The air had a humid edge, as the early morning sunlight spilt through the windows of a five-star Siem Reap hotel. A small group of Grade 9 students walked nervously across the hotel’s polished marble lobby. As they reached the reception desk, one stepped forward with a smile, introducing themselves as the group from AUPP Liger Leadership Academy, with an appointment to pitch an opportunity to the hotel manager. A few minutes later, they were sitting in a conference room, waiting apprehensively to begin. The students had spent weeks preparing for this moment, including late into the evening before, and they carried the weight of an organisation's future in their hands.
The students had learned about the plight of Spean Chivit through their Social Sciences class - a project-based learning program designed to help students understand how to be change agents and make their community a better place. Spean Chivit is a local resource hub for young adults, providing “essential life skills education, creative development, career advice, mentoring and support”. The organisation had recently lost the funding that covered their monthly operating costs, and faced the very real possibility of having to close their doors. The pitch the students were about to make was as ‘real-world’ as it gets. They hoped to convince the hotel managers to agree to their idea.
With their laptop open, they led the hotel managers through the presentation, a bold solution that would bring an additional revenue stream to Spean Chivit or “Bridge of Life” in English. Leading hotels in the Siem Reap area would offer additional training to their staff, developed and delivered by Spean Chivit and capitalising on their existing expertise - delivering capacity building impact and leadership programs to youth. The hotel managers listened intrigued to the young students' pitch, asking questions and considering the proposal.
As the students came to the end of their presentation, their nerves faded; they’d nearly completed the first one! The hotel managers were clearly interested and open to learning more about the initiative. The students would follow up in due course, then connect them with the team at Spean Chivit to take the conversation further. They weren’t just kids doing a school project any more; they were changemakers, bridge-building between the classroom and the real world.
The Background
At the AUPP Liger Leadership Academy in Phnom Penh, education transcends the traditional classroom through a revolutionary, project-based model designed to empower Cambodia’s next generation of change agents. The Liger learning program “centers around project-based learning, fostering a holistic approach to student development, cultivating ethical, entrepreneurial leaders.”
As part of the Social Sciences curriculum, the 65 Grade 9 students take Be The Change (BTC); a student-ready program which equips students to take action in their communities that leads towards positive change. BTC is designed around the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and guides youth to explore social impact through a blend of social and emotional learning, systems thinking and real-world community engagement.
The Social Sciences class spans an entire academic year, initially focusing on the 11 lessons in BTC, which prepare students with the theoretical foundations on which to step into action in their communities. Once the students have completed the lessons, they apply the BTC Toolkit to a community project. The Liger model allows plenty of space for this with two, two hour long classes per week. Students follow the inquiry model outlined in The Toolkit, leading the project in collaboration with community groups and/or partner organisations such as Spean Chivit.
Spean Chivit is a vital multi-purpose resource center for Cambodian youth in Siem Reap. This grassroots organisation provides a vibrant, safe, and creative space designed to bridge the gap between formal education and meaningful employment for youth aged 15 to 30. The organisation was founded by Sam Walker, an Australian who has been in Cambodia for more than a decade. Spean Chivit seeks to foster a sense of belonging and collaboration, with the philosophy of being led “by young adults, for young adults”.
The Spean Chivit student project spanned several weeks and started with an initial investigation phase, where the students explored not only the organisation’s intentions and operations, but also the wider context and system within which the organisation operates. The project included a two day trip to Siem Reap, which is a six hour bus trip from the school. This trip was an opportunity to build a deeper relationship with the people at Spean Chivit and pitch to the hotels they had been in contact with. The trip was planned and organised by the students themselves.
Real World Learning and Connection
Initially, when the students made contact with Spean Chivit, they communicated virtually. They learnt about the organisation through their own research, as well as video calls and emails with the Spean Chivit team. Sam engaged with the students to help them understand more about Spean Chivit and worked alongside them to brainstorm possible solutions. Once some ideas had been generated, the student group focused on two: helping the organisation to register as an NGO rather than a social enterprise and helping Spean Chivit to build partnerships with high end hotels around Siem Reap with the aim of offering paid leadership and / or experiential training to hotel staff.
The students focused on building a reciprocal relationship with Spean Chivit, aware through their learning in BTC that reciprocity is crucial in community projects. To the students, this meant having an awareness that they were part of a “meaningful and highly valuable experience” and doing everything they could to ensure they provided meaningful input and outcomes for Spean Chivit that got them closer to their goal of remaining open and able to support Siem Reap’s youth. Jeff Kane, the Learning Facilitator of the Social Sciences class, says, “I loved seeing how the students could connect BTC concepts like Reciprocity, Longevity and their own Skills and Passions to the discussions and work being done. When the students see a concept like "Reciprocity" they learned about in BTC come alive in real life, you know that more has been learned about being human and being a member of a community than any test or assessment could really capture.”
