OUR VISION
Educated girls, free from sex trafficking,
shaping and leading their communities and country.
OUR MISSION
We prevent the trafficking and exploitation of girls, by strengthening family and community systems to prioritise the safety and education of their children.
OUR VALUES
To find out more about how we incorporate these values into our work, you can read our impact and annual reports here
ORIGIN STORY
In 2009 Free To Shine’s founder, Nicky Mih, spent a month in Cambodia with survivors of sex trafficking. “I asked this group of survivors how I could help, and I learned that the day they got rescued the traffickers didn’t go without a girl, they just went out to the rural villages and took a new young girl.
‘Nicky, go out to the rural villages, find the girls who aren’t in school and get them into school,’ they said. Not one of them had been in school when they were trafficked, and they told me that when a girl is rescued, the traffickers do not go without; instead they simply go out to the villages and find a new girl to take her place. They believed that if they had been in school they would have been safe…So that’s what we do.
OUR THREE KEY OBJECTIVES
GOAL
SAFE COMMUNITIES FOR CHILDREN
Through safety visits, social work interventions, and community trainings, we work to strengthen family and community systems.
GOAL
EDUCATED GIRLS
We support girls to stay engaged in education by providing financial and material support and improving their access to
basic rights.
GOAL
WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP
We invest in the next generation of Cambodian women leaders by providing leadership training to emerging leaders, and funding university degrees.
other IMPORTANT information
Free To Shine is a registered Australian charity founded on June 1, 2010 with DGR status, which means that any donation over $2 is tax-deductible. Free To Shine is endorsed by the Australian Tax Office and compliant with the Australian Charities and Non For Profit Commission (ACNC) reporting standards. Our ACN is 143 986 074. In addition, we have an MoU with the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. We are governed by a board of directors, and all of our financials are independently audited by a registered company auditor.