Featured Grantee Fact Sheet


About the Together Women Rise Grants Program

Together Women Rise’s Grants Program has two key components: Featured Grants, which support grassroots organizations delivering direct services to women and girls in the Global South, and Transformation Partnerships, which address the root causes of gender inequality for long-term impact.

Each month, our Featured Grants Program highlights a new organization, sharing educational materials and details on how the grant will be used to support capacity building, new initiatives, or program expansion. Below is information on the organization we are featuring for September 2025.



The Global Issue

Keeping At-Risk Girls in School Through Graduation

Education is key to economic growth and poverty reduction but it is often underfunded and/or undervalued – especially for girls. Staying in school is also protective against many of the practices, including trafficking, forced labor, and early marriage, which put girls at risk.

Rural families – who make up most of the population of Cambodia – continue to face deep economic insecurity. And despite the importance of education in changing that narrative, girls from poor households face significant barriers that make it difficult to stay in school. In much of the world, girls’ access to formal education requires yearly – even daily – struggles. For girls in rural Cambodia, the desire and ability to learn is simply not enough. They need advocates who can help remove the barriers that hold them back.

Poverty has long been a primary concern for Cambodia. Though the country saw a dramatic drop in poverty nationwide during the past 25 years, the COVID pandemic set economic progress back substantially. For families in rural communities, that progress had already been slow to arrive. Most Cambodians live in rural areas and tend to make their living in agriculture, a sector of the economy that has been left behind in terms of adopting modern technology to improve productivity. This keeps agricultural incomes low and poverty rates high. In fact, 80% of Cambodians who are poor live in rural areas.

Cambodia has increased its funding for education, but the World Population Review ranked its education 120th globally among 203 countries in 2025, ranking behind all of its neighboring countries. Cambodia’s education system consists of three levels: primary (1-6), lower secondary (7-9), and upper secondary (10-12). Enrollment rates in primary school are high for both girls and boys in urban and rural areas, but enrollment rates deteriorate in secondary school. Only half of eligible children are enrolled in lower secondary schools. Among poor children, less than a third are enrolled in lower secondary schools. Enrollment rates in upper secondary schools are even lower. Rural families are also vulnerable to the impact of regional instability, economic shifts, and natural disasters—all of which can disrupt education and deepen poverty. The solution? Address barriers that keep girls from continuing their education, empowering them to break the cycle.



About Our Grantee

Together Women Rise is funding a $50,000 Featured Grant to Lotus Outreach International, an organization we previously supported with a Featured Grant in 2011 and a Sustained Grant in 2012-2014.The current grant will support the Girls Access To Education (GATE) project in Pursat, Cambodia, which will benefit 100 Cambodian girls who face severe poverty, risks of exploitation, and lack educational opportunities.

Lotus Outreach International

Lotus Outreach International aims to empower women and children living in poverty around the world, with a specific focus on women and girls. Its affiliates and ambassadors represent a diverse and global community committed to a sustainable vision of empowerment. In Cambodia, Lotus Outreach addresses barriers that keep girls from continuing their education, breaking a cycle of severe poverty and risk of exploitation and providing practical support that changes lives.

Lotus Outreach International was founded in 1993 by Khyentse Norbu, a prominent Buddhist teacher, as a secular charity in India that focused on serving refugees from Nepal. In 2002, it was incorporated in California to establish a U.S. headquarters that would provide infrastructure and program support. International supporters concurrently established their own support networks and became Lotus Outreach’s global affiliates in six additional countries that provide ambassadors and volunteers dedicated to the mission.

Lotus Outreach works in India, Cambodia, and Vietnam to address the multi-layered causes of poverty and vulnerability through education, training, and care projects that focus on the empowerment of women and girls. It has helped thousands of girls complete their education, provided hundreds of women with university scholarships and vocational training, facilitated after-school classes for thousands of children, improved healthcare for thousands of people, and distributed millions of pounds of rice to families to support their daughters’ education.

LEARN MORE ABOUT LOTUS OUTREACH INTERNATIONAL

Life Challenges of the Women & Girls Served

Women and girls in Cambodia face many challenges, most notably, deeply harmful gender norms, gender-based violence, early pregnancies, limited employment opportunities, and political underrepresentation.

