Government-Donor Partnership Working Group
Minutes of the First Plenary Meeting
November 08, 2002; 15:00h at CDC

Working Group Members
Present
H.E. Mr. Chhieng Yanara, Chairman
H.E. Mr. Katsuhiro Shinohara, Co-Vice Chair
H.E. Ms. Dominique McAdams, Co-Vice Chair
Dr. Daniel Arghiros, Member
Mr. Blair Exell, Member
Absent
Mr. Urooj Malik, Member

Others Attending the Meeting by Affiliation
Mr. Juro Chikaraishi, JICA
Ms. Chisa Hara, JICA
Ms. Emi Aizawa, JICA
Ms. Chinami Hanazono, Japan Embassy
Mr. Fumio Goto, Japan Embassy
Mr. Massoud Hedeshi, UNDP
Dr. Farid Siddiqui, UNDP/CDC
Ms. Sou Pheakny, UNDP/CDC
Ms. Heng Sokun, CDC/CRDB
Mr. Oul Nak, CDC/CRDB
Mr. Phon Samphors, CDC/CRDB
Mr. Samreth Chedtha Phirum, CDC/CRDB

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  1. The Chairman opened the meeting by welcoming the two Vice-Chairs, members, and other participants to the first plenary meeting of the Government-Donor Partnership Working Group. He provided the group a recap of progress that has been made since the last CG meeting and a summary of the discussion/decisions made at a meeting of the Chair and the two Co-Vice Chairs that was held on 19 August 2002 at CDC. The two issues discussed at this meeting concerned the composition and the Terms of Reference of the Working Group. It was agreed that in accordance with the discussions at the CG Meeting in June 2002, the size of the Working Group should be kept small in order to optimize efficiency and to achieve some tangible results; and the Term of Reference flexible to enable the Working Group to respond to emerging critical issues. It was also agreed that the Working Group should begin its work by focusing on issues where tangible progress can be made over the next year that will be reported at the forthcoming Follow-up CG and the next CG meetings. The Chair and the two Co-Vice Chairs agreed that the core membership of the Working Group should include: one representative of the IFIs, one representative of bi-lateral donors from the region, and one representative from among bi-lateral donors that have a stated policy to channel their ODA through multi-lateral institutions. It was also agreed that the Chairman would contact ADB, Australia and the United Kingdom to ask if they are interested in participating as a member of the Working Group.

2.    The Chairman proposed the following agenda for the meeting:

  1. Review of the draft Terms of Reference for the Working Group.

  2. Review of the drafts of the Terms of Reference for the three proposed studies.

  3. A discussion on how to keep the other bi-lateral and multi-lateral development partners informed on the activities of the Working Group.

  4. Any other items that members may wish to add.

3.    The proposed agenda was accepted. No other items were identified for discussion. In the discussion on agenda item #1 – review of the draft TORs of the Working Group – it was agreed that the section on background will be expanded to include information on how this Working Group fits within the CG framework and with other Working Groups. There was also discussion on what does “partnership” mean in the context of policy making/decisions. There was no consensus on what concrete role the Working Group could play in this area. Serious concerns were also expressed about the Working Group getting engaged in areas that may involve endless discussions and meetings without any tangible outputs and/or results. There was some discussion about the composition of the Working Group. It covered aspects that essentially fall under agenda item #3 and are therefore reported under that item.  With reference to the composition of the Working Group it was reaffirmed that the core membership of the Working Group includes:
  CDC/CRDB Chair representing the Government.
  Japan Co-Vice Chair, representing bi-lateral donors.
  UNDP Co-Vice Chair, representing multi-lateral donors.
  ADB Member, as representative of IFIs.
  Australia Member, as representative of bi-lateral donors from the region.
  United Kingdom Member, as representative from among bi-lateral donors that have a stated policy to channel their ODA through multi-lateral institutions.

It was agreed that other donors can participate in future Working Group meetings on an ad hoc basis if they have a particular interest in a topic that is scheduled to be discussed by the Working Group. A final version of the TORs for the Working Group that reflects the decisions of the meeting is attached.

4.    After a discussion on agenda item #2 – Review of the drafts of the Terms of Reference for the three proposed studies – the TORs for the three studies were approved. The three studies are as follows:

  1. Analysis of the Capacity Building Practices of Cambodia’s Development Partners - this study will be funded by the UNDP Support Programme for Aid Coordination and Partnerships. Mr. Pierre Vinde, retired Deputy Secretary General of OECD (1985-1996) has agreed to lead this effort and will be arriving in Phnom Penh in mid January 2003.

  2. National Operational Guidelines for Development Cooperation: Scoping Mission - this study will be funded by the UNDP Support Programme for Aid Coordination and Partnerships.

  3. Practices and Lessons Learned in the Management of Development Cooperation. Japan will field a mission to conduct this study.

It was also agreed that the study on “Practices and Lessons Learned in the Management of Development Cooperation” should begin with a scoping mission to develop detailed TORs for the study. It was also pointed out that a Group in Vietnam is working on harmonization issues and that it may be useful to invite this group to come to Cambodia to brief members of the Government-Donor Partnership Working Group.

 
5.    The discussion related to the basic trust of item #3 occurred through out the meeting. The main point agreed to are as follows:
 

In order to optimize efficiency, the size of the Working Group will be kept small, as agreed to at the CG Meeting in June 2002. The core members of the Working Group are identified in para#3 above. However, as mentioned earlier, other donors can participate in future Working Group meetings on an ad hoc basis, if they have a particular interest in a topic that is scheduled to be discussed by the Working Group.
 

The Government would like to see a more enhanced donor-donor coordination and encourages the two Co-Vice Chairs to make use of any mechanisms that will enable them to secure the views and concerns of all development partners within their constituencies.
 

For its part, the Government’s representative as the Chair of the Working Group will make an effort to keep all bilateral and multilateral development partners informed by circulating the agenda of the scheduled meetings as well as the decisions/conclusions of the Working Group meetings through e-mail and by posting the information on its website (www.cdc-crdb.gov.kh). It also plans to organize briefing sessions for all bilateral and multilateral development partners on an ad hoc basis to report on progress on specific issues.
     

6.    The next meeting for Government-Donor Partnership Working Group will be held at the end of January or at the beginning of February 2002. The notice of the meeting will be sent by e-mail two weeks prior to the next meeting to all members and other interested partners.

7.    The meeting finished at 5:20 pm.

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