Brazil
Health
A digital platform makes donating surplus medicines to vulnerable populations in Brazil easier
Contributing to the socio-professional rehabilitation of detainees using effective multimedia educational services
- Completed project
The French NGO Sipar has been working on developing new educational services in seven prisons in Cambodia in partnership with the Directorate General of Prisons, the Ministry of Education and the National Agency for Labor. To achieve this, existing libraries have been converted into Multimedia Educational Centers (Centres Éducatifs Multimédias—CEM). Building on the national prison library network started in 2012, the project has given prisoners the opportunity to take courses that lead to certification and follow modules that prepare them for social and workforce reintegration.
Project ported by:
Context
Prisoner numbers in the 28 prisons in Cambodia totaled more than 61,000 in January 2026, including 3,970 women, compared to 15,000 ten years ago (Directorate General of Prisons data). It has the second highest prison occupancy level in the world, at 400% of capacity, behind the Democratic Republic of Congo (LICADHO, 2025). Drugs are involved in more than half of minor offenses, with a national anti-drug trafficking campaign introduced in 2017 (IDPC, 2024).
The educational aspect is particularly important when considering prisoner profiles: most of the prison population is young and from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, and more than half those incarcerated have only completed elementary school (Directorate General of Prisons). In addition, about 275,000 people's lives are affected by a family member being in prison, which aggravates circumstances for households that are already struggling.
No national structured program had been started despite Cambodia passing a correctional law in 2011 with the aim of simply moving from strictly punishment-focused measures to focusing on rehabilitation, and the UN Nelson Mandela Rules in 2015, which made access to education in prisons mandatory. The project meets this need: by using the prison library network Sipar has been developing in the country's 28 prisons since 2012, it takes a key step forward by converting these spaces into Multimedia Educational Centers that can provide state-recognized courses leading to certification.
Innovation
The core innovation focuses on converting libraries in seven prisons in Phnom Penh, Pursat, Kampot, Kandal, Koh Kong, and Prey Veng into Multimedia Education Centers. A digital lab is installed with eight computers connected to an offline server. This allows each prisoner to use a personal account to access interactive content without being connected to the Internet.
A survey conducted with 908 prisoners in the seven pilot prisons resulted in the educational model design, with methodological support from the Cambodian Development Resource Institute (CDRI). It relies on two key principles:
- a personalized learning pathway, suited to each learner's length of detention, level of education, and vocational aspirations;
- content organized as modules, split into short sessions combining videos, interactive tests, printed supports and group work—this flexibility is key considering the high turnover of prison populations.
Following a survey of 908 prisoners in the seven pilot prisons, four learning modules were designed and provided:
- a program equivalent to the first cycle of middle school (BEEP), integrated into Moodle in partnership with UNESCO and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MEYS), which enables prisoners to take an official, recognized exam;
- English as a foreign language modules for beginners, A1 and A2 levels, certified by Paññāsāstra University;
- an introduction to basic digital skills;
- eight reintegration preparation modules in group sessions and independent learning. These include self-awareness, emotional regulation, personal finance, job search, starting a micro-business, and safe reintegration, among others.
An internal tutoring system covered supervision: ten trained correctional officers and seven volunteer prisoners provided daily support for learners. FID funding enabled digital and audiovisual equipment to be purchased and installed. It also funded training for correctional officers and external instructors supervising learners.
Results and lessons learned
At the end of December 2025, 713 prisoners, including 112 women (15%), benefited from CEM programs in the seven pilot establishments.
Among them:
- 486 prisoners (68%) followed the reintegration preparation modules, with an average 30-point improvement after the test compared to before it was taken. The biggest improvement was seen in micro-business start-up and management, a vocational priority indicated by 47% of those who benefited from the program.
- The personalized learning support, designed with support from the CDRI, allowed progress in the educational, socioeconomic, and psychosocial aspects to be measured. The WHO-5 Well-Being Index showed improvement in feelings of energy (up 6 points) and mood (up 12 points) at the end of the pathway compared to the start.
Three key insights emerge from this pilot phase:
- Sustainable results depended primarily on institutional ownership: the technological innovation would not have been feasible without the ministries and prison administrations being on board from the preparatory phase.
- Prisoner motivation was significantly encouraged by official certification, backed by national systems.
- Human support through internal tutoring covered by trained correctional officers and volunteer prisoners proved to be just as critical as the digital tools. The main structural challenge lies in high prisoner turnover: 23 out of the 33 registered for the English module followed all the classes but were released before taking the final exam. This observation led the team to structure organization into short, adaptable cohorts.
Based on these results, the project team aims to set the model up in seven new establishments. Monitoring and assessment tools will be simplified and digitalized using tablets and KoboToolbox, and financing will be gradually integrated into the Directorate General of Prisons budget.
Projects
Projects funded by FID