Cambodia is a patriarchal society, where traditional norms assign men higher status and expect women to prioritize home and family. Its history is marked by the long reign of the Khmer empire, colonization, and devastating conflict in the 20th century. An important piece of Khmer poetic literature, called the Chbab Srey (Code of Conduct for Women), prescribes the appropriate behavior for women, focusing on maintaining peace in the home, being soft-spoken, and demonstrating obedience to their husbands. Until 2007, students memorized the Chbab Srey as part of the secondary school curriculum. That year, the government substantially reduced the number of verses taught in schools, but as of 2015, Cambodian girls in secondary schools were still using textbooks that included a truncated version of the poem. Its ideology remains in Cambodian society, particularly in rural areas.

Many Cambodian women have been victims of physical or sexual violence. In 2015, it was estimated that 21% of ever-partnered women ages 15-64 in Cambodia experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime, and 15% experienced physical or sexual violence by people other than their intimate partners in their lifetime. Twenty percent of women reported that their first experience of sexual intercourse was either coerced or forced.

Women in Cambodia earn 84% as much as male Cambodian workers. Part of the reason their earnings lag behind that of men is because the Cambodian labor market is highly segregated, with women working in a limited set of occupations and industries. For example, as much as 85% of the garment industry workforce is female. And though women in Cambodia are the owners of half of all micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, they face significant barriers in accessing financial resources, skills training, and international markets.

LEARN MORE ABOUT CAMBODIA.



How the Grant Will be Used

Together Women Rise will fund Lotus Outreach International’s Girls Access to Education (GATE) project in Pursat, Cambodia, which will benefit 100 Cambodian girls who face severe poverty, risks of exploitation, and lack educational opportunities. These girls would otherwise be expected to leave school to help their families, exposing them to the possibility of labor exploitation and/or sexual exploitation. Students are often from landless, violent, and sometimes parentless or single-parent backgrounds.

In the area where this project operates, 25% of families live in extreme poverty. Lotus Outreach selects high-performing girls from the poorest families to dispel their barriers to education, such as the cost of classes and educational materials, long distances to schools, and the traditional attitude that girls should be the first to drop out to help poor families make ends meet. The effects of the pandemic and floods have also been devastating for girls, as many poor families could not afford devices for their children to attend remote classes. Now, many students feel ashamed of their lower performance in reading and writing. They struggle to cope, and as their families face financial pressures, many more poor students have simply stopped attending school.

This project supports the most vulnerable girls who are at risk of dropping out of school between Years 10-12. The goal is to ensure that the 100 students in the program complete secondary school.

The GATE project includes:

  • financial support for class materials, uniforms, shoes, school supplies, a school bag, school class fees, transportation costs, and after-school classes
  • activities to inspire a learning and an understanding of the value of education for girls
  • residential placement and a food stipend for 15 students in protective housing near the school
  • remedial classes for 20 students
  • practical, need-based support such as bicycles, rice, rental support, and “pocket money” for the girls
  • information on possible careers, post-secondary training, and education opportunities they may choose to pursue after high school
  • empowerment to protect themselves from becoming victims of violence or trafficking.

Multiple partners and stakeholders collaborate with Lotus Outreach on GATE. The Cambodian office of Lotus Outreach, called LOCAM, oversees the project, which is operated by a local non-profit, the Cambodian Organization for Children and Development (COCD). Other partners include the Cambodian Women’s Crisis Center, government agencies, school faculty, other local community working groups, and the students’ families. This network ensures that GATE serves students in the community with the highest need, and it promotes student success.

GATE inspires a passion for learning and an understanding of the value of education among the girls. Students learn about possible careers, post-secondary training, and education opportunities, and it empowers them to protect themselves from violence, exploitation, and/or trafficking.

Girls who complete secondary school in Cambodia gain access to a wider range of vocational training and employment pathways. They generally secure employment, become positive models of female agency, and break the cycle of poverty in their families. GATE empowers not only the girls they support, but their siblings, families, and communities, including those connected with the project who advocate for the girls.

GATE enhances student capabilities and encourages them to further their education and goals after graduation. Many students go on to pursue careers through local skills-training institutes, such as

IT training, teacher training, hospitality, baking, beauty skills, contract teaching, or university education. While 98 of the 100 girls in the GATE Pursat cohort funded by this grant are expected to complete their secondary education, continuing the trend observed in the 2023-24 academic year, the data can project an average three-year project cycle.

