Alumni Events

On March 8th, former scholars organized the 6th Annual KAPE’s Alumni Event, facilitated by the project team with a total of 81 (68 girls) participants including special guests from NGOs, local Business Entrepreneurs and former scholars. This event provides an opportunity for former scholars from CTSP and other projects that supported life-changing scholarships to come together and share experiences about how their lives have evolved since completing their academic programs. The event brings scholars together from a wide range of different backgrounds including teachers, banking professionals, company officers, NGO workers, government officers, and people from many other professions. This year, the event took place in the new auditorium recently built by KAPE for the New Generation School at Hun Sen Kampong Cham HS. 

Mr. Din Somethearith, the owner of Frangipani Hotel Chain in Phnom Penh and Pka Trokourn Resort, spoke at the Alumni meeting and shared his experience about strategies to raise capital for investment. He was interested in supporting vulnerable girls and youth to acquire technical skills and employment opportunity in the future.

The CTSP project really inspired Mr. Somethearith to commit to supporting young girls who had few opportunities to study at university. He decided to make a contribution to the project of $1,290 to support two young girls to study in Thailand every year, majoring in Business Computer.  He added that Dare to Dream and Think Big could help out better ideas. He shared that the only reason he could run his business today was because he had learnt from his many failures. 

During the event, the current cohort of CTSP scholars organized and performed various activities such as moderating the event (MC), making various presentations about their life experiences, a traditional blessing dance, and many other performances. 
The entire event was very much appreciated by the current cohort of scholars and greatly helped to further strengthen their confidence in themselves as young women. They were able to manage and organize the event smoothly. Ms. Hy Heap, an Accounting student in Year 4 is currently working as a Sales Agent at Sacom Bank, Kampong Cham branch mentioned that she could stand here today because of the opportunities afforded her by the CTSP scholarship, funded by TAF and KAPE. “I could get a good job and support my single mother,” she said. “When I finish my studies, I will contribute some money to support the next generation of scholars to have the same opportunity that I received,” she added.

Finally, it should be noted that the project was able to raise additional funds amounting to $8,940 from former scholars’ contributions as well as from private sources such as Oaktree Foundation matching funds. The project will use these funds to support two vulnerable girls to study in Thailand for four years, which will cost about $9,600. Hence, KAPE will be able to support two girls (100%) to complete their four-year studies.