Early wake-up call for a first visit, 1h30 from Phom Penh in Cambodia, to one of the 13 crèches run by Planète Enfants & Développement.
We're close to the textile mills here, and the nurseries are ideally located just 50 meters from the elementary school.
Everything is done to ensure the children's well-being, with top-quality educational support and highly committed teams at the service of local residents.
The exchange with the teams is rich, and you can feel their pride in their work.
Every effort is made in the program to empower people and make them responsible for their own lives (in particular, the flexible management of schedules to adapt to family constraints).
The program is now a model for the Cambodian government, and Planète Enfants & Développement is playing a key role in framing the future law that will regulate the sector.
I've come away impressed by this first visit, by the commitment and pride of the teams, with many challenges still ahead of us to fill the 300 nursery places and develop our programs.
Back to Phnom Penh for the second leg of the day and lunch with the association's teams. A royal welcome and a unique and intense moment of sharing, during which everyone introduces themselves and explains the nature of their missions.
A young, close-knit team with remarkable energy emerges from these collective and individual exchanges.
Last but not least, we visit the HaLI project, which we are running in partnership with local people to rehabilitate shantytowns.
First, a visit to a neighborhood where work is nearing completion, then a tour of the second phase for which we are currently carrying out preparatory activities.
Exchanges with the beneficiaries are more complicated: most of them don't speak English, but we can see in concrete terms how the refurbishments are having a beneficial effect on the families' daily lives, particularly as they protect the basic dwellings from the rain.
It's inspiring to see how much these people are struggling to lift themselves out of poverty. There is still so much to do...
The program is conducted methodically, with Planète Enfants & Développement doing its utmost to empower local populations.
