PRESS RELEASE

31 August 2000

WORKSHOP ON THE IMPACT OF DECENTRALISATION AND ELECTED COMMUNE COUNCILS ON THE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES OF NGOS

The workshop on the "Impact of Decentralisation and Elected Commune Councils on the Development Programmes of NGOs" is organised by the Civil Society Working Group of the NGO Forum on Cambodia. Over 220 NGO participants are participating from 22 provinces and municipalities around Cambodia. Special guests come from the National Assembly, Senate, government ministries and international development agencies.

H.E. Prum Sokha, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Interior, and H.E. Ngy Chanphal, Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Rural Development, will inform the participants about the new decentralised government structure and the role of commune councils and villagers in local development planning.

NGOs will discuss ways in which they can help improve the success of decentralisation, including:

1. Capacity building of new commune councils aimed at improving technical skills, accountability and opportunities for villager participation;

2. Capacity building of villagers and community groups in order that they may understand the reforms and improve their ability to contribute constructively to the decision-making of their elected commune councils;

3. Suggesting improvements to the legal framework for decentralisation;

4. Assisting in voter education and poll monitoring to ensure free and fair elections.

NGO Forum Representative, Mr Russell Peterson, says, "Effective decentralisation has the potential to provide greater involvement of villagers in local development and better poverty reduction.  Decentralisation should provide greater opportunities for participation and democratic decision-making, and increased opportunities for local development that is responsive to people's needs."

END OF PRESS RELEASE

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APPENDIX 2

Please hand this questionnaire in at the end of the first day of the Workshop:

Province where you work:__________________________________________________

Your Name/Organisation (optional):___________________________________________

What recommendations would you like to make to the government and to NGOs to help improve the success of decentralisation?

APPENDIX THREE

Please hand this questionnaire in at the end of the second day of the Workshop:

Province where you work:__________________________________________________

Your Name/Organisation (optional):___________________________________________

Province where you work:__________________________________________________

Your Name/Organisation (optional):___________________________________________

1.      In your opinion, what are some of the possible advantages of decentralisation and the formation of elected commune councils?

2.      In your opinion, what are some of the possible disadvantages or problems associated with decentralisation and the formation of elected commune councils?

3.      In your opinion, in what ways could NGOs:

a)      Contribute to the legal and institutional framework for commune councils;

b)      Contribute to a fair electoral process;

c)      Build the capacity of commune councils to help ensure they serve the needs of the people;

d)      Build the awareness and capacity of villages and community groups (e.g. VDCs) to contribute to the decisions made by their commune council.

4.      Which of the above (a, b, c and/or d) is your organisation already doing?

5.      In your opinion, which of the above (a, b, c, and/or d), would your organisation be capable of doing?

6.      In what ways, in the future, might your organisation have to change its present program in order to do the above?

7.      After this workshop, what actions can you personally take to help spread awareness and to prepare for decentralisation?

8.      Would you like to be part of a network that will further discuss and share information on decentralisation in the future?  If yes, what would you hope to achieve by being part of this information network?

Summary of Answers to the Questionaire
on Second Day of the Workshop

1. The possible advantages of  decentralization and the formation of elected CCS

The existence or lack of advantages depends on the preparation of the law and the election system, which must respond appropriately to the willingness and needs of the people.

·        Decentralization is an autonomous leadership, and doesn’t serve individual advantages.

·        It is a system, which imposes good governance, transparency, accountability, equity and development.

·        It creates the habit of building real democracy at the local level, namely the spirit of delegation of power and decision making for the people.

·        It initiates a new step, which leads toward the process of development and the building of civil society.

·        It speeds up the development process by responding to the basic needs of the people, so that they be satisfied.

·        It provides rights for people with decision making and opportunity to prepare their own development plan.

·        CC will gain power in which they will make decision on behalf of the people based on rights they have without waiting to listen to the high ranging officer.

