2.5   OTHER CROSS-CUTTING PROGRAMS 

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

132.    Around 80 percent of the population of Cambodia lives in rural areas and rural development has been one of the highest priorities of the Government. The RGC has adopted a multi-pronged approach to foster rural development and empower local communities to plan and manage development of their communities. The decentralization and deconcentration of public services delivery, support for participatory decentralized area-based development programs, and the provision of credit to households and small businesses  in rural areas are some of the elements of RGC’s efforts. Within the RGC, the Ministry of Rural Development (MRD) is mandated to: (i) co-ordinate, co-operate, implement, monitor and evaluate rural development projects and programs to rehabilitate and develop rural areas by assisting the rural population; (ii) co-ordinate the operational efforts of the various line ministries and assistance programs; and (iii) undertake independent research initiatives to develop the rural areas by liasing widely, assessing needs and investigating possible solutions that would maximise opportunities.

133.    Some of the major programs that are delivering their support at the community level include: the SEILA program, the Social Fund, and the rural micro-credit schemes.  All of these programs have been receiving enthusiastic support from our external development partners and it is hoped that they will continue to provide their support to these very important programs that address the root causes of poverty and tackle directly the national poverty reduction goal.

134.    SEILA Program: The Royal Government's Seila Program was initiated in 1996 to formulate, test and continuously strengthen decentralized and deconcentrated systems for planning, financing and implementation of local development at the provincial and commune levels. Beginning with 5 provinces and a small number of pilot communes in 1996, by the end of 2001 and prior to the commune elections, coverage had expanded to 12 provinces and 509 communes; half of the provinces and to more than one-third of the rural communes in the country. Combining formal training with a "learning-by-doing" approach to capacity building, approximately 3,000 civil servants and 17,000 elected village representatives in the 12 provinces have been provided training in participatory planning, financial management, contract administration, bidding and procurement, various technical fields and monitoring and evaluation. Over the last six-years, approximately $ 53 million in direct investment has been disbursed through contractual modalities between the Governor and both public and private implementing agencies at the provincial level, and approximately $ 12 million between the CDC and primarily private contractors at the commune level. Adopting a partnership approach with the donor community at national level and an integrated, annual programming framework with international agencies and NGOs at the province level, a high volume of additional, parallel resources have been mobilized and programd each year to support the developments at the provincial and commune levels. External evaluations of the SEILA program have reaffirmed the socio-economic benefits that have resulted from civil works projects implemented by private sector at the commune level as well as the growing capacity of the provinces, districts and communes to manage the decentralized systems.  

135.    The adoption of the Law on Commune Administration in 2001 and the Commune Elections held in February 2002 are important milestones in Cambodia’s march to a new era of grassroots democratization, along with the establishment of the National Committee for Support to Communes/Sangkats (NCSC) and a Department of Local Administration (DoLA) within the Ministry of Interior, who will be responsible for formulating the decentralized regulatory framework and coordinating support to Commune/Sangkat Councils. Anticipating these changes, the Second Phase (2001-2005) of the Seila Program was re-conceptualized as an aid mobilization and coordination framework to support the Royal Government's decentralization and deconcentration reforms. The five-year (2001-2005) $ 95 million Seila Program was approved by the Council of Ministers on 5 January 2001 and is now in its second year of implementation. 

136.    Social Fund:  the Social Fund of the Kingdom of Cambodia (SFKC), established in 1994, as an autonomous public institution, under the Presidency of the Prime Minister has been engaged, nation-wide, since late-1995, in supporting the Royal Government’s efforts to reduce poverty by financing projects for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of social and economic infrastructure, and other socially productive activities; and by creating short term employment opportunities while enhancing the ability of communities to identify local development needs and manage small scale development projects.

137.    The SFKC’s portfolio is demand-driven and entirely determined by the requests it receives from communities, local authorities, public institutions and other organizations throughout the Kingdom. It acts solely as a financial intermediary, funding and monitoring eligible projects. A key emphasis of SFKC is on increasing the participation of communities and the sustainability of the projects while strengthening community ownership in procurement, contracting and management of the facilities created.

