(iii)  Cambodia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy: Lessons from the process to date for the process ahead

NGOs spoke out last year about the lack of donor coordination in supporting preparation of the I-PRSP, the Second Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP II) and the full PRSP, which implied duplication of tasks, an additional burden for government officials and compressed timeframes for input and consultation at each stage.  Since then, attention has been given to ensuring that the full PRSP further develops the contents of the SEDP II and the timeline for completion of the full PRSP was extended.  Effort needs to be made to ensure that poor coordination does not arise again in the future.

NGOs have provided inputs at every stage of the strategic planning process.  However, time constraints apparently prevented the incorporation of NGO comments into the I-PRSP.  Some NGO comments were taken into account in the final draft of the Main Volume of SEDP II, though the detailed annexes remained unchanged.  The NGO inputs to the I-PRSP and to the SEDP II were recently handed out at a Workshop on Preparation of the full PRSP.  NGOs also intend that this NGO Statement to the CG Meeting be used as an input to the preparation of the full PRSP.

In view of this year’s full PRSP, and based on the lessons learnt in the last couple of years, NGOs would like to emphasize the following points in order to achieve a true country-driven, result-oriented and participatory PRSP document:

¨       Continue to focus on participation by all interested stakeholders and in the process as a whole:

In order to foster the participation of all interested stakeholders, NGOs would like to encourage prompt translation into Khmer language of all draft documents, enabling Cambodian civil society to read and understand the plans and thus facilitating Cambodian input.  NGOs are particularly concerned that no non-NGO, community or grassroots level participation has been elicited in the drafting process of the PRSP.  In particular, special attention should be drawn to include vulnerable and marginalized groups such as the poor, women, disabled, children, ethnic minorities, etc.  Vulnerability and marginalization are both causes and consequences of poverty, and poverty reduction is unlikely to be achieved unless the rights and the needs of these groups are taken into account.

Regarding participation in the process as a whole, NGOs are concerned that elements of the PRSP such as the macro-economic framework may have substantial input from the World Bank and the IMF before there is any wider discussion among stakeholders.  NGOs hope that the PRSP will remain a participatory process, and that the concept of participation will extend to all elements of the PRSP.  Further, NGOs encourage establishing explicit indicators of the level of participation involved in all components of the final PSRP as well as that of the external documents that are linked to the PRSP process, especially the Public Expenditure Review (PER), the trade policy and the development-related plans of line ministries.  NGOs would like to see a country-driven PRS in which the level as well as the quality of participation in each section of the PRSP is not only strongly encouraged but also clearly stated in each section of the final document. 

¨       NGOs encourage government, donor and NGO coordination to avoid duplication of tasks and additional burden for government officials.  NGOs propose building on previous lessons learnt and maintain an alive and flexible PRS document to adapt to the changing needs of the Cambodian reality.  In particular, the overlapping timelines and agendas of the World Bank/IMF requirement for a three-year “country-owned” PRS and the Cambodian Constitutional requirement for a five-year development plan need to be reconciled.  Otherwise, they have the potential to duplicate efforts and slow down the planning processes.  Maintaining a flexible and alive poverty reduction strategy document would potentially allow better coordination among all players and avoid the draining of human resources.   Different timelines on both government- and donor-driven requirements could be built into a long-term process or re-evaluation of poverty priorities for Cambodia.   The input from the Poverty Monitoring and Analysis Technical Unit of the Council for Social Development (PMATU), among others, could be invaluable for the evolution of Cambodian poverty reduction priorities.

The NGO community believes that monitoring and accountability are key to ensuring implementation of the PRSP and other development reforms.  Poverty alleviation strategies should focus on lessening the gap between the rich and the poor, between the city and the countryside, and between men and women.  Therefore, the NGO community believes that the “yardstick” to evaluate success or failure of reform efforts should be what happens to the poor and most vulnerable groups in Cambodia.  These groups would include, among others, the landless poor, exploited women and children, older people or the sick and disabled.  NGOs are ready to contribute in this monitoring function through their knowledge and experience working directly at the grassroots level.

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