In the two interviews conducted with some of the Liger students by Alice Whitehead, founder and CEO of Orenda Learning, the students spoke candidly and excitedly about their experiences working on the project. They had a genuine ability to reflect and identify their key learnings. Students Kimheang, Kimhak, Somanith and Chamnan outlined the way the project had supported them to develop future ready skills such as flexibility, critical thinking and communication.
Jeff shared, “it was really clear to see the impact of real-life learning experiences on the students and how motivating it was. You could see how seriously they took all their preparations for meeting with the hotels because they knew there was a chance that the only way that Spean Chivit would "survive" as an organisation was if they were convincing enough.”
Students Kanya, Vuthyka and Nakhorn spoke about how their passion for the project grew stronger over time, the more they connected with Spean Chivit and especially when they met some of the youth involved with the organisation. The students even felt motivated to work during their lunch breaks and after school on the project. Vuthyka felt this was driven by the program's alignment with her school's core values, such as leadership, communication, and confidence. She felt the inspiring, impactful program at Spean Chivit helps promote leadership skills among Cambodian youth, which was something she could easily connect to.
Sam Walker the founder of Spean Chivit says “We loved working with the students from AUPP Liger Leadership Academy. We were so impressed by how well they listened to everything we said, and they took everything on board. We were also impressed at how quickly they were able to turn information around and create more in-depth presentations, then deliver those presentations with great professionalism. They had fabulous questions and articulate themselves well.”
A Systems Approach and the SDGs
The Spean Chivit project is a strong example of a student initiative that moves beyond a quick fix, like a one-off fundraising endeavour or a donation. The Liger students used a systems approach to explore leverage points that had the potential to have a lasting impact. They identified that through a partnership with the hotel industry, Spean Chivit could leverage their existing skills to establish another revenue stream. Within this, they had to anticipate unintended consequences, determining whether Spean Chivit had the capacity to deliver the training before pitching it to hotels.
Another leverage point they explored and took action on was the process of supporting Spean Chivit to register as a Non-Government Organisation. This involved a significant amount of research for the students and a trip to the Ministry of Interior in order to get an application form and detailed instructions from the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia. The students determined that registering as an NGO would open up new funding pathways and additional support for Spean Chivit.
When asked which SDGs the Spean Chivit project addressed, student Kimhak reflected with clarity which goals the students felt were most connected. SDG 4, Quality Education, because Spean Chivit is a youth centre that provides education for people. Gender Equality and inclusivity are part of Spean Chivit’s core values, and the organisation is open to all genders, so the project supported SDG 5, Gender Equality. The students also felt their initiative addressed SDG 8, Decent Work and Economic Growth, because a partnership between Spean Chivit and local hotels would promote job creation and innovation.
Conclusion
This collaborative project between a class of students and a social enterprise facing a challenge serves as a powerful example of what is possible when education moves from theory to practice. It also clearly demonstrates three-way, meaningful reciprocity where all parties gained in a mutually beneficial way; the hotels had the opportunity to get critical training for their staff while supporting an important organisation. Spean Chivit got many hours of support, such as time spent creating slide decks and pitching to hotels that the organisation didn’t have the resources to do on their own. The students gained countless skills from the experience.
In summary Sam shared “We love collaborations and this was a very different and unique collaboration for us. The students have helped us by researching information for us about local NGO registration. I'm impressed that they actually went to the ministry and other places in search of answers. They also opened doorways to local hotels here in Siem Reap, through pitching our business idea. This collaboration epitomises everything we do at Spean Chivit, empowering young people and giving them the real-world practical tools and the confidence to take action and complete projects.
The foundations in project based learning and community engagement, provided through both AUPP Liger Leadership Academy and the Be The Change program, provided the students with a strong framework which took their efforts well beyond a one off action into a multifaceted, systems focused initiative. Through their partnership with Spean Chivit, these young leaders proved that genuine support can be offered through reciprocal partnerships. They are no longer just students of social change; they are the architects of it.
The partnership between AUPP Liger and Spean Chivit is set to continue, with future visits already scheduled to ensure the long-term strength and longevity of the relationship.
This community project has given Spean Chivit a direction to move in and opened some doors to explore, however the organisation is still in a precarious position in terms of funding its operations. If you can support in any way please contact Sam Walker at sam@speanchivit.com
