Tabitha Cambodia was founded in 1994 by Janne Ritskes, a dual citizen of Cambodia and Canada with 20 years of international experience with integrated community development programs and cottage industry. Her programs and projects continue, having proven sustainable among the poorest of the poor in the slums of the United States, the Philippines, Kenya and Cambodia.

The aim is to reach out to the despairing in their own communities and enable them to address their needs in a holistic and sustainable way, thereby transforming their lives to fruitfulness dignity and beauty.

Tabitha was started with seed funding from the Australian and Canadian Consulates in Cambodia.

Tabitha Cambodia works exclusively to improve the lives of the poorest of the poor.

“Family Development through Savings”, a micro-banking program, is the key to Tabitha’s success. At any one time, Tabitha is assisting over 33,000 families (representing over 264,000 people) to save their way out of desperate poverty. Participation in the “Savings Program” is a pre-requisite for families or villages to participate in other Tabitha programs.

Read more about the main Tabitha programs:-

• Family Development by encouraging personal savings
• Cottage Industry with products marketed around the world
• House Building programs
• Wells Program

Tabitha is a sustainable non-profit organisation with minimal overheads and running costs.

The small profit made from the Cottage Industry program contributes significantly towards Tabitha's administrative expenses. All donated funds are used for specific purposes (eg for houses or wells) or are used to allow Tabitha staff to expand development programs to more villages in more provinces.

The Tabitha fully audited financial statement 1997-2006 is available upon request (the auditor is also the auditor for the British embassy in Phnom Penh). Precise program details are also available.

#239, Street 51
Corner of 360
PO Box 2361
Phnom Penh
Kingdom of Cambodia
Tel/Fax: (855) 23721038