Lotus Today

What We Do

The Communities Lotus works with are supported through READA. Lotus and READA strive together to assist participating communities with various income generating activities. These activities help the families increase their income and improve their lives. After working together for many years Lotus has built a strong and successful strategic partnership with READA. The partnership is based on mutual respect and trust.

Lotus is very happy and proud to have been able to facilitate material changes in the lives of the families in its target villages. Through the provision of interest free Loans, rather than donations, we have been able to increase the commitment of the communities to self-help.

Lotus-READA created the concept of providing families with interest free loans, rather than giving them donations, to cover the cost of activities. The turning point in the communities’ outlook came once the families embraced the interest free loan concept. This was especially true for rice bank committees and savings groups committees. Once this was achieved the communities accepted their responsibility to operate projects and repay their loans. Changing the mind set of communities that were geared for so long towards donations took an enormous amount of hard work and perseverance on the part of the Lotus-READA staff. This could only be achieved because the Lotus-READA Field Officers work in the communities every day. The Field Officers are trusted and respected by the communities, including by the village elders and commune leaders. We are delighted that to-date all interest free loan projects have been repaid in totality.

Lotus-READA operates in 29 villages with a total of 2,600 beneficiary families (each family comprises 6-8 members). 15 of the villages are ‘Lotus-READA’ villages. These are villages in which Lotus-READA have been operating in for many years and where a number of projects are being funded by Lotus (through mainly interest free loans), operated by the families and supported and monitored by the Lotus-READA staff. The other 14 villages are ‘READA-ADDA’ villages. These are villages in the surrounding areas where the Lotus-READA villages are located. Once each of the 15 Lotus-READA villages had a rice bank established Lotus had the funding, mainly through third party donors, to fund a further 14 Rice Banks in 14 READA-ADDA villages. ADDA is a Danish NGO that has been working with READA in agricultural based projects for a number of years. In all but one of the 14 ADDA-READA villages Lotus has only funded rice banks, there are no other Lotus-READA projects operated in them. In total Lotus, and its third party donors, have funded 29 Rice Banks. All 29 villages are in poor remote areas 40-60 km outside Siem Reap.

Repeat donors, such as, Regina and Toby Wyles and SLAM have year after year supported Lotus to continue its work with the communities in Cambodia.