138.    In terms of demand, cumulatively, to-date, SFKC has received, from local communities, 8,593 project applications valued at US$ 163 million. Of these, 54.7 percent of the projects were in the economic sector and 45.3 percent in the social sector. Disaggregated, these applications included request for: 3,181 school buildings, 364 irrigation schemes, 308 commune and district health centers, 2,957 water wells, 1,255 bridges and culverts, 158 drainage and sewerage systems, 240 secondary school buildings, and 130 premises for vocational training centers. It illustrates the diversity of demand for small-scale infrastructure facilities, particularly in the rural areas of the Kingdom.

139.    In the first phase of its work, 1995 through mid-1999, SFKC received US$ 20 million, as credit from the World Bank for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of various social and physical infrastructure facilities in the Kingdom. The second phase of its work commenced in July 1999 with an allocation of about US$ 35 million (including $ 10 million allocated for rehabilitation of facilities damaged floods in 2000) received from the World Bank. In 2001, OPEC Fund has provided US$ 7.8 million for the rehabilitation of economic infrastructure. Additionally, the Royal Government’s counterpart support and project level cooperation contributions of various partner agencies amounted to US$ 6.2 million. Cumulatively, so far, a total of US$ 69 million have been allocated for the work of SFKC since its establishment in 1995.

140.    In its Phase-I (late-1995 to 1999) work, SFKC disbursed US$ 17.5 million for 1,436 small-scale economic and social infrastructure projects that benefited, directly and/or indirectly, about 1.6 million people. This phase created more than 31,072 person/months of employment for skilled and unskilled workers comprising largely payments to skilled laborers. SFKC supported projects included: construction of 3,756 new classrooms, 2,767 water wells, 1,435 latrines, 14,216 square meters of bridges/culverts, 24,525 cubic meters of dike, irrigation facilities for nearly 2,600 hectares of agriculture land, 78 health centers, 49 bridges, one referral hospital and supplies of 61,961 pieces of classroom furniture. Of the sub-projects implemented, 89 percent were in the rural areas, 11% in the urban areas, and of the total 32 percent were in post-conflict areas.

141.    Based on the experiences of Phase-I, SFKC revised some of its operational criteria and approaches for implementing Phase-II, which began in July 1999 and is continuing to date. Under this phase, it has disbursed US$ 25 million for 1,184 small-scale economic and social infrastructure projects ( 54.65 percent in economic sector and 46.35 percent in social sector) which have benefited, directly and/or indirectly, about 1.2 million people. Out of the total 1184 projects, 140 projects worth US$ 5 million were for the rehabilitation of the facilities damaged by the floods in 2000. This phase (mid-1999 to date) has created more than 39,400 person-months of employment for skilled and unskilled workers.

142.    Cumulatively, since 1995, SFKC has approved 2,620 projects, all over the country, valued at more than US$ 40 million. Of the 2620 projects implemented, 68 percent were in post-conflict areas, 89 percent in the rural areas, and 11 percent in the urban areas. In terms of value, the total labor content of the investments amounted to about 17 percent of the total, creating more than 70,472 person-months of employment.

143.    Rural Credit Schemes: The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) has fully supported and encouraged the participation of Micro-Finance Institutions (MFIs), Specialized Banks, Commercial Banks and especially Rural Development Bank (RDB).  Around 80 percent of Cambodia’s population lives in rural areas, constituting about 1.87 million households. As of December 2001, the total loans disbursed by the Commercial Banks have amounted to US $ 9 million for agriculture, representing 3.7 percent of the total of their loan disbursements.  Most of the Commercial Banks do not have branches at the provincial level.  Even those Banks who have established their branches in some provinces, these are limited to big centres and there is virtually no presence at districts, communes or villages level.  Also, the possibilities of expansion of their services to these levels appear very limited.

