french association “Toutes à l’école” which, since 2006,  freely send to school the most underprivileged girls from the peri-urban areas of Phnom Penh in it’s school Happy Chandara.

The founder, Mrs Tina Kieffer, has decided to give priority to girls education, willing to bring her contribution to the still important cambodian gender inequality: only 36% of the children going to school in Cambodia are girls.

The Albatros Foundation, will support 2 classes of 25 girls.

Currently, Happy Chandara welcomes 1000 girls from 6 to 14 years old.  Every year, 100 girls start their education there.

The girls from the poorest families are accepted in priority (monthly income lower than 100 US$).

In addition to the khmer national programme, the schoolgirls study english, french and computer science.

A  hairdressing vocational centre opened in September 2013.

The first class of high school students will start in September 2015.

With these two orientations (high school and vocational training), Happy Chandara gives the opportunity to choose between third education or a professional course.  In this way, the young girls are accompanied until their admission at university or their first employment.

« Les Enfants du Parc »

AN EDUCATIONAL PROJECT THAT SHAPES INDIVIDUALS FROM CHILDHOOD TO THE VERGE OF ADULTHOOD

This project supports underprivileged parents, mostly from foreign backgrounds, in the education of their children (aged from 6 to 15) by providing learning support, sporting and recreational activities and holiday camps. It aims to help parents facing various social integration problems (limited understanding of French, precarious employment, unemployment, single parent families) in their educational role.

Objectives:

• To prevent the risk of marginalisation and the development of risk behaviour (dropping out of school, addiction, violence, breaking family ties …).
• To foster a thirst for knowledge and love of learning.
• To impart a taste for school work though an educational approach that focuses less on the academic performance of homework and more on the acquisition of knowledge and know-how through fun activities.
• To instil values such as commitment, respect for rules and other people, and the value of hard work.
• To grow and mature by sharing and building relationships of friendship and trust.

The beneficiaries are supported by an educational professional and a team of volunteers. Les Enfants du Parc places great emphasis on volunteering, particularly by its previously idle older students, who are now mobilised and trained to mentor younger students. La Fondation Apprentis d’Auteuil invested in this project because it reflects its values:

• In education, no situation is hopeless: young people who regain confidence in themselves and in adults can express their potential and embark on a successful educational and career path.
• Whatever their path in life, all children have potential, abilities and skills. It is up to the people around the child to enable him or her to express them.
• Play is a powerful educational tool. Too many children do not know or have forgotten how to play, because their imagination has been suppressed.  Les Enfants du Parc is working to rekindle children’s imagination and their ability to dream and create.

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More than 100 million women are therefore currently missing from the world, with China and India alone accounting for 80 million missing women.

When it is time to start school, girls from families living in extreme poverty will often be sacrificed in favour of boys. Families know that, in a labour market that favours men, men will have more chance of finding a stable job and will be better paid than women.

If they are lucky, girls from underprivileged communities (usually in low income countries) will be allowed to attend school for a few years but will be removed from school when they reach pre-adolescence to be used as work force and/or married young – against their will, needless to say.

Education is one of the main areas in which girls are still subjected to discrimination today.

Girls currently make up 54% of all out-of-school children worldwide. In other words, 32 million girls do not go to school.

Two-thirds of illiterate adults are women (66.6 million women).

In 2015, 31% of countries had still not achieved gender parity in primary education. This figure rises to 62% for secondary education.

Fortunately, immense progress has been made in twenty years: the percentage of out-of-school girls in developing countries has fallen from 58 to 53%.

Girls are still particularly disadvantaged in the Arab States, Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The education of girls has significant positive knock-on effects: an educated young women will earn at least 25% more income than her illiterate counterpart, leading to autonomy and enabling her to contribute to the economic well-being of the country by participating in the creation of wealth. In terms of health, she can effectively protect herself from viruses and pass on her knowledge to her children, who will in turn enjoy better health. Then, having experienced and understood the value of education, she will do all she can to send her children to school.

The education of girls is the cornerstone of economic and social development.

Every young and teenage girl should be able to go to school and stay there.

Since 2016, the Albatros Foundation has been committed to achieving gender equality in education.  It therefore supports two organisations that are working to give girls the same opportunities to access education as boys:  Educate Girls and Toutes à l’école.