Despite its growing tourism sector, Cambodia remains one of the poorest and least developed countries in Southeast Asia. Development in the country is uneven and many rural communities remain poor as corruption and self-interest hamper the country's growth.

Phum Pheak 4 Primary School is located in the rural village of Bong Kong in the Prasat Bakong District of Siem Reap Province in north-western Cambodia. The village is home to 1,263 people from 330 households, most of whom depend on rice cultivation for subsistence. There is water, electricity and cellphone reception but the village lacks a local health centre.

Established in 1996, Phum Pheak 4 Primary School currently has 161 pupils (90 boys and 71 girls) aged 5 to 12 and employs 9 teachers (3 men, 6 women, some part-time). There are five small classroom buildings with a total of eight classrooms on the school grounds. Two of the buildings were well designed, constructed of good quality concrete and wood and assessed as being in fair condition and safe. However, the three other buildings were rated as unsafe, inadequate and/or without an adequate learning environment.

One of the structures is a covered car park, which was converted to accommodate two classrooms in response to the school's growing problems with classroom overcrowding. Without protective walls and a dusty floor, this building is extremely unsuitable for teaching and learning. The other two unsatisfactory buildings were built of wood with zinc sheet roofs that have deteriorated badly over the years. The metal roofs and lack of adequate ventilation make classrooms dangerously hot, especially during the summer months. The classrooms in both buildings are drab, demotivating and uninspiring.

As the school faces the problem of overcrowded classrooms year after year, students and teachers clearly lack enough space to focus on their learning and teaching. We have therefore decided to finance the urgently needed new school building with four fully equipped classrooms. This creates a safe and motivating environment in which children and teachers can learn, teach, develop and thrive. In addition, we will build four new toilets to improve the school' sanitation standards to prevent hygiene-related diseases. At the same time, these measures help to reduce the school dropout rate.

Implementation:

Phum Pheak 4 Primary School is a state registered school. The government will support the community in the training and salaries of teachers and will provide the curriculum and materials for teaching and learning.

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 removing the old buildings and organizing the school opening ceremony.

For the actual construction, we work with a trusted local contractor to coordinate all phases of construction and purchase all standard materials locally. Payment will be made in installments as construction progresses, with 5% of the total cost being retained as a guarantee of the quality of the work for six months.

After the project is completed, the community will be responsible for the upkeep of the school. Construction is scheduled to start in June 2022 and should be completed by January 2023.