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CAMBODIA
1.
Cambodia gained independence from France in 1953. In April 1975 - after a fiveyear civil war - Communist Khmer Rouge forces captured the capital Phnom Penh and
began to enforce a program of radical revolutionary transformation. Over 1.5 million
people died from starvation, overwork and violence over the next four years. In 1978, a
Vietnamese invasion drove the Khmer Rouge into the countryside; they, along with two
non-communist guerrilla movements, regrouped on the Thai border and conducted a
running civil war against the Vietnamese-installed Government over the course of the
1980s. A peace accord was signed in Paris in 1991, mandating a UN-supervised ceasefire
and democratic elections, which were held in 1993. The resulting coalition foundered in
inter-party fighting in 1997. National elections were held again in 1998 and led to the
formation of another coalition Government and a measure of renewed political stability,
helped by the surrender of the last elements of the Khmer Rouge in 1999. Elections in
2003 were relatively peaceful, but in searching to defend or gain political advantage the
parties took a year to negotiate a coalition Government, which was eventually formed in
July 2004.
OWNERSHIP
1. Partners have operational national development strategies
a. Coherent long-term vision with medium-term strategy derived from vision
2.
The coalition Government formed in 2004 adopted a holistic Rectangular Strategy
for Growth, Employment, Equity and Efficiency. It aims towards long-term goals while,
at the same time, serving as the political mandate for the 2004-08 term and clearly
specifying the immediate agenda. The Rectangular Strategy focuses on good governance,
peace, social order, macroeconomic stability, partnership, and economic integration. It
also covers issues such as enhancement of the agricultural sector, rehabilitation and
construction of physical infrastructure, private sector development and employment
generation, and capacity building and human resource development. [Are there plans to
update the Rectangular Strategy?] Previous efforts to develop a long-term vision resulted
in a 1994 National Program to Rehabilitate and Develop Cambodia (NPRD), a 1998
Triangle Strategy focusing on peace, demobilization, and regional economic integration
for the next decade, and a 2001-10 Financial Sector Development Vision and Plan (FSD).
3.
The Government considers the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) as
the single, overarching reference strategy for pursuing prioritized goals and actions for
the period 2006-10. The NSDP – which operationalizes the Rectangular Strategy to
achieve its intended goals – was born out of an agreement by the Government and the
major external partners to form a single medium-term strategy. It serves both as a fiveyear plan and a PRS, replacing the Second Five-Year Socio-Economic Development Plan
for National Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy for 2001-05 (SEDP 2)
and the National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NPRS) 2003-05, Cambodia's first PRS.1
1
The NSDP was finalized in January 2006. The NPRS was completed in December 2002, and a Progress
Report was finalized in August 2004. The SEDP 2 was completed in 2001.
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4.
The NSDP highlights most essential strategies, targets and actions, but it leaves
more details to be spelled out in sectoral and sub-national plans which will be completed
by mid-2006 and will feed into the first annual review of the NSDP scheduled for June
2006. A number of sectoral strategies have been prepared and some revised recently.
[Did these sectoral strategies influence the preparation of the NSDP? What is the
relationship between these strategies and the sectoral plans under preparation for mid2006?] An education sector strategy formulated by the Ministry of Education, Youth and
Sport – in collaboration with the Ministry of Planning (MOP) and the Ministry of
Economy and Finance (MEF) – has already been incorporated into the NSDP 2006-10.
The Government has also adopted a National Strategic Plan for a Comprehensive
Response to HIV/AIDS 2006-10 and is in the process of reviewing its Health Sector
Strategy Plan for 2003-07. A comprehensive Strategy for the Agricultural Sector as a
whole is still to be developed, but an Agriculture and Water Resource Strategy will be
developed by the end of 2006 and a 15-year Cambodia Energy Strategy 2006-20 is under
preparation. Building on a 2001 Governance Action Plan, a Governance Action Plan II
for 2005-08 is being finalized, covering nine critical areas of governance that directly
impact on poverty reduction, with clear focus on short-term, medium-term and long-term
objectives and goals in reforms [status?]. A Financial Sector Blueprint for 2001-10 and a
15-year Land Administration, Management and Distribution Programme (LAMDP) –
approved in 2000 to improve land tenure security and promote the development of
efficient land markets – are also in place. A Strategy for Legal and Judicial Reform was
approved in June 2003, together with a Cambodia Nutrition Investment Plan for 2003-07,
and a National Policy on Water Resources Management was adopted in January 2004.