For a 10th-12th grade project cycle, it is projected that

  • 90% of girls complete high school
  • 70% of girls pass their final exams
  • 90% of girls agree that the project helped their academic performance
  • 90% of girls agree that education is valuable
  • 80% of families agree that education of girls is valuable
  • 70% of girls are interested in further education, training, or pursuing a career.

In a region where 55% of adolescents drop out by age 17, GATE addresses a critical need for educational support, while raising awareness of the importance of girls’ education. Every scholarship student will, on average, impact three family members. This indirect impact increases exponentially through the passion and advocacy of the student, her siblings, and friends. When a girl is educated, she transforms her community.

IMPACT – Direct: 100 women and girls; Indirect: 100 women and girls

Budget



Why We Love This Project/Organization

Alignment with the Mission of Together Women Rise: Lotus Outreach’s history, mission, and accomplishments align profoundly with Together Women Rise’s mission to achieve global gender equality. Its mission to empower women and children living in poverty is inspired by a vision of a more equitable global society.

Lotus Outreach combats gender-based violence, early marriage, and poverty through access to education, mentoring, vocational skills, advocacy, and health services that directly address the harmful conditions that Together Women Rise seeks to eliminate. Efforts to mobilize communities around education and health rights align with Together Women Rise’s values of collaboration, integrity, inclusion, empowerment, and passion. Fostering participatory development ensures sustainable change and empowers beneficiaries. The shared vision and collaborative efforts – and 14 years of connection between Together Women Rise members and the work of Lotus Outreach – underscore the alignment of organizational goals, ensuring a healthier, safer, and more inclusive world for women and girls everywhere.



Impact Story

Meet Ly

Nothing has been easy for 17-year-old Ly, despite the love and care of her hardworking father. Ly is in Grade 12 in Pursat Province and is the second of four daughters in her family.

“My father is a single parent. He works by spraying pesticides in the rice fields and catching fish, earning an income of about 500,000 riels (less than $125 USD) per month. My house is small and built directly on the ground. When it rains, we often have nowhere to sleep because the roof leaks. Sometimes, we even have to sleep while soaking wet. We only have a small piece of land for farming, and we don’t have enough food.”

Ly’s father was unable to buy school supplies, so he worked longer hours – sometimes leaving home for 18 hours a day – to try and earn more. Ly has often faced illnesses caused by a poor diet and lack of proper nutrition, but she has worked hard to stay in school. Her mental health suffered from her parents’ separation and discrimination she has experienced.

“My family struggles to meet basic needs, so I have no transportation to get to school. The school is around 8 kilometers from home, and sometimes I have to walk there. Because of financial struggles, I couldn’t study consistently like others, and my academic performance wasn’t very good. What drives me to keep going is the hope of building a different future—one where I’m no longer trapped by these hardships. I study hard because I want to pass my exams, get a good job, and earn enough money to support my family and myself.”

Participating in Lotus Outreach’s GATE (Girls Access to Education) project this year has changed Ly’s life. She now has school supplies, clothes, and shoes, as well as a monthly stipend – and other practical barriers to her education have been removed. She has a bicycle to ride to school and her family receives rice each month. Her family has enough food, she can get to school on time, and her academic performance has improved.

“I also benefited from career-guidance training that helped me understand my interests and passions, and I learned about other university scholarships through the sharing team. What continues to encourage and motivate me today is my determination to rise above the discrimination I’ve faced from those around me – people who say, ‘You’re just a girl without a mother. Why do you need to study so hard? Can studying feed you? Why not find a job to help your family instead?’ I am committed to studying hard to achieve my dreams and earn an income to support my family and build a better future for us.”



Learn More

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Source Materials
  • Anderson, Emily and Kelly Grace. 2018.  From Schoolgirls to “Virtuous” Khmer Women: Interrogating Chbab Srey and Gender in Cambodian Education Policy. Studies in Social Justice.
  • CARE International. 2017. “I know I cannot quit.” The Prevalence and Productivity Cost of Sexual Harassment to the Cambodian Garment Industry.

Glossary

The Global South: The Global South includes the countries that experience higher levels of poverty, income inequality, lower life expectancy, and harsh living conditions compared to the wealthier nations in the “Global North” – located mostly in North America and Europe. The Global South primarily includes many of the countries in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, and the Middle East.