·        It promotes people representative who elected by people, and they will work with their own commitment and willingness for their people.

·        It increase more participation of people, leads to easy making decision which the development will goes very fast, but ensuring sustainability.

·        It strengthening solidarity, a confidant and understanding at local level, in which will impose a setting of people own economic plan more effectively.

·        Increasing accountability and respect rule of law of the local authority reduce the culture of dictatorship, the violation to freedom rights and finally to omit the self- interest (egotist) and personal view.

·        CC will be closer to the people; they all together will prepare development plan to eradicate poverty of the people in the village/ community.

·        To reduce the existing powerful people, to soften one's heart, and in replacement of respecting rule of law.

2. Possible disadvantages or problems associated with decentralization and the formation of elected CC

If the law, the preparation for the election is not properly manage and the individual election system is not selected, it will cause disaster or problems as the following:

·        The elected commune council will serve individual or their party rather than willing to respect to the people.

·        Elected person will have the opportunity to utilize their power and rights by their own interest, which will lead to increasing the negative aspects within the society.

·        Increase decentralization and deconcentralization power if the monitoring has not done properly, and that is it only the trick to confuse national or international sight.

·        It causes competition between Gov't and NGOs to the local authorities, the confusion will say that NGOs is interfering to their jobs.

·        Due to the lacking of law, it will lead no transparency, and justice. The powerless will get more pressure and threaten from the powerful fellow.

·        People will resolve to cease doing something if the first start has gone very fast, and brought with so many defeats.

·        The delegation of power without monitoring will leads to secession, the discrimination between parties, and breaking down of solidarity in Cambodian society.

·        The CC will has not sufficient capacity if the division of role/ responsibility is not clear or duplicated, that will leads to respect of one self and to wrap power in one's hand.

·        Impose the increasing of corruption and dictatorship, and it will increase violation from the old Commune members to the new elected members.

·        The village level has not ready to take over responsibility of works they has not experiment, in addition of lacking capacity and human resource will results the work ineffectively.

·        It only the modern way of maintaining and strengthening power and it is a weapon with two faces.

·        The proportion systems will results only the representatives of party not people, and that the country wills leads to no independence and insecurity.

·        There will be increasing killing to the person standing for election and the voters. Therefore, people will face more suffering.

3. What way the NGOs could:

A.     Contribution to the legal and institutional framework for CC

·        Co-ordinate with Gov't to have consultation with civil society on the draft law

·        Facilitate with people to advocate on law that does not respond to the needs of the people

·        Involving in law formulation, correction and approval; and impose for effective implementation

·        Provide with good Governance and strengthening civil society through networking and collaboration

B.     Contribute to a fair election process

·        Disseminate the decentralization process to the people in the pre- election

·        Assist the existing election committee in monitoring the election activities

·        Formulate group to follow-up, watchdog, and monitoring of all steps until counting the votes

·        Motivate the local authorities to facilitate the election process to ensure justice and accountability

·        Report immediately to the NEC of all issues raising, in order to take proper intervention

·        Educate people on freedom, democracy and finding possibilities to avoid violation that might be occur at the pre- and post- election

·        Assist in strengthening rule of law, and impose law investigation

·        Open investigation of all abnormal cases related to the decentralization

·        Negotiate and co-ordinate with Gov't to have  NGO involving in the monitoring the counting (votes)

·        NGO should prepare awareness program to people on the results of election, in case it is not free and fair

·        NGO must be independent and willing to work for justice for the society

C.     Build the capacity of CC to help ensure they serve the needs of the people

·        Provide education and information regularly to the CC and the people

·        Promote involvement and decision making of people in preparation village development plan

·        Provide training on management and emerge people to understand the system of work and factor to victory

·        ensure CC to be independent institution, and avoid unlimited power that might be occur when they are in the position

·        Orienting the roles of CC to the elected members, then provide training on project cycle, accounting, book keeping and project planning

