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EXTRACT FROM
WORLD BANK COUNTRY PROFILE
1. Partners have operational national
development strategies
a. Coherent long-term
vision with medium-term strategy derived from vision
1. The
coalition Government formed in 2004 adopted a holistic Rectangular
Strategy for Growth, Employment, Equity and Efficiency. It provides a
clear and focused framework for the country's socio economic development
and, at the same time, serves as the Economic Policy Agenda of the
Political Platform of the Royal Government in its Third Legislature of the
National Assembly, 2004-2008. Founded on good governance, peace, political
stability, social order, macroeconomic stability, partnership, and
economic integration, the Rectangular Strategy focuses on critical
development issues such as the enhancement of the agricultural sector,
rehabilitation and construction of physical infrastructure, private sector
development and employment generation, and capacity building and human
resource development.
2. The
Government considers the
National Strategic
Development Plan (NSDP) as the single, overarching development strategy
for pursuing prioritized goals and actions for the period 2006-10. The
NSDP – which was framed as the operationalisation of the Rectangular
Strategy, linking the vision in the Rectangular Strategy to concrete
goals, targets and strategies–serves as a single medium term development
strategy. Like Cambodia's PRS, it synthesizes goals and targets contained
in the Second Five-Year Socio-Economic Development Plan for 2001-05 (SEDP
2), the National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NPRS) for 2003-05, and the
Cambodia Millennium Development Goals1.
Development partners also provided coordinated support to the Ministry of
Planning for the formulation of the NSDP in 2005 based on the commitment
made in the Declaration by the Royal Government of Cambodia and 12
development partners on aid effectiveness on December 2, 2004.
3. The
NSDP highlights most essential strategies, targets and actions, but it
leaves more details to be spelled out in sectoral and sub-national plans
which will feed into the first annual review of the NSDP scheduled for
March 2007. In June 2006, an interim or preliminary review is to take
place and this has been done by the progress report already circulated to
the high level steering committee. With the available technical expertise
in the ministries and agencies, a number of sectoral strategies have been
prepared. In the education sector, the Education Strategic Plan 2001-2005
has been updated annually. Moreover, the Education Strategic Plan
2006-2010 has been formulated by the Ministry of Education, Youth and
Sport – in collaboration with the Ministry of Planning (MOP) and the
Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) – and has informed the preparation
of the NSDP. The Government has also adopted a
National Strategic Plan for a Comprehensive Response to HIV/AIDS 2006-10
and is now reviewing its Health Sector Strategy Plan for 2003-07. In the
agricultural sector, there has been no sector strategy as of 2005;
however, the formulation of the Agriculture and Water Resource Strategy is
being supported by the TWG-Agriculture & Water and will be completed by
the end of 2006. A 15-year Cambodia Energy Strategy 2006-20 is under
preparation. A Fisheries Development Plan 2005-2008 is in place as well as
the Cambodia Nutrition Investment Plan 2003-2007 and National Policy on
Water Resources Management. An Inter-Ministerial Council for Land Policy
was established in 2000, and the first phase of the Government's 15-year
Land Administration, Management and Distribution Programme (LAMDP) was
approved in 2002 to improve land tenure security and promote the
development of efficient land markets. To promote good governance,
building on the first Governance Action Plan approved in 2001 a Governance
Action Plan for 2005-08 (GAP II) has been approved by the Government in
March 2006, which covers nine critical areas of governance that has direct
impact on poverty reduction, with clear focus on short-term, medium-term
and long-term objectives and goals. The National Program for
Administrative Reform for 2005-08 has an objective to serve citizens
better, focusing on improving public service delivery, remuneration and
employment management, capacity development and promoting ICT. The
implementation of the National Programme for Administration Reform is also
underway. The Legal and Judicial Reform Strategy was adopted in 2003 and
is now being implemented. In addition, the Government approved the
Strategic Framework for Decentralization and Deconcentration in June 2005
which provides a framework for governance at the sub-national levels. To
improve public financial management, a comprehensive 10 years PFM Reform
Program has been formulated and is currently being implemented. The
Government and development partners consider key sectoral plans should be
well-placed with coordinated support to formulate and implement such
plans. Joint Technical Working Group or other existing coordination
mechanism can play the role to support the formulation of such plans.