144.    Micro-finance institutions, NGOs and Specialized Banks have been providing credit services to the needy in rural areas for some time. At present, these institutions have loaned funds to some 420,000 rural households or 23 percent of the total rural households. The total amount of loans outstanding at present is estimated to be around US $ 37 million. It is estimated that an additional US$10-15 million in credit has been supplied by friends, relatives and moneylenders (village rich men). The total rural credit portfolio of these institutions in the last 10 years, has increased from US$100,000 to US$37 million and from 4,000 to 420,000 end-borrowers. However, the shortage of credit capital still remains between US$60-90 million to respond effectively to the accumulated demand throughout the country.

145.    The Rural Development Bank (RDB) plays an important role in financing, refinancing and providing technical assistance to MFIs. The mission of the RDB is to enhance agricultural and rural development to reduce poverty. RDB has played an important role in mobilizing domestic and foreign financial resources to support the provision of rural credit for micro-finance activities.  The RDB was capitalized with a fund of US$5 million from the RGC including 1 million Euros from AFD (French Development Agency) as paid-up capital.  Later, RDB received an additional grant of around 0.9 million Euros from AFD for supporting family rubber plantations in Kampong Cham province, and US$1.3 million loan from the IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) for the implementation of Agricultural Development Support to Seila Program in four provinces (Pursat, Battambang, Banteay Meanchey and Siem Reap).  In the year 2000, a new agreement was signed with ADB for US$20 million Rural Credit and Savings Project to start in year 2001, but several strict conditions of the loan has to be met that have hindered access to these resources.  As of December 2001, RDB has approved rural credits amounting to US$4.6 million through micro-finance operators (MFIs and NGOs), benefiting 38,000 rural households. 

146.    Support to Small and Medium Enterprises:  RDB is carrying out a feasibility study on the needs of small and medium enterprises (SME) in Cambodia. In the framework of the financial cooperation between the RGC and German Government, KFW (German Development Bank) is willing to provide RDB through the MEF a financial grant of approximately 8 million DM for the SME scheme in Cambodia. As a wholesale bank, RDB has provided credit to its partner commercial bank to lend to their end-borrowers for supporting the pilot projects of water supply in Takeo provinve. In addition, the World Bank (WB) has planned to provide the investment capital as loan in the sectors of rural water supply and electricity, as well as for local processing of agricultural products.

ENVIRONMENT and CONSERVATION

147.    Significant progress has been made in the areas of environmental management and natural resource conservation since  the last CG meeting  in 2001. The RGC’s efforts have been guided by the National Environmental Action Plan (1998-2002) and the Ministry of Environment’s (MoE's) strategic planning activities. The focus of the National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP), that was prepared through a participatory process involving a variety of government and non-government stakeholders, has been the following six priority areas: forest policy; fisheries and floodplain agriculture in the Tonle Sap region; coastal fisheries management; biodiversity and protected areas; energy development and the environment; and urban waste management. The NEAP implementation has been an iterative process and therefore, its priorities and strategies on environment and natural resource management have been reviewed annually.

148.    The Ministry of Environment's activities in the area of natural resources conservation and environmental protection have, in close collaboration with MAFF, focused on forestry issues. It has participated actively in the implementation of Government's moratorium on logging and export of timber as well as  the implementation of the Forest Management Plan (FMP). The forest management plan includes the environmental impact assessment (EIA) aspects of forest concession  management  to ensure the sustainable use of natural resources. The EIA reports for some forest concession have been reviewed by the MoE. In the area of bio-diversity which is one of six priority areas of NEAP,  MoE has focused on strengthening the management, developing infrastructure, drafting legislations and demarcating boundaries of national park. Two examples of the activities undertaken have included: management of Virak Chey National park (Rattanakkiry province) funded by GEF/ World Bank & RGC and the preparation of the Bio-diversity National Action Plan that was funded by GEF/UNDP and FAO and has now been submitted to Council of Minister for approval. Some forest concessions in Cardamom mountain area have ended and transferred to forest reserve by the government The Government has paid special attention  to national parks and wildlife sanctuaries to which necessary equipment, such as fire trucks, have been provided by the Government. The protection of Tonle Sap ecosystem is a very important component of conservation and the sustainable use of natural resource strategy. The establishment of Tonle Sap Bio-sphere reserve and the allocation of 500,000 ha of fishing lots to the communities are important steps that  will allow communities to participate in the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources and particularly fish resources. Through support provided by DANIDA, IMO, IDRC, MoE has made significant progress in implementing activities in the coastal zones.

