The first Happy Chandara school was established in 2005 by the French NGO Toutes à l’école. It offers high-quality bilingual education to the most disadvantaged girls, completely free of charge. Following the primary school, we built a middle school, a high school, two dormitories, a medical-social center, and two student houses in Phnom Penh. Our mission is to empower these girls to become women who can make a meaningful impact in their country and contribute to a better world for people and the planet.
Today, over 1,700 girls are enrolled in our program, with 100 new students joining each year. They receive continuous support throughout their education, including university or vocational training, until they secure their first job. Our schools are recognized by the Ministry of Education, following the national Khmer curriculum, and have earned green certification from the Ministry of Environment, thanks to various sustainability initiatives, including a large organic farm that supplies our canteen. We also support families and communities through various activities and rebuilt more than 50 houses.
Tina Kieffer – Founder and President
Following a distinguished career in print and broadcast journalism, including serving as editor-in-chief of Marie Claire magazine, Tina Kieffer founded the NGO Toutes à l’école after a life-changing trip to Cambodia in 2006, where she met an orphaned girl who would later become her fifth adopted child.
Her mission is to promote girls’ education in Cambodia through impactful projects under the Happy Chandara Education initiative. To help achieve this goal, she launched the media campaign La Rose Marie Claire, which funded the construction of Happy Chandara, a school in Cambodia named after her adopted daughter. In 2009, Tina made the decision to step away from Marie Claire and the media industry to fully commit to this humanitarian mission. Since then, she has split her time between fundraising in France and managing the school in Cambodia, which has since evolved into a comprehensive campus with a focus on ecology.
The Happy Chandara School is primarily supported by generous sponsors who cover the educational costs for our students.
What makes our organization unique is the special bond between the sponsors and their sponsored girls. The students write letters to their sponsors three times a year, fostering a meaningful connection, and some sponsors even visit their goddaughters at the school.
In addition to the sponsors’ generosity, our Paris-based team organizes annual fundraising events. We also partner with major French brands whose support helps us cover the full operational costs of running the school smoothly.
If you want to support us, you can do a donation.
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