Creating Your Vision

What is your vision for the campus and/or community?

I envision a community where every child has the opportunity to attend college. It's a vision I've worked towards in the United States and I'm excited to work with and support like-minded youth in the village of Trapiang Kaek, in Veal Pong commune, in Oudong district, Kampong Speu Province, Cambodia (1.5 hrs outside Phnom Penh). In 2003, Hin Dan, a resident of Trapiang Kaek, started a project called Friends Help Friends for Development (FHFD), which provides supplementary education and peer mentorship to enable children from Veal Pong commune to attend college. Today, FHFD reaches over 500 students.

In the future, FHFD would like to expand its work to include students from all twenty-seven villages in their commune. Currently, Joe Darith - a long-time high school teacher - is the only officially salaried employee. The other work is carried out by young community members on a voluntary basis: twenty-three volunteer teachers ranging from 13 to 24 years old, Dan and the six college students make up the Board that helps with large-scale logistics, and four high school students who are responsible for managing the day-to-day logistics.

I also am hopeful for the power of media to encourage social change. The founders of FHFD have done all of the legwork. I see my role as trying to help spread their message.

Assessing Your Campus and Community

What campus/community problem does your blueprint address? What structures, practices and policies institutionalize the problem?

The three main inter-related root causes my Blueprint addresses are post-conflict reconstruction, rural poverty, and educational inequality in Trapiang Kaek, Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge regime implemented a genocide during 1975-1979, killing an estimated 2 million Cambodians. The violence continued in the village of Trapiang Kaek until 1997 as Khmer Rouge loyalists continued to operate, wiping out a generation of college-educated people. The legacy of the conflict has caused many of the residents of Trapiang Kaek to live in extreme poverty, relying on the cultivation of rice as their main source of income. Furthermore, as Phnom Penh has developed, rural villages continue to be left behind. Educational inequality exacerbates the problem. Prior to the year 2000, the public school system in Trapiang Kaek did not provide universal access to all children; rather, students had to pay a fee to attend school at all. Furthermore, the schools only operate in the mornings and thus does not provide sufficient preparation to graduate high school and attend college. 85% of young children in the Oudong district drop out of schooling after completing primary education.

On a utilitarian level, my Blueprint addresses the funding difficulties for grassroots activism in Veal Pong. Even with the incredible work FHFD has done in promoting education, they have experienced difficulty in raising awareness about their project and generating sufficient funds to improve their resources.

What communities will you work with?

• Local community

Assessing Progressive Power

Where are your strongest potential resources? Where do progressives have power on your campus or in your community?

Ideas and Information: I have tried to access my network of progressive media advocates (listed below under resources). Other ideas include: national television stations (TV3, TVK, TV Fark, and Channel 9) and Cambodia radio, which streams live on the internet at cambodiaradio.com.

Resources: Education Reform experts in Cambodia [Hemly - see below - is contacting them for interviews]

People: 1) FHFD has already shown their incredible grassroots mobilizing power by reaching hundreds of youth in surrounding villages. Each cohort which can be thought of as an autonomous student group has continued to give back to the program while serving as mentors for those that make it to college. Key Players: -Hin Dan: Founder, 5th year medical student in Phnom Penh, Leader -Veth Sokhim: NGO representative at Bridges Across Borders, 21-year old from Trapiang Kaek, Vice Leader, Human Resource Leader -Lorn Somol: Librarian Manager -Leang La: Discipline (Rule Manager for students) -Hong Narum: Art and Accounting Manager -Tho Thim: Environment Manager 2) NGO/Foundation Representatives: - Hemly Ordonez, One World Foundation Fellow and Georgetown classmate - Heddy Nam, Group Leader (Cambodia), One World Foundation

Setting Goals and Deliverables

• Goal 1: Help FHFD articulate a vision and brand through the creation of a video
• A completed 10-minute promotional video about FHFD
• A mission statement that can be included at the beginning of the video
• Possible: A new logo
• Goal 2: Raise $10,000 in endowment for FHFD
• A distribution strategy for the completed video in Cambodia and the United States
• $10,000 in endowment funding
• A financial system to manage the increased funds

