Centre sponsorship — no named beneficiary
A sewing machine and a future
1,454 course enrolments in 2025, around 400 learners. Four short courses. A skilled trade at the end of it. The training centre welcomes those the system has forgotten and those who won’t make it to university.
Those the system forgot
Young single mothers. Women married too young. Girls from remote regions that state schools have never reached. Learners with disabilities, never offered accessible training. Learners who dropped out of primary school and whom everyone had written off.
The AVEC training centre welcomes all of them, with no age requirement, no prior qualification and no questions about the past. In 2025, twenty-one learners enrolled on the sewing course, eleven of them from regions far from Battambang, including one with a disability who completed the whole programme. Within a few months, they learn pattern-cutting, styling and business management. Each graduate returns to her village with a sewing machine donated by AVEC, marketable skills and a new sense of herself.
Four courses, one goal: economic independence
Sewing, beauty, English, IT. Four trades in demand in Cambodia, each designed to help learners get started quickly after training.
Sewing and styling
Pattern-cutting, machine work, finishing and workshop management. Seventeen graduates in 2025. Each leaves with a sewing machine donated to help start her business. 74% find work within three months. 82% for single mothers.
Beauty
Facials, hairdressing and manicures. A trade that works equally well in a salon or as home-based self-employment. Especially suited to rural women who cannot travel into town every day.
English
One thousand, one hundred and twenty learners in 2025. Four progressive levels, from beginner to professional conversation. The gateway to skilled jobs in tourism, NGOs and international companies based in Cambodia.
IT
Three hundred and thirty-four learners in 2025. Office software, the internet and first steps in coding. A coding programme is being rolled out to train 300 young people a year by 2030.
Course details
Short courses (six to eighteen months). Locally recognised qualification. Supervised practical training. Enrolment possible all year round.
Support
Help finding work afterwards: contact with local employers, support in setting up a business for those who go self-employed, and a network of former learners.
The centre in 2025
1,454
Enrolments
On courses across the four subjects in 2025
17
Sewing graduates
Each equipped with a machine to get started
74%
In work at 3 months
82% for single mothers who graduated
11
Remote regions
Learners from provinces outside Battambang
Become a sponsor of the training centre
Running costs, local trainers, teaching materials, machines for sewing graduates and computers for the IT course. Your sponsorship keeps a shared resource running for hundreds of learners every year.
40 CHF
a month
Regular support
80 CHF
a month
One learner a month
150 CHF
a month
A whole course
You can stop at any time. Donations are tax-deductible in Switzerland and France.
What you receive
The centre’s quarterly newsletter
Four times a year: a detailed update on current classes, graduates from each session, employment statistics, and stories from trainers and former learners who have agreed to be featured.
A welcome pack
Within ten days, you’ll receive an envelope at home containing a card signed by Patrik and Theavy, a photo of the centre, details of the projects funded and a small symbolic item made by the learners (embroidery, a pouch).
The chance to visit the centre
Once or twice a year, AVEC organises sponsor visits to Battambang. You see the workshops in action, talk with the trainers and understand what’s really going on.
Frequently asked questions
Does the centre only train women?
No. Sewing and beauty are mostly attended by women — that reflects the sector. English and IT are mixed. Of the 1,454 enrolments in 2025, 57% were women, a figure that held steady across all four quarters.
Are the qualifications officially recognised?
Yes, within the Cambodian vocational training system. They give access to skilled jobs and allow learners to register as self-employed.
Why give a sewing machine at the end of the course?
Because without a tool, the qualification is worth little. A sewing machine costs a few dozen euros but transforms a rural woman’s situation: she can work from home, look after her children and take on local orders. It’s essential start-up capital.
What happens to a learner after training?
Three outcomes are most common: paid employment (workshop, salon, company), self-employment (at home or in the village), or returning to training to build skills in another course. Many combine all three over a few years.