[Are these strategies being revised?] The Government has also adopted an SME
Development Program for Cambodia, as well as a comprehensive SME Development
Framework [covering what years?].
5.
Provinces, districts and communes are expected to adjust national goals and
targets to their situation and circumstances and to develop detailed measurable goals and
plans to address priority development needs in their respective areas. The MOP will help
local authorities to prepare local plans to achieve NSDP targets. This is expected to help
enhance their limited capacity, but there is still some concern around the ability of local
authorities to formulate effective local development plans without the contributions of the
Seila Program – a development assistance program which is coming to an end in 2006
and had previously reinforced and coordinated provincial, communal and village
planning processes in rural areas, facilitating alignment of local development plans with
the NPRS. [Has the MOP prepared guidelines for local authorities to facilitate alignment
of local development plans with the NSDP?]
b. Country specific development targets with holistic, balanced, and well
sequenced strategy
6.
The NSDP incorporates the Cambodia Millennium Development Goals
(CMDGs), which were formulated with UN support in 2003 and published as the
Cambodian Millennium Development Goals Report (CMDGR). Each of the nine
CMDGs has been disaggregated into several sub-CMDGs with 25 overall targets and 106
specific targets for 2005, 2010 and 2015. According to a study conducted in 2005, it will
be possible to achieve some CMDGs by 2015. For example, the CMDG targets of
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reducing overall poverty and food poverty to 25 percent and 13 percent respectively in
2010 and to 19.5 percent and 10 percent in 2015 are considered within reach. Efforts to
combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases are helping to exceed targets. However,
stronger efforts will be needed to achieve the intended targets of some other CMDGs,
such as universal primary education and completing de-mining of contaminated areas.
Cambodia is a UN Millennium Project pilot country.
7.
The NSDP – which includes focus on the CMDGs where Cambodia is lagging –
is based on six pillars: 1) good governance; 2) environment for the implementation of the
Rectangular Strategy; 3) enhancement of the agricultural sector; 4) continued
rehabilitation and construction of physical infrastructure; 5) private sector growth and
employment; and 6) capacity building and human resources development.
8.
Cross-cutting issues like promoting gender equality and empowering women,
combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability,
tackling drug issues, and implementing an effective population policy are also addressed
in the NSDP.
c. Capacity and resources for implementation
9.
Aligning the annual budget, the Public Investment Program (PIP), and the MTEF
to medium-term strategic priorities remains a key implementation challenge. The
Government presented a three-year rolling PIP for 2006-08 at the March 2006 CG
meeting, planning to ensure full synchronization among NSDP, a rolling MTEF, the PIP
and annual budgets from mid-2006 onwards. Specifically, information resulting from the
June 2006 review of the NSDP will be expected to inform the 2007 budget, the 2007-09
PIP, as well as the 2007-11 MTEF. The Government has prepared sectoral MTEFs in
health and education and is planning to prepare them in other sectors starting in 2006.
The MEF plays a central role in monitoring budget execution and MTEF implementation.
It produces monthly and aggregates annually execution reports.
10.
Despite the difficulties encountered in aligning the budget with medium-term
strategic priorities, the NPRS did help achieve a reallocation of resources from defence
and security to priority areas such as education and health. Specifically, the share of the
total recurrent budget devoted to education rose to 17.3 percent in 2005 from 13.9 percent
in 2001. The establishment of 194 Budget Management Centers at the district and
provincial level has helped decentralize financial management and reporting in the
education sector. [More detail? When were these Budget Management Centers
established? Have they played a role in linking local development plans with local
budgets?]
11.
In December 2004 the MEF launched a Public Financial Management Reform
Program, endorsed by the Prime Minister, which aims to make the budget credible as a
policy instrument. Specifically, the Program focuses on delivering resources predictably
and reliably to budget managers – which are made accountable through improved internal
control – improving the linkage between policy priorities, budget planning and
implementation; and integrating accountability and review processes for both finance and
performance, thus resulting in greater external transparency. The Program also aims at
improving the pay and management of the civil service. Initiatives for performance
budgeting and management are mainly confined to the education and health sectors.
