About the Project
The Context
In 2001, the
Royal Government of Cambodia
initiated administrative and governance reform by decentralizing, by
means of devolution, powers and functions to commune level
councils. The Royal
Government’s decentralization reform objectives are to build
participatory local democracy and to contribute to socio-economic
development and overall efforts to reduce poverty.
The second elections of
commune councils were held in April 2007 and among
11,353
councilors elected in 1621
communes, 1662 were female. In the first commune elections in 2002
only 954 female councilors were elected, which means an
increase of 74% within one election period. Since 2007 15% of the
commune councilors are women.
The Royal Government put in
place a legal framework for decentralization in a remarkably short
period of time although additional supporting regulations are still
required. An intensive program of capacity development was
designed and delivered to the newly elected councilors. While
initial trainings succeeded in transferring basic technical skills,
much effort is needed to further develop capacity, to improve the
understanding of councilors about democracy and good governance, and
to instil a sense of autonomy to devise and implement local
solutions to local problems.
The Royal Government is now embarking on a wider process of
sub-national governance reform, recognizing the need to introduce
new systems of governance at provincial, municipal and district
levels. It is facing the challenge of introducing improved
representation and accountability mechanisms while ensuring delivery
of essential services.
The Project
The GTZ supported
Administration Reform and Decentralization Project, operating under
the umbrella of Cambodian-German Cooperation, was established in
January 2002. The Project is managed by the Office of the
Council of Ministers and
implemented through the
Ministry of Interior, the
National Committee for Decentralization and Deconcentration
and the
Council for Administrative Reform.
In support of administration reform and
decentralization in Cambodia, the overall objectives of the Project
are to:
§
enhance government capacity to formulate
policy, to establish conducive frameworks for reform, and to manage
and implement reform processes, and
§
enhance civil society engagement with and
implementation of decentralization and administration reform.
The Project
objectives are realized through a four-pronged strategy:
One:
Policy development and legal support
The Project
supports national level policy development and drafting of the legal
framework for decentralization and administration reform.
Two:
Powers and Functions
The Project provides support in
rationalizing the distribution of government powers and functions,
competencies and services between national and sub-national levels
of government.
Three:
Capacity development
The Project
supports capacity development at national and sub-national levels to
enable key actors to perform their roles and functions in the
context of decentralization and administration reform.
Four:
Civil society engagement
The Project promotes and
supports civil society engagement in decentralization and
administration reform.
Policy development and legal support
The Project provides
support in national level policy development through technical
assistance in policy and program formulation for sub-national
governance reform, and through participation in donor technical and
coordination working groups. The Project also provides complementary
legal support currently focusing on the drafting of an Organic Law
on new governance systems at provincial, district and commune
levels.
Organic Law
The Project has
supported the process of drafting a constitutionally-required
Organic Law on sub-national governance reform. The Organic Law is
intended to establish councils at each sub-national level; to
distinguish between rural and urban governance; to introduce
provisions for the transfer of government functions to sub-national
levels along with corresponding finances and personnel; to create
unified administrations at each sub-national level; and to ensure
that councils enhance and facilitate local democratic
representation, participation, transparency and accountability. In
addition, the Organic Law is intended to establish a national
authority responsible for overseeing implementation of the Law.
Review of Decentralization Reform in Cambodia: Policy and Practices
In 2003/2004, in cooperation with
UNDP, the Project provided technical
support to a Ministry of Interior Task Force and inter-ministerial
study team in the research and preparation of the Review of
Decentralization Reform in Cambodia: Policy and Practices. The
Review was undertaken by the National Committee for Support to
Communes/Sangkats to document and learn from achievements,
constraints and the substantial experience that had already been
gained since commune council elections in February 2002. It is
expected that findings of the Review will be reflected in the
Organic Law.
Gender
Mainstreaming Strategy (GMS)
The Project recognizes that a
key prerequisite to achieve democratic representation, public sector
accountability and poverty reduction is equal opportunity to women
and men for political representation and participation. Since 2005,
the Project has supported the Ministry of Interior’s Department of
Local Administration (DoLA) to develop a gender mainstreaming
strategy (GMS). Project support has included training and technical
assistance to a DoLA Gender Working Group, in cooperation with local
NGO
Gender and Development for Cambodia (GAD/C).
Adopted in 2007, the GMS has provided a strategic framework to
promote gender issues within the Department of Local Administration
and within each of its offices.
GMS Action Plan 2007
The Action Plan is an official
annually road-map of DoLA's Gender Mainstreaming Strategy and for
2007 includes the following activities (a full list of the planned
and achieved activities can be seen in the Action Plan 2007
document):
-
Training for Public Local
Administration Units (PLAUs) to raise awareness of the
importance of taking gender considerations into account.
Training activities included training of trainers (DoLA staff)
and direct training for PLAU staff by the DoLA trainers. The
Training received further support by GTZ's Rural Development
Program.
