All it takes is $180 to take a child off the streets of Cambodia. That’s just one third of what the average Australian spends going out each month. We want you to stay in, make a donation and sink your toes into one of our sumptuous, hand-made rugs.
WELCOME TO POIPET
CfC operates in Poipet, Cambodia’s primary trade route with Thailand and a hotbed of social ills. Thriving cross-border trade has seen families from across the country flock to Poipet in ever greater numbers in the hope of making a living. Economic opportunities
for the uneducated and unskilled are scarce, however, and the majority of Poipet’s 100,000+ inhabitants live at survival level in precarious and uncertain conditions.
Poipet is an exceptionally hazardous place for children: prostitution, human trafficking, drug addiction, physical and sexual assault – it is the youngest and most vulnerable that bear the brunt of the Poipet’s problems. An astounding number of children
live in deplorable conditions, around a third of whom regularly sleep on the streets.
The majority of street children beg for money or work as child labor to support their families. Indeed, the most common reason given for sleeping on the streets is fear of returning home due to lack of earnings to turn over to their parents. As long as these
children are forced to work or remain on the streets they are deprived the education that would otherwise enable them to improve their life prospects. The result is a vicious cycle in which poverty is passed down from one generation to the next.
WHO WE ARE
Carpets for Communities is a not-for-profit social enterprise which provides gainful employment to the mothers of children who forego school to support their families. We provide these women a living wage to produce hand-made, eco-friendly carpets. With
the money they make, mothers can relieve their children from labour, getting them off the streets and back into school. Our team of social workers help families with the transition and partner with local schools to monitor the children's attendance.
Our ultimate goal is to break the cycle of poverty in a single generation. Children who complete primary education and go on to middle and high school have dramatically greater life prospects. To this end, we use the profits from selling carpets online and
at select markets to provide scholarships for secondary level and further education. We recently enjoyed our 10 year anniversary, and many of the original group of children are now graduating or entering university with CfC’s support.
Please visit or website for more information about our work, history and product range:
www.carpetsforcommunities.org.
THE PROJECT
We are asking for donations to fund real development practice. It’s not sexy, it looks much like your day job, and it will involve countless boring but vitally important spreadsheets. Welcome to where the real work happens!
Earlier this year we made the very difficult decision to temporarily halt production. Cambodia, and Poipet in particular, has experienced dramatic changes in the decade since the enterprise began, and as a consequence we are no longer confident that CfC
meets the evolving needs of our beneficiaries in its current form. With dwindling sales and reduced demand for work from our regular producers, it has been decided that now is the time to reassess our goals and the methods by which we seek to achieve them.
The lives of our beneficiaries have changed dramatically. Families that lived in insecure wooden huts have now saved enough to build themselves secure concrete homes. Many of our original producers now run their own small businesses, established with capital
provided by CfC, and their children are studying at university with the help of CfC scholarships.
There is, however, still a great need for assistance of the kind CfC has provided. Average income has risen steadily, but income inequality is the highest anywhere outside of Phnom Penh, and the region remains one of the country’s poorest. There have also
been significant demographic changes: around a third of the population of Poipet are now children – the first generation born in Poipet since its population boom.
In the coming months, our senior staff will be conducting an expansive and rigorous needs assessment. First of Poipet, then spreading out to other key regions of Cambodia. Once this is complete, a strategy will be drawn up and exhaustive market research
undertaken. Consultants in relevant fields have agreed to donate their time and will guide us every step of the way.
The end result will be a document containing our new business plan in full. This plan will be based on thorough research, with the consultation of experts, and will be published online for open comment and critique before any steps are undertaken towards
its implementation. In addition, our General Manger, Dave Howard, will be keeping a bi-monthly blog for donors so that you can track our progress and give input along the way.
REWARDS
There are currently hundreds of carpets sitting in our Cambodian warehouse awaiting the perfect home. We are asking you, our friends and supporters to make a donation towards our goal and in return you will receive a voucher worth up to
x3 the value of your donation!
We have photographed our entire remaining stock, which will be uploaded online in the last week of the campaign. At the close of the campaign you will be emailed an e-voucher and redemption code. All you will need to do is look through our
stock gallery, note down which you would like to receive, then email us along with your redemption code and shipping details.
In the meantime, you can find our entire product line and price list at our online store:
carpetsforcommunities.myshopify.com
The cost of postage will be dependent on where you live, but we are doing our best to keep it under $15 per item by shipping our entire remaining stock to Australia in one go. International donations are very welcome, but will have to be shipped separately,
increasing the cost of shipping. All our donors will be contacted individually once they have redeemed their voucher to arrange shipping.
Further details will be provided to donors along with their e-voucher and redemption code. If you have any questions, however, please feel welcome to email our friendly Cambodian operations team at
[email protected].