4. Provinces
and districts are expected to adjust national goals and targets to their
local conditions and circumstances and to develop detailed measurable
goals and plans to address priority development needs in their respective
areas in consultation and coordination with Commune Councils. The
National Seila Program will help provincial authorities
to prepare provincial plans through the established integrated planning
process aligning commune identified priorities with NSDP strategies in
order to achieve NSDP targets. The new sub-national integrated planning
and budgeting process is developed under the framework of the Organic Law
over the next few years, and NSDP priorities and targets are expected to
be incorporated into the reformed system. Ministry of Interior (MOI) is to
design the new sub-national planning process within the context of the
reform (Organic Laws) over the next two years.
b.
Country
specific development targets with holistic, balanced, and well sequenced
strategy
5. The
NSDP incorporates the Cambodia Millennium Development Goals (CMDGs),
formulated with UN support in 2003, updated in 2005 and published as the
Cambodian Millennium Development Goals Report (CMDGR). The NSDP provides
the framework and compass for growth, employment, equity, and efficiency
to reach CMDGs. Each of the nine CMDGs has
been disaggregated into several sub-CMDGs with 25 overall targets and 106
specific targets for 2005, 2010 and 2015. According to a study conducted
in 2005, it will be possible to achieve some CMDGs by 2015. For example,
the CMDG
targets of reducing overall poverty and food poverty to 25 percent and 13
percent respectively in 2010 and to 19.5 percent and 10 percent in 2015
are considered within reach2. Efforts
to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases are helping to exceed
targets3.
However, stronger efforts will be
needed to achieve the intended targets of some other CMDGs, such as
universal primary education and completing de-mining of contaminated
areas. Other factors should also be considered that may impact reaching
the CMDGs such as Avian Influenza influence on tourism, and the price of
oil. Cambodia is a UN Millennium
Project pilot country.
6. As
earlier stated, the NSDP is the operationalisation of the Rectangular
Strategy that links the vision in the Rectangular Strategy to concrete
goals, targets and strategies. The highest
priority of the NSDP is to reduce poverty and make progress towards
achieving the CMDG targets by 2015. The NSDP – which includes focus on the
CMDGs – is based on six pillars: 1) good governance; 2) environment for
the implementation of the Rectangular Strategy; 3) enhancement of the
agricultural sector; 4) continued rehabilitation and construction of
physical infrastructure; 5) private sector growth and employment; and 6)
capacity building and human resources development.
7. Cross-cutting
issues like promoting gender equality and empowering women, combating
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental
sustainability, tackling drug issues, and implementing an effective
population policy are also addressed in the NSDP.
c.
Capacity and
resources for implementation
8. Aligning
the annual budget, the Public Investment Program (PIP), and the
Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) to medium-term strategic
priorities remains a key implementation challenge. The Government
presented a three-year rolling PIP for 2006-08 at the March 2006 CG
meeting, planning to ensure full synchronization among NSDP, a rolling
MTEF, the PIP and annual budgets from mid-2006 onwards. NSDP secretariat
intends to actively pursue with line ministries and agencies to conduct
review of ongoing programmes to see their conformity with NSDP and for the
preparation of the PIP for 2007-09. Results from the 2006 review of the
NSDP will be expected to inform the 2007 budget, the 2007-09 PIP, as well
as the 2007-09 MTEF. The Government has prepared sectoral MTEFs in health
and education and is planning to prepare them in other sectors starting in
2006. The MEF plays a central role in monitoring budget execution and MTEF
implementation. It produces monthly and aggregates annually execution
reports. The coordination and management of PIP, MTEF preparation between
key ministries remain a challenge. The TWG on Planning and Poverty
Reduction is considering to strengthen capacity within MOP to develop its
medium term operational plan and to meet its capacity development
requirements for planning and monitoring NSDP.
9. Despite
the difficulties encountered in aligning the budget with medium-term
strategic priorities, the NPRS period did see a
reallocation of resources from defence and security to priority areas such
as education and health. Specifically, the
share of the total recurrent budget devoted to education rose to 17.3
percent in 2005 from 13.9 percent in 2001. The establishment of
Budget Management Centers starting in 2000 at the district and
provincial level has helped decentralize financial management and
reporting in the education sector.
10. In
December 2004, the MEF launched a 10 year Public Financial Management
Reform Program, endorsed by the Prime Minister, which aims to make the
budget credible as a policy instrument. Specifically, the Program focuses
on delivering resources predictably and reliably to budget managers –
which are made accountable through improved internal control – improving
the linkage between policy priorities, budget planning and implementation;
and integrating accountability and review processes for both finance and
performance, thus resulting in greater external transparency. The Program
also aims at improving the pay and management of the civil service.
