Cambodia Context

Cambodia is one of the poorer nations in the world. The 2008 listing places Cambodia at 131 out of 177 nations on the United Nations Development Programs Human Development Index based on figures for 2005. Poverty in Cambodia has largely resulted from high population growth, inadequate opportunities, low capabilities, insecurity, exclusion and vulnerability (NPRS 2003, CSD/RGC, 20 Dec 2002).  

Cambodia is also a post-conflict country, where many of the foundations for growth and development physical, social, human and economic – have been shattered and need to be restored.  Only recently have some parts of the country become accessible as the security situation has increased.  The government lacks sufficient resources – both human and capital – to provide adequate services in health, education and infrastructure.   Private sector growth is limited by weak regulations and land and property rights, poor infrastructure and little access to credit.  In addition to this, allegations of corruption are widespread Cambodia ranks 162 in the world (out of 179) and 26 in the Asia Pacific region on Transparency International’s 2007 Corruption Perception Index.

36.8 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line (2005) and while poverty has moderately declined in the last decade (in 1994 the poverty rate was 39%), the majority of growth is occurring in Phnom Penh and other larger provincial towns.  90 per cent of the poor lives in rural areas and the highest rates of poverty are found in households where agriculture is the primary source of income.  In 2004, Cambodia ranked 24 out of 108 countries on the UNDP Human Poverty Index (HPI), with a score of 38.6.  Chad topped the list with a HPI of 56.9.

Social
Cambodia's social indicators are amongst the lowest in Asia. Life expectancy at birth is 58 years. In 2005 the infant mortality rate (per 1 000 live births) was 143 and the prevalence of HIV in the adult population was 1.6% (estimated 0.9 – 2.3%).  The adult literacy rate (aged 15 and older) is 73.6%. The population of Cambodia is estimated at 14 million in 2005, the next census being conducted in 2008. The population is estimated to be growing at a rate of 1.8% at 2005, the second highest growth rate in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries.  Cambodia also has a young population – in 2005 37.1% of the population was under the age of 15.  (The above figures are quoted from UNDP Human Development Report 2007/2008).

Prolonged civil war, internal displacement and other social and economic factors have resulted in almost 20% of households headed by women. Women are generally in a disadvantaged position in both family and society. The poverty rate for female-headed households is 48%.
                                                      
Cambodia's most vulnerable groups include internally displaced persons, returned refugees, war widows, orphans, street children, squatters, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities. Poor health is a major cause of impoverishment and other forms of social deprivation.

Political
Cambodia is at peace today after decades of warfare and civil strife. The third national assembly elections, since the 1991 Paris Peace Accords, were held in July 2003 and the country will go to the polls again on July 27 2008.  Notably peaceful and calm Commune Council elections were held April 1 2007 in 1 621 communes across the country.  The Cambodian Peoples' Party (CPP) won 98% of seats, while the Sam Rainsy Party recieved 28 seats and Funcinpec 2. No other parties, including the Norodom Ranariddh Party, were successful in securng any seats. The Commune Council elections represent the Royal Government of Cambodia's (RGC) efforts at encouraging new political developments towards improved local governance and increased grassroots participation in the nation's development processes through a program of decentralization and deconcentration.

The lack of significant progress in the area of legal and judicial reform however, continues to constrain further advancements in democratic processes and undermines the progress achieved in key social sector reform areas. In addition, lack of access to information and decision making of government policies has prevented the poor from participating in community activities.

Economic
The annual per capita income is US$290, while the 2005 per capita GDP ($US PPP) was measured at 2 727 (124 out of 174 countries for which UNDP data is available).  Economic growth has been strong over the last few years and in 2008 GDP is predicted to grow by 5.5%.  Recent growth has mainly been fueled by increase exports in the garment sector and a growing tourism industry.  However this may be hampered by increasing inflation, which measured at 10.75% in December 2007 (National Institute of Statistics, 2008) due in part to the global increases in the price of rice and other basic foods and fuel.

Agriculture accounts for 31% of GDP, employs 71% of the labor force and accounts for 3% of exports (2006). The average growth in agriculture employment has been less than 2% and is not keeping pace with the increase in the population. Low agricultural productivity and limited employment opportunities in rural areas are spurring migration from rural to urban areas.  Exports are limited due to inconsistent and low yields, stringent requirements of foreign markets and a lack of institutional support domestically.

