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Decentralization

(i) Introduction

Encouraged by the results of the first year of implementation of decentralization policy, the Royal Government of Cambodia through the National Committee to Support Communes/Sangkat and with the Department of Local Administration and other ministries, institutions, and donors, has continued to strengthen and expand activities during its second year. Among these achievements are the issuance of legal instruments to guide the implementation of decentralization, the strengthening of support systems for commune councils, and strengthened cooperation with donor projects such as the United Nations Development Program Support to Decentralization Project [UNDP SDP], the Asian Development Bank’s Commune Council Development Project [CCDP/ADB], GTZ, Konrad Adenauer Foundation, and the Commune Council Support Project [CCSP].

The civil society sector had been supportive of the overall implementation of the decentralization program. Through CCSP, an NGO Liaison office was established within the Department of Local Administration. The NGO Liaison Office serves to enhance the exchange and flow of communication between the government and civil society of decentralization and local governance reforms issues. It also serves to promote government-civil society partnerships in decentralization. A promising coalition of NGOs is now actively involved in the promotion of civil society-commune council partnerships in the implementation of projects. The Working Group on the Decentralization Partnerships evolved from a major national workshop spearheaded by CIDSE to pilot partnerships among commune councils and community-based organizations in project implementation. Aside from these, a growing number of NGOs are now actively involved not just with funding commune projects but in capacity building of commune council members. Concern Worldwide is realigning its program to work closely with the government and other stakeholders in a capacity building program for the commune council. Buddhism for Development is conducting capacity building initiatives on decentralization for political parties. Star Kampuchea has conducted research related to commune council transparency. Indeed, there is a healthy diversity of NGO initiatives in the decentralization sector.

   (ii) Key Issues

Ensuring that commune projects lead to poverty reduction

Almost all communes had developed Commune Development Plans and Commune Investment Plans in a manner which has been regarded as highly participatory. However, no measures were set in place to make sure that the projects identified through participatory processes are those that would have the greatest impact in reducing poverty. The project identification and prioritization processes were, in many cases, based on some crude voting procedures both at the village and the Planning and Budgeting Committee level. Assistance from technical support units was weak, putting into question the technical feasibility of the chosen projects and, ultimately, its effects and impact or reducing poverty in the communes.

Needs from the communes should be fed up to province and national levels to inform policy and resource allocation

Provincial plans of national ministries are still developed without prior discussion and coordination with the communes. Thus, provincial line agency plans are presented during the District Integration Workshop for communes to consider. This puts into question the importance of the participatory planning process itself. The “take it or leave it” principle is pervasive and it would seem that Provincial representatives of line agencies have not internalized the spirit of decentralization.

There is so much emphasis on local planning; other dimensions in decentralization such as fiscal decentralization and local revenue generation are not pursued with interest.

Local planning, and the participatory processes it involves, is a cornerstone in decentralization. However, sufficient local funds for the implementation of projects also need to be ensured to sustain interest and faith in the process. Without adequate funding, decentralization can turn into a hollow dream and people in the communes will lose interest or even go against it if it does not lead to concrete results.

Transparency should be observed, both in decision-making and in financial transactions.

While some guidelines have been issued to guide financial management in the communes, systems and responsibilities for auditing have not been established. In some cases where auditing had taken place, audit reports were not circulated to concerned institutions.

Commune chiefs continue to be exclusive decision-makers; traditional authoritarian decision-making processes continue to prevail in spite of participatory processes being promoted. In a lot of cases, decisions being made by the commune chief or commune councils take place without inputs from those affected by them.

Article 23 of Sub-decree 22 of the Ministry of Interior clearly states that the village chief is a representative of all citizens in the village. Thus, it is very important that the village chief should be directly chosen by the villagers themselves, and that they should have the respect and trust of the villagers. All formal and informal studies conducted so far clearly point out that a great majority of Cambodian citizens favor the holding of village chief elections by individual system and not through the party list method. Recognizing these, it is imperative that village democracy be promoted and institutionalized by having regular elections to choose village chiefs whom the citizens feel could ably represent them in commune council affairs and decision-making.

    (iii) Recommendations

Recommendations for the Government:

Recommendations for Donors:

Recommendations for NGOs:

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For more information on the issues raised in this paper, please contact:

The Commune Council Support Project, Tel: 023 427197,

Email: ccsp.pl@online.com.kh , ccsp@online.com.kh