D.    Build awareness and capacity of villages and community groups to contribute to the decisions made by their CC.

·        Educate to the people on law and its practice

·        Emerge people to understand the important of decision making and its ownership

·        Orient the role of CC to people for understanding and information sharing

·        Prepare media system to disseminate the election system to the public more widely

4. Which of the above (a.b.c and/ or d) is your organization is already doing?

a.       32

b.      41

c.       30

d.      65

Supporting discussion on all the above through organizing this workshop

5. In your opinion, Which of the above (a.b.c and/ or d) is your organization be capable of doing?

a.       25

b.      49

c.       56

d.      69

Can continue to spread information, add to the advocacy work of others

6. In what way, in the future, might your organization have to change its present program in order to do the above

·        Make plan for capacity building  for CC in the coming future

·        Provide education to CC in the village, to make sure they will serve the needs of the people

·        Moving from the community development program to the contribution of legal and institutional framework for CC

·        Initiating with the building awareness and capacity of villages and community groups (e.g. VDC)

·        Starting the advocacy project in the coming month

·        Focus on the education to the people and women especially promoting the women's rights

·        Integrate all above activities (a.b.c.d) into the rural development program

·        Building the human resource at local level through the strengthening of  the village's capacity in social, economic and culture development

·        Strengthening of civil society through seeking supports and encouragement

·        Networking on civil society at the provincial level

·        Consider providing space for the Commune Support Program in our office, at host temporary.

·        May require greater support to the Civil Society Working Group

7. After this workshop, what actions can you personally take to help spread awareness and to prepare for decentralization?

·        disseminate the decentralization to the Gov't staff and the people

·        Take the results of this workshop to disseminate to the public

·        Educate and impose people to go to vote

·        Provide awareness program on the election system

·        disseminate the decentralization to the NGO staff, friends and the community members

·        disseminate the decentralization to other advocacy network in the country

·        disseminate the decentralization via the community development program

·        Research for more related information and documents and prepares the workshop for dissemination.

8.      the networking that will continue the discussion on decentralization, and their expectation from this networking

In the general survey, it shows that the participants in the workshop have express their intention and willingness to set the networking, which would be, strengthen and keeping sustainability.

On the other hands, 116 organizations have shows their commitment through the questionnaire research they will participate and support the network, which will be applicable. These NGOs has the following expectation:

·        To learn more experiences in order to continue advocacy activity

·        Networking for better strengthening solidarity in society

·        Work with Gov't for free and fair election

·        Want to see individual election system

·        Promote advocacy to reduce violation from powerful person

·        Add their understanding on decentralization for dissemination

·        To get more freedom, democracy and the building of society

Recommendation for NGO Forum on Cambodia

1.      Strengthen and extend the advocacy network in collaboration with the civil society working group

2.      Provide training and capacity building to the staff members of the advocacy network

3.      Set up additional dissemination system to the NGO and the public through TV, radio and magazine

4.      Strengthening the system of sending information to and from NGOs in order that these news can be reached timely and a proper intervention can be taken

5.      Increasing the follow -up on the rule of law and its practices, and advocate for changes

6.      Utilize any other methodologies to gather NGOs for advocacy and strengthening the voice of civil society

7.      In co-operation with COFFEL, COMFREL and NICFEC, make a accurate plan and strategy to advocate on the law that is not appropriate

8.      Co-operate with the three above committees to conduct the workshop on "link between Development NGO and election NGOs".