In contract, the garment industry accounts for around 12% of GDP, 6% of total employment and 70% of exports.  In 2007 the industry achieved a growth rate of more than 9%.  11% of employment is in Industry (including garment production) while the remaining 19% is in Services. (UNDP Human Development Report 2007/2008, Better Factories Cambodia 2005)

The Royal Government is a founding member of ASEAN, AFTA (the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement) and acceded to the WTO (World Trade Organization) in 2004. Numerous legal reforms are underway to support Cambodia's WTO membership, yet some concerns remain that poor Cambodians may in fact be adversely affected by the implementation of the various trade policies. In 2008, Insights for Action (IFA), an initiative of UNDP, in conjunction with the Supreme National Economic Council conducted a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis of the Cambodian economy.  This report concluded that the oil and gas sector was emerging as the biggest opportunity in Cambodia’s future, but also the biggest potential threat. (IFA, A SWOT Analysis of the Cambodian Economy, 2008)  

National Development Priorities of RGC   

The development vision of the Royal Government of Cambodia is to have a socially cohesive, educationally advanced and culturally vibrant Cambodia without poverty, illiteracy and disease. Realizing the vision will require continued adherence to the principles of the market economy, the values of democracy and social justice, human rights and welfare, and the formulation and implementation of policies to reduce poverty by promoting sustainable economic growth and social development (improved governance.)

The development strategies of the Royal Government of Cambodia are: (1) to foster broad based sustainable economic growth with equity, with the private sector leading the role; (2) to promote social and cultural development by improving access of the poor to education, health, water and sanitation, power, credit markets and information and appropriate technology; (3) to promote sustainable management and use of natural resources and the environment; and (4) to improve the governance environment through effective implementation of the Governance Action Plan.

Key priorities for implementation of the Governance Action Plan (GAP) include: civil service reform, decentralization, military demobilization, legal and judicial reform, gender equity, public financial management, anti-corruption and natural resource management. The Government's key strategic message is that economic growth is a prerequisite for poverty reduction and that the key to economic growth is private sector development.

The Royal Government of Cambodia, through a highly consultative process with government agencies, donors, NGOs, civil society organizations and key institutions produced and approved a National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NPRS) in late 2002. The NPRS outlines pro-poor actions to improve rural livelihoods, promote job opportunities, and ensure better health, nutrition and education outcomes and to reduce vulnerability.

More info: http://www.ccc-cambodia.org/About/CambodiaReview/CambodiaReview.htm

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The Administration Closer to The People

Cambodia is engaging in decentralization and deconcentration as the revolution process because in various countries, decentralization and deconcentration introduced when central power was so strong. But in Cambodia do not pass this period, after our country has passed along time with civil war, the royal government had committed to transfer and delegate some powers to local government without waiting for central power be strong. This is certify that the strong commitment and courage of royal government to strengthen the democratic and rule of law in Cambodia.

Royal government has moved the public administration closer to the people through by technical decentralization implementation (Cambodia electricity company and Calmette Hospital) and territorial decentralization implementation after commune council 's elections. At the same time, deconcentration will go hands in hands with the government's decentralization effort to move public administration more closely to the people.

Through by Governance Action Plan document, the RGC views that deconcentration of administrative functions and the means to provincial-municipality and district-khan level as a purpose to significantly build the capacity of provincial and district administrations. And then to improve of the efficiency of the service delivery at provincial and district level, and to support the commune councils in their work.

Implementing the decentralization and deconcentration system at central province-municipality and district-khan level is wider work, and success will be achieved through by organization of various principal aspects. 

Especially, policy and strategy formulation, legal regulations establishment, back- office reinforcement at province-municipality and district-khan level through by management tools creation and human resource development, financial and material resource organization, and coherence guaranty in regard with policy of other state reforms, decentralization in asset.
The CAR will full fill actively with line ministries to organize the mayors and necessaries activities as below. 

Component 1:

Reinforcement of technical decentralization implementation in some sectors

Component 2:

Deconcentration policy and strategy formulation
a -Principal basis of Deconcentration.
b -Criteria to separate the competences and responsibilities of different levels.
c- Redefinition: Role, functions and resource of the provinces-municipality and district-khan administration.
d- Redefinition: Role of the provinces-municipality and district-khan governors.
e- Assess and Determine the implementation phasing, appropriate to the available resource.

Component 3:

Preparation of draft legal regulations on deconcentration.

Component 4: 

Organization and reinforcement of back office at province-municipality and district-khan level.

a- Organization of back-office procedure for 5 common process at province-municipality and district-khan level:
Back-office: That are offices providing functions to support one institution to run and behind, to facilitate the front-office, to provide effective and high quality public service to people. All ministries and institutions have 5 common sections such as: Human Resource Management, Administration Management, Finance-Budget Management, Planing, and Inspection.
Organizations of management tools in 5 common sections by based on clear, short, and simple are a strategy to achieve deconcentration process, and also are effective management tools.

