About

Cambodian Children’s Trust (CCT) is a Khmer-led organisation with an upstream approach to community development called the Village Hive.

Our Village Hive approach combats and prevents the structural root causes of multidimensional poverty. It is grounded in a Frierian praxis of development, built on a foundation of trust and a process of collaborative community engagements.

In Battambang, Cambodia, the Village Hive is integrating prevention services into public facilities to build a robust social protection system that is owned and operated by local communities. The approach mobilises community-wide action, resulting in stronger family relationships, less domestic violence, less demand for crisis services and resilient, self-sufficient communities.

We are working on a pilot to shift power to local communities and create a sustainable and scalable social protection and child protection system in Cambodia.

Our story

In 2007, Tara Winkler and Pon Jedtha established CCT to help 14 children escape from a corrupt and abusive orphanage in Battambang, Cambodia. CCT was initially set up as an orphanage to provide the children with a safe new home. Upon discovering that the children were not orphans, Jedtha and Tara started the challenging journey of reuniting them with their families. 

CCT then became the first organisation in Cambodia to transform from an orphanage to a community empowerment approach called the Village Hive that protects children by strengthening families and promoting local agency and sovereignty.

For a deep dive into CCT’s origin story, watch the ABC Australian Story Documentary, read Tara Winkler’s book and watch her TED Talk.

Learn about the model
Book cover for Tara Winkler's book " How (not) To Start An Orphanage - by the woman who did
Buy Tara's book
CCT co founder Tara Winkler giving her TED talk on why we need to end the era of orphanages

15 years of impact

Since 2007, CCT has been changing the trajectory of children’s lives, ensuring they have opportunities to reach their full potential. 

Social enterprise restaurant

Jaan Bai, meaning “rice bowl” in Khmer, is a social enterprise restaurant initiative of Cambodian Children’s Trust and the Feel Good Coffee Group. It provides employment for Cambodian youth, who benefit from a profit-share arrangement; 51% of profits go towards supporting CCT’s work.

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OUR MISSION

Building a sustainable upstream social protection system, owned and operated by Cambodian communities

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