Initiatives for performance budgeting and management are mainly confined
to the education and health sectors. Significant impact has been made over
the first year of the reform program. Specifically, substantial progress
has been made in change management, capacity development, macro-fiscal
forecast and management, budget formulation and execution, procurement
procedures, internal audit, cash management, and a significant improvement
in both tax and non-tax revenue collection leading to future budget
allocation.
d.
Participation of national stakeholders in strategy formulation and
implementation
11. NSDP
preparation began in December 2004 and was led by the General Directorate
of Planning of the MOP. In March 2005 the Government created an
Inter-Agency Technical Working Group on NSDP Formulation – composed of 29
Ministries/agencies – whose day-to-day work was managed by a Secretariat
chaired by the MOP. The NSDP was approved by the Council of Ministers in
January 2006; by the National Assembly in May; by the Senate in June; and
promulgated by the King in early July 2006.
12. Action
has been taken towards securing wide ranging involvement of
stakeholders—Government ministries and agencies, donors and civil society
organizations, in the formulation of the NSDP. National-level
consultations were extensively held to elicit comments and agree upon the
overall goals and objectives of the NSDP. In mid-2005 a Technical Working
Group on Planning and Poverty Reduction (TWG-PPR) was established to be a
mechanism by which stakeholder inputs could be incorporated in the NSDP
formulation process. Suggestions from stakeholders had been incorporated
in the draft NSDP, which was subsequently discussed openly in a national
workshop held on November 24, 2005.
13. Civil
society has been involved in NSDP formulation, although in a more
narrowly-defined and less intensive manner than was the case during NPRS
formulation and implementation. Representatives of the NGO community and
external partners met on
November 21, 2005 to discuss and agree on a set of comments on the first
draft of the NSDP. NGOs participate in 12 of 18 Joint Technical Working
Groups and are involved in the Technical Working Group on Planning and
Poverty Reduction that supports NSDP implementation and monitoring. NGOs
also attend the annual CG meetings where they present detailed statements
on various issues including progress in achieving the targets of the
agreed Joint Monitoring Indicators (JMIs). Furthermore, NGOs have been
invited to attend the Government-Donor Coordination Committee (GDCC)
meetings, which have been held quarterly to assess progress in
implementing Technical Working Group action plans and JMIs agreed at the
last CG meeting. A NSDP monitoring framework was approved and announced at
the GDCC meeting on 14 June. It was welcomed by the WB on behalf of the
development partners.
14. As
with civil society, private sector participation in NSDP formulation was
limited. In order to attempt to strengthen cooperation with the private
sector, the Government set up a “Government – Private Sector Forum” which
has met regularly since December 1999, supported by seven
Business-Government Sectoral Working Groups. In August 2004 the Government
set up a high-level Steering Committee for Private Sector Development.
This committee handles specific responsibilities, including proposing and
implementing measures to improve the investment climate, trade
facilitation and small and medium enterprise development.
15. Parliament
was involved in NSDP and NPRS formulation, although it has not had a
strong role in monitoring. Despite no constitutional requirement for the
legislature to approve a national development plan, the National Assembly
approved the NSDP in May 2006. It had also approved the Rectangular
Strategy, the Triangle Strategy, the SEDP, the SEDP 2 and the NPRS. The
National Assembly has authority to invite ministries to report on
progress. For example, they had the MOEYS present their Annual Education
Sector Performance Report.
2. Results oriented frameworks
a.
Quality of
development information
16. Action
is being taken to strengthen data analysis capacity. In 2005 the
National Institute of Statistics completed a
Statistical Master Plan for 2005-15 which outlines both specific
systems for the collection and use of socioeconomic data, and
capacity-building improvements required for sustaining this work. The
Statistical Master Plan provides for the systematic undertaking of Annual
Tracking Surveys specifically aimed at monitoring the NSDP and it focuses
on improving the quality and timeliness of existing statistics. It
recognizes the importance of large surveys which provide the basis for
most of the economic, social and demographic information available. Some
of these surveys include a Cambodian Socio-Economic
Survey 2003-04 conducted by the National Institute of Statistics with
assistance from the World Bank and UNDP, a 2004 Inter-Censal Population
Survey, and a Demographic and Health Survey 2005 conducted with the
support of numerous development partners. The National Institute of
Statistics of MOP is also planning a population census for 2008. It
has developed a database – CamInfo – to support monitoring and
dissemination of key indicators related to global, regional and national
goals in the NSDP, including the CMDGs and other monitoring frameworks
such as the Education Sector Support Program, Health Sector Strategic Plan
and Cambodia Nutrition Investment Plan. At present,
line ministries maintain their own databases and statistical information
and there needs to be further coordination. A Statistic Master Plan (SMP)
will be developed as an integrated management system.
b.