149.    Urban waste management has been improved by upgrading facilities for solid waste disposal and transportation. The government is trying, despite some difficulties, to enhance Stung Mean Chey's landfill to prevent adverse impact on human health and the environment. The construction of landfill for industrial waste is being studied at the present time. The management of solid waste from garment factories has been improved. Seventy percent of existing factories now have their own waste water treatment plant.

150.    The development of alternative energy sources to ensure environmental protection and the sustainable use of natural resources is an important element of MoE’s strategy. MoE has participated in the review of the EIA report for the planned projects on the construction of the electrical transmission line from Vietnam to southwest provinces and the project on the construction of hydropower dam in Kirirom.

MINES REMOVAL

151.    In contrast to the turbulent developments in year 2000, which saw the establishment of the new Regulatory Authority (CMAA) in September 2000, and the suspension of 90 percent of CMAC’s staff in the following month, year 2001 can be characterized as the year of stabilization and progress. A new organizational structure was approved, and CMAC stabilized its operations and management development with a more realistic and modest Work Plan, that has been steadily implemented. The issue of the legal coherence between CMAC, CMAC Governing Council and the CMAA was addressed in August 2001 with the issuance of a new Decree on the Establishment of CMAC and the Sub-Decree on the organizational structure of the CMAA. By end of December 2001, CMAC had surpassed its operational targets with close adherence to the aims of the original Work Plan. The CMAA has significantly enhanced co-ordination and developed an interim regulatory framework for the sector, and the Council of Ministers had approved the Five-Year Mine Action Strategic Plan as part of the National Poverty Reduction Strategy.

152.    In line with the new Partnership Paradigm and mine action sector reforms, a Mine Action Advisory Board (MAB) has replaced the Steering Committee of CMAC. Provisional Regulation Procedures for the operations of the CMAA have been issued. The first meeting of the MAB was held in March 2002 to review CMAC’s work p[an for 2002.

153.    Two audits of CMAC were carried out by KPMG in the first half of the year, the first was a follow-up to the September 1999 Audit recommendations. The Second Audit Report, released in August 2001, was a full Internal Audit of CMAC for funds disbursed under the UNDP Executed Trust Fund. It covered all areas of management and accounting for the period July 1999 to December 2000, and resulted in a “Marginally Deficient” Audit Opinion, which clearly indicated a major improvement in the state of affairs since 1999 .CMAC’s monthly productivity report was published regularly throughout year 2001, including analyses of progress against the approved Work Plan for the year, in line with Audit and Evaluation recommendations. In its report of December 2001, CMAC reported that:

CMAC’s delivery in land clearance (9.63 sq. km) by end December was about 37% above IWP target for the year (7.03 sq. km) including Mine Marking Teams and Community Marking Teams. This success is partly due to the success of the  Japanese Brushcutter in the field, as well as greater integration of Mine Detection Dogs in operations together with a general improvement in staff morale after the crisis period of 1999-2000.

• CMAC’s review of its Mine Awareness Strategy has been completed. New staff have been recruited to implement an eight-month Pilot Project entitled “Community Based Mine Risk Reduction” (CBMRR) with UNDP TF and UNICEF support, and technical inputs by Handicap International.

•  With some encouraging results, a new combination of Burshcutters and Mine Detection Dogs together with Manual Demining is being implemented in Samlot where a particularly heavily mined area is being cleared by CMAC, after 2 accidents occurred on the same minefield in early December.

154.    CMAC has also developed a Draft Cost Database, which is a significant tool for the calculation of the true cost of its activities. This is the first time an operator has produced such a transparent and wholesome mechanism for controlling and reporting on its productivity in Cambodia. In addition to actual expenditures, the Cost Database takes into account equipment depreciation, in kind equipment and technical advisory costs as well as real consumption of expendables.