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[More detail on these initiatives? Is there a mechanism to channel data on outcomes in
these (and other) sectors into strategy revision and future budget allocations?]
d. Participation of national stakeholders in strategy formulation and
implementation
12.
NSDP preparation began in December 2004 and was led by the Director General
of Planning of the MOP. In March 2005 the Government created an Inter-Agency
Technical Working Group on NSDP Formulation – composed of 29 Ministries/agencies –
whose day-to-day work was managed by a Secretariat chaired by the MOP, with
representation from the MEF. The NSDP was approved by the Council of Ministers in
January 2006. A Council for Social Development (CSD) – an inter-ministerial body
created in December 2000 and chaired by the MOP – had previously been given
responsibility for NPRS formulation and implementation. A Supreme National Economic
Council (SNEC) attached to MEF drafted the first Annual Progress Report on the
implementation of the NPRS and recommended necessary adjustments. The SEDP
process had been led by the MOP.
13.
Action has been taken towards a sustainable structure for stakeholder involvement
in policy formulation and implementation. A highly consultative process was adopted for
CMDGs formulation and consultations were held to gather stakeholder comments on the
first draft of the NSDP. Specifically, a Technical Working Group on Planning and
Poverty Reduction was established to provide stakeholder inputs into the NSDP
formulation process. Suggestions from stakeholders were incorporated in the second
NSDP draft and a national workshop was held on November 24, 2005 to finalize the
NSDP. Consultations were also undertaken by the MOP with all stakeholders to finalize
formulation of sectoral and local plans to achieve NSDP targets. Some of these sectoral
plans – such as the health sector strategy – provide for community participation in annual
plan revisions and the NSDP itself provides a framework that will be refined,
operationalized and reviewed annually in a consultative manner taking into account
additional inputs from all stakeholders, including line ministries and local authorities.
[Which institution is in charge of getting and incorporating stakeholder inputs? What
processes are in place to assist in taking these inputs into account systematically?] For
this purpose, the Government is paying particular attention to strengthening the
Partnership in Development designed by the Government with national and international
stakeholders. [Who, specifically, is included in the Partnership in Development? Is it
representative of a wide range of stakeholders? Is it a forum that meets regularly?] Based
on a Participation Action Plan prepared in January 2002, the Government had already
organized a series of participation activities for the formulation of the NPRS and its
Progress Report. [Has the NSDP incorporated some consultation precedents established
under the NPRS? Has the Participation Action Plan been used to guide NSDP
consultations?].
14.
Civil society has been involved in NSDP formulation, continuing its participative
role played during NPRS formulation and implementation. Representatives of the NGO
community and external partners met on November 21, 2005 to discuss and agree on a set
of comments on the NSDP first draft. NGOs participate in 12 of 18 Joint Technical
Working Groups composed of Government and external partner representatives and 12
umbrella NGOs participate in the NSDP Technical Working Group on Planning and
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Poverty Reduction. NGOs also participate in the Partnership in Development. [Which
NGOs? Are they representative of a broad number of groups?] There is a NGO Forum
which consists of local and international NGOs active in development-related activities.
NGOs also attend annual CG meetings where they present a detailed statement on NGO
issues and on the progress of CG Joint Monitoring Indicators aimed at assessing progress
in key policy reforms. Local and international NGOs were key partners in monitoring and
evaluating the NPRS, undertaking their own micro-level surveys and evaluation studies.
[Are NGOs playing a role in NSDP monitoring and evaluation?]
15.
Private sector participation in NSDP formulation was limited. In order to attempt
to strengthen cooperation with the private sector, the Government set up a “Government
– Private Sector Forum” which has met regularly since December 1999, supported by
seven Business-Government Sectoral Working Groups. In August 2004 the Government
set up a high-level Steering Committee for Private Sector Development. The private
sector is also included in the Partnership in Development.
16.
