Where We Are Going

Our vision is to have a significant and sustainable positive impact on the lives of Cambodians living in remote rural villages by enhancing their access to healthcare, education and job training, employment opportunities, clean water, and sanitation. To achieve this vision, we at Community First intend to:

• Work on a commune level so as to achieve synergy through programs that support and reinforce one another and achieve efficiencies in skill training, development of local markets and new businesses, enhanced self confidence plus better access to clean water, healthcare, and education.
• Work closely with local village, commune, and district leadership to determine specific needs. Design programs that will meet those needs, and successfully implement those programs.
• Through early work in the Sen Sok Commune, Kralanh District of Siem Reap Province, create a model that can be replicated in other communes in remote communes of Cambodia, and in time, other countries.
• When necessary, create programs located out of the villages that provide for individuals with special needs or provide services not manageable in rural areas

Upcoming Projects  

• August 2014:
  • Aquaponics Builds. We will be sourcing local supplies and building our first Aquaponics set-ups at 3 separate locations: The Lotus Farm at Samatao, the APSARA Authority, and a chinampa-style grow at a pond in the Golden Silk farm. We will be checking these systems regularly to make sure they are functioning properly.
  • We will also join Eric Stocker at the Sofitel event on August 16th to showcase Cambodian lacquerwork and present on how Community First is working with the Stocker brothers to revive the lacquer tradition in Cambodia.
• September 2014:
  • In September, we will be working with cartographer to map out the coordinates of our 430 acres of land in the Kompong Thom Province. This will help us efficiently allocate the land and will allow our donators and supporters to track the progress of the land and lacquer trees via Google maps.
  • From September 9 to 13, Community First will join Eric Stocker at the annual Japan-Myanmar Lacquer Craft Exchange Conference in Bagan to present on the Current State of Lacquer in Cambodia. While we are in Myanmar, we will visit Lake Inle where the Burmese people still practice an ancient form of aquaponics on the lake.

• October 2014 – December 2014:

• We will return to Sen Sok villages to receive updates on the wells built in 2013 during the Sen Sok Water Campaign.
• During this time, part of our team at Community First will be back in the United States speaking to various Rotary groups, Universities and organizations to seek potential partnerships and funding.

• 2015

• 2015 will be an exciting year for us. We will begin by visiting Luang Prabang in Laos to study how the local farmers there are using an ancient form of aquaponics to efficiently grow a variety of crops.
• When do we plan on beginning to plant the lacquer trees?
• Depending upon the replicability and availability of parts, we will begin to introduce family-sized aquaponics systems to the villages. These systems will as simple as possible and we will be teaching the farmers and villagers all the knowledge needed to take care of the system.
• In the case where an aquaponics set-up is infeasible, we will focus on Conservation Agriculture techniques for farmers to grow crops more efficiently and organically, to diversify their crops. We will also show them cheap alternatives to the use of pesticides and fertilizers.
• To power the aquaponics systems, or to simply provide villagers with a sustainable, renewable source electricity, we are looking into the use of biodigesters. For more information, see our Renewable Energy section.
• Taste of Cambodia: On March 28, 2015, Community First will attend the Taste of Cambodia food festival in Los Angeles to showcase our Angkorian Aquaponics and to talk about food, the monoculture of rice and its impact on diabetes and hypertension rates throughout Cambodia
• Trip to Bhutan to interview government officials and farmers on the nationwide push to farm organically and to have 0% GMO food.
• Further development of the land

• 2016 and beyond

• Aquaponics School
• Research and Implementation of Effective Microorganisms. We are especially interested in the Noni fruit, which can be used in an EM mix and also is shown to be positively synergistic with insulin in treating diabetes.
• Animal Sanctuary
• Khmer Botanical Conservation
• Volunteer Community at our land in Kompong Thom
• Functioning Lacquer Plantation

How you can help

Ending poverty and hunger should be a team effort. We focus our efforts around the 9 causes of the program matrix: Water & Sanitation, Livestock & Effective Microorganisms, Aquaponics, Education & Training, Capital & Markets, G.R.A.I.N, People-Driven Empowerment, Renewable Energy, and Public Health. We encourage you to choose your cause based on your interests and expertise, and share your ideas on The Exchange. The Exchange is our non-profit social media platform, where organizations and individuals alike can collaborate on various projects and share related open-source media. We feel that potentially life-saving knowledge should not be withheld, but rather shared as broadly as possible. Click here to sign up for The Exchange. As a member, you will be able to browse and join the various online groups that work diligently towards ending poverty and empowering entire villages.

All causes have different levels of impact based on the donation amounts, so be sure to browse our causes in the What We Do section to discover how you can be the change you want to see in the world. 100% of all donations are directed towards the projects located in the communities we serve, and will be directed towards the communities’ most pressing needs, as well as their development, growth and sustainability. To make a donation, click here.