In an effort to build on the NGO Statement to the Consultative Group Meeting prepared last year, NGOs wish to re-state the key priorities identified as important for the sustainable and equitable development of Cambodia. Where possible, we have tried to acknowledge progress on key issues and to highlight important areas still deserving attention. The NGO voice stems primarily from the principle that development is first about people, and view development assistance and the government's reform agenda from this perspective. The key priorities identified by NGOs are:
Key findings from a recent study on democracy and the upcoming commune elections in Cambodia reported that Cambodians are positive about the country's direction and future, although they say poverty is still the country's greatest problem. Cambodians are hopeful as they see the start of economic recovery and reconstruction along with continued peace. The NGO community wishes to share this optimism for the future of Cambodia and to assist Cambodians in rebuilding their nation and society. The government and donors have placed emphasis on creating much needed policies and laws to forward the reform agenda. A strong and committed leadership is required to continue moving forward the implementation of many aspects of the reform agenda.
GOOD GOVERNANCE
Good governance is essential for the improvement of the welfare of Cambodian people and society. The RGC has repeatedly stated that good governance is the backbone of the government's reform program and of its strategies to alleviate poverty. Since broadening the definition of poverty now includes denial of many basic needs, then addressing powerlessness of the poor by promoting good governance - with particular emphasis on the rule of law and participation of the poor in public affairs - is a potent tool for poverty reduction.
Promotion of the Rule of Law
A competent and independent judiciary is vital to development of the country. Strengthening the legal and judicial systems will be instrumental for strengthening the rule of law and ensuring the integrity of the courts. These reforms will also lead the way for many other important reforms to progress, in large part by improving public confidence in government institutions and in promoting a climate conducive for investment and business.
NGOs recognize the steady progress over the past year by the RGC, with support from donors and in many cases in consultation with NGOs, in the creation of important policies, laws and regulations for Cambodia. Examples include the Anti-Corruption Law, draft Land Law, Commune Election Law and Commune Administration Law. Efforts, however, must be increased to support effective mechanisms and structures for the application and enforcement of such laws and regulations. The development of laws may become useless exercise if they are not applied and upheld in a fair, transparent and consistent manner.
- NGOs restate the importance of strengthening and depoliticizing the Supreme Council of Magistracy so that it can effectively carry out its role to decrease impunity and corruption in the courts.
- NGOs urge the criminal procedure code and penal codes be expedited and hope the laws comply with the Cambodian Constitution and International instruments.
Fewer than 250 lawyers have been admitted to the Bar in Cambodia and only 20 of Cambodia's 135 judges reportedly have a bachelor or master's degree. The lack of training and low qualifications severely hampers Cambodia's justice system and contributes to the poor understanding of legal matters in general.
- NGOs recommend a national program to build capacity of judges and prosecutors be developed and implemented which would greatly contribute to an improved and independent functioning judiciary.
- Cambodian Bar Association should be empowered to play an important role in strengthening the rule of law by building capacity of lawyers and increasing the numbers of lawyers who can practice law.
Corruption results in inefficient management of public resources and governmental decision-making. It also corrodes the basis for trust between public officials and the public they are supposed to serve, thus undermining and preventing the further development of the foundations of democracy itself.
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Efforts to pass effective anti-corruption legislation should be expedited as well as the appointment of new candidates for the National Audit Authority. Key to the success of any legislative scheme will be a truly independent anti-corruption body with effective investigatory powers.
Promotion of Public Participation in State Affairs
The development strategies adopted by the government will have an impact on all sectors of Cambodian society. Soliciting and integrating inputs from stakeholders into the process will make the strategies stronger and create greater national ownership of the plans. NGOs applaud the continued efforts by the government to adopt a more consultative and participatory approach to development planning and decision making at the national, provincial and sub-provincial levels.
- A prerequisite for meaningful participation is the dissemination of information. NGOs encourage wide spread use of media, such as T.V., radio, newspapers, including public forums and debates, to disseminate information on issues of public interest.
- Participatory processes should allow civil society groups enough opportunity to present their views, and to provide feedback on how their views have been incorporated.
NGOs encourage the approach of the government to increasingly engage with NGOs and civil society in its implementation of reform measures and the drafting of legislation. The reform effort is unlikely to succeed without the understanding and support of the general populace. Continued efforts by key government officials and strong leadership are needed to promote and influence this process.