Parliament was involved in NSDP and NPRS formulation, although it has not had
a strong role in monitoring. Despite no constitutional requirement for the legislature to
approve a national development plan, the Assembly approved the NSDP in December
2005. It had also approved the Rectangular Strategy, the Triangle Strategy, the SEDP, the
SEDP 2 and the NPRS. Both the Assembly and the Senate play a significant role in
linking policies and strategies to the budget, and in reviewing NSDP implementation
progress. [Verify. Has there been debate in Parliament during budget discussions on the
need to link to NSDP priorities? Is there a Parliament Committee taking the lead on the
NSDP?]
ALIGNMENT
2. Reliable country systems
17.
The Public Financial Management Reform Program is expected to lead to
improvements in budget execution and to reduce the fiduciary risks associated with the
system of cash-based payments. Under such system, about one third of annual recurrent
expenditure is not posted until the last month of the financial year. This back loading of
expenditures weakens operational planning and causes a build-up of arrears, also
contributing to a lack of transparency. A Reform Committee within MEF and a
Government-Donor PFM Working Group are charged with supporting implementation of
the Public Financial Management Reform Program.
18.
Although some progress has been made towards introducing more transparent
national procurement procedures in most ministries – as planned in the 2004 Cambodia
Declaration drafted by the Government and its external partners to implement the
National Action Plan for Harmonization and Alignment 2004-08 – procurement laws,
guidelines and procedures are not yet consistent with international standards. [Are there
Government efforts to align public procurement systems with internationally-agreed
standards? Has the Government approved any new procurement rules?]
19.
The problems of weak state institutions and the resultant low levels of planning,
budgeting and financial management capacity are perceived most directly in the form of
corruption. The Governance Action Plan – as well as the draft Governance Action Plan II
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– contains many provisions which commit the Government to directly address the root
causes of corruption. The Government drafted an Anti-corruption Law and plans to
submit a final version of it to the National Assembly for adoption before the end of 2006.
Although some progress has been made towards establishing a National Audit Authority,
the existing draft anti-corruption law does not comply with international best practice.
Based on the recommendations of the 2003 Integrated Fiduciary Assessment and Public
Expenditure Review – as well as on the provisions of the Public Financial Management
Reform Program – the Government is undertaking civil service reforms to strengthen
capacity.
3. Aid flows are aligned on national priorities
a. Government leadership of coordination
20.
The Government is taking increasing leadership in development assistance
coordination. In January 2006 it adopted a Strategic Framework for Development
Cooperation Management aimed at clarifying policies and procedures guiding its
relations with external partners and assigning roles and responsibilities within
Government. It established a Council for the Development of Cambodia – whose
Cambodian Rehabilitation and Development Board is charged with coordinating all
development assistance and foreign direct investment – and an Inter-ministerial Steering
Committee to Strengthen Development Partnership. The Government has been heading a
Government-Donor Coordination Committee, which is an important forum to review
progress on a quarterly basis since 2004. It guides the work of 18 Joint Technical
Working Groups, which are co-chaired by the Government and external partners and
aimed at strengthening cooperation between them. For example, the Partnership and
Harmonization Technical Working Group is chaired by the Council for the Development
of Cambodia, and co-chaired by UNDP and Japan.
21.
The last CG meeting – which was held in March 2006 – focused on the NSDP and
the next meeting is scheduled for June 2007. CG meetings have been held in Phnom Penh
since June 2002, facilitating civil society and private sector participation. Since 2004,
they have been co-chaired by the Minister of Economy and Finance and the World Bank
Country Director, with the Cambodian Rehabilitation and Development Board taking
care of meeting arrangements and preparation of documentation. Since 1999 the
Government meets with external partners for mid-term reviews between full CG
meetings. Mid-term reviews have been chaired alternatively by UNDP and ADB. [Are
there plans for Government leadership of these reviews?]
b. Partners’ assistance strategy alignment
22.