-
A national workshop to
launch the GMS, organized by the DoLA Gender Working Group with
support from the Project, aimed to introduce and mobilize
support for the GMS. Participants included the Ministry of
Women Affairs, civil society organizations and donor agencies.
Powers and Functions,
Competencies and Services
The Project provides
support in rationalizing the distribution of government powers and
functions, competencies and services (PFCS) between national and
sub-national levels of government. The objective is a reasonable
decentralization of PFCS to enhance local governance capacity and
political accountability. To achieve this objective the project
works on an extensive database on PFCS, has supported sector assessments to Health, Education and NREM;
and has initiated and further supports the Local Initiatives
project.
Royal Government of
Cambodia’s Powers and Functions Database
The extensive
database identifies existing government PFCS at all levels with
links to related legal documents. This database can be used to
observe the potential impact a change in one political area can have
on legal regulations of another sector. Database interfaces enable,
among other functions, focused searches, such as by line ministry,
thematic cluster and sector.
Powers and Functions in the Health, Education and NREM Sectors
The Project has
supported sector assessments in the fields of health, education and
natural resource and environmental management (NREM), focusing on
appropriate potential PFCS for transfers to sub-national levels.
Drawing on these recommendations and stakeholder interest, the
Project in 2005 supported the Asian Development Bank launching a
pilot in the education sector to test the feasibility of
transferring selected PFCS to the commune level.
Additional field visits have been undertaken by the Ministry of
Education, the Asian Development Bank and in Cooperation with the
Council of Ministers and the ARDP database team, with as aim the
redistribution of PFCS between the national and sub-national level
in order to strengthen commune/sangkat administration and improve
the accessibility to and service delivery in the education sector.
Local Initiatives
In 2004, with support from the Project, the Ministry of
Interior’s Department of Local Administration (DoLA) established the
Local Initiatives Project (LI). With continuing Project support, the
LI team conducts regular field trips to systematically collect
instructive cases involving innovative policies initiated by
commune/sangkat councils. These cases are widely disseminated and
are entered in a database that will soon be publicly accessible.
In 2007, the LI team has organized a
number of radio call-in shows in which commune councilors share
their innovative practices and citizens have opportunities to ask
questions.
Capacity Development
The
Project supports capacity development at national and sub-national
levels to enhance the capacity of key actors to perform their roles
and functions in the context of decentralization and administration
reform. Approaches have included in-country, regional and
international study tours, training courses, participatory workshops,
working with case studies,
and forums based on self-direction, self-learning and
self-organization.
Sector-Specific D&D
Training Courses
Since 2006, the
Project has supported a Ministry of Interior capacity development
program for senior line ministry government officials. The main
program objective is to provide both a theoretical and practical
understanding of D&D reform in order to enhance the capacity of
participants to contribute meaningfully to functional review and
policy formulation for distribution of powers and functions among
levels of governance. The program includes a minimum number of
women, and representatives of commune councils and civil society.
To date, two courses have been organized, one for NREM related
ministries, and a second for ministries in the social sector.
Capacity
Development Courses on D&D in NREM
Capacity
Development Courses on D&D in NREM
is organized for decision makers
from relevant Ministries/institutions of D& D and NREM. It consists
of four components:
-
a
multi-module
training course on theoretical and practical aspects of D&D and
particular sector specific sessions was combined together;
-
a study tour to
the Philippines, funded by the Seila Program;
-
an in-country
study tour for comparing theories and practical experiences gain
from the training and the study tour in the Philippines;
future tailor-made
assistance to selected Ministries for functional review and policy
formulation for the distribution of powers and functions among
levels of government.
Capacity
Development Courses on D&D in Social Sectors
Similar to the NREM course, the
Capacity Development Courses on D&D in Social Sectors is organized
for decision makers from relevant Ministries/institutions of D& D
and Social Sectors. It composed of:
-
a
multi-module
training course on theoretical and practical aspects of D&D;
-
an in-country
study tour;
-
a multi-modules
on particular sector-specific issues;
future tailor-made
assistance to selected Ministries for functional review and policy
formulation for the distribution of powers and functions among
levels of government
CAR Course on D&D
In
2003/2004, the Project supported
a course on decentralization and
deconcentration organized by the
Council for Administrative Reform. The course aimed
to offer a theoretical and practical understanding of D&D in order
to improve the quality of administration and dialogue among key
officials involved in the reform. Course participants included
representatives of line ministries, officials from the Council of
Ministers, representatives of key learning institutions and civil
society. Periodic follow up sessions were
held to offer participants an opportunity to explore how
decentralization and administration reform affects their work.
Lecture Series for
Civil Society
The Project is
cooperating with the Working Group for Partnerships in
Decentralization (WGPD) to organize a Lecture Series designed to
strengthen civil society’s understanding of D&D reform and its
capacity to contribute meaningfully to the D&D process. The Lecture
Series is slated to begin in late 2007.