- Civil society should be permitted to participate with the various steps of legislative process. A law on the legislative process would be a constructive step towards ensuring effective participation of civil society.
- NGOs provided comments on the Governance Action Plan and look forward to assisting the monitoring of progress through established mechanisms agreed to by the Council of Ministers and NGOs.
The dialogue between the people, the government and the donors about the future of Cambodian society is the foundation to participatory development. Donors can facilitate a partnership approach by emphasizing working together in harmony to support the RGC and its development programs.
- Donors should develop an understanding of and respect for existing national planning processes of the RGC, and build on these existing processes rather than adding new processes, which may confuse and complicate poverty reduction efforts.
- Donors providing technical assistance must recognize the need to incorporate stakeholder consultation in the drafting of the legal framework and policies. Stakeholder consultation should be compulsory and transparent procedures developed and implemented, at both local and national levels.
Genuine participation is more likely to lead to long term sustainable solutions to complex development issues and public support for policy choices. NGOs encourage continued efforts by the government to implement participatory and inclusive approaches that allows for sufficient time and space for all stakeholders, particularly local communities. An example includes the recent partnerships between urban poor community federations, NGOs, UNCHS and municipal authorities to discuss and coordinate community development projects.
- NGOs, by working with citizens and government, can encourage the development of trust on both sides by facilitating dialogue between them.
- NGOs can also act as a bridge between local people and the government in terms of sharing information, bringing local people to meet decision-makers and lobbying officials.
Public Administrative Reform
NGOs wish to support the government as it strives to foster and promote pride in its public service functions. At a national workshop for NGOs/Civil Society organised by NGO Forum in October 2000, participants identified the reform of the public sector as one of the key cross cutting issues for the government's plans to reduce poverty. NGOs called for a reassessment of the respective roles of the public sector, private sector and civil society organisations, including local communities, in the delivery of basic services and management of natural resources to ensure affordable access of the poor to these resources.
It is widely acknowledged by government, donors and NGOs that low wages and low skill levels are contributing to the low morale and poor performance of the public sector. The NGO community observes that inadequate government salaries remain one of the major obstacles to the delivery of quality public services that could dramatically reduce poverty.
- NGOs encourage efforts to plan for the introduction of a realistic government salary system that would provide a decent living wage to civil servants, and that this be linked with an impartial performance-based scale.
Decentralization
The NGO community welcomes the commune elections scheduled for February 3, 2002 and expects to play a vital role in providing civic and voter education for the upcoming commune elections and commune councils. While leaders in the government, National Assembly and Constitutional Council have given consideration to several recommendations of NGOs, some important concerns remain.
- Future consideration should be given to a system for direct election of members to the commune councils, as this would be more effective in holding the winning candidates accountable to their constituents. Surveys show grassroots citizens favour this system.
- NGOs hope strict measures will be enforced to ensure the safety and security of all voters and participants in the election. Restructuring the National Election Commission will make it an effective institution capable of resolving conflicts, preventing violence and conducting its duties in a neutral and impartial manner.
The commune administration reforms present a fine opportunity for government and NGOs to work together towards a common goal - improving the livelihoods of the poor in Cambodia. However, the experience in other countries has demonstrated that decentralization will only succeed if measures are adopted to actively encourage civil society to participate meaningfully in public decision-making. Ensuring the active participation of the poorest members of the community in matters of local governance must constitute an important priority.
- NGOs recommend consulting widely with civil society organisations and other stakeholders in formulating the regulations governing the powers and functions of commune councils. These regulations should make specific references to the poor.
Experience from every country where decentralization has been tried points to the fact that the commune councils will struggle to establish legitimacy if they are insufficiently funded.
- NGOs recommend that a portion of the national budget be allocated to recurrent commune council expenditures and that the government and donors should be willing to guarantee support for the Commune Revenue Fund.
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
NGOs believe that the most meaningful and lasting development intervention is the investment in people. We continue to stress that human resource development and capacity building are critical to the development of Cambodia. Different approaches are used but most require long-term commitment that will enable people to acquire the necessary skills and develop the confidence to use them.
- NGOs urge donors to ensure that well-intentioned technical assistance be strongly oriented towards capacity building. The focus should be on the capacity of both individuals and institutions to effectively utilize their acquired knowledge and skills for future programs.
- NGOs urge donors to assist with the development of plans that more realistically build on the existing technical and management capacities of government staff.
