Aid Management IN CAMBODIA

This section of the CRDB website provides a brief overview of the Royal Government's aid management policies and implementation mechanisms. It is intended to provide an introduction to these topics to newly-arrived development partners and other interested individuals. The page is structured around a number of basic questions that can be easily navigated according to your interest:

  1. What is the national development framework?
  2. What is the role of development partners in supporting the NSDP?
  3. What is the policy on managing development assistance?
  4. Are these policies informed by global initiatives such as the Paris Declaration?
  5. What are the mechanisms for managing development partnerships?
  6. What is the experience of implementation to date?

A short Power Point presentation that provides an introduction to aid management policies and processes can also be downloaded here.

 

What is the national development framework?

Cambodia has endorsed the Millennium Development Goals and has added a ninth on mine clearance. The Royal Government's approach to socio-economic development and associated reforms is set out in Phase II of the Rectangular Strategy for Growth, Employment, Equity and Efficiency in Cambodia, which was launched in September 2008 following the July elections. Phase II builds on the original Rectangular Strategy that had guided national development in the period 2004-2008.

The medium-term National Strategic Development Plan was updated in 2010 to cover the period 2009-2013. This supersedes the NSDP (2006-2010), which was launched by the Government in January 2006 following a series of consultations with development partners and civil society. Overseen by the Ministry of Planning, the NSDP operationalises the Rectangular Strategy, providing the overarching national development framework to promote effective ownership and leadership of the development effort and alignment of development partner resources. Most of the priority sectors have now developed strategic plans that promote national ownership and support increased alignment. Links to the websites of most Government Ministries and agencies can be accessed here.

What is the role of development partners in supporting the NSDP?

The NSDP is intended to guide resource allocations to priority sectors and to promote the integration of development assistance with national systems. It is therefore of strategic importance for development partners to align their assistance with these national priorities and systems. Official Development Assistance (ODA) is a major source of financing of development programs of the Royal Government of Cambodia and has contributed to the implementation of major public development projects in Cambodia (see 2010 Aid Effectiveness Report). ODA has been highlighted by the Government as an important source of financial and technical input to attain the NSDP objectives and the Cambodia Millennium Development Goals.


Development partners' support is provided as investment and technical cooperation resources to strengthen central Government planning and budgeting functions; to support major reforms such as Public Administration Reform, Decentralisation & Deconcentration; to priority sectors such as health, education, agriculture and rural development, infrastructure, and governance; to sub-national authorities and service providers; and to non-state actors.  In each form of support, development partners are requested to adhere to the national policy framework for managing development assistance and to make use of national coordination and dialogue mechanisms (see below). Information on development partner support can be accessed via the Cambodia ODA Database.

 

What is the policy on managing development assistance?

The Government's policy on managing development partner assistance is articulated in the Strategic Framework for Development Cooperation Management. This establishes CRDB as the national aid coordination focal point, which is governed by a sub-decree (further information on CRDB and its mandate can be viewed here). Specific joint actions are identified in the Harmonisation, Alignment and Results Action Plan (2006-2010). Responsibilities of respective Government Ministries and agencies for managing external assistance are identified as follows:

  1. CRDB/CDC shall coordinate the formulation of visions and strategies for public investments and shall coordinate the ordering of priorities for public investment for medium term and one year.

  2. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation shall be the diplomatic window.

  3. The Ministry of Planning, by cooperating with other ministries and agencies, shall prepare the 3 year public investment plan.

  4. The Ministry of Economy And Finance shall prepare the macroeconomic framework for the medium term, shall prepare national budget for the implementation of the annual public investment plan, and shall monitor the implementation of financing.

  5. Line ministries shall prepare sectoral public investment plans by closely cooperating with the Ministry of Planning and CRDB/CDC and shall implement those sectoral public investment plans.

Multi-Donor Support Program (2006-2010) was established under CDC management to support the implementation of the Royal Government of Cambodia's (RGC) Strategic Framework for Development Cooperation by strengthening the RGC's capacity to manage and enhance the effective of development resources. During 2010 Cambodia will participate in the global Evaluation of the Paris Declaration.

Approaches to managing different aid modalities are set out in further detail as follows:

Loan financing guidelines – Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)
Grant funding – National Operational Guideline (NOG)
Technical Cooperation – Guideline on the management of Technical Cooperation

A glossary of aid management terms has also been made available in English and Khmer.

Are these policies informed by global initiatives such as the Paris Declaration?

The Government is a signatory of the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and is a member of the OECD/DAC-supported Working Party on Aid Effectiveness. It is an active participant in a number of the Working Party's associated clusters and task forces, including on division of labour, predictability of aid, transparency in aid reporting, monitoring the Paris Declaration, and the global evaluation exercise. The structure of the Working Party and its clusters can be viewed here. The Royal Government of Cambodia, in the Rectangular Strategy Phase II, is committed to implementing "the Accra Agenda for Action".

