Programs

HCC’s main activities are organised under the two major programs of prevention and protection, within these two programs, HCC undertakes various activities, as outlined below:

Prevention Program

• Formation of Community-Based and School-Based Protection Networks
• Capacity Building
• Awareness Raising
• Income Generation (including through animal bank, micro-credit programs, the establishment of savings and loans groups, fertilizer credit for rice production, provision of threshing machines, wells, pumping machines and dams and agriculture technical skill training)
• Scholarship provision
• Reintegration of dropped out school children back into school
• Provision of primary and reproductive healthcare education and consultation, and HIV/AIDS prevention

Protection Program

• Investigation, monitoring and rescue
• Provision of accommodation, security and support services to victims of trafficking and sexual or labour abuse (including formal/non-formal education, vocational skill training and trauma counselling)
• Reintegration of children and young women into the community with assistance to: undertake formal schooling, find employment, or start their own business.

HCC believes in the provision of holistic programs that can effectively and sustainably support the most vulnerable communities in rural Cambodia. Many of Cambodia’s rural communities experience extreme poverty, low education levels, and a limited awareness of their rights, all of which make them highly susceptible to trafficking, sexual abuse and child labour. HCC’s aim is to reduce the risks experienced by these communities through working at the village level to raise awareness, educate, and create support groups to ensure that the women and children have the knowledge, skills and resources to effect positive change within their community. Furthermore, as these human rights violations frequently stem from poverty, prevention strategies are only effective if corresponding actions on income earning or livelihood concerns are addressed. As such, HCC provides alternative community support options alongside its awareness raising and education programs.

These options can include: scholarships, micro-credit programs, the establishment of savings and loans groups, agriculture technical skill training, the provision of threshing machines and dams, and the construction of latrines in schools and villages to improve hygiene and health and reduce the number of girls that drop out of school due to the acute embarrassment that arises from the lack of appropriate toilets and sanitation at school. HCC has found that the combination of awareness raising, education, development of supports and poverty reduction programs can effectively and sustainably reduce the vulnerability of women and children to trafficking, sexual abuse and child labour in rural Cambodia.