Cafe Providing Training For Street Kids
Thank you to all our donors, we have met our fundraising goal.
WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?
Palmera will provide capacity building in business development for a social enterprise Café set up Battambang, a town on the border of Cambodia and Thailand. The primary purpose of the Café will be to provide hospitality training and support to disadvantaged youth in Battambang, to enable them to gain employment and livelihoods. The café is a profit-making enterprise with profits directed to initiatives to rescue kids from the streets and reintegrate them back with their families and society. These initiatives are run by Homeland, a local partner of Palmera.
Palmera will review the commercial strategy of the Café and provide support in financial management, marketing and other aspects of the business. Palmera’s focus is ensuring the sustainability of this enterprise—both as a social and for-profit business. This sustainability will enable Homeland to continue to provide the range of social services that it currently provides in the region.
THE BENEFITS
- Provides skills and training to the Café employees in running a successful business – both commercially and for social gain
- Enables the Café’s Fresh Eats training program to operate successfully
- Enables skills and values training for the most disadvantaged and high-potential youth, culminating in a graduate which will enable them to gain employment and independence
- Through giving priority to women, who are often more vulnerable in Cambodian culture, the project will seek to address gender inequalities in the community
- Contributes to meeting the demand for high-quality hospitality graduates in Battambang’s growing tourism industry.
- Contributes a local source of income for the local NGO Homeland’s principal function as a care centre for at risk children.
BACKGROUND
The Fresh Eats Café has been operating for 2 years as a social enterprise. This capacity building will enable the Café to continue operating and successfully deliver the Fresh Eats training program as well as make a profit which can be redirected to Homeland, the local NGO.
Battambang in Cambodia has a growing tourism industry. It is the main hub of the Northwest, connecting the entire region with Phnom Penh and Thailand, and as such it’s a vital link for Cambodia. Improving the hospitality skills of the local youth will lead to higher employment and economic growth in the region. These youth can also then serve as role models for future generations.
The participants for Fresh Eats training program are selected carefully through an extensive social outreach initiative with selection based on disadvantage and potential for successful completion of the program. Women are given priority as in Cambodia women often lack access to employment and education opportunities compared to their male counterparts.
OUR PARTNER
For this project, Palmera will continue to work with Homeland (Meato Phum Ko’Mah), a locally registered Cambodian NGO. Since 1997 Homeland has been supporting street children, trafficked children and children affected by HIV/AIDS at the Homeland residential centre in Battambang. Cambodia.
Homeland’s approach is to work sustainably and in partnership with the community to improve the lives and well being of vulnerable children and families and to facilitate family reunification wherever possible, while at all times upholding the best interests of the children.
As the children grow older, Homeland tries to equip them through vocational training with a skill set that will enhance their employment prospects and give them the independence they need to begin to build their own lives as adults.