Power Mapping

Key Player	Definition	Who is this player/s in your campus or community?
Target/Decision Maker	The person(s) that can give you what you want	Short and Long-term: Donors Long-term: Government officials
Constituency/Our Folks	The people impacted by the problem	Micro: the children of Veal Pong commune, Cambodia Meso: the local community of Trapiang Kaek and the Veal Pong commune Macro: Oudong district and Cambodia as a whole. FHFD can serve as a model for other rural villages impacted by the problems of post-conflict reconstruction, rural poverty, and educational inequality. They may also be able to jump start comprehensive education reform in the region.
Allies/Our Friends	The people and organizations that can help you get what you want	FHFD: the people of Veal Pong commune who know what messages they want to promote and have institutional memory of the project; One World Foundation: providing logistical support and interested collaborators; Filmmaking mentors that can help increase the effectiveness of the video
Demands/The Goods	What you want	Within the project: a cohesive branding of FHFD that includes a video and possibly other promotional materials After the project: Funding for FHFD and an expanded network for helping grow FHFD.
Opponents/Obstacles	Who is against what you want or obstacles you will have to overcome	1) Lack of knowledge: People in/out of Cambodia do not know about FHFD. With such a small budget, the coordinators have to prioritize the everyday planning of classes for the participants. It's a challenge to think about marketing, fundraising, or even paying staff. 2) Apathy: For many in Cambodia, educational inequality and rural poverty is accepted as a reality. However, FHFD has served as a rallying point for the entire community. Now we have to make people in/out of Cambodia care about the project. 3) Larger institutional boundaries: Policies must also address the shortcomings for rural public education. Children in Cambodia should not rely on projects like FHFD in order to get to college. They should expect the government to improve policies around this. [However, I understand that while this particular obstacle is important to acknowledge, it does lie outside the scope of this 10-minute video]

What is your primary approach? Idea Creation

Why did you choose this approach?

FHFD has succeeded to this point on the strength of its founders and young participants. These individuals have an intimate knowledge of the complexities of Cambodia and specifically, their province. However, they lack the exposure necessary to tap into invaluable financial and organizational resources. While I have experience working in and directing youth-oriented projects, I feel my added value stems from my filmmaking and marketing background in both the non-profit and for-profit sectors. Therefore, I hope this video and campaign will help spread word of FHFD in an accessible package for possible donors.

Did you have secondary approaches? What are they?

I am a strong believer in specialization and I will defer some of the "big picture" thinking and advocacy to the FHFD coordinators. I am here to contribute this particular skill-set to the project.

What are your vehicles?

• Nonprofit organizations
• Foundations

What will your tactics and activities be?

As a filmmaker, I can put together the shooting schedule. However, since I am in Ireland, I must rely on my contacts on the ground in Cambodia to handle logistics, including planning activities for the shoot, interviews with key players, and even lodging.

Since this idea creation approach will hopefully serve FHFD for the long term, it is imperative that the process is collaborative in most aspects. This includes putting together funding proposals (I've been corresponding via email with FHFD representatives), preparing for shooting, and final approval.

Timeline

Timing	Tactics and Activities	Notes
Spring Semester	Jan:
	Feb:
	Mar:
	Apr:
	May: Pre-production: Hemly Ordonez, one of the One World Foundation Fellows in Cambodia, approached me about shooting a documentary short. We decided to look at Tiny Toones, an NGO that teaches hip-hop dance to Cambodian street children.
Summer	Jun: Pre-production: Hemly informed me that Tiny Toones is undergoing a transitional period and that previous encounters with prying journalists have led to the founder KK's distrust of outside media. We shift gears to another NGO that has expressed interest in producing a promotional video. Pre-production includes background research, putting together funding proposals, and brainstorming key messages that the film must promote.
	Jul: Pre-production: - Continued collaboration between myself and FHFD over their desired vision for the video. - Purchase plane tickets. - Start malaria medication.
	Aug: July 28-August 5: One-week shoot in Cambodia Rest of August: Post-production (editing) in California. Aiming for a new cut every other week to email back to FHFD for suggestions.
Fall Semester	Sep: Complete the FHFD video. Plan a distribution strategy involving potential donors in Cambodia and the United States. If needed, create a marketing strategy around the release of the video, including a new logo, branding, and brochure. Premiere FHFD video in Cambodia for the village.
	Oct:
	Nov:
	Dec:

Connecting Back to Vision

How does your strategy contribute to your vision for your campus and/or your community?

1) Helping FHFD grow: I am a strong supporter of youth-initiated activities. I have seen with FHFD the power of having youth from the community who KNOW the community and its particular strengths and challenges to create a vehicle for educational change.
2) Long-term educational reform and increased opportunities for youth: It is my belief that by increasing the capacity of FHFD, the organization can eventually serve as a model for other villages in Cambodia and can advocate for institutional education reform.
3) Utilizing the power of media for positive social change: While never a guarantee, I'm hopeful that the generation of new media - in this case a video - can serve as a catalyst for taking FHFD to the next level.

Resources and skills you will need

What skills do you need for this approach?

- Filmmaking
- Marketing
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Effective Online Communication
- Time/People Management

What type of support will you need from YP4?

• Media support — story placement, media strategy, press releases
• Connections to resources, fellows and partners
• Funding
• Skills development

Funding: $1,500.00

Where will you get support other than YP4?

Financial: One World Foundation, individual donor network Production Advisors: -John Glavin, PhD (Georgetown University screenwriting professor) -Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini (directors of "A Well-Founded Fear" and upcoming HBO documentary "How Democracy Works") -Mike Cahill (director of "Boxers and Ballerinas") -Wendy Cohen (Community Manager, Participant Productions)[pending] -Jim Whitaker (President - Imagine Entertainment, Director - Project Rebirth, and producer of fundraising documentaries for NGOS Best Buddies, Rebuilding Together, and Shooting Back) [pending]