Youth Star 2023's Tree Planting and Resource Mobilization for Out-of-School Children

On 27-28 May 2023, Youth Star Cambodia will be traveling up to Sandann Commune to conduct our second annual community tree planting event, the first of which took place in Kampong Thom province last year. Like last year, this year's event, called "Youth Camp for Inclusive Education and Environmental Responsibility," is for the purpose of engaging youth on the environment, mitigating the global threat of climate change, and garnering donations to support 460 out-of-school children found in rural communities. This will be a two-day event with an overnight homestay provided by local families, and featured activities will include a widespread clean-up in the local Kampi community, renovating and repainting Sangkum primary school, distributing donated books and school supplies to local children, and planting trees.

Like last year, we are taking this as an opportunity to share the work we do with young adults, and thus we will be bringing 50 to 60 people with us up from Phnom Penh, many of whom are college students who will be considering Youth Star's volunteer program for their own future. In addition, an expected 200+ children from Sandann commune, both in and out of school, will attend the event, along with many community members, and it will be presided over by distinguished guests from the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport. This will be an important event for promoting strategies to ensure a cleaner greener future for everyone and reduce Cambodia’s high school dropout rate, and we hope this event will have a wide reach, not just across the commune itself but also to stakeholders online.

By Ian Joost Clickner, Communications Intern