Stakeholder
access to development information
17. Some
elements exist for increasing stakeholder access to development
information. The NSDP, which was originally prepared in English, is being
translated into Khmer. The Government is planning to widely disseminate
the Strategy in the provinces in August 2006.
18. Many
useful documents can be found on the Government's website. This includes
the NPRS Progress Report and the 2005-07 MTEF can be found on MEF website,
and the English version of the NPRS has a website that is specifically
devoted to it. Furthermore, the website of the Cambodia Rehabilitation and
Development Board of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CRDB/CDC)
contains useful information on CG meetings, including the report on
enhancing development cooperation effectiveness to implement the NSDP in
English and in Khmer; and on the Government-Donor Coordination Committee,
as well as the Strategic Framework for the Development Cooperation
Management. In addition, CRDB/CDC has developed and operationalized an ODA
Disbursements website. The website has been designed to enable development
partners to report their ODA disbursements data directly to the website,
and provide access on ODA disbursements information to the general public.
The website of the
National Institute of Statistics contains
useful information on CamInfo, as well as data from censuses and surveys
like the Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey 2003-04 and the Inter-Censal
Population Survey 20044.
c.
Coordinated
country-level monitoring and evaluation
19.
As earlier stated, the Government has
recently completed the design of the NSDP monitoring framework and has
presented it at the last GDCC meeting in June 2006.The NSDP monitoring
framework was designed by a core group of the Technical Working Group on
Planning and Poverty Reduction (TWG-PPR). Consisting of the MOP, MEF and
the Council for the Development of Cambodia, this core group represents
the Government institutions charged with developing and implementing the
NSDP monitoring framework, as well as preparing Annual Progress Reviews
(APRs) of NSDP implementation. Key line ministries along with concerned
TWGs will also be working closely with the NSDP Secretariat to ensure the
effectiveness of NSDP implementation. 43 core indicators (including 28
CMDGs indicators) for monitoring the NSDP have already been identified in
the NSDP and have been included in a Results Matrix of the monitoring
framework. Data on input and output indicators will be mostly collected
through administrative systems, while policy/program evaluation will be
based on relevant periodic surveys. Data to monitor the core indicators
will also be collected through the Annual Household Survey conducted by
the National Institute of Statistics under its
Statistical Master Plan.
20. Other
form of coordinated country-level monitoring and evaluation is seen in the
Joint Government-Donor TWGs and GDCC mechanism. The formation of the GDCC
has enabled both the Government and the development partners to jointly
review progress on a quarterly basis and to take corrective actions to
achieve the targets of the Joint Monitoring Indicators. This Joint TWGs
and GDCC mechanism represents a fundamental change in the institutional
set up for planning, managing and monitoring progress on the
implementation of development assistance to improve ODA effectiveness.
Joint Monitoring
Indicators are agreed upon at each CG meeting by the Government and its
external partners to monitor progress on key institutional and policy
reforms and they are action-oriented in order to enable the achievement of
the NSDP. Joint Monitoring Indicators discussed at the March 2006 CG
meeting are aligned with NSDP reform priorities and includes the
continuation of public administration reform focusing on the civil
service; public financial management reform; further work on
decentralization and deconcentration reform; efforts to improve service
delivery, human development and anti-corruption measures; legal and
judicial reform; natural resource management; and private sector
development. The 2006 annual NSDP progress review (APR) will take into
account all ongoing efforts including the CG Joint Monitoring Indicators,
and the annual NSDP progress reports. However, it should be noted that
some JMIs are highly ambitious. It is important to make future JMI
targets more realistic with consideration of timeframe and capacity
development issues. It will be presented as the Government’s report to the
CG meeting. Such reports would be finalized by March of every year in
order to guide the next PIP and annual budget. |
