New Horizons Society - Work with Disabled Adults and Children in Cambodia

 New Horizons Society (NHS)
Federated Self-Help Community Groups

 New livelihoods and self-advocacy skills for poor families living with disability. 

This is now an archive of the project that ran from 2003 to 2016 mainly in Kampong Chhnang then Kampong Thom provinces in Cambodia. It was the first of its kind to form self-help community groups, 135 in total, that federated in to a network and a local Non-Government Organisation (NGO). Despite its success ultimately it was brought to an end for reasons explained below.  Its legacy has left valuable lessons in Cambodia, within Foreign Aid around the world, and for how charities and NGOs should operate in developing countries. 

The original website - http://www.newhorizonsunlimited.org - will cease in 2019.

Cambodia, despite our work and many others, remains deficient in its approach to disability issues, not just physical and sensory, but even more so with psycho-social issues.  It is surprising that not only has such little progress been made but that in some ways things have gone backward. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the "hand-out/pity" mentality as seen played out every International Day for Disabled People. It is the one thing our clients argued for above others, hence their "We can do" key message. We did try to get rid of handouts the one year we organised the event but authorities and some partners wanted it back as a stage for the Prime Minister to promote himself and this outdated understanding.  We call for lessons to be learned.  If not more "good money will be thrown after bad!"

Update October 2021


Cambodia's progress towards better disability inclusion keeps faltereing, of late due to the impact of Covid19.  Life is still a struggle for many and yet as I narrate with Kosal in my blog, many are  remarkably plucky.  Here is an excellent small film depicting what life is like for a deaf Tuk Tuk driver. Sadly, as my longtime barber experienced, there are still Cambodians who believe that it is bad luck to be served by a person with such disability.

NHS Homepage NHS Advocacy NHS Livelihoods NHS Opportunities NHS Governance NHS Partnerships NHS Latest News 1 NHS Latest News 2 NHS Meetings NHS Human Stories
Gallery of photographs and projects

                                                                The Legacy of New Horizons Society

Although NHS finally faded away in 2016, the original full organisation and network never recovered from a lengthy dispute with its original founder - the UK charity "Landmine Disability Support".  This website only tells the story of what went wrong from the viewpoint of the beneficiaries as represented by its elected Governing Council pictured above.  Probably if the dispute occurred after 2019 due to changes in the way the UK's Charities Commission's regulatory section operates, there would be an investigation to establish the facts of the case.  Their case is written up in the next document presented to the UK's National Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee and retained on file.  What has changed is the right of beneficiaries to have complaints examined by both their charities and the Charities Commission, instead of it being ruled out due to "not being allowed to interfere in the internal administration of a charity."
NHS Beneficiaries Complaint to UK Authorities

                                                                                          Activities 2003-16

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