Local NGO registration

We originally thought the best way to do this would be as an International NGO, but we will probably be going as a local Cambodian NGO (Mekong Riverkids Foundation) that is directly funded by the Singapore trust, Riverkids Project.

In Cambodia, NGOs go in three different ways. If you're small enough like we are/were, you don't much need anything, but it is way better to be formally registered because then you can deal directly with police, grants etc. First, you can umbrella under an existing NGO as a single project. You write a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and get that signed off by the right ministry - a health clinic under the Ministry of Health, for example. Then you can apply for a local NGO which is Ministry of Internal Affairs and the appropriate ministry for your project. Riverkids is likely to go under MOSALVY (Ministry of Social Affairs, Labour, Vocational Training and Youth Rehabilitation) and you have to have a board and checked accounts and so on. An International NGO does the same, but through Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and you need paperwork from the other country to show you're a registered charity.

There are pros and cons to each one, and it's also a question of cost. Registration has some mandated and some not-so-mandated fees, and there's complying with the legal requirements, which we're good with, and also setting ourselves up internally to exceed them, and well.

It basically means a lot of phone calls and paperwork and is intensely boring but necessary.

ETA: And we are basically done for this! I'm picking up final paperwork this trip, and everything's been filed. We're going to be Riverkids Foundation in Cambodia, as Project apparently doesn't sound official enough in Cambodia.