About KEAP

Organizational structure and status

     After functioning ten years as a joint project of the US-based Khmer Studies Insitute and American Institute of Buddhist Studies, KEAP ( Khmer-Buddhist Educational Assistance Project) became its own legal entity in 1999. It was registered as a non-profit corporation in the State of Colorado under the Colorado Nonprofit Corporation Act and acquired tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable educational organization in 2002 (tax/employer identification number is 84-1498749) with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS). KEAP is governed by a Board of Birectors and advised by an international advisory council. Its registered agent and Executive Director is Dr. Peter Gyallay-Pap of Crestone, Colorado (USA).
 
 

    You or your group can help make a difference in the moral, spiritual, and cultural recovery of Cambodia that will honor and strengthen the Buddhist ethos and spirit of the Khmer people. Since its reorganization, KEAP serves as a bridge between Buddhist and non-Buddhist donors abroad and local beneficiaries in Cambodia. As an "friends of Buddhism in Cambodia," KEAP as an organization no longer directly implement projects but, rather, works with local implementing partners. As a donor, you choose the local project (or projects) with which you wish to be linked through your support. At all times, KEAP works to ensure local ownership, self-reliance, and project sustainability. You are encouraged to establish direct communication with the project you support as a means of promoting people-to-people contact, providing moral support, and rendering advice or any needed technical assistance. You are also encouraged to pay a site visit to the project. The source, quality, and spirit of material support are valued as much as the material support itself.

       KEAP is a voluntary organization that operates with low overhead costs and a flexible structure geared to meeting local needs. Its administrative, monitoring & evaluation, and facilitation costs are sustained by a 10 per cent program support fee deducted from your tax-deductible (in the USA) donation. KEAP welcomes small, grassroots donations, each of which represents a vote for Buddhist renewal through culturally-sensitive educational development. You or your group may choose to provide direct support in the form of an unrestricted donation to KEAP to help defray expenses (the allocation of large unrestricted donations are determined by the Board of Directors).
 
 

     KEAP's honorary founding patron was the late Most Venerable Samdech Preah Maha Ghosananda, the spiritual leader of Cambodian Buddhism who passed away in March 2007. KEAP began its work in 1988 by videotaping a dhamma talk by Venerable Ghosananda and screening/field-testing the tape in the refugee camps to thousands of monks, nuns, and laypeople. Referred to by many as the "Gandhi of Cambodia," Venerable  Ven. Ghosananda visting his                                                                          native wat in Takeo province                                                                       in November 1991

Ghosananda has led Dhammayietras (literally,

pilgrimages for the truth) throughout Cambodia since 1992 on behalf of peace and reconciliation, banning landmines, and environmental protection. For his selfless efforts, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize four times in 1990s.

     KEAP is run by a Board of Directors based in Crestone, Colorado. The Board meets twice a year and when needed between the biannual meetings. Members of the of the international advisory council include Ven. Yos Hut Khemacaro (Cambodia and France); Joseph Goldstein (USA), of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts; Marcia Rose (USA), a guiding teacher of Vipassana meditation; Dr. Walter Aschmoneit (Germany), a researcher and people-centered development expert; Prof. Padmasiri De Silva, (Sri Lanka & Australia), a Theravada Buddhist scholar; and Prof. Donald K. Swearer (USA), author of numerous studies of Buddhism in Southeast Asia.

       KEAP's home office is staffed by a volunteer Executive Director, Peter Gyallay-Pap, KEAP's founder, assisted by his wife Kimnath, a Cambodian and also a volunteer. The Khmer-managed field office in Phnom Penh is staffed by a volunteer Field Coordinator, Mr. Keo Vichith, a former monk and graduate of the Dhammayietra Center for Peace and Non-Violence who has been active in Cambodia and abroad in interfaith dialogue. An ex-officio board member, Dr. Gyallay-Pap is an education consultant and social scientist who has published numerous articles on social aspects of Buddhism in Cambodia. He has more than 20 years of Buddhist-related educational assistance and research experience with KEAP and other organizations in the Khmer refugee camps and Cambodia. His partner Kimnath was a pre-school teacher and administrative assistant/accountant in the Siemreap provincial education department.