The founder of the Cambodian Children's Advocacy Foundation says the gift will sustain its program for early childhood education.

THE Lincoln Crowne Foundation, an Australian charity, announced last week plans to give an unspecified amount of money to the Cambodian Children's Advocacy Foundation, an education and development NGO based in Phnom Penh that had recently found itself in a precarious financial position.

"At the beginning of 2009 we didn't know where our funding was coming from, and I have been working very hard for free to fundraise," said Hing Channarith, CCAF's CEO and founder. "So we are very, very happy about [the LCF's] support."

The Sydney-based investment bank Lincoln Crowne and Co announced the formation of LCF last month. Nicholas Assef, co-chair and founder of the foundation, described improving the lives of children as a "core part of this foundation's mission" in a March 10 press release announcing the impending gift.

LCF plans to review CCAF's operations in the coming months before deciding how much to give the NGO and how to best time the gift.

Hing Channarith declined to estimate how much the foundation stands to receive from LCF. But he said the pledge would make LCF the primary funding source for CCAF in 2009 and would sustain its early childhood education program, one of three main programs it operates.

The work of CCAF

Through the education program, CCAF provides preschool instruction, regular medical checkups and recreational activities for children in five villages in Kampot province. As a result of the funding, the program will expand to include six more villages in Kampot.

The NGO's community development program is designed "to assist vulnerable farmers who require technical support and basic necessities including seeds, agriculture tools, fertiliser and vocational training to improve their agriculture productivity".

Along with Frances Lambrick, who is based in the United Kingdom, Hing Channarith founded CCAF in 2006.