2. FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION MANAGEMENT

2.1 BASIC PRINCIPLES

6. The following set of principles shall guide the programming, planning and implementation of development cooperation activities in Cambodia:

  1. All development cooperation programs and projects of multilateral, bilateral and NGOs shall be aligned with development priorities of the Royal Government of Cambodia.

  2. All development partners, multilateral, bilateral, and NGO shall fully respect Royal Government's ownership of development cooperation programs and projects.

  3. To the greatest extent possible all development partners shall shift the programming modality of their cooperation activities away from stand alone project approach to sector/thematic and/or program-based approaches in programming their activities that shall eventually be funded through budget support.

  4. In sector/thematic areas where policies and strategies for implementing national development priorities are not fully developed or lack rigor, appropriate partnership arrangements (e.g. TWGs) shall be used to assist concerned Royal Government institutions in elaborating policies, strategies and programs.

  5. All development cooperation programs and projects shall include, where needed, a provision on capacity development of the program or project implementing institution(s) of the Royal Government.

  6. To the greatest extent possible, development cooperation activities shall make appropriate use of Cambodian institutional mechanisms, delivery systems, and human resources.

  7. To the greatest extent possible development cooperation activities shall be aligned with national budget cycles, financial systems and national monitoring systems.

  8. The development partners of Cambodia shall ensure that their practices do not create excessive burden on Government administrative and management systems, and shall give a high priority to harmonizing and simplifying their practices and procedures.

  9. Concurrently, the Royal Government shall continue to give a high priority to implement its reform programs to improve its institutional systems, mechanisms, and procedures to facilitate greater efficiency and effectiveness of development cooperation activities.

  10. The Royal Government shall exercise its leadership responsibility in all institutional mechanisms used for resource mobilization and aid coordination to ensure transparent accountability by all partners: Royal Government, bilateral and multilateral development partners, and NGOs.

2.2 DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION PARTNERSHIPS TO ENHANCE AID EFFECTIVENESS

7. The Government and the development partners have declared their commitment to the creation of an effective development partnership based on mutual commitment, trust, respect and confidence. 7

8. The Cambodia Declaration – a Framework for the Implementation of the Royal Government of Cambodia’s Action Plan on Harmonisation and Alignment8, commits all partners to the following:

  • Declaration 1: Development partners will align all development partner assistance programs to existing government strategies. Development partners will work together to help the Government produce an integrated National Strategic Development Plan NSDP (2006-2010).

  • Declaration 2: The Government and its development partner partners will strive to convert best practice into common practice in the following areas: (a) Sector Wide Approaches; (b) the improvement of Government systems; and (c) harmonising, streamlining and simplifying development partner procedures and requirements.

  • Declaration 3: The Government will prepare a Partnership Report every six months for Consultative Group (CG) meetings.

  • Declaration 4: All development partners will consider ways to provide assistance through delegated cooperation.

  • Declaration 5: The Government and development partner agencies will recognise and reward results achieved through collaboration.

  • Declaration 6: The Government and development partners will make efforts to coordinate all analytical work under the relevant sectoral Technical Working Group (TWG) in order to avoid duplication, achieve government ownership, and build government capacity.

  • Declaration 7: Development partners will provide technical assistance that is demand-driven and necessary to meet capacity development needs identified by the relevant TWG.

  • Declaration 8: Development partners may, at their discretion, provide budget or balance of payments support to the Government. Development partners will make efforts to provide full information on their aid to the Government.

  • Declaration 9: The Government and development partners will promote harmonised approaches in global and regional programs that affect Cambodia, such as, the Mekong Regional Commission, Greater Mekong Secretariat, Association of South East Asian Nations, and other regional fora.
    9. The implications of each of the above declarations are incorporated in relevant sections of these guidelines.

2.3 GOVERNMENT-DONOR COORDINATION MECHANISM

10. The Royal Government and its development partners shall work through the joint sector/thematic Technical Working Groups (TWGs) and the Government-Development partner Coordination mechanism as the main ODA planning, management, progress monitoring, and mutual accountability framework to ensure transparent and monitorable performance assessment against: (a) the national development strategies to reduce poverty and to achieve Cambodia's Millennium Development Goals, and (b) the implementation of Royal Government's reform programs. Each TWG shall be chaired by a senior official of the concerned Royal government institution, and its members shall include representatives of Royal Government agencies and development partner organizations.

11. The Joint, Government and Development partner, Technical Working Groups (TWGs) that have been set up at the national level along sectoral and thematic lines shall be responsible for:
 

  1. Developing and agreeing on a strategy for the development of the sector or the issue that is being dealt with by the Working Group, if one has not been prepared so far. In cases where a strategy has been developed, jointly reviewing and revising the existing strategy, if necessary. Developing an action plan along with priorities and benchmarks to implement the agreed upon strategy, and developing realistic estimates of external resources required to implement the action plan. Once the action plan has been prepared and agreed, it shall become a joint document of the Royal Government and the development partner community.

  2. Securing financial resources needed to implement the agreed action plan. If the financial resources that become available are not sufficient to implement the agreed action plan, then both parties - the Government and development partners - shall work together to reprioritize the activities in line with the available resources.

