To begin with, not everyone in the world knows about the importance of education. This may seem like an obvious point to make, but when you are someone who has always had access to educational opportunities and has always loved school, you may take for granted that there are so many people who do not really see the significance of education for developing skills and brightening career prospects, nor the impact of education on personal care and development. For many, it is a struggle enough to keep up with looking after their farm; education, even when it is known about, is not a priority when you are faced with the immediate and very real difficulty of feeding your family, and it may even be seen as an impediment to the running of your business if the children normally help out there.

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Furthermore, not everyone is aware of how they can access educational opportunities or facilities, nor of what their rights are. People need someone to tell them these things in order to know them; knowledge of phenomena such as scholarships and alternative job prospects is something which is learnt, not intuitive.

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Leading on from this, not everyone has the power to make a change for themselves with regards to their own education. During my school years, I always felt empowered by the knowledge that my education was in my own hands: if there was something I needed to learn, I could always go to the library and find a book on the subject, or research it on the internet, for as long as needed until I understood - rather like Matilda, in Roald Dahl's classic. But what if you live on an island, with no library, no internet access and no money to take a boat across the river to school? Where is your power to teach yourself then? You cannot be a Matilda without books.

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A common argument that I had come across before I left for Cambodia was that it is no good for outsiders to come into a place and provide all the assistance needed for a while, then leave again, as this is unsustainable. While I agree that solutions which are like plasters - in other words, that cover the problem and make it seem better for a while, but don't heal it - are a danger when 'outside' people come into a situation, I would hasten to add the following: firstly, it is no good for those who have the power to make a change to use such reasoning as an excuse to not empower others, and secondly, in some situations, the situation will stay the same unless some kind of external factor comes in and at least triggers a change in the community, because within that community there may not always be the necessary tools available for the change to happen (as in the aforementioned Matilda example).

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A challenge that we came across while working on our project was the need to try and engage the community in local education. If the older members of the community are not motivated by education, there is a problem, because it is difficult to convince people to make a change in something which doesn't interest them. One way which we found to be effective to combat this was to find something which does matter to community members in order to draw their attention to education. For example, the school director in Sambour is someone with a lot of sway in the community; by persuading him to take our Parents' Meeting event under his direction, we managed to increase community participation in the event, as people assumed that if the school director says it is important to come, it probably is. Ultimately, even if we were able to secure free, quality education for every single child in the world, it would be no use at all if we were unable to change the mindsets of community members towards the importance of education.

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One important factor to consider is how, even in situations where targets appear to be being officially met or nearly met (for example, a 96% enrolment rate in primary school in Cambodia), that does not mean that everything is perfect in practice: there may be other, underlying problems. For example, enrolment does not guarantee attendance. Another example is how, even amongst students who are all 'officially' enrolled in state schools, money still plays a role in success: private classes may be held in which essential information for exams is needed, but then these classes are only accessible to those who can afford them...and those who can't have no books to turn to for the answers. Finger-pointing also needs to be avoided; teachers' wages are not usually high enough to live off alone, and so private lessons are the solution they turn to. This is reminder of how answers to problems in the development field need to be holistic, even in the wider sense of working towards all 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals simultaneously.

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It is simplistic to assume that money is the answer to everything, though. Despite having a lower budget than previous cycles of volunteers, our cycle still didn't spend anywhere near the total allowance we had for the project - yet we still made an impact. Lack of money can be a contributing factor to problems in the education system, but just giving money to people is a good example of the ‘plaster solution’ described earlier: it patches things up for a while, but doesn't solve the issues. Instead, we need to trace back to where the money problems are coming from to see how to address the root causes.

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In terms of finding solutions, it was clear during the project that out-of-the-box thinking was required to find effective ideas. For example, we had been told that community participation in events had been low in previous cycles, and so we decided to try and bring the events to the community instead by visiting them in their homes through a door-to-door process, which worked very well. All of the best activities and solutions came from in-depth, careful discussion between Khmer and UK volunteers, because these were the ones which combined the expertise of those who understood the context with the fresh perspective of those from a different culture.

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Another point to note is how, when carrying out a project such as this, it is essential to have clearly defined targets and action points, as well as reflection and evaluation. However, whilst it is true that some paperwork is necessary for the purposes of transparency and monitoring of the effectiveness of the project, the filling in of forms should not be so overzealous as to detract from the task at hand.

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In more general terms, I have learnt about how team dynamics change and develop over time, and how one person on their own cannot solve all the world's problems. That is why it is everyone's responsibility to work towards the SDGs.

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Our Health and Hygiene session-running also gave me valuable lessons. Some children would turn up to our sessions again and again, even though the content was the same: children are naturally curious and interested in learning, especially when there is a novelty involved (such as western visitors helping to run the sessions). This natural curiosity could be a powerful tool to harness for the purposes of furthering sustainable development. It is also worth noting the enthusiasm of the younger children in particular when participating in these sessions: it seems a sensible idea to teach students about things like puberty when they are younger, so they feel less embarrassed and self-conscious. Having outside volunteers come in to teach might at first appear like a ‘plaster solution’, but actually, if this results in this young generation of students feeling confident to talk about these things openly, it means that they will one day be able to transfer this knowledge to the next generation and hence the solution will provoke a sustainable change.

 

My placement in Sambour was an incredible experience; the community in which I was living was unbelievably friendly and generous, and they have given me lessons and memories to keep and treasure for a lifetime. If I have succeeded in touching the lives of the people in this community even a fraction of the amount they have touched mine, it would be a true honour.

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[Disclaimer: all views and opinions expressed above are my own.]