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This rapid assessment is
supported by the East Asia Pacific Region NGO Working Group on the World Bank.
The NGO Forum on Cambodia takes the position that national strategic
planning in Cambodia be viewed as one activity and that all International
Financial Institutions who are involved – World Bank, International Monetary
Fund and Asian Development Bank – must be included in the analysis.
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Poverty Reduction Strategy
Papers (PRSP) are a new requirement from the World Bank and the IMF for
countries wishing to access concessional loans. They intend that a participatory planning process will create
support for national policies, from donors and from governments and societies in
the borrowing country.
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Competing demands of ADB and
World Bank led Royal Government to initiate a phased process (I-PRSP then SEDP
II then full PRSP). Instead of a
long process with several months for each phase (problem analysis; creative
exploration of strategic options; decisions and costings) each step has been
compressed and repeated.
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As a result, at this stage
in the process very few within or outside government are familiar with the
content of the plans, nor what they aim to achieve.
Thus far, no element of the process could legitimately be called
'participatory'.
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Content also appears to have
suffered, with little sense so far in documents of what strategic choices have
been made or for what reasons
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Much technical assistance
has been 'substitution' rather than 'capacity-building'
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Have one strategic plan only
(five year). Meet with the World
Bank and the ADB to request better donor coordination in support of this one
strategic plan.
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In order to get broader
engagement and support, take more time to advertise the strategic plan, its
purpose and the process for making it.
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Ensure there are strong
links from strategic planning to multi-year and annual budgeting and from
budgeting to expenditure.
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Mobilise human resources
(several people, full-time) firstly
to provide assistance to the Royal Government for strategic planning and poverty
monitoring, and secondly to build up
a level of knowledge and capability within the NGO sector to engage
constructively in policy dialogue.
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Facilitate public policy
dialogue between poor people and policy-makers (eg between farmers in the
North-West and national officials who are pro-regional integration)
§ Significantly improve coordination – so no more separate missions and separate consultants for strategic planning.
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Create more 'space' for national ownership of
national policies and plans.