9.      Pay more attention in investigating NGOs that is not independent and neutral

Recommendation for general NGOs in Cambodia

1.      NGOs should watchdog and involve in the contribution of legal and assisting in writing and correcting the law

2.      Provide education to people on spiritual and emotional development

3.      Set up the monitoring committee and pass the in-common or injustice problem that happen to the central office

4.      Initiate the investigation to all cases related to the decentralization

5.      Strengthening the practicing rule or law and investigated on law

6.      NGOs its self must be neutral and willing to work for justice

7.      Train to the CC on democracy in the way that they will serve the advantage of the people and the promotion of democracy in the village

8.      Tie a network or set a neutral committee to research and document all relevant law related to the election

9.      Propose for change of NEC and PEC for the coming election

Note on the Engagement of NGOs/Civil Society Organisations with Decentralisation Reforms

1.      What is decentralisation?

Simply put, decentralisation is the transfer of some government responsibilities from national level institutions to local level institutions.  In Cambodia's context, it means that elected Commune Councils will be formed, and that these Commune Councils will have responsibilities that previously were given to higher levels of government.  Elected commune councils will be responsible for devising local development plans, and for managing the implemention of those plans.

Decentralisation is often mentioned together with "deconcentration".  Deconcentration is the transfer of responsibilities from national level to lower levels, within a government institution.  In Cambodia's context, this means that, within each line ministry, officials at the provincial or district level will be given more responsibility or decision-making power than they had previously.

2.   What has decentralisation got to do with NGOs?

Effective decentralisation has the potential to provide greater involvement of villagers in local development and improved poverty reduction.  Decentralisation should provide greater opportunities for participation and democratic decision-making, and increased opportunities for local development that is responsive to people's needs.

Currently NGOs simply liaise with commune officials, while working directly with villagers and village development committees (VDCs).  In the future, it will be necessary to respect the role of the elected Commune Council in making local development plans and in approving and coordinating funding of local development efforts.  If commune councils are to fulfil their legitimate role, it will be necessary to ensure the effective cooperation of NGOs and VDCs with Commune Councils.  There may be opportunities for NGOs to help build the capacity of Commune Councils or to help build the communication between Commune Councils and village level groups.

3.      Present plans for commune councils

The draft legislation for establishing commune councils has some critical weaknesses. Most of these have been identified in the NGO Statement to the Consultative Group 2000.

Key concerns are the implications of party political elections for participation and that the election system may deliver councils that are only weakly accountable to the electorate. Other concerns relate to the participation of women and the lack of clarity over the relationship between village-level leadership and commune councils.

It is difficult to say how much of an opportunity still exists for NGOs to lobby to improve the legislation. If it is too late then it may be more fruitful to direct efforts at improving the outcome of the reforms by focusing on contributing to the drafting of new sub-decrees and to lobbying for amendments to be in place for the 2006 elections. Whichever course of action is taken, NGOs will need to keep abreast of the content and implications of the legislation and to be able to participate in consultations on the design of sub-decrees. For example, with sufficient lobbying there may still be opportunities to ensure that village interests are represented on commune councils, even though the election system does not promote this. An inter-ministerial committee (the National Committee for Strengthening Commune Councils, yet to be established) will be mandated to clarify many features of the commune laws through sub-decrees. There is a need for NGOs to input to this process, in addition to the technical assistance offered by agencies such as UNDP.

Plans may soon be underway to design a Decentralisation Support Programme that will provide the institutional framework for implementing the legislation and that will develop a programme of capacity building support to new commune councils. Inevitably NGOs will have a role to play in capacity building and it is desirable that they participate fully in the design process – not least so that measures will be in place to make councils as transparent, participatory and accountable as possible.

4.      Enabling or Disabling the Decentralisation Process?

The SEILA Formulation Team’s report on SEILA and on a future Decentralisation Support Programme has suggested that NGOs could ‘enable’ or ‘disable’ the decentralisation reforms (C.2.3).  If NGOs choose to enable the reforms, they may help to overcome some of the problems associated with the proposed decentralisation plans.  On the other hand, if NGOs end up disabling the reforms, an opportunity to improve local level democracy and development may be lost.

4.1  How NGOs could ‘enable’ the reforms

Immediately after the 2001 elections commune councils are going to need to receive capacity building training so that they can use their powers. In the long term, capacity building should be implemented from within the government sector. However, in the short term this demand could not be met.

