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Seventeenth Meeting of the Speaking Notes
By H.E. Chhieng Yanara
Royal Government of Cambodia
- Excellency Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the GDCC - Excellencies Senior Ministers, Ministers and colleagues from the Royal Government - Excellencies Ambassadors and Development partner colleagues - Ladies and Gentlemen
Allow me to make a brief presentation on two policy documents that have been prepared, consulted and now tabled for endorsement-an updated guideline on the role and functioning of Technical Working Groups and the concept note on Program- Based Approaches in Cambodia.
I believe that the two documents have already been subject to your careful consideration over the past months.
Since the 3rd CDCF meeting in June, CDC has been working to move forward commitments that were made-that is to update the Government's Guideline on the Role and Functioning of the Technical Working Groups and to draft a concept note that elaborates a common understanding of program-based approaches in Cambodia. PBA is the Royal Government's preferred approach in implementing sector strateqies and key reforms in partnerships with national and external development partners.
The first drafts of the two documents were shared in August 2010 with all Technical Working Groups and DP lead facilitators. The consultation process was broad and inclusive. In September, CDC facilitated a workshop of the TWG Network to review the two documents, together with a large number of DP lead facilitators. Comments from the workshop were endorsed and reflected in revised drafts.
As a peer review mechanism on aid effectiveness policy, the Partnership and Harmonization TWG reviewed the two documents in its meeting on the 21st of September 2010, leading to the final versions shared for this meeting.
I hope that today we can finalise these two documents.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
The updated TWG Guideline intends to ensure that sector and thematic work is guided by the Rectangular Strategy-Phase 2. It therefore aims to support TWGs in prioritizing their work, strengthening their linkages to the GDCC and sharpening their focus on the achievement of development results.
It is important to emphasize that this Guideline does not intend to be overly prescriptive. It is important that each TWG needs to identify, prioritize and sequence its activities based on perceived needs, available resources and existing capacity. The list of tasks and/or the organizing principles in the Guideline serve only as "guidance" that can be turned to when necessary.
The main areas of the Guideline that have been updated include:
On the PBA Concept Note, the comments we have received so far have been useful and should be clearly acknowledged here.
The paper clarifies definition and purpose of a PBA. It identifies the principal components of a PBA. It outlines options of support that CDC/CRDB as the Royal Government's aid coordination focal point can provide upon request. The aim is helping sectors or reforms to get organized to produce the best results.
The PBA is a policy-driven arrangement that accommodates all partners and financing modalities. There is a lot to gain. Beyond harmonized procedures and greater efficiency, the PBA has the potential to offer a flexible approach to overcome many of the aid management challenges that have been documented so far in Cambodia. Objectives related to leadership, partnership, capacity, national systems, challenges of aid fragmentation, results and the JMls - all can be addressed through a PBA.
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen
I hope that this elaboration has been useful to you. I appreciate the hard and joint work that we have done together during the past months-commenting, shaping, refining-I believe we can move quickly to endorse the two documents in a spirit of partnership. Endorsement today is just the beginning of what lies ahead: implementation.
I thank you for your attention. |