69 Cambodian families interviewed by Family First

For three weeks, students from Family First, an HEC Paris student association, shared their lives with Cambodian families in Phnom Penh. The project, supported by the Veolia Foundation through its 2015 Student Solidarity Awards, aims to measure the social impact of the Enfants du Mekong program. The objective is to give the organization a clearer picture of the impact of its work and so identify areas for improvement. The students are using the Planète d’Entrepreneurs methodology which, enhanced by a partnership with the Enterprise and Poverty Chair at HEC, takes a pragmatic and concrete grassroots approach tailored to the needs and resources of social entrepreneurs. The methodology was tested on 60 impact measurement missions in 15 countries with 5000 stakeholders. The Family First team received training to teach them how to use it.

From their initial experiences and research in the field of social entrepreneurship, the students had noted the major role the family plays in the development of an individual and, more widely, of a community. Several dozen families and representatives from the world of academia and business were interviewed in October and November. The interviews were conducted in Sisophon, the main Enfants du Mekong centre in Cambodia. Currently being analysed, Enfants du Mekong will subsequently be able to reap all its potential benefits.
 
The work conducted by Family First will make it possible to identify the most innovative entrepreneurial models, share best practices, and concretely impact the development of the most promising projects.