It seems highly likely that the model by which commune councils will operate will be based on a modified SEILA approach. However, SEILA/CARERE itself will not have the capacity alone to deliver training and support to 1,609 communes and sangkats. It is therefore likely that NGOs will be asked to implement and replicate the modified SEILA approach both in areas in which they already operate and in new areas.

Development NGOs are among the very few organisations with any experience of working with rural communities at the grassroots level. They have accumulated a great deal of valuable experience and have staff with the skills and capacities to help train new commune councils.

In view of their experience and expertise NGOs may be asked to train new commune councils in participatory needs assessments and project planning and technical aspects of managing budgets (see the SEILA Formulation Team report for an overview of what the Decentralisation Support Programme will require).

They may also be expected to support and work with commune councils in areas in which they work, and in this way ‘enable’ the reform process.

4.2  How NGOs could ‘disable’ the reforms

If, once local government is firmly established, NGOs operate in rural communities independently from the new commune councils they could undermine them. NGOs could undermine commune councils if they continue to work through their own Village Development Committees without linking them to commune councils. If NGOs support parallel but unconnected Commune Development Committees this would undermine commune councils even more. If, once commune councils have the technical capacity to manage development funds, NGOs do not channel their local development funds through the commune council, they may further weaken the status and capacity of commune councils.

Commune councils will probably only have relatively modest sums of money (particularly initially) compared to NGOs. If NGOs move into a new area to develop infrastructure (irrigation, water, roads, school buildings, health centres etc.) but do not involve commune councils, locals will quickly see that commune councils do not matter and that there is little point in participating in council business or in taking elections seriously.

If this scenario is replicated throughout the country then commune councils will be undermined by NGOs on a broad scale.

4.3  Obstacles to NGO involvement with commune councils

Some NGOs may not want to work with commune councils because doing so demands that NGOs change their existing practices and procedures (e.g. devolving funds to commune councils): working with commune councils may be inconvenient or simply demand a new way of working with which NGOs are not familiar.  However, this kind of a reason is not easy to defend.

On the other hand, NGOs may not want to work with commune councils because they perceive the majority of councils not to be accountable or participatory, and that working with councils undermines NGOs’ capacity to deliver benefits to the poor. In other words, NGOs may consider that working through commune councils will jeopardise their programme objectives and goals.  It is much more difficult to argue that NGOs should engage with commune councils if this is their objection to doing so. This is probably the main risk that NGOs and others need to consider. It is a scenario that should be avoided at all costs.

The shape of the present legislation, the realities of rural power relations and the State’s desire to extend control over councils mean that there is a risk that commune councils will not be accountable or participatory and that NGOs will conclude that avoidance is preferable to engagement.

Commune councils are likely to represent a combination of the following interests in addition to the interests of rural people who have elected them:

1.      Political parties: since members of commune councils will owe their selection to their position on a party list, it is possible that they will be more dependent on securing the goodwill of higher-level party members than on being accountable to the electorate.

2.      Ministry of Interior and/or other government departments: it is a common scenario in other Southeast Asian countries for local state authorities to consider local government bodies as extensions of themselves and to dominate their activities. The Ministry of Interior could try to impose very close control over what commune councils do. The Ministry of Interior-appointed ‘secretary’ can serve as a vehicle for this control. If this tendency is prevalent, then what commune councils do will be determined more by higher-level bureaucrats than by villagers’ own desires (this tendency surfaced in SEILA).

3.      Local elites: local political and economic elites, who probably affiliate themselves to one party or another, can easily use their superior connections, patronage, wealth and capacity to intimidate/threaten voters to secure electoral success. The greater the extent that they win elections based on these assets, the lower the extent to which they are likely to be accountable to the electorate.

If the interests of any of these systematically dominate those of the local population it is unlikely that commune councils are going to make very effective partners in local development. NGOs working in a rural community may find that commune councils are obstructive to working in their localities.