COMMUNITY AND SOCIAL  SERVICES

155.    The thrust of the RGC’s vulnerable groups strategy is on reallocating Government spending to social development particularly in rural areas combined with active support for self-employment and job training. The strategy invites participation of local and international NGOs in view of the fiscal limits of Government provision of social support services.  With external assistance the RGC is continuing to improve its capacity to identify and design effective delivery mechanisms to protect vulnerable groups.  Minimizing unemployment is crucial to reducing the incidence of poverty. Following the RGC ’s Policy Platform, MoSALVY has to coordinate activities to address the issues of poverty alleviation strategy. Due to the limited allocated funds, MoSALVY has to identify alternative strategies by expanding collaboration, coordination and cooperation with concerned institutions, relevant agencies in providing services to the most vulnerable groups. The emphasis is on investing in rural areas, and urban investment could also be pro‑poor to create productive employment for surplus rural labor. Growth of labor intensive manufacturing such as garment production, for example, has a dual impact on poverty. The current competitiveness of Cambodia's textile and apparel exports may provide a solid foundation for increasing real income per capita and hence reducing poverty. Employment promotion is a priority as 228,000 jobs have to be created each year to accommodate new labor market entrants, which has to be added to those new job seekers generated by planned demobilization of the armed force and the reform of public administration.

WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT

156.    The Ministry of Women’s and Veterans’ Affairs (MoWVA) was established by the Royal Government of Cambodia as the national mechanism with the role and responsibility as a catalyst and facilitator in ensuring respect for women and children’s rights by promoting the status and the participation of women in all levels and sectors. The ministry's five-year plan Neary Rattanak, "Women are Precious Gems", emphasizes building the capacity of women as well as changing attitudes and behaviors that discriminate against women within society.  This plan focuses on the priority areas of health, education, legal protection and economic development based on the declaration and platform of action of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Achieving gender equality and gender equity are key to social justice and the improvement of quality of life for all. Besides the four main prioritized areas, gender mainstreaming is also another critical area in ensuring that gender issues are incorporated into plans, policies and Programs of the government institutions and non-government organizations.

157.    Considerable progress has been made by the MoWVA in advancing the participation of women in development over the recent years. Some of these achievement include:

• The approval of laws and sub-decrees on the establishment and the functioning of MoWVA.

• The establishment of the Cambodian National Council for Women.

• The definition of roles and responsibilities to strengthen human resources at both the central and provincial levels.

• Gender mainstreaming at the line agencies through training of trainers who are already gender focal points.

• Development and implementation of a gender mainstreaming strategy in the SEILA Program at both national and provincial levels to build the capacity and the full participation of women in decision-making and to benefit women from the development.

• Membership of development committees at local levels: districts, communes, and villages received training on gender, leadership and self-confidence.

• Establishment of a gender information center which collects and disseminates data and information to analyze and design gender-responsive policies and Program frameworks.

• Report to the United Nations on the human rights situation including reporting on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in Cambodia.

• Increased awareness on gender issues through the activities of International Women's Day.

• Development of a national policy on women and AIDS.

• Implementation of a reproductive health project in 62 districts in eight provinces.  More than half a million women received information and reproductive health education from 800 trained female volunteers.

• Provision of non-formal education in 209 villages in five provinces with 16,000 participants in 1993-1998.

• Enhancement of the capacities of women and veterans at a community level through capacity building, literacy Programs, family food production, and income generating Programs.

• Implementing a Program on the prevention of trafficking of women and children though education and advocacy in six provinces and facilitating the inter-ministerial committee in monitoring the implementation of local projects on the prevention of sexual trafficking.

• Drafting a law on the prevention of domestic violence and the protection of domestic violence victims and submitting to the Council of Ministers for approval.

• Management process relating to veterans has become more transparent and accountable through proper monitoring.

• Implemented the “Building Together” Program, which supported the MoWVA’s plan – Neary Rattanak - in March 2000. The Program focused on building the capacity of the MoWVA to corporate gender concerns and principles into policy formulation and development processes with due regard for equality and justice and improvement of the quality of life for all citizens.

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