Short description of situation of children and the project purpose / goal

Up to this reporting time, Khmer Association for Development (KAD) has allowed around 450 local community children to stay in its Children Development Center all day that provides them with all most needed services such as education, health care, transport means, food, school materials, school uniforms, warm care and protection from various issues. This Center has been established for more than 10 years since 2011, but there hasn’t been enough infrastructure to meet the children’s needs yet, for instance, a school building, an office, a library, a medical check-up room, etc. Currently, there are three school buildings that are used as a classroom and a child care room. Some of rooms of the buildings have been used as an office, a health room, a staff homestay, a kitchen and a computer training room that causes the shortage of instructional classrooms since the number of community children who need the Center services increases from month to month.

However, we never ignore all these issues, we always seek to explore the sources of funders who are able to solve them, as evidenced, for this project, there are 2 donors, the Schmitz Foundation and the Mirja Sachs Foundation who had financed the costs of the Child Welfare Building Construction – Year 1 that enabled us to develop the most needed infrastructures in the Center in the purpose of refining the living condition of children and protecting them from various problems and even providing them with comfort, security and safety. In addition, to improve infrastructure in the Center will prompt the child welfare and promote their rights to a proper living.

Completed activities up to the reporting time

• A local team construction was contacted to talk about the construction work and then they were contracted to start the building work.
• The construction material suppliers were identified, and the construction materials and equipment were ordered and prepared for the purpose of construction activities.
• The foundation work was started, for instance, 1) foundation pits were dug, 2) 4 x 6 granite compacting work underneath concrete support was done, 3) 4×6 granite and foundation bottom, foundation beam and belting beam sand were tamped, 4) 4×6 granite and bottom sand of the ground floor building were tamped, 5) bottom foundation with 50cms thick mixed rubble, cement and sand and 30cms thick foundation beam were laid, 6) 200cms thick hollow bricks were laid, and one of both sides of waste storage was cemented, 7) Concrete support -size 1200 x 1200 x 200 – brand M250 was made, and 8) Short pillar – size 200 x 200 x 100 -brand M250 was concreted.
• Ground floor work was done: concrete foundation beam and wall support beam with total size 30cm x 45cm were installed in all sides of the building.
• The construction land was prepared – two old buildings (a vehicle building and a Vespa building) were moved out and installed in other places. The construction side was filled with excavated soil.

Self-evaluation of the project up to the reporting time:

Current achievements:

• A construction site was prepared for the construction activities started.
• The construction materials suppliers agreed to supply all materials and equipment needed for construction.
• 55 foundation pits were dug together with the mixture of all materials poured into it.
• 287m concrete beams with total size 30cm x 45cm in the whole building were constructed.
• 175 trucks of excavated soil were deposited on the construction site.

 Expected Outcomes of the project:

• The KAD staff will have a comfortable office so that the communication between KAD and the stakeholders will be improved.
• KAD staff will have an accommodation in which they will live properly and cozily.
• The children will get a good habit of reading towards the improvement of their basic knowledge.
• The children will stop suffering from various diseases and expenses on treatment in children will be reduced.
• There will be some more rooms left that give a great chance to some more community children to get access to the most needed services.
• The project or activities will be expanded to other areas from which their people can benefit.
• The children’s parents will get more income-generated jobs that will help improve their household living standard.

Effects of the project on the beneficiaries and communities:

The community people, especially the children’s parents wax confident in the services or project provided or implemented by Khmer Association for Development that encourages them to put their children in the center for learning, to cooperate with and participate more actively in the project implementation.

Degree of attainment of the original project goal:

It will take about 2 years to complete the project, so up to now, the project activities have been implemented up to 30%.

 Difficulties in carrying out the project:

• The construction process took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, so it was very hard to find a construction contractor and a construction team.
• E-co bricks were produced on our own for use in the construction, but they were not made on time that made it retarded.
• Long heavy rain disrupted the construction activities that interrupted the construction process of the building.
• During the rain, excavated soil used to fill the construction site was rare, and it took a long time to find it.
• The prices of construction materials and equipment always increased.

 Solutions to Challenges:

• The project team tried very hard to search many villages for the construction team and its contractor.
• E-co bricks were produced just for use in the construction of this building. It wasn’t sold to outside customers, and the producers were urged to work harder.
• The construction workers were asked to take a rest when the heavy rain fell and sometimes, they were suggested to do what they could in other buildings that were safe from the rain.
• The project team tried very hard to look for owners of construction machineries at many areas to supply excavated soil to the construction site.
• The construction material suppliers were asked to discount or to reduce the prices of any specific goods.

 Prospects and implementation schedule of the project

The rest of the project activities as planned in the project proposal hasn’t been carried out yet in the year 1, is going to been implemented in year 2.