Once commune councils gain access to meaningful grants it is likely that competition for membership and control among these interest groups will become much more intense. It will therefore be even more important that elections are free and fair and that commune councils operate under conditions that make them accountable to villagers.

4.4  Reducing obstacles to NGO involvement with commune councils

The above scenario is not a necessary outcome. It is a risk that can be minimised by:

• Good capacity building that ensures commune councils operate transparently with strong participatory systems and that prioritise use of funds for poverty reduction.  NGOs will need to involve themselves closely in the design of the Decentralisation Support Programme to ensure that these issues take central place in the design of capacity building package.
• Improving the election system (Commune Election Law), if this is found to deliver councils that are accountable to the electorate only weakly; and improving regulations that govern local government institutions (Commune Administration Law).

·        Creating demand for accountable local government that can deliver benefits to the local population.  This will involve a very vigorous ongoing campaign of education and publicity on the duties of commune councils. NGOs – particularly the poll monitoring NGOs could play a strong role that would be an extension of their work in earlier general elections.

Thus, it is possible that early and sustained involvement from NGOs in the Decentralisation Support Programme and in ongoing capacity building could help ensure that the negative scenario spelled out above does not become a reality. NGOs should probably proceed on the assumption that the elections will yield commune councils with which they can work – while being aware of the potential problems.

It is worth noting that the poll monitoring NGOs will also have a critical role in both education and reducing the extent to which the outcome of elections is determined by the abuse of power. 

The NGO community thus has the potential to take up at least four roles in the decentralisation process:

1. Lobbying for the improvement of legislation and of the broader institutional environment.
2. Voter education and poll monitoring.
3. Capacity building of new commune councils and of state authorities that are responsible for facilitating their work, aimed at improving technical skills, accountability and opportunities for villager participation.
4. Capacity building of villagers and community groups (e.g. VDCs) in order that they may understand the reforms and improve their ability to contribute constructively to the decision-making of their elected commune councils.

Election monitor groups are already lobbying on the legislative aspects and planning their voter education and poll monitoring strategies.  Development NGOs are, so far, much less aware of the changes that will affect them, and need to start planning now in order to make the necessary adjustments to their programmes.  The first step in this process is awareness building among development NGOs.  This may be followed by more in-depth research into the decentralisation process and into what NGOs can contribute.

Extract from "Report of the SEILA Decentralization Support Program Formulation Mission (17 April - 16 May 2000)":

The Potential NGO Sector Role

There is enormous potential, and need, for the Royal Government to engage the NGO community in the decentralisation reform process; for various reasons.  First, the NGO sector has been so far a large presence in Cambodia and has often been the only effective service delivery in rural and remote areas.  Second, according to a CDRI study, NGOs account for between 30% and 50% of the Technical Assistance expenditure in Cambodia the overwhelming bulk of which is delivered to and through local institutions.   Third, the significance of the NGO sector (for both technical assistance and service delivery) has been rapidly increasing:  "The greatest increase in disbursements has been through NGOs where there has been an annual average increase in disbursements of over 100%, with total disbursements in core resources of NGOs in 1999 of US$55 million."[1]  Fourth, operationally, many NGOs have long standing working relations with the various line Ministries at Province and District level and, arguably, the greatest skill base for participatory planning, community facilitation and local level training is to be found in the NGO sector.  And finally, whilst the term 'NGO' covers a broad range of agencies with often very different operational styles, they are in principle united behind a commitment to local empowerment and participatory politics and development.

Whilst NGOs admit to being poorly informed about decentralisation (in general and in the Cambodian context), it is also true that some have coalesced through the NGO Forum, for instance, to produce articulate and insightful commentary on the two laws being prepared for Commune Councils[2].  They have also demonstrated a capacity to mount and sustain well-researched policy advocacy operations (for instance, in relation to the Land Law and Forestry issues) and have increasingly gained the (sometimes begrudging) respect for this kind of work from larger bilateral and multilateral agencies.  Further, the work of local NGOs, supported by their international NGO partners in the fields of human rights and election monitoring has been profoundly important on the national scene.