NGOs working in different programs and sectors often adopt different development models but common to all is the focus on people and individuals. NGOs can support the government and development efforts by mobilizing people into organised group action for self-reliance and self-development. Some specific examples include:
- Assisting farmers associations by training farmer leaders in management and leadership skills.
- Support for self-help groups that voluntarily work together for their personal, social and economic development.
In Cambodia, where 46% of the population is under 18 years of age, investing in the education of children is key to both social and economic development. NGOs commend the MoEYS for its emphasis on a pro-poor policy driven education reform programme and the participatory approach to prepare and plan for its 5-year sectoral plan, the Education Sector Programme (ESP). However, NGOs express concern that the presentation of the Priority Action Plan in the ESP has been at the expense of other policies and strategies that the government has been committed to for years.
- The NGO community recommends that the ESP focus be broadened to encompass the quality of impact on the learners as the object of policy reform, in the framework of human centered thinking, rather than the current narrow focus on the health and efficiency of the institution.
- Affirmative action is needed to address the gender gap in education, as the proportion of enrolled girls in the later grades of the primary system drops from 47% in grade 1 to 32% in grade 6, and continues to decrease throughout higher levels of the education system.
REACHING THE POOR
The many dimensions of poverty are increasingly being recognized to include not only lack of income but also such notions of human deprivation due to vulnerability, powerlessness and voicelessness. Broadening the dimensions of poverty beyond the current income/consumption approach and into notions of social deprivation and powerlessness is a welcome development to many NGOs and other civil society groups. NGOs express hope that the newly created inter-ministerial Council for Social Development, responsible for leading poverty reduction efforts, will effectively coordinate the participation of government agencies and civil society in their decision-making processes.
At a workshop organised by NGO Forum in October 2000, participants supported rural development as a key component to the government's plans to reduce poverty. NGOs emphasized decentralized local government planning and increased allocation of resources to rural areas as particularly important and urged more resources for the most fragile and isolated regions of Cambodia.
- Natural Resources - Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry and Land
The RGC has stated that the fair resolution of issues related to Natural Resource Management, Land, Forestry and Fisheries are essential to social, peace and environmental sustainability, which are in turn fundamental to poverty alleviation and economic development. Rural households account for almost 90% of the poor for whom agriculture is the primary source of income. Small family based agriculture is dominant and direct support for small farmers is important for household food security, as well as to meet the growing demands for food and employment.
- NGOs recommend a public extension service that provides direct support for poor farmers in the form of capacity building, provision of investment capital to poor communities and promotion of farmer to farmer extension.
- NGOs suggest that prioritizing land use planning and the provision of land titles be at the core of any assistance to agriculture. There is an urgent need to give farmers land titles and to set up an independent body that can facilitate and resolve land conflict issues.
Rural communities throughout Cambodia depend on forests for a wide variety of goods essential for both daily subsistence and income earning needs. The loss of forest resources is having a significant impact on the livelihoods of local communities throughout Cambodia. NGOs recognize that the government has made progress in terms of forest sector reform; however we are concerned that deforestation and forest degradation seems to be increasing.
- NGOs urge the RGC to finalize the draft forest law in a transparent manner and ensure that the mandate of the Ministry of Environment to administer and manage protected areas and enforce rules and regulations governing protected areas, is upheld.
- NGOs recommend that the government's poverty alleviation policies should increasingly emphasize the central role that access to forest resources plays in meeting the livelihood needs of local communities.
Rice and fish are the nutritional staples of Cambodia and local fisheries resources play a significant role in supporting rural livelihoods, especially for the poor. Cambodia's fishing lot system is characterized by conflicts with local communities and the management of fishing lots has been unable to prevent widespread illegal and destructive illegal fishing.
The RGC has taken significant steps to address governance of the fisheries sector, especially the reallocation of more than 56% of the areas formerly under fishing lots for family scale use. However, NGOs are concerned that the implementation of the reforms at the local level has been poor, and that the selective implementation of existing laws favors commercial fishers at the expense of small-scale fishers.
- NGOs recommend that donor support be targeted at institutionalizing the reform process and monitoring its implementation at both the national and local levels. Support and training are also needed to build skills in facilitation of community-based fisheries management.
- NGOs suggest that information on fisheries policies and local-fishing boundaries be disseminated to all stakeholders at all levels. Local communities can then exercise their rights to fish in recognized community areas and this right protected by the local authorities.