Lecture Series for
Civil Servants
The Project is
currently supporting the Department of Local Administration (DoLA)
of the Ministry of Interior to explore cooperation with the Royal
School of Administration to organize a Lecture Series for civil
servants. The Lecture Series will aim to develop understanding of
D&D among civil servants in order to better equip them to contribute
meaningfully to D&D reform in Cambodia.
Female Commune
Councilor Forums
Since 2003, the
Project has provided technical assistance to local NGO Women for
Prosperity to pilot periodic female commune councilor forums. Since
2003, the Project’s partners have included Oxfam Great Britain,
USAID/Asia Foundation,
USAID/Pact Cambodia, and Forum Syd.
The forums aim to increase the political visibility, performance
and impact of female councilors and
to provide a mutual support network for dealing with the particular
challenges female commune councilors face as women in office. The
forums are based on self-directed and self-learning approaches, with
female councilors deciding on objectives for the forums, identifying
the issues for discussion, and jointly developing strategies to
address those issues. An exit strategy is currently being
implemented with female councilor participants in the process of
taking over responsibility for all aspects of the forums, including
facilitation. As complementary interventions, the Project has
supported
national and provincial round-table discussions to mobilize support
for the forums, facilitation training for female councilors and
in-country study tours.
Civil Society
Local Governance working groups
The Project promotes and supports local governance civil society
networks, in recognition that civil society engagement in
decentralization reform is key to good governance outcomes. The
Project actively participates in and provides funding to
two
local governance working groups: the Working Group for Partnerships
in Decentralization and the Decentralization Forum Working Group.
Working Group for Partnerships in Decentralization
(WGPD)
The
WGPD is an
action-oriented
learning network with open membership including from local and
international NGOs, international organizations and implementing
agencies. The WGPD’s stated goal is to contribute to strengthening
decentralization and democratic local governance by promoting
partnerships among decentralization stakeholders at all levels, with
emphasis on partnerships between commune councils and local civil
society. Since its establishment in 2003, the WGPD has provided a
forum for exchange and learning and has engaged in activities
including research, publications, a public seminar and the
development of a commune council assessment tool in cooperation with
the Ministry of Interior.
Decentralization
Forum Working Group
(DFWG)
The
DFWG organizes
thematic national decentralization forums to bring together a broad
range of actors whose work contributes to or is affected by
decentralization. The forums promote cooperation and coordination,
and offer participants the opportunities to share information and to
raise and explore decentralization issues. Four forums have been
held to date, including the most recent "National Forum on
Decentralization and Good Governance" in August 2006 with over 340
participants from all parts of the country.
The Committee to Promote Women in Politics
(CPWP)
Beginning in 2006,
the Project supported the establishment of the CPWP with the
intention of strengthening the lobbying power and enhancing
coordination of activities among local NGOs promoting women’s
political participation. The CPWP is composed of eight local NGOs
active in the areas of human rights, democracy, gender and research.
Its mission is to promote women and men’s equal participation in
decision-making and representation in public office, and to
collaborate in developing and implementing joint activities to
further the advancement of women in Cambodian society. Activities
to date range from national consultative forums, public forums,
community theatre, a photographic exhibit,
development and distribution of leadership calendar, a
VoxPop, training to female candidates and advocacy activities. The
Project is providing on-going organizational development support to
the CPWP.
Promotion of
Gender Equality
The equal
representation and participation of women and men in local
governance is a precondition to achieve the Royal Government of
Cambodia’s stated objectives for decentralisation. In particular,
equal representation and participation of women and men advances the
process of democratization, realization of human rights and
broad-based participation to which Cambodia strives. Women’s
participation and representation, however, is constrained by a range
of factors including: exclusion of women from mainstream politics;
societal patterns of formal male and informal female spheres of
life; lower levels of education; difficulties in combining
traditional roles with political and public commitments; and little
information on the part of women regarding local governance
processes which is largely believed to be the preserve of men.
For these reasons,
gender is an important cross-cutting issue in the Project. The
following offers an overview of related Project initiatives:
§
the
development of a Gender Mainstreaming Strategy for the Department
of Local Administration of the Ministry of Interior (MoI/DoLA)
which is responsible for the implementation of decentralisation
policy;
§
the
establishment of Female Councilor Forums as an alternative
approach to capacity development for women in political office;
§
the
formation of the Committee to Promote Women in Politics as a
network of NGOs with the mission to promote women and men’s equal
participation in decision-making and public office.
In addition,
Project-supported activities through partnership with civil society
organizations:
o
Public forums
on women’s political participation,
o
development of Training resource handbook on ‘Gender and
Decentralisation’ and delivered trainings,
o
organized a travelling photographic exhibition on female
commune councilors in Cambodia,
o
Produced a VoxPop on the importance of women's and men's
equal participation in commune councils,
and
o
designed a leadership calendar featuring female commune
councilors that has been widely distributed throughout the
country.