A letter from the Board: going local

Dear PEPY supporter,

RE: PEPY is becoming a local organization

On behalf of the Board of Directors of PEPY, I would like to begin with a big thank you for your many years of incredible support. We could not have made it this far without you. Thank you so much for being part of an exciting journey, and we look forward to continuing to work with you in the coming years!

As you are probably aware, PEPY has been promoting the importance of local leadership, to ensure the sustainable future of the organization and our programs, for some time. We now have a fabulous Cambodian team, led by Kimline Nuch, PEPY’s Executive Director. As a Board, we believe that further transitions to local leadership, at the highest level of the organization, will continue to improve the quality and sustainability of PEPY’s educational and youth leadership offerings.

PEPY’s current Board of Directors is an international team, though Cambodian ownership at the Board level has long been recognized as a goal. The structure of PEPY as a US entity registered as an International Non-Governmental Organization (INGO) in Cambodia does not lend itself to Cambodian ownership, and so was also something that we sought to change.  Kimline and her team are working towards “empowering Cambodian youth” and in order to model and support those efforts, it makes great sense to have a local Board of Cambodian experts leading the way.

After a lot of hard work on the part of Kimline and her team, we are delighted that they have established a local Board of Directors and registered a Local Non-Governmental Organization (LNGO). From September 2014, before the start of the next academic year, the LNGO, called “PEPY Empowering Youth,” will take over legal operations of the current PEPY programs.  The team’s commitment to providing quality education and youth leadership programs in rural Cambodia, as well as the values, vision, mission, and goals of the organization will remain unchanged, but the leadership structure will be one we are all much more excited about!

We speak for all the Board when we say how excited we are to see PEPY evolve and improve in this way, PEPY has been and will continue to be a global effort – with supporters, funders, volunteers, and friends all over the world. The current members of the Board of Directors will continue to support and promote the organization, but we believe local leadership all the way to the Board level will drive continued improvements in PEPY’s programs.

Kimline and her team will certainly be excited to tell you more about their decision to localize PEPY’s offerings, but we wanted to reach out as well to let you know that the current PEPY Board is supportive of and excited about this development – and we hope you are too!

Yours sincerely,

Andrea Messmer and Daniela Papi
Co-chairs of the current PEPY Board