Research has shown that landlessness is increasing amongst the poorest segment of the rural population due in large part to the expanding population and limited land supply and the inability of rural families to cope with illness without becoming destitute. NGOs express support for the Council on Land Policy and its mandate to promote land distribution with equity, to manage land and natural resources in a equitable, sustainable and efficient manner and to strengthen land tenure security and protect social harmony. The following recommendations should include strategies to assist the rural poor and landless.
- NGOs urge the government to enact the draft land law, complementary laws, regulations and other relevant legislation. The creation of an inventory of state land, both in the public and private domain, and a state land classification system are also important steps.
- NGOs encourage the resolution of land disputes through the empowerment and strengthening of Administrative Commissions, Provincial/Municipal and National Land Dispute Resettlement Commissions and the court system.
- NGOs recommend a broadly consultative process and pilot project to create a land distribution strategy which is fair to poor men and women.
- Social Sectors - Education and Health
Allocation of scarce resources for the social sectors has continued to challenge the government. NGOs note the national budgets increased in 2000 in the Health sector by 25%, Education by 24%, Agriculture by 13% and Rural Development by 161%. NGOs acknowledge the commitment of the government to increase spending, yet note the widespread problem of disbursement and accountability of these funds, especially at the provincial and sub-provincial levels. It should be noted that the highest costs for education continue to be met by parental/community contributions as well as donor/NGO financing.
- NGOs recommend to strengthen the accountability of the health and education budget through better monitoring of allocation of resources, including enforcing disciplinary measures in cases of abuse.
Health services remains one of the main causes of indebtedness of the poor and vulnerable in Cambodia; this indebtedness often leads to irreversible poverty. A recent study underlined that 46% of landlessness originated in settling debts related to health expenditures. Access to health services, in particular by the poor, remains a major challenge to meet in both rural and urban areas.
- NGOs recommend there be wide recognition that the cost of health care is currently the main impoverishing factor in Cambodia.
- NGOs recommend an increase all health promotion and preventive services to the poor. Independent equity funds should be further explored so the poor who can not afford the current user fees schemes can access the health services.
- Vulnerable groups - Women, Children, Disabled, HIV/AIDS
As the gap between the rich and the poor, rural and urban populations continues to grow, development workers must examine more closely which interventions help the most vulnerable families and individuals to improve their lives.
The burden of poverty in Cambodia falls most heavily on women. Violence against women in the form of domestic violence, sex trafficking or forced prostitution, is directly linked to women's inferior status within the society and highlights the powerlessness of women and girl children and their inability even to secure their physical safety. The current cooperation between the government and NGOs working to combat sex trafficking is deserving of special praise. More political will is urgently required, however, to stamp out this trade in young lives, and to protect women from domestic violence.
- The Draft Law on Domestic Violence prepared by NGOs and supported by the Ministry of Women's and Veterans' Affairs should be approved and ratified as soon as possible.
Child prostitution and child trafficking have become grave problems in Cambodia. There are between 10,000-15,000 child prostitutes in Phnom Penh alone. Many of these children come from poor rural families. The NGO community urges the government to strengthen the capacity of the legal system to provide protection and assistance to children who are victims of abuse and exploitation.
People with disabilities are among the most vulnerable groups who are more likely to have poor health as well as poor living and working conditions. Exclusion and marginalisation of people with disabilities reduce their opportunities to contribute productively to the household and the community, and thus increase the risk of poverty. Assistance for people with disabilities including mine victims is mainly provided by NGOs; however, current programs reach only a proportion of those needing assistance.
- NGOs encourage the mainstreaming of people with disabilities into existing programs and services so that their natural place as an integral part of society is recognized.
The rapid spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic is impacting on individuals, families, children and communities. An estimated 169,000 adults are HIV infected, including an estimated 49,228 new HIV infections and 13,243 new AIDS cases reported in 2000. Progress is being made on key aspects of HIV/AIDS programming; however, given the continued epidemic and increasing numbers of people affected by HIV/AIDS, NGOs impress upon the RGC and donors:
- To scale up responses that address the needs of the most vulnerable populations, including women and children affected by AIDS, and to extend coverage in rural areas;
- To integrate HIV/AIDS prevention with programs for care and support, and into other development initiatives, including economic and human rights focused work
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