Support our programs.
At the Khmer Cultural Development Institute (KCDI), your donations play a crucial role in transforming lives. By supporting our programs, you help us provide vulnerable children with education, healthcare, and a chance to thrive through the preservation of traditional Cambodian arts. Your generosity ensures that we can continue our mission of fostering a brighter future for the children of KCDI.
Residential Program
Our Residential Program was created in 1994 in response to the civil war in the Southwest of Cambodia.
Cultural Program
Our school specializes in the tuition of traditional classical Cambodian music, ballet and theatre, as a form of post-traumatic therapy, but also as a form of vocational training and as a way to preserve Cambodia’s traditional arts and culture after the genocide of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge.
Program for Blind children
In January 2015, our school (KCDI) began giving traditional Mohori music lessons to blind children as a form of both therapy and vocational training.
Outreach Program
We also assist a further 400 local children from the surrounding community, who come to our school during the daytime only, to study music and take ballet lessons.
Exhibition Space
KCDI opens its main hall to Cambodian artists as a free exhibition space in order to provide opportunities for the local community to have access to art exhibitions that may otherwise be out of reach.
Transition Plan
As the older children at KCDI complete high school and prepare for life outside of the orphanage, a transition program aimed at supporting these students into independent life is in place. This includes supporting students to attend university and to learn how to be members of the community.
Empowering Vulnerable Youth with Education and Arts.
This project supports up to 25 children, including orphans with HIV, epilepsy, and blindness. Living at our school provides them with comprehensive care, education (including Braille for the blind), and training in traditional Cambodian performing arts, which serves as both therapy and vocational preparation. These children, except for the blind, have no parents or extended family and no other care options. We collaborate with the Ministries of Culture, Education, Social Affairs, and local authorities to ensure their well-being and development.