In this way, council for administrative reform decided that human resource rule and procedure with deconcentration principle manner is necessary and urgent work because: 
(i).census of civil servant had been completed. 
(ii). use the result of functional analysis as the input (functional analysis founded 19 process of human resource management standard: recruitment into civil service card, civil servant appointed ).
(iii). clear and short procedure will set up in information technology to strictly menage, well distribute, and develop the human resource. Rule and procedure with deconcentration principle manner of other 4 back-office sections will set up sequence.

b -Training the staff in back office.

Component 5:

Reinforce the front office at province and district to provide the public service to the people.
-Front-office: That is office to run the mayor activities of ministries and provide directly public service to the people: front-port, hospital, school …Functional analysis by each public service is required to strengthen the front-office;
-Deconcentrate the selected responsibilities to strengthen the capacity of front office in the delivery of basis public service (health, education, agriculture, and the others social services). And deconcentrate the priority services to facilitate exercise of rights and obligations as citizens (permits, licenses, public registry);
-All procedures and implementation relating to public service will be set up in information technology.

Component 6: Introduction of One Window Service Delivery for administrative public service.
Introduction of one window service will facilitate the people to access to the public service and inevitably solution to enhance the transparency and reduce the irregular cases.

Component 7: Monitoring and Coordination mechanism.
Inter-ministerial working group coordinating by car and working group of 10 ministries had been established. By doing so council for administration reform had been play as active coordinator (for example, to collect the baseline relating to deconcentration and to set up a total list of public service, CAR is coordinating and catalyzing to own ministries teams to do fast and correctly). So deconcentration teams reinforcement by training and equipment is required to empower the mechanism to effectively full fill this mission.

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Egyptian Police Clash With Protesters

Clashes between Egyptian security forces and political protesters in the country's southwest have killed three protesters and wounded several others, the latest in protest-related violence that the United Nations says has killed more than 300 people since January 25.

Several protesters in the New Valley region suffered gunshot wounds during the clashes on Tuesday and Wednesday. And in the Suez Canal city of Port Said, hundreds of people set fire to parts of a government building in anger over housing issues.

In Cairo, thousands of people remain in Tahrir Square, pressing demands for the ouster of long-serving President Hosni Mubarak.

Protesters camping in Tahrir Square have turned it into a sprawling tent city, complete with medical points, charging stations for mobile phones, sound stages and even a radio station. They have also set up an area to honor demonstrators killed in protest-related violence, filled with pictures of the dead and other memorabilia.
Egypt's Culture Minister Gaber Asfour resigned Wednesday, just nine days after taking the Cabinet post in Mr. Mubarak's new government. Asfour said his resignation was due to health reasons.

Egypt's Vice President Omar Suleiman said the government will not tolerate prolonged anti-government protests in Cairo's main square, where protester numbers swelled in the hundreds of thousands Tuesday.

Egypt's state-run news agency MENA quoted Suleiman as saying that a crisis triggered by 16 days of anti-Mubarak protests in Tahrir Square must end “as soon as possible.”

MENA says Suleiman told a group of newspaper editors that the presence of anti-Mubarak activists and satellite television stations in the square was making Egyptian citizens “hesitant to go to work” and disrupting daily life. He accused the satellite television stations of “insulting” Egypt, without naming them.

Suleiman also is quoted as saying the government does not want to deal with Egyptian society using “police tools” and prefers to use dialogue to try to address the protesters' demands.

Other activists protested for a second day outside Egypt's parliament, several streets away from the square. Some had slept on the ground overnight, hoping to block access to the building. They demanded the resignation of lawmakers elected late last year in a vote they say was rigged in favor of the ruling party.


Mr. Mubarak has responded to the protests by declaring he will not to run for a sixth term in a September election and offering other political concessions, but the protesters have rejected those pledges as superficial.

The president met with Russian envoy Alexander Sultanov Wednesday in Cairo, where they discussed the Egyptian government's efforts to meet the demands of the Egyptian people.

The vice president said Mr. Mubarak has issued decrees establishing separate committees to draft constitutional reforms and monitor their implementation. The reforms are aimed at relaxing eligibility rules for the presidency and imposing term limits – key demands of Egypt's opposition.

He said Mr. Mubarak also formed a third committee to investigate deadly fighting last week between his supporters and anti-government activists in Tahrir Square.

The Egyptian vice president held unprecedented talks with several opposition groups on Sunday, but representatives of the Cairo street protesters did not participate.

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