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Declaration by the
Royal Government of Cambodia and
Development Partners
on Enhancing Aid Effectiveness
October, 2006
Phnom Penh
Declaration by the
Royal Government of Cambodia and Development Partners
on Enhancing Aid Effectiveness
The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) and Cambodia’s Development Partners
declare their willingness to build partnership in an environment of
cooperation, mutual trust, and mutual accountability to improve ODA
effectiveness in order to maximize its benefits for the people of
Cambodia. Our aim is to reduce poverty by supporting the implementation of
the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) to achieve Cambodia’s
Millennium Development Goals. The objective of this Declaration is to
update the Declaration by the Government of Cambodia and Development
Partners on Harmonization and Alignment, adopted in December 2004, to take
into account the five principles of the Paris Declaration on Aid
Effectiveness that was adopted in March 2005 in Cambodia's context.
The five principles of the Paris Declaration are:
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Ownership: Partner countries exercise effective leadership over
their development policies, and strategies and co-ordinate development
actions
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Alignment: Donors base their overall support on partner countries’
national development strategies, institutions and procedures
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Harmonisation: Donors’ actions are more harmonized, transparent and
collectively effective
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Managing for Results: Managing resources and improving
decision-making for results
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Mutual Accountability: Donors and partners are accountable for
development results
Although this Declaration does not constitute a legally binding
instrument, it represents a shared recognition between the Royal
Government of Cambodia and the Development Partners on enhancing aid
effectiveness in Cambodia.
The spirit of these principles follows from the resolutions of the
Monterrey Consensus (March 2002), Rome Declaration on Harmonization
(February 2003), Marrakech Roundtable on Managing for Results (February
2004), the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (March 2005), the work
of the OECD/DAC Working Party on Aid Effectiveness, and the RGC's
Strategic Framework for Development Cooperation Management (January 2006).
To implement our respective partnership commitments of the Paris
Declaration, the Royal Government and the Development Partners commit to:
Ownership
The Royal Government of Cambodia exercises full ownership and leadership
over its development policies, and strategies and development actions.
The Royal Government commits to:
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Having prepared a single National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP)
2006-2010, it will develop a monitoring framework and carry out an annual
review of NSDP implementation.
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Develop and adopt sector plans within the framework of the NSDP and
provincial plans in consultation with all stakeholders.
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Align the national budget to support the implementation of the NSDP
through the Public Investment Program (PIP).
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Further strengthen its ownership and leadership role in coordinating aid
at all levels in close consultations with development cooperation
partners, civil society and the private sector.
Development Partners commit to:
Alignment
Development Partners will base their overall support on RGC's strategies,
institutions and procedures.
The Royal Government commits to:
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Continue to put in place management and legal systems and institutional
mechanisms that deliver results, and are transparent and accountable to
enhance aid effectiveness.
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Continue to vigorously implement the Public Financial Management Program,
including periodic assessments of the PFM and procurement systems.
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Lead efforts to promote long-term capacity development by undertaking
capacity assessments and developing comprehensive capacity development
strategies and actions at the sector level, with coordinated support from
the development partners to achieve RGC's targeted development results.
Development Partners commit to:
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Base their overall support on the priorities outlined in the NSDP and
their development programs and projects with the PIP.
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Provide coordinated support to strengthen RGC's institutions, systems, and
procedures.
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Make increasing use of strengthened RGC institutions, systems and
procedures as they attain mutually agreed standards.
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Avoid the creation of new parallel structures (PIU/PMUs) for day-to-day
management and implementation of ODA financed projects and programs.
Harmonization
Development Partner's actions are more harmonized, transparent and
collectively effective.
The Royal Government commits to:
Development Partners commit to:
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Develop and adopt to the maximum extent possible shared analyses and
monitoring frameworks, common arrangements and simplified procedures for
programs/projects management, including reporting and auditing.
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Increase the proportion of development cooperation programs through
Sector/thematic Programs, and other Program Based Approaches with due
respect to the complementarity of aid modalities.
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Reducing the number of separate, duplicative missions and diagnostic
reviews and studies.
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Make increasing use of delegated cooperation arrangements.
Managing for Results
Managing resources and improving decision-making for results.
The Royal Government commits to:
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Develop and Implement a framework to monitor the implementation of the
NSDP and prepare an annual progress review of the NSDP.
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Make effective use of information from annual reviews of the NSDP to
manage for results by reprioritizing and reallocating available
development resources, linking priorities to budget processes, to achieve
targeted development results.
Development Partners commit to:
Mutual Accountability
The Royal Government and Development Partners are accountable for
development results.
The Royal Government commits to:
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Strengthening the role of all stakeholders in the planning and
implementation of development cooperation programs.
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Making available to all stakeholders information on the use of ODA
resources to enhance transparency and accountability in the use of
available development cooperation resources.
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Undertake the necessary reforms to enhance transparency and accountability
in the use of available development cooperation resources.
Development Partners commit to:
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Provide timely, transparent, and comprehensive information on aid flows to
the maximum extent possible to improve the transparency and accountability
in the use of ODA resources and to promote the alignment of ODA resources
with Cambodia's development priorities.
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Make the planning and delivery of their assistance more transparent and
accountable to all stakeholders in order to improve aid effectiveness and
to maximize its benefits for the people of Cambodia, in particular the
poor.
THE WAY FORWARD
We, the Royal Government and the Development Partners of Cambodia, express
our willingness to make utmost efforts to implement the RGC’s Action Plan
on Harmonization, Alignment and Results for 2006-2010. We will monitor
progress in implementing the Action Plan, which will be reported through
the Government Donors Coordination Committee.
We, the undersigned, hereby confirm our willingness to jointly work on
enhancing aid effectiveness and efficiency in Cambodia.
Signed this day, the Fifth of October 2006, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
For the Royal Government of Cambodia:
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