Most external partners supported the Government’s efforts to merge SEDP 2 and
the NPRS into one development strategy, and are taking measures to align their
development assistance with the NSDP. The five major external partners are Japan, ADB,
the World Bank, the USA and France accounting for approximately 76 percent of gross
ODA in 2003-04. The EU is also a key partner. ODA accounted for 11.2 percent of GNI
in 2004.2 The World Bank, ADB, DFID, and UN agencies have followed a joint process
for preparing their country assistance strategies, which share a joint analysis of the
2
See OECD/DAC Aid Statistics at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/1/15/1879774.gif
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development challenges in Cambodia, an assessment of the national development
strategy and the role of external assistance. This joint process resulted in the March 2005
adoption by the World Bank of a Country Assistance Strategy which is aligned with the
Rectangular Strategy and is aimed at supporting NSDP development, as are the ADB
2005-09 Country Strategy and Program and the DFID Country Assistance Plan
completed in November 2005. [Has the UN finalized its updated UNDAF for Cambodia
following the joint analysis process undertaken with the World Bank, ADB and DFID?]
Although USAID has not participated directly it has plans to use some of the joint
preparatory work to develop its own country strategy starting in 2006. The EC completed
a National Indicative Program for 2005-06 which is in line with the NPRS and the SEDP
2. [Is the EC updating its Country Strategy Paper to align its support around NSDP
priorities? Are Japan and France updating their country assistance strategies in line with
NSDP priorities?].
c. Partnership organization
23.
Several development assistance agencies are increasing their presence in the
country to better participate in daily decision-making. The World Bank Country Director
is stationed in Thailand, and a Country Manager has been stationed in Cambodia since
1997. The Country Office staff has expanded to 30 over the course of 2003-04. ADB
country strategy and programming, as well as portfolio management and review, are fully
delegated to the Resident Mission. The USAID Mission enjoys delegation of authority
that allows for effective responsiveness to changing circumstances in the field [more
specifically?]. The EC opened a Cambodia Delegation in 2002 and it is supporting a
strong decentralization of project implementation. The AFD program is managed by an
office in Phnom Penh. [Other examples of decentralization? Do the main external
partners have sufficient local technical staff to actively participate in the 18 Joint
Technical Working Groups?]
4. Strengthen capacity by coordinated support
Coherent and coordinated capacity support
24.
Capacity building development is one of the pillars of the NSDP and it is
expected that the Government’s focus on this issue will contribute to reduce
fragmentation in external partner support of capacity building activities. Efforts to reduce
fragmentation are already underway, particularly through a capacity building strategy
within a multi-donor public financial management SWAp prepared in 2004 to support the
Public Financial Management Reform Program. [Supported by DFID and which other
external partners?]
5. Use of country systems
Donor financing relying on country systems
25.
The Government is cooperating with external partners to move towards budget
support as the preferred mechanism for providing development assistance. Only the EC is
now providing targeted sector budget support, although other external partners are
considering it. For example, DFID is undertaking preparatory work for introducing
budget support as one of its development assistance instruments and the World Bank is
considering budget support through a series of PRSCs. [What is the percentage of
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development assistance disbursed through budget support? Do any SWAps rely on
country systems for project financial management?]
26.
External partners are not yet comfortable about the level of fiduciary risk entailed
in using national procurement systems and only a minor part of their development
assistance is disbursed using such arrangements.
6. Strengthen capacity by avoiding parallel implementation structures
PIUs progressively phased out
27.
The Government is phasing out PIUs. In 2004, forty-two percent of PIUs were
fully integrated into government structures. [Update for 2006? Are external partners
taking action to accelerate this process?] Most World Bank projects are executed directly
by Ministries and other national authorities. [verify]
7. Aid is more predictable
Disbursements aligned with annual budgetary framework
28.
External assistance disbursements are not aligned with the annual budgetary
framework. [More detail? Is there any discussion to align disbursements to coincide with
the execution of the national budget?]
8. Aid is untied
29.
The 2004 Harmonization and Alignment Action Plan emphasizes the need for
development partners to increase value for money in the management of ODA by untying
aid. [Has there been any progress? What is the percentage of untied aid provided by the
major bilateral partners at the country level?]
HARMONIZATION
9. Use of common arrangements or procedures
30.
