RELATIONSHIPS: Sustainable communities are formed when families' work together and children are part of the decision making process. Plan helps communities build relationships and links them with local organisations and others who can assist their development.

Here is an example of how Plan assists children, their families and communities with relationship building projects in Cambodia.

"We have never had any foreign students come to see us like that. I had never joined the debate or discussion before and I was so happy to join those activities and to let them know about our real conditions and situations."
Sarat, 15, Leang Dai High School, Cambodia

The partnership between Leang Dai High School in Cambodia and Ivanhoe Grammar School in Melbourne, Australia is an example of a project that builds relationships while bringing tangible benefits to the children concerned.

Students from Ivanhoe Grammar School visited Cambodia to meet with students from Leang Dai High School in July 2004. The trip was the first stage of an education project that the students will work on together.

Ivanhoe Grammar Year 11 student Matthew Young said when he and his fellow students met with students from Leang Dai High School, English lessons were decided as the most important issue for the students. .From this meeting, plans are now in place to begin English classes at the school,. Matthew said.

"Together we also gave the project the Khmer name of Met Rohote, which means friends forever and this became the theme during our first short visit. The purpose of our stay was to lay the foundation for future visits to the school thus ensuring the project will run in the years to come," Matthew said.

Fellow student, Daniel Ioannidis, Year 11, said Ivanhoe Grammar students would now focus on building on the relationship they had recently established. "We want to keep the communication going between the two schools (Ivanhoe Grammar and Leang Dai) through exchanging artwork, letters and photos. We don.t want them to think that we have forgotten about them," Daniel said.

Eight Year 10 and Year 11 students from Ivanhoe Grammar accompanied by two teachers and two Plan staff, travelled to Cambodia to meet with students from the 115-pupil Leang Dai High School located in the Angkor Thom region. Students from the two schools decided, themselves, that communication, fundraising for school resources and English teaching were the project.s priorities.

Armed with English language skills, Cambodian school leavers can more easily land jobs in the region.s booming tourist industry centred around Siam Reap - gateway city to the ancient Angkor Wat temple.

Plan program manager Lisa Schultz said the project has proven to be a good example of how two schools from very different cultures have developed a relationship that has laid the foundation for the future.

For Plan, building relationships is about building understanding and equal collaboration between all those involved in improving the lives of children. This means building the relationship between children and their sponsors; between a child and their family and community; and between other communities, governments and non-government groups and Plan's partners.

Relationship building is an integral part of all Plan's projects, which are funded by donations and child sponsorships.