About KCD:

The Cambodian NGO Khmer Community Development (KCD) grew out of a University Student Club created in 2002, and became a registered NGO in 2005. Its primary objective was to help young people in the community deal with the threats facing them in society and help them to understand their own worth as well as the worth of peace. 

From July 2006, concerned by the peace threatening latent conflicts in this Cambodian border region, KCD decided to concentrate its activities in Prek Chrey Commune, Kandal Province, to explore the relations between ethnic Khmer and ethnic Vietnamese people living in the border area to Vietnam.

KCD in Prek Chrey commune

In consideration of the low acceptance of the Vietnamese presence by the Khmer and of the unclear legal situation of some Vietnamese families in the commune, KCD encourages the stakeholders to become aware about long-time tabooed issues and to deal with them thanks to the means KCD provides.

This strategy includes:
- cooperation with the local authorities based on mutual respect,
- raising awareness about children’s & women’s rights;
- promoting knowledge of human rights, especially with regard to gender issues resulting from traditional thinking
- fostering self-confidence in the Khmer community about its capacity to contribute to the own development, as it is the pre-condition for a beneficial relationship with the Vietnamese co-habitants
- working with mixed Khmer and Vietnamese children’s groups, as they shall play in the middle term a crucial role in the civil society
- facilitating the integration of Vietnamese who wish it in the Cambodian society

For efficiency reasons, KCD concentrates its activities on the 2 main villages called Prek Chrey and Khnar Tang Yu totalising 8500 inhabitants, i.e. 2/3 of the total population in the commune (please see the maps in 'Place and People').