The STARS Foundation Impact Awards identify and support local organisations that achieve excellence in the provision of services to disadvantaged children and demonstrate effective management practices. Award winners receive funding, capacity building and media support from the STARS Foundation. Smaller awards allow winners to work together with STARS to promote their plans to other donors and seek to raise additional funding.

We were successful in receiving this award due to the impact that our activities are having on the lives of disadvantaged children within the communities we work.

STARS recognised Youth Star’s sustainable and innovative approach, especially the use of local volunteers in order to support disadvantaged communities and build a generation of young leaders.

STARS visited us in August 2012 and commented:

“During our visit, Youth Star Cambodia came across as a well-established organisation, with clear systems and processes in place. Your organisation demonstrated evidence that it is responding to a clear need by providing services to children and young people in disadvantaged communities and excellent career opportunities to volunteers. We felt that the way you involve the communities in the planning of your activities, as well as children and young people through child and youth clubs, was very impressive. We also very much appreciated meeting with some of your former volunteers, in order to get a sense of the confidence and skills that they gained during and following their placement. Your monitoring and evaluation systems and processes during the volunteer’s placement came across as robust and efficient.”

The STARS Foundation came back to visit us again this April and we were joined by the recipients of the 2011 Education Impact Award winners Restless Development Nepal, a youth led development organisation that carries out very similar work to Youth Star. The visit provided a great opportunity to share ideas and learn from each other and work together to promote youth volunteering.

Published on August 2012