A short presentation on "What does the AAA mean for Aid Effectiveness in Cambodia?" can be downloaded here.

To apply the Paris Declaration in Cambodia, the Royal Government of Cambodia updated and approved its Harmonization, Alignment and Results Action Plan in February 2006 to monitor the implementation of priority aid effectiveness activities. Then, in October 2006 a Declaration on Enhancing Aid Effectiveness was signed by the Government of Cambodia and 14 Cambodia development partners, which provided a further indication of mutual commitment to maximizing the impact of development assistance. Cambodia participated in the 2006 and 2008 Paris Declaration monitoring exercises (details here) and will participate in the global evaluation (2010-2011) and in the final round of monitoring (2011). Cambodia's national aid management policy framework documents will remain current in the period up to the international High-level Forum in Seoul in November 2011 and then will be updated to take account of renewed global commitments on aid managements.

 

What are the mechanisms for managing development partnerships?

There are three levels of coordination:

  1. The Cambodia Development Cooperation Forum (CDCF) is the highest level for political dialogue and review of NSDP implementation, as well as for discussing the resourcing of the NSDP and endorsing the Joint Monitoring Indicators (JMIs). The CDCF, which replaced the Consultative Group mechanism in 2007, is chaired by the Government.

  2. The Government-Development Partner Coordination Committee (GDCC) provides an opportunity, two or three times a year, for high-level dialogue of both a political and technical nature. It is chaired by the Government and its membership comprises Ministers, secretaries of state, high-level Government officials, Ambassadors/Heads of Mission, development partners and civil society representatives. GDCC is assume responsibility for preparing and monitoring the JMIs while also providing a forum for discussing cross-sectoral issues and other matters that cannot be resolved at TWG level.

  3. Nineteen Technical Workings Groups (TWGs) facilitate dialogue on sector and thematic issues, mainly at a technical level and with a focus on resourcing, implementation and monitoring. Included in each TWG's Terms of Reference is the implementation, monitoring and reporting of progress related to the Harmonisation, Alignment and Results Action Plan and the Joint Monitoring Indicators. TWGs identify their own set of Joint Monitoring Indicators, which are the submitted to the GDCC. TWG work is informed by a Government guideline.

The CDCF, GDCC and TWGs each have the opportunity to link their own page on this website providing further details and documentation.

What is the experience of implementation to date?

The most recent high-level discussion of progress in meeting national and global commitments to aid effectiveness took place at the 3rd CDCF meeting (June 2010) and was informed by the 2010 Aid Effectiveness Report. The presentation by Government, which reviewed progress and provided recommendations, can be downloaded here and the development partner statement is also available.

The Paris Declaration monitoring exercises have shown that progress has been made but continued effort is required. The Public Financial Management reforms have contributed to enhanced ownership and most sectors have now developed robust strategies to coordinate planning, programming, implementation and monitoring. Predictability of external resourcing is also significantly improved as a result of Government and development efforts to improve the recording of commitments and disbursements. Other indicators show little movement while others appear to have declined, although there are some concerns over the validity of comparing the two sets of survey data. An evaluation of aid effectiveness initiatives was conducted in 2008 and this reinforced the survey findings. The 2008 Aid Effectiveness Report distilled the findings of these monitoring and evaluation exercises into five key messages: 

  1. Good progress in establishing tools and processes yields limited results. High-level Royal Government and development partner leadership is required.

  2. Efforts need to focus on simpler measures relevant to sector and central planning/budgeting processes.

  3. Improved partnership dynamics are needed to support multi-stakeholder processes that deliver results.

  4. Broader and higher-level engagement in the development partnership is necessary.

  5. Partnership in development cooperation must increasingly focus on capacity development to strengthen national systems.

To address these challenges, Government and development partners are to work within the existing Harmonization, Alignment and Results Action Plan framework to prioritise and integrate these lessons into our sectoral and central planning and budgeting processes. Following the dialogue at the June 2010 CDCF meeting, the Government will continue to apply aid effectiveness principles more emphatically at sector level by focusing on the identification of a selected number of relevant and achievable actions that are linked to the achievement of the desired development results. The use of programme-based approaches is the Royal Government's preferred modality for managing sector aid and support to core reforms.

 

Further reading, comments and feedback
Most of the documents related to the national development programme and to associated aid management initiatives can be downloaded from the 'Aid management documents' page of this website.

CRDB would be most interested in receiving your feedback on the usefulness of this page, especially for newly-arrived development partners. Proposals for making it a more useful resource will be gladly received. Comments can be sent to information@crdb.gov.kh.