Support means commitment
Leaves need a strong trunkSince opening in 2013, New Leaf has donated over $73,000 to educational projects in Siem Reap province.
That number matters to us — but it doesn’t tell the whole story.
Why Education?
Siem Reap province has benefited from tourism for over 25 years, yet widespread poverty persists. According to Cambodia’s Ministry of Planning, Siem Reap remains one of the country’s most economically challenged provinces (see chart).
We believe education is the most meaningful response to that reality — not because it’s a simple solution, but because it creates the conditions for Cambodians to build their own futures.
Better jobs, more informed decisions, and perhaps most powerfully, hope for families where parents never had the opportunity to learn themselves.
Our Journey
We didn’t arrive at our current model overnight. In our early years we donated to a number of different organisations across Siem Reap, assessing each against a framework developed with our staff — evaluating how funds were spent, how transparent the organisation was and what impact they could demonstrate.
Over time we learned something important: that smaller donations spread across many organisations, however well-intentioned, produced limited impact on both sides. We knew less about their work than we wanted to. They knew less about ours.
From 2017 we made a deliberate choice to concentrate our giving — and our energy — on two organisations we had come to know well and trust deeply; SeeBeyondBorders and PEPY Empowering Youth. Not just because they do exceptional work, but because real partnership produces better outcomes than giving alone.
Today SBB and PEPY know New Leaf’s story and we know theirs. That mutual understanding makes everything more meaningful — for our staff, for our customers, and we believe for the organisations themselves.
PEPY Empowering Youth
PEPY’s focus is on improving education standards and providing personal and professional youth development classes in 4 remote high schools and in Siem Reap city. Their approach is refreshing – they have chosen to remain medium sized and focused, and avoid expanding rapidly. PEPY publishes regular quarterly reports where they openly discuss their projects and how they could have been implemented better in the hope that others will learn from their mistakes, demonstrating an audacious and commendable approach to development.
New Leaf primarily supports their Scholarship Project – which provides dedicated but financially disadvantaged rural youth with a comprehensive fund that covers tuition, travel, housing, health care and living costs. During their first year of studies, PEPY also provides scholars hard and soft skill development training in their Learning Center, preparing them for the local job market.
New Leaf was featured as a Stand-Out Donor in PEPY’s 2024-2025 Annual Report. We’re proud of that recognition, but prouder still of what it represents — a partnership built over years, not a transaction.
SeeBeyondBorders
SeeBeyondBorders is an alliance of not-for-profit development organisations in Ireland, the UK, Australia, and Cambodia dedicated to enabling quality teaching and learning in rural primary schools in Cambodia.
For over 15 years, SeeBeyondBorders has transformed primary teaching in Cambodia, impacting the lives of thousands across hundreds of schools, and improving education outcomes for 30,000 children.
With support from New Leaf, SeeBeyondBorders is implementing its Transform Education Program in Siem Reap province, focused on developing teachers through communities of practice, to drive the positive transformation of Cambodian education.
In 2016, SeeBeyondBorders was awarded the UNESCO Hamdan Prize for their Teach the Teacher programme.
“In 2025, SBB marked ten years of partnership with New Leaf in this short film.”
This Life Cambodia
This Life Cambodia (“TLC”) is a remarking organization that is predominantly staffed with well-educated Khmers, and has achieved amazing results. For example, their work with young offenders (Cambodian children are routinely placed in adult jails) provides advice, family support and vocational training and significantly reduced reoffending rates.
Their “Lower Secondary School Development” programme works with 2 remote schools. These schools are provided only $1/year per student for maintenance and development of their campuses. TLC provides these schools support in identifying their most pressing needs and training them to apply for grants.
New Leaf donations provided solar power and printers to Preah Theat Lower Secondary School, sponsored a job fair at the school and supported their This Life Without Violence (against women) program.
Music for Everyone School
Music for Everyone School is a free school that provides Cambodian children with music lessons, access to instruments and the opportunity to form a band. They believe in the positive influence of music in Cambodia’s healing process and maintaining a peaceful society.
Safe Haven Medical Outreach
Safe Haven Medical Outreach provides assistance and education to families with disabled children. The sad reality of Cambodia is that access for these families to help and advice would be very limited without the efforts of this NGO.
Safe Haven impressed up with their holistic approach to supporting the families, as well as their rigorous dedication to continually improving how they work.
Youth Employment Service
The Youth Employment Service (YES) Center, provides a range of information and support services focused on employment and the world of work. We believe that providing these services centrally is a very positive development as too often these services are unavailable or limited to youths that benefit from the best funded NGOs.
YES Center was merged into Community Care First Organisation (CCFO) at end 2015.
Women’s Resource Center
WRC is a drop-in center welcoming women to ask questions regarding all aspects of life. WRC has also established a secondary program of educational workshops that are not readily available in Siem Reap, but are assessed as a vital need within the community, such as Legal Aid, Women’s Health, and Parents Talk workshops.
Small Art School
SAS is a self-financed art school, founded by a Japanese art teacher – Tomoko Kasahara, with the aim to provide free art education to Cambodian children, especially to those children who have the will to learn but lack the opportunities to learn.
SAS has had tremendous success, with artwork produced by their children being sold globally, with some of their artists winning international awards.