Student Sponsorship · Named
Support a student from secondary school to her degree
AVEC’s only named sponsorship. A student, chosen and consenting. A relationship built over three to five years. And a young Cambodian woman who changes her family’s trajectory.
When a young woman starts university, it takes a whole village
Studying away from home, when you come from a village, isn’t just a question of tuition fees. It’s also: where to sleep? How to get enough to eat? Who to talk to when you’re struggling?
In Battambang, the NGO AVEC welcomes these young women into a safe place. There, they find accommodation, balanced meals, and, above all, an environment designed for one thing only: letting them concentrate on their studies, in the best possible conditions. No rent to find in a hurry. No meal skipped for lack of food. Just what’s needed to go the distance to graduation.
Each year, AVEC selects an intake of scholarship students from among the children who have passed through our programmes or been identified by our network of partner schools. Selection is based on academic record, motivation and career plans. A commitment of three to five years, depending on the course. Full cover of costs. Individual follow-up by an AVEC Sentinelle referent on the ground.
The figures that sum up what’s at stake
63 %
University access
Across the rest of rural Cambodia, it’s under 5%. Talent is the same everywhere. What changes is who gets a helping hand at the right moment.
63 %
Academic success rate
It’s not luck. It’s a demanding selection process, continuous follow-up, and a referent who knows each student by name.
100 %
From families in poverty
All our scholarship students come from households where poverty ruled out any academic future. None of them could have studied without support.
A relationship that’s built, not a case file
Why is student sponsorship named?
It’s the only AVEC sponsorship that is. All the other formats, shelter, training centre, kindergarten, schooling, are unnamed because they involve vulnerable minors. Student sponsorship, however, rests on a different reality:
- The student is at least eighteen years old. A legal adult.
- She has passed her school-leaving exams and chosen her university course.
- She agrees to be named, photographed and featured, within the limits set out in the Charter.
This sponsorship rests on explicit consent. It forms part of a relationship built between two adults, over three to five years, set out in our Sponsorship Charter and supported by AVEC’s Sentinelles on the ground. Our full sponsorship ethics are explained here.
What your student sponsorship funds
Registration fees
Public or private university, depending on the course. Annual registration, exams, dissertation defence, administrative costs. This varies by faculty.
Housing at the AVEC shelter
Most of our students come from the countryside, hours away from the city by road. At our centre, they find support, balanced meals and a protected space.
Equipment and computing
Textbooks, stationery, a laptop. In 2025, twelve laptops were handed to scholarship students, donated by French donors.
Daily life
Food, transport to the faculty, healthcare, clothing. Enough to study without having to work on the side.
Sentinelle support
An AVEC referent on the ground follows her grades, supports her through difficult moments, and liaises with the sponsor. Not a coach, not a tutor. A trusted adult.
After graduation
Help finding a first job, networking with former AVEC graduates, and the possibility of internships with partners in Switzerland and France.
Three journeys under way
Three examples from our 2025 intake, named with their consent and that of their sponsor:
Chhoun Nimol is studying food technology. She’s the first in her family to go to university. Her project: developing preservation products for smallholder farmers in Pursat province.
Rorn Dinan has chosen English literature. She wants to become a translator for NGOs working in Cambodia. She already speaks three languages fluently. She’ll finish the fourth in two years.
Sar Rosana is in her final year of secondary school. Her sponsorship covers the end of school and will prepare her entry into medical school. She wants to be an obstetrician, in the region where she grew up.
None of these young women should, by rights, have got to where they are. Each of them is there because someone, perhaps you, decided her talent was worth more than her poverty.
Become the sponsor of a student
Three to five years of commitment, the length of a bachelor’s or master’s degree. At your own pace, to your own budget, with personal follow-up that goes well beyond the donation.
50 CHF
per month
Shared support with others
100 CHF
per month
Standard sponsorship
180 CHF
per month
Full cover
We’ll reply within 48 hours. Matching happens after a conversation, never from a catalogue. Donations are tax-deductible in Switzerland and France.
What you receive and what you give
A personal introduction
Photo, background, career plans, course of study. Your sponsored student is introduced to you over four pages, with her written consent to appear in your sponsorship file.
Two to three letters a year
Exchanges translated by volunteer Sentinelles, two to three times a year. It’s an honest frequency: your sponsored student is studying, you’re working, nobody keeps up fifteen letters a year.
The annual academic report
Grades, class of degree, progress, career plans. You see the work that’s been done. And, if there’s any difficulty, the Sentinelles will tell you about it.
A possible meeting
If you come to Cambodia, you can meet your sponsored student, in a setting she chooses, accompanied by the Sentinelles. It’s not compulsory. It’s a mutual choice.
The Sponsorship Charter
Signed by AVEC, by you and by the student. Four pages setting out what each party can expect, what each commits to respecting, and what happens if something doesn’t work. Read the Sponsorship Charter.
The tax receipt
Sent every year. Swiss public-benefit association for CH donors, French general-interest association for FR donors.
Frequently asked questions about student sponsorship
Can I choose my sponsored student?
It’s AVEC that creates the link with you, based on your budget and the young woman’s course of study. Our students are chosen for two reasons that don’t mislead: they’re starting from a very long way back, often from real poverty, and they’re brilliant, hard-working pupils with remarkable results. Young women full of promise who are missing just one thing: the means. You’re not choosing a face from a catalogue. We introduce you to a student selected on her background, her results and her situation, and the relationship builds from there.
What happens if my sponsored student runs into difficulties?
Our students enter university among the best in their year group, so failure is rare. But life sometimes throws up difficult patches. If that happens, the Sentinelles of the NGO AVEC assess the situation, and a repeated year can be covered if the case warrants it. As a last resort, the sponsorship can be transferred to another student or ended, always in keeping with the commitments set out in the Charter.
Will I ever be able to contact my sponsored student directly?
No direct private contact, and that’s a deliberate choice. The sponsorship is named: you know who you’re supporting, and you regularly hear her news, her progress, her achievements. But all exchanges go through AVEC. If you come to Cambodia, a meeting remains possible, always accompanied by our Sentinelles and chosen by the student. This framework doesn’t protect the organisation, it protects the young woman. It’s the standard followed by every serious youth protection organisation.
Why no direct contact?
Because a direct, unfiltered link would expose the young woman to risks we have a duty to rule out: unwanted approaches, emotional imbalance, breaches of her privacy. AVEC remains the intermediary watching over every exchange. That’s the condition for a sponsorship that serves the young woman, not the adult.
What if I’m not comfortable with letter-writing?
No problem at all. Letters are an option, not an obligation. Some sponsors prefer an institutional follow-up (annual reports only) without personal correspondence. You state your preference in the agreement.