CDC - THE WAY FORWARD

IV. THE WAY FORWARD

48. The Royal Government of Cambodia is committed to building partnerships for development with all its national and external partners. The RGC would like to note that although much progress has been made in building partnerships for development since 1997, some examples of which have been outlined in the preceding section, a situation remains in which a significant proportion of ODA still bypasses the national budgeting process because of direct funding by donor agencies to project implementers. This situation has resulted in inadequate Government ownership of many development projects, in insufficient coordination by donor agencies regarding sectoral issues and capacity building; and in a proliferation of different procurement, disbursement, auditing, and progress monitoring procedures among agencies. It has also resulted in capacity depletion and has adversely affected Government’s institution building efforts. The RGC intends to show its political will to assume ownership of its development agenda and provide leadership of the process to achieve this goal. The Government and the external partners need to engage in an open consultation process to agree on a national development agenda for their support, particularly, in the area of poverty reduction. Once common objectives have been established, donors will need to adjust their own strategies and activities to the Royal Government’s priorities. Capacity building must be dealt with through an integrated approach that also involves civil society and the private sector. This is an area where true partnerships could lead to major efficiency gains.

49. The process of building partnerships with our national partners is well underway and a lot still needs to be done. Institutional structures have been set up to strengthen coordination within the Government. Ministries and agencies are also taking actions to strengthen coordination between the center, provincial and sub-provincial levels. A Government-Private Sector Meeting is held once every six months to address impediments to private sector growth, supported by seven Business-Government Sectoral Working Groups, which meet monthly to address sector-specific problems on an ongoing basis. Each sectoral working group is run by a committee including members from the business community and the government. Through a participatory decentralized development strategy that the Government has adopted, the civil society is being increasingly involved in the development process and a broad awareness and advocacy campaign is planned to be launched to create a national platform for dialogue on development partnership issues with all national partners.

50. To strengthen partnerships with our external partners, the RGC is proposing the immediate adoption of the following two mechanisms that will enable us to jointly examine the issues and to develop appropriate approaches for building meaningful and effective partnerships:

the establishment of a Government-Donor Working Group under the CG mechanism that will take the responsibility for examining issues and recommending measures to improve the current situation; and
instead of separate annual and mid-term reviews of individual UN agency’s country programs, the Government would like to see the official reporting of the findings and recommendations of the annual and mid-term reviews of individual UN agencies at one joint UN system and Government reporting/review session, in which all UN System agencies and Government ministries/agencies will participate at the same time. Such a joint review has many advantages, in addition to the reduced burden on the Government, it will help in minimizing duplication, and even more importantly, the joint review will ensure that information about who is doing what is shared both within the Government as well as the UN System agencies.

51. Based on OECD/DAC guidelines and the principles adopted by the RGC for building partnerships for development, the Royal Government is firmly committed to enable the full participation of all Partners (donors, NGOs, the private corporate sector and the civil society) in the integrated planning and programming of development in each sector. To move ahead, it would be necessary to define at the operational level the various elements of the partnership arrangements. As a starting point, the Royal Government would like to propose that we begin by focusing at the following four elements:

Identification, planning and formulation of development programs.
Prioritization of development programs based on national development priorities.
Resource mobilization for the prioritized development programs and negotiations on financing arrangements for the prioritized development programs.
Management of the implementation of the development programs.

52. With respect to the first element “identification, planning and formulation of development programs”, the Royal Government would like to see a strong level of interaction, participation, and consensus building effort between the external partners and relevant government institutions. The second element “prioritization of development programs based on national development priorities” will remain the domain of the Government to ensure the ownership of its development efforts. The third element “resource mobilization for the prioritized development programs and negotiations on financing arrangements for the prioritized development programs” is an area where close collaboration between the Royal Government and its external partners will continue to be a high priority. The Royal Government is well aware of the internal constraints that some donors are operating under, at the present time, in terms of their participation in Sector Wide Programs (SWAPs). In the short term, therefore, the modalities of participation of individual donors in sectoral programs, either as a partner in the program or as a supporter of a project under the umbrella of the approved sector program, will be kept flexible. The last element “management of the implementation of the development programs” remains a challenge for both the external partners and the Government. The urgent need for simplification and harmonization of donor internal rules and procedures, and the harmonization of various capacity building practices of our external partners cannot be overemphasized. It is the Royal Government’s hope that the establishment of the proposed Government-Donor Working Group under the CG mechanism will begin to tackle these critical issues as soon as possible.

53. While it may be difficult or near impossible to reach a full harmonization of the rules and procedures, with so many donors involved, there are several steps that can be taken in the short term, which could increase the national ownership of the development cooperation activities, lessen the burden on implementing agencies, and minimize the unintended adverse effects of some donor practices, notably those related to capacity building. Some of these areas include:

A harmonized approach for capacity development: The existing gaps and limitations of capacity within theadministrative structures of the Government as well as the implications of these constraints for effectively managing and enforcing reforms are now well recognized. While the current practices of donors of providing salary incentives within the context of the implementation of individual programs/projects may expedite the implementation of these programs/projects, these practices have been detrimental in building sustainable institutional capacities. There is an urgent need for the donor community to seriously examine and to provide support to measures for capacity development that recognize the systemic problems of shortages of trained manpower resulting from the Khmer Rouge atrocities and the low wages within the administrative structures of the Government. An alternative approach that donors can consider is the Government’s “Priority mission Group” concept. In order for this initiative to be effective, it cannot be implemented on a piece meal basis. To consolidate the process of empowering local communities and to further the process of democratization and decentralization of the delivery of public services, this initiative must be implemented simultaneously at the central, provincial, and sub-provincial levels. It will be a slow process that will require patience and substantial long-term donor community support. Given the limited Government resources, ideally, the financing of this initiative should be through budgetary support in the form of grants. The mechanisms for the implementation of this initiative will need to be responsive to donor concerns about transparency and accountability. It is an important area where a joint effort of the Government and the donor community in the planning and implementation of the initiative can make an important contribution to moving forward the development of Cambodia.
Joint missions: As a rule national counterparts should always participate in donor missions to ensure that the mission members are provided relevant information on the specifics of the Cambodian situation, but more importantly to ensure that the process will be followed up.
Joint Program formulation: There have been many attempts and successes in formulating programs and projects jointly by the Government and some donors. The process could be further strengthened and successful experiences institutionalized through a collaborative effort.
Long-term commitments by donors: Many donors have begun to make long term commitments to support specific programs and projects. This is encouraging because such long-term commitments enable the RGC to plan for its development activities in a more systematic manner. It is also an approach that RGC hopes all its development partners will adopt.
Flexible program/project design: The RGC would like to see a flexible approach adopted in the design of development programs/projects. The approach should put emphasis on process and results rather than to serve as blue print for implementation. It should include mechanisms that ensure periodic reviews and well-defined processes to realign program/project activities necessary for achieving program/project results in response to changing conditions.

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