Organization

Cambodia Rural Students Trust


Cambodia Rural Students Trust (CRST) is a student-run nonprofit in Siem Reap, Cambodia, that sponsors students from poor rural families through high school and university.[1][2] Its stated mission is "breaking the poverty cycle through education," and its motto is "a hand up, not a hand out."[2][3] The Palti family of Melbourne, Australia, founded it in 2011.[4]

History

Jessica Palti and her family first came to Siem Reap in 2009 to volunteer at an English language school. They returned five more times over the next two years, and in 2011 they set up CRST so they could account for how funds were used.[2][4] Jessica Palti and her father, Aviv Palti, are the co-founders.[2][5] The group first worked under the name Cambodia Rural School Trust and took its present name in mid-2018 to reflect its students.[4] It is a nongovernmental organization registered with Cambodia's Interior Ministry.[4] A REACH Siem Reap partner listing gives 2019 as the founding year; CRST's own site gives 2011.[3][4]

CRST opened its first student-run business, a frozen yogurt shop on Night Market Street in Siem Reap, in August 2015, and closed it in March 2020 because of COVID-19.[6] In 2022 it moved into the CRST Campus, a renovated guesthouse near the Wat Po Langka pagoda, across the river from downtown Siem Reap.[4][2] The campus has three multipurpose classrooms, a library, a meeting room, an office, a sewing workroom, a dining area and a full kitchen.[4] An Impact grant from The Intrepid Foundation in 2024 paid for 36 solar panels on the campus, and CRST plans to turn the open third-floor rooftop into a learning hub with a classroom for up to 80 students.[2]

Programs and services

Scholarships

CRST's high school students, in grades 10 through 12, attend Future Bright International School, a private school that CRST calls the best high school in Siem Reap.[6] CRST pays their tuition and gives them uniforms, three meals a day six days a week at the CRST Campus, daily English classes and subject tutorials.[6] University students join after the high school program or directly, and they take a two-year Intensive English for Academic Purposes course before starting a bachelor's degree. Many are the first in their families or villages to go to university.[6] Scholars also receive health and dental care, life-skills courses, a monthly living allowance, computer classes and optional Thai and Chinese lessons.[4][6] Graduates who move to Phnom Penh for work can get relocation funds and mentoring, and some receive support for a second bachelor's or a master's degree.[6]

New students are chosen through written tests, interviews and family visits. In 2021, 565 students took the test, 186 were interviewed, 51 homes were visited and 12 students were accepted.[6] CRST has sponsored more than 180 students since 2011.[2] It reported 104 scholars in 2023 and planned to sponsor 119 in 2026.[5][1]

Student leadership

Students run the organization. A student-run Senior Leadership Team picks students for roles from team member to manager, and the roles rotate twice a year.[2] The founders and Australian business volunteers mentor senior students from abroad, and the Paltis visit Cambodia several times a year.[2][1] Doeb Chhay, one of 22 students in the first group, finished the program in 2019 and returned as executive director. Tongly Ton is assistant manager.[2][5] In their first two university years, students volunteer two hours a day at another organization, including Angkor Hospital for Children and Smiling Hearts Association for Children, and they spend one day each month on community outreach.[6][7] The Rotaract Club of Siem Reap was chartered in August 2022 with 54 CRST students as charter members.[6]

Community projects

CRST runs a series of lettered projects in Siem Reap province.[4]

  • Project G, Empowering Girls (2018): lessons on puberty, self-defense and human trafficking, with menstrual kits sewn in the CRST workshop and given free to high school girls, in partnership with Days for Girls International. CRST has made and handed out more than 30,000 kits.[6][2]
  • Project R (2019): plastic education in Siem Reap high schools, supported by Cambodia's Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and Ministry of Environment. CRST reported reaching 15,000 students.[6]
  • Project B, Bicycles for Education (2019): secondhand bicycles for rural students and a Mobile Bike Mechanic program at rural schools.[6][4]
  • Project W, WASH for Education (2021): BioSand water filters and sanitation at rural high schools. With Engineers Without Borders Australia, CRST assessed sanitation at 10 schools and, from November 2022, installed handwashing stations at five.[6][8]
  • Project L, Light for Education (2022): solar study lights for students without reliable power, begun with 2,400 lights from SolarBuddy.[6]
  • Project T, Trees for Life (2023): semi-mature, fast-growing shade trees, which students have planted since 2017 and water through the dry season.[4][9]
  • Project V: a cultural exchange program hosted by CRST university students since 2018.[6]

Students also build a house for a rural family once a month, each finished in one day, and CRST sends monthly food and hygiene supplies to 25 families.[6][2] In October one year, CRST funded and staffed a flood-relief effort with REACH Siem Reap that weatherproofed 24 houses.[7] After the Cambodia-Thailand border conflict escalated in July 2025, CRST took supplies and solar lights to people affected.[2] Israel's Foreign Ministry funded bicycles for Project B and trees for Project T.[5]

Funding

CRST says a corporate sponsor covers its overhead, so donations go to education, mentoring and community projects, and that an outside accounting firm audits its books pro bono.[1][4] The Intrepid Foundation, the charity arm of Intrepid Travel, gives it unrestricted donations.[2] Aviv Palti wrote Empowered: A New Generation of Leaders, about rural youths who lifted their families into the middle class over eight years.[1]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Cambodia Rural Students Trust, home page
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 Adventure.com, This Cambodian nonprofit is determined to break the poverty cycle (February 2026)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 REACH Siem Reap, Our partners
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 Cambodia Rural Students Trust, About us
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 The Australian Jewish News, Helping hand in Cambodia (October 2023)
  6. ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 Cambodia Rural Students Trust, Our projects
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 REACH Siem Reap, Collaboration is key
  8. ↑ Engineers Without Borders Australia, Piloting handwashing stations in rural Cambodian schools (June 2023)
  9. ↑ Cambodia Rural Students Trust, Project T: Trees for Life
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This page was last edited on 26 September 2026, at 23:23.