  3. Providing to the Secretariat of GDCC periodic reports on progress made and problems encountered in the implementation of the action plan.

12. The High-level Government-Donor Coordination Committee (GDCC) shall coordinate the activities of the joint TWGs. The GDCC shall be chaired by a Senior Minister and its membership shall include Ministers and heads of Government agencies, Ambassadors or heads of diplomatic missions, and heads of multilateral organizations. It shall provide policy guidance, establish priorities, and take action to resolve issues/bottlenecks identified by the TWGs. The GDCC may refer unresolved critical issues to the Prime Minister for decision-making and for direction and guidance. The Secretary General of the Cambodian Rehabilitation and Development Board of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CRDB/CDC) shall also be Secretary General of GDCC and head of the Secretariat of the GDCC. The Secretariat shall be responsible for:

  1. Liaising with Technical Working Groups and maintaining up-to-date information on progress made and problems encountered, if any, in the implementation of their action plans.

  2. Preparing a comprehensive quarterly report on progress made and problems encountered; and outlining options to resolve the problems for decision/action by the GDCC.

13. The Royal Government shall continue to strive to provide leadership and to assume full ownership of its resource mobilization and aid coordination functions based on principles of mutual accountability. Since 1996, the Royal Government has utilized the Consultative Group meeting mechanism for ODA mobilization. As the Royal Government gains more experience in successfully holding the ODA mobilization meetings in Cambodia, it shall examine all available options to take greater ownership of the resource mobilization process.

2.4 ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND MINISTRIES

14. The Cambodian Rehabilitation and Development Board of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CRDB/CDC) is the focal point within the Royal Government for the mobilization of Official Development Assistance (ODA), for coordination of ODA with all development partners (multilateral and bilateral development partners and NGOs), and for coordination with and between Royal Government ministries and agencies on ODA allocation and utilization issues.

15. The roles and responsibilities of Royal Government institutions for development cooperation management are set out in Article #12 of Sub-Decree No. 70 ANK.BK dated 27 July 2001, which are as follows:

  1. CDC shall be the coordinating body for setting strategic conceptual frameworks and public investment policies as well as setting up priorities for public investment projects for medium-term and for one year.

  2. the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation shall be the diplomatic window.

  3. the Ministry of Planning shall prepare 5 Years Plans and the public investment programs, in cooperation with the relevant ministries and institutions.

  4. the Ministry of Economy and Finance shall prepare the macroeconomic framework for the medium-term and budget for implementing annual public investment programs and control the allocation of financing.

  5. the line ministries shall prepare sectoral public investment projects and programs in cooperation with the Ministry of Planning and CDC, and is responsible respectively for implementation of their relevant projects and programs.

16. The role and responsibilities of CDC are also outlined in Article 11 of Sub-Decree #70, which are as follows:

  1. to cooperate with relevant ministries and institutions in preparing conceptual frameworks of the National Program to Rehabilitate and Develop Cambodia and in setting the priority needs of the country for the immediate term, the short-term, the medium-term and the long-term in order to prepare rolling plans of action. These plans of action are to be coherent, inter-related and mutually reinforcing;

  2. to cooperate with the relevant ministries and institutions in preparing socio-economics and sectoral planning to develop Cambodia;

  3. to manage public sector investments in cooperation with the relevant ministries and institutions. This process shall mainly be related to the coordination and direction of the allocation and utilization of the national resources and external aid with the aim of rehabilitating and developing Cambodia;

  4. to serve as the “Focal Point" and the “One-Stop Service” of the Royal Government and the donor countries, international organizations and NGOs, as well as being the “Focal Point” and “One-Stop Service” between ministries and other governmental institutions in the coordination of external aid allocation and utilization;

  5. to sign pursuant to the delegation of authority of the Prime Minister and on behalf of the Royal Government, any legal agreements with bilateral and/or multilateral development partners and international organizations pertaining the acceptance and the allocation of aid;

  6. to lead preparatory works, in cooperation with relevant ministries and institutions for the international conferences for rehabilitating Cambodia such as the “Consultative Group for Cambodia", and so on;

  7. to prepare for domestic and international distribution relevant documentation and regulations pertaining to public sector investments;

  8. to produce and submit semi-annual and annual reports to the Royal Government for its review and its recommendations of corrective measures of the rehabilitation and development works.

17. In the case of development programs whose implementation is to be financed through loans from bilateral and multilateral development partners:

  1. The Cambodian Rehabilitation and Development Board of the Council for the Development of Cambodia shall be responsible for ensuring that the planned development programs are aligned with Cambodia's development priorities.

  2. The Ministry of Economy and Finance shall review the program proposals to determine if they fall into priority categories to be financed from loans, approve the terms and conditions of the loans, and examine the implications of the repayment schedule of the loans in the framework of the total debt of the Royal Government as well as implications for the annual national Budget. The Ministry of Economy and Finance shall be the designated RGC signatory for all loan agreements as well as the depository of all loan documents. It shall also maintain up-to-date information on loan disbursements and take prompt action to minimize costs under penalty provisions, if any, in the loan agreements.

  3. The Royal Government ministries and agencies responsible for managing the implementation of the development programs financed through loans shall ensure that the development programs are implemented with full transparency and accountability to maximize the benefits for the people of Cambodia.

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