However, the decentralisation initiative offers new and important challenges and opportunities for NGOs.  In our view, the response of the NGO 'community' to decentralisation could place them in either an 'enabling'or 'disabling' relationship with the process.  On the positive side, in strengthening the capacity of new Commune Councils, to be responsive to their constituencies and establish effective 'downward accountability' mechanisms, NGOs could fundamentally contribute to the decetralisation process.  Further, the opportunities for NGOs to cooperate with Commune Councils and Province/District authorities responsible to support and supervise Communes are wide-ranging: indeed, there are few activities we identified in Sections B.3.1 and B.3.2 that NGOs are not well placed to provide services, to the village level institutions they currently support, to Commune Councils or to Province authorities.

As to their potentially 'disabling' impact, it is clear that if NGOs continue to work directly with 'project committees' and other special purpose structures created at village level, without regard to the planning and budgeting process of emerging Commune Councils, they will constrain the creation of effective 'downward accountabilities' between the Councils and their constituencies.  Of course, it is not implied here that NGOs should immediately upon the election of Commune Councils submit their activities in toto to those Councils.  However they reconcile their current modes of operation with the advent of Commune Councils, it is essential that NGOs recognize that the strengthening of civil society is not an alternative, or even worse an antidote, to the strengthening of legitimate local political representation.  In fact stronger local authorities with greater resources and responsibilities for local development can be powerful factors for the building of independent local social capital, as they can offer opportunities to community groups and local NGOs to engage in partnership for local development, services delivery and welfare promotion.

NGO Statement to the 2000 Consultative Group Meeting on Cambodia,

Sectoral papers:

A. COMMUNE ADMINISTRATION AND DECENTRALISATION

INTRODUCTION

While commune elections (see following section) will be of major consequence to Cambodian civil society, the impact of proposed changes to commune administration will also be highly significant. For the first time, elected commune councils will be charged with setting local taxes, devising commune development plans, and supervising the implementation of those plans. For ordinary villagers throughout Cambodia, this is the most important and visible of the government's administrative reforms.

Over the last four years, in selected communes in five provinces, the Cambodian government has been experimenting with decentralized planning, financing and management of local development through the SEILA program supported by UNDP/CARERE. Commune elections, which were to have happened before the 1998 national elections, were postponed due to political instability. With the commune elections now set to occur in late 2000 or 2001, these two important changes - commune elections and decentralization - are to be introduced together.

As NGOs assisting development efforts in villages and communes throughout Cambodia, we are encouraged by the plans of the Royal Government of Cambodia for changes in commune governance, and believe that we have significant experience and insights to offer this process. Given the scale and importance of these changes, we believe that opportunities for public consultation and consensus building on these plans are vital, both with emerging Cambodian civil society, and with other significant actors in rural and community development. We believe that this would significantly enhance the planning, implementation and effectiveness of these changes, as well as public understanding and awareness.

KEY ISSUES

Over the last year, the NGO Forum on Cambodia has brought together NGOs involved in village community development on a number of occasions in order to discuss the proposed Commune Administration Law and its implications for local
development. These concerns have been passed to the Ministry of Interior and Council of Ministers for their further examination. The concerns raised by NGOs may be summarized as follows:

·        Financial support for decentralization
The SEILA experiment showed the potential for decentralized planning and bottom-up decision-making in Cambodia. This was made possible only through substantial funding from the international donor community. SEILA's coverage was limited to 130 communes, compared with 1609 communes nationally. For decentralization to be successful, significant capacity building will be needed in the non-SEILA communes.

