Welcome
to
Empower
Underprivileged Children Association
Our Association
Empowering Underprivileged Children (EUC) is a non-profit Swiss association based in Zurich with a focus on supporting 'KKEV Cambodia' (Kinderhilfe Kambodscha) through various fundraising activities. Initiated by Claudia Süssmuth Dyckerhoff and her husband Stephan Dyckerhoff, it was founded in December 2022 together with three friends/board members: Nuria Barbey-Beceiro, Thierry Barbey and Andrea Hierholzer.
What does KKEV Cambodia stand for?
KKEV Cambodia is an international non-governmental organisation and the local partner in Cambodia of Kinderhilfe Kambodscha e.V. Aachen. KKEV Cambodia employs only local staff and, under the leadership of an experienced and well-coordinated team, operates two facilities in Sen Sok, an administrative district of Phnom Penh with high child poverty and unemployment rates: a children's village and a street children programme (SCP).
Up to 100 children aged between 2 and 21 live in the children's village. They come from disadvantaged and often traumatic backgrounds, live in small groups and attend public school. The children's village offers the children additional educational support and, if necessary, psychological care. The aim is to provide all children with a safe and caring home, a school-leaving certificate and vocational training so that they can stand on their own two feet as young adults.
In the street children programme (SCP), up to 120 children aged between 7 and 19 who receive little support from their families receive help so that they can finish school. In addition to educational support, they receive a daily meal, which is very important for their families in order to support their participation in the SCP. As in the children's village, the goal is for the children to complete vocational training after school, escape poverty and lead independent lives.
Further information on both KKEV Cambodia facilities can be found here.
How is KKEV Cambodia financed?
The upkeep of the children's village and the street children's programme is raised each year from membership fees, donations, sponsorships and public funding as well as through fundraising activities by EUC.
KKEV Cambodia's budget covers the children's schooling and the associated academic support, as well as the teaching of practical skills as part of various apprenticeship programmes. Apprenticeships of up to two years at Don Bosco or the Cambodia-Thai Skills Development Institute, for example, are subject to a fee. The costs of university studies for pupils who perform very well and have the ability to study cannot be covered by the budget and require separate funding.
Membership of the association
We welcome new members who would like to support the purpose of the EUC. Please send an informal application for membership to info@empowerchildren.ch, stating how you would like to support the organisation. As soon as the board has decided on membership, you will receive the relevant information.
Statutes of the association
Download here the articles of association of the “Empower Underprivileged Children Association” as a PDF document.
Conversation with Michael Weiss, the founder of Kinderhilfe Kambodscha (KKEV)
In an in-depth interview conducted by Claudia Süssmuth Dyckerhoff with the founder of KKEV, Michael Weiss, you can find out more about the background and history of KKEV and the children's village
Impressions of KKEV Cambodia
Not only is football played on the pitch, there are also numerous other sports and dance activities, which the children really enjoy.
Finally, after the lifting of the strict COVID restrictions and almost 2.5 years, visitors are allowed to come again in June 2022. The group photo shows the children's village residents together with Claudia Süssmuth Dyckerhoff, her husband Stephan Dyckerhoff and two of their children, Benjamin and Laura.
The children take it in turns to organise themselves in the morning, at lunchtime and in the evening to serve food in the sala at the KKEV Cambodia Children's Village.
Contact
Empower Underprivileged Children Association
c/o Kellerhals Carrard KlG
Rämistrasse 5
8001 Zurich
079 294 14 01