Junior Youth Empowerment Program

Empowering the junior youth of Cambodia in their adolescence through community education

This program is a series of materials developed with the aim of enhancing the powers of expression for junior youth between the ages of 12 and 15. This program is expected to strengthen student’s existing literary skills and will help them begin to articulate ideas with some degree of precision and clarity.

To live a productive and fruitful life in a world of increasing complexity, one must be able to translate high ideals and noble words into pure deeds. Specifically, youthful minds must be given the tools needed to recognize the moral issues underlying the choices they make. The series of books and curriculum used in this program provide for the development of this important capability. The curriculum used in this program is taught in both English and Khmer to cater for varying levels of literacy.

Students get to practice what they learn

During the CORDE Junior Youth Empowerment Program (CORDE – JYEP) students are required to undertake community projects in their own village. These projects include cleaning the streets, schools and pagoda’s in their village by picking up rubbish and disposing of plastic appropriately. They may also decide to plant trees in their local community to help stop soil erosion and start rebuilding forests that have been wiped out due to illegal logging, rapid development and population growth.

Junior Youth in Cambodia

In Cambodia, youth from rural communities under the age of 15 are assuming weighty responsibilities, such as providing food for their family, farming or working. This is while they are trying to develop fundamental concepts about individual and collective life. Youth at this age need to be assisted in developing these concepts and beliefs. CORDE uses the dynamics of a junior youth group as a time and space for young people to develop their power of expression, thoughts and ideas in a safe and supportive environment.

Where to for youth after completing JYEP?

CORDE’s JYEP takes students approximately 1 year to complete and they are required to sit an evaluation exam at the end, so we can gage their level of understanding of the programs key concepts. Depending on the results students may repeat the JYEP program to further their literacy, math and moral development or move on to more challenging courses through attending CORDE’s University of Education and Development (UniED). It is at UniED that students go one step further in their English, math, science and community development and start learning economics and business concepts. It is even more challenging for the students, as all classes are taught in English only.