SWAps are operational in education, health, decentralization, public financial
management and private sector development. The education and health SWAps –
supported by ADB and the EC – align development assistance behind sector strategies
and reduce transaction costs. [What procedures are reducing transaction costs?] USAID is
supporting the health SWAp giving particular attention to the HIV/AIDS and child
survival components. Multi-donor arrangements – mainly backed by the EC – supporting
decentralization and local governance promotion through the Seila Program and the
Partnership for Local Government have helped reduce gaps and overlaps in external
support to local governance. [Is the Partnership for Local Government coming to an end
in 2006 as is the Seila Program? What are the implications for the decentralization
SWAp?] The public financial management SWAp builds on a multi-donor agreement to
support the Public Financial Management Reform Program through a multi-donor trust
fund. The private sector development SWAp is helping external partners – including the
EC – to coordinate their support for the Government’s 12 Point Plan to Improve the
Investment Climate and Trade Facilitation, formulated in 2004. [What are some other
elements of the SWAps that are already operational? Apart from common sector
strategies, are there common work programs, common financial management and other
pooling besides in the Public Financial Management Reform Program?]
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31.
The Government has plans to expand the application of SWAps in agriculture and
infrastructure – specifically in transport, energy, and water. [Have these SWAps been
established yet?] Work is on-going in the area of Land Management where an emerging
program-based approach – mainly supported by the EC – is helping harmonize external
partner support of key government function in land resources.
10. Encouraging shared analysis
Joint missions
32.
In 2004, seventeen percent of the missions undertaken by external partners were
conducted jointly. [Update for 2006? Does the Government have a mechanism to track
external partner missions?]
Analytical partnership
33.
Increasingly, analytical work is being carried out jointly. For example, the World
Bank’s CAS has a strong focus on AAA, to be carried out jointly by the Government,
other development partners and other national stakeholders. The World Bank and ADB
are conducting joint portfolio reviews with the Government. In 2003, ADB, the IMF and
the World Bank - with significant contributions from other external partners - finalized a
joint Integrated Fiduciary Assessment and PER. In 2004, The World Bank completed a
CPAR in close cooperation with ADB. In 2005, the Cambodian Development Research
Institute and the Ministry of Planning – in collaboration with NGOs and external partners
– undertook new research on poverty issues including a PPA in the Tonle Sap region
supported by the ADB, a Public Expenditure Tracking Survey in education and a Moving
out of Poverty study examining the dynamics of poverty supported by the World Bank.
External partners have posted 36 documents on the Country Analytic Work website.3
MANAGING FOR RESULTS
11. Results oriented frameworks
a. Quality of development information
34.
Action is being taken to strengthen data analysis capacity. In 2005 the National
Institute of Statistics completed a Statistical Master Plan for 2005-15 which outlines both
specific systems for the collection and use of socioeconomic data, and capacity-building
improvements required for sustaining this work. The Statistical Master Plan provides for
the systematic undertaking of Annual Tracking Surveys specifically aimed at monitoring
the NSDP and it focuses on improving the quality and timeliness of existing statistics. It
recognizes the importance of large surveys which provide the basis for most of the
economic, social and demographic information available. Some of these surveys include
a Cambodian Socio-Economic Survey 2003-04 conducted by the National Institute of
Statistics with assistance from the World Bank and UNDP, a 2004 Inter-Censal
Population Survey, and a Demographic and Health Survey for 2005 conducted with the
support of USAID. The National Institute of Statistics is also planning a population
census for 2008 and, together with the MOP, it has developed a database – CamInfo – to
support monitoring and dissemination of key indicators related to global, regional and
national goals in the NSDP, including the CMDGs and other monitoring frameworks
3
http://www.countryanalyticwork.net
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such as the Education Sector Support Program, Health Sector Strategic Plan and
Cambodia Nutrition Investment Plan. At present, line ministries maintain their own
databases and statistical information, but their capacity is uneven, as well as the quality
and reliability of collected data. [Is there an integrated financial management system?]
b. Stakeholder access to development information
35.
Some elements exist for increasing stakeholder access to development
information. The NSDP, which was originally prepared in English, is being translated
into Khmer and the Government is starting to conduct awareness campaigns through the
media and public education. [Are there specific plans for NSDP dissemination building
on NPRS dissemination precedents? For example, are there plans to summarize the
NSDP and disseminate it nationally as a short pamphlet, as well as through TV and radio
broadcasts?]
36.
The NSDP is not available on the MEF website, although the English version of
the NPRS Progress Report and the 2005-07 MTEF can be found on it. The English
version of the NPRS can be found on a Government’s website specifically devote to it.
