Presentations – Raising Awareness… And More.

Presentations form a very important part of our work at Friends. Sharing new ideas, information updates and more among our teams and partners happens very regularly across our programs. Then there are the many presentations we give to external groups, such as schools, universities, study tours and other interested parties. These are great opportunities to not only share some of the breadth, or specifics, of our work, but to highlight the advocacy issues we strongly believe in.

A good example is our work on raising awareness of the complex web of issues surrounding orphanage tourism and the practice of voluntourism that is often allied to it. Talking to schools and Universities, often targeted by placement organizations as a source of willing volunteers (and let us not forget the these organizations are businesses – it is in their financial interest to recruit as many volunteers as they can) we can put the spotlight firmly on the issue, highlight the potential harm that many such visits cause and we can encourage the young people to think about their actions, and investigate the situation further themselves before making any decision. We also often take the opportunity in presentations to talk about our ChildSafe Movement in more detail, particularly the 7 Tips for Travelers, very important for visitors to countries such as Cambodia to ensure that their good intentions can be directed in positive ways that will protect and support the children of the country.

We also tailor our presentations to suit the groups we are presenting to – from retired former business people in the UK to early years school children wanting to learn about the ‘magic beads’ our families make which build futures fro their children! Challenging, yet very rewarding – last year the Communications Team alone presented to over 30 visiting groups, reaching over 660 individuals directly, and from those presentations exciting collaborative projects have been initiated with 13 of those visiting groups!

(If you are part of, or know of, an organization or group who will be visiting Cambodia and may be interested in directly learning more about our work, then please contact info@friends-international.org for further information.)