However the content of this website is not always accessible. The website of the Council
for the Development of Cambodia contains useful information on the Government-Donor
Coordination Committee, as well as the Strategic Framework for the Development
Cooperation Management. The website of the National Institute of Statistics contains
useful information on CamInfo, as well as data from censuses and surveys like the
Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey 2003-04 and the Inter-Censal Population Survey
2004.4
c. Coordinated country-level monitoring and evaluation
37.
The Government has plans to finalize the design of the NSDP M&E framework
by June 2006. The MOP, MEF and the Council for the Development of Cambodia will be
the Government institutions charged with developing and implementing this framework,
as well as preparing annual progress reviews of NSDP implementation. Key line
ministries will also be working closely with the NSDP Secretariat to ensure the
effectiveness of NSDP implementation. 43 core indicators (including 28 CMDGs
indicators) for monitoring the NSDP have already been defined by the National Institute
of Statistics and the Poverty Monitoring and Analysis Technical Unit within MOP and
they have been included in a Results Matrix. Data on input and output indicators will be
mostly collected through administrative systems, while policy/program evaluation will be
based on relevant periodic surveys. Data to monitor 16 of the core indicators will also be
collected through the Annual Tracking Survey conducted by the National Institute of
Statistics under its Statistical Master Plan. [Are there some examples of how data
generated by a M&E system has been used by policymakers to inform strategy revision?
Is there a process in place to facilitate this?]
4
http://www.mef.gov.kh/SpeechDr.Naron/nprs.htm
http://www.mef.gov.kh/SpeechDr.Naron/2004/mtef1.htm
http://www.nprs.gov.kh/default.aspx?IDPage=100&IDPageCat=100
http://www.cdc-crdb.gov.kh/
http://www.nis.gov.kh/
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38.
Joint Monitoring Indicators are agreed upon at each CG meeting by the
Government and its external partners to monitor progress on key institutional and policy
reforms. Joint Monitoring Indicators discussed at the March 2006 CG meeting are closely
linked to NSDP reform priorities and include continuation of public administration
reform focusing on the civil service; public financial management reform; further work
on decentralization and deconcentration reform; efforts to improve service delivery,
human development and anti-corruption measures; legal and judicial reform; natural
resource management; and private sector development. The NSDP indicates the
Government’s intention to integrate the CG Joint Monitoring Indicators and the NSDP
APR processes, stating that the annual NSDP progress reports will be presented as the
Government’s report to the CG meeting. Such reports would be finalized by June of
every year in order to guide the next PIP and annual budget. [Is the Government already
taking action to integrate the CG Joint Monitoring Indicators process with the APRs on
NSDP implementation?]
MUTUAL ACCOUNTABILITY
Development effectiveness assessment frameworks
39.
Cambodia was a pilot country under the 2003 Rome Declaration on
Harmonization, and in 2004 the Government and the World Bank jointly sponsored four
harmonization workshops, which led to the preparation of a National Action Plan for
Harmonization and Alignment 2004-08. The Plan – which was presented to external
partners at the December 2004 CG for endorsement and is now in the process of being
updated – is focused on ownership and leadership, capacity building, alignment,
harmonization and streamlining. The Government and external partners – including the
World Bank, UNDP, Australia, and Japan – finalized the draft during the fourth
workshop held by the Council for the Development of Cambodia in October 2004.
During the workshop, the Government and external partners also drafted a Cambodia
Declaration, expressing their willingness to implement the Harmonization Action Plan
2004-08 through improved predictability of resources, renewed commitment to SWAps,
broader use of sectoral Technical Working Groups in technical assistance and analytical
work, and greater Government transparency in procurement and financial management.
The Cambodia Declaration was signed in December 2004 by twelve of Cambodia’s
major development partners.
40.
One of the Joint Monitoring Indicators agreed upon at the March 2006 CG
meeting aims at building partnerships to enhance aid effectiveness and mutual
accountability. Specifically, the indicator charges the Council for the Development of
Cambodia with implementation of the Government’s Strategic Framework for
Development Cooperation Management, as well as preparation of progress reports on the
implementation of the Action Plan on Harmonization and Alignment every six months.
[Are there any other mechanisms used for monitoring the matrix included in the Action
Plan?]
11
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