·        Inter-ministerial coordination in rural development
Substantive gains have been made in rural development policy, structures and capacities of the Royal Government since 1993, with much involvement from NGOs, IOs and the UN, particularly the CARERE project in decentralized planning and bottom-up decision-making. An important lesson has been the need for ministerial and inter-departmental coordination at national, provincial and sub-provincial levels. The draft Commune Administration Law fails to recognize the mandate of ministries involved in rural development, health,
education, women's affairs, agriculture, etc., and fails to provide for their proper involvement in supporting and reviewing commune development plans. As such, it does not build upon the experiences already gained in relation to inter-ministerial and inter- departmental coordination at national, provincial and sub-provincial levels.

·        Village participation and representation in development
The development programs of NGOs and other agencies have demonstrated the need and effectiveness of ensuring clear processes and mechanisms which allow the genuine participation of villagers in development planning and action, and the representation of villagers best interests in local governance. We have also learnt that rural Cambodians identify strongly with their own villages and feel much less affinity with their commune.

The system of proportional voting proposed is unlikely to ensure accountability to villagers, as candidates will place more importance on gaining a high position on a candidate list than on securing villagers' votes. Some villages within a commune may end up with no direct representation on the Commune Council.

There is currently little relation between the draft Commune Administration Law and donor-supported efforts by the Ministry of Rural Development to set up participatory village development structures.

·        Supervision and accountability of Commune Councils
The move from appointed to elected officials at commune level will have major implications for roles and functioning of these bodies. Traditional practices have taught officials to be accountable upwards, to those responsible for their appointments, whereas the new structure should ensure prime accountability downwards, to those responsible for their election. This is a fundamental aspect of the new system and will require affirmative action by the government to bring it to fruition. Our experience, as development agencies working for almost 10 years now in rural Cambodia, has taught us that under-paid officials often use their position to ensure or improve their own livelihoods and to benefit their families and closest supporters.
Resource allocation, from both outside sources and through local taxation, will need careful attention to ensure equitable allocation and to prevent the practice of siphoning off benefits intended for the electorate. The principles of clarity, transparency and accountability will be vital in this.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In order to address the key issues, we urge the Royal Government of Cambodia and donors to adopt the following recommendations:

Financial Support for Decentralization

·        Donors must be ready to support the substantial capacity building and start-up funding which the establishment of 1609 commune councils will require.

·        The Cambodian government must allocate a sufficient portion of its national budget to pay Commune Council salaries and operational costs, and to contribute significantly to the Commune Fund.

·        Funds for ongoing training will be necessary, as new Commune Council members can be expected following each election.

Inter-ministerial coordination in rural development

·        The Commune Administration Law should recognize the mandate of ministries involved in rural development, health, education, women's affairs, agriculture etc and allow for their proper involvement in supporting and reviewing commune development plans.

·        The Commune Administration Law should strengthen inter-ministerial coordination at the provincial level through recognizing the role of inter-ministerial Provincial Rural Development Committees.

Village participation and representation in development

·        The Commune Administration Law should take into account efforts by the Ministry of Rural Development to set up participatory village development structures.

·        Ensure that within each village, local decision making and development planning involves effective participation from a broad and representative group of villagers. Efforts should be made to ensure the participation of women, village development committees and other civil society groups.

·        Reconsider the proposed system of electing commune councils and office bearers, and describe this system in the Commune Election Law only.

·        Describe in more detail the duties of and system of electing village chiefs in a separate Law on Village Chiefs.

Supervision and accountability of Commune Councils

·        The Commune Administration Law should make provision for an independent body to process complaints and grievances from the electorate regarding elected officials.

·        The clause allowing secret meetings of the Commune Council should be removed.

·        Specific measures are needed to ensure transparency and accountability in regard to resource allocation within each commune and village.

·        Safeguards are needed to ensure that poor communes and poor villagers within communes are not adversely affected by local taxation.

·        Commune council members and officials will need to be properly remunerated.

B.  COMMUNE ELECTIONS

INTRODUCTION

As NGOs committed to the democratization and social development of Cambodia, we welcome the plans of the Royal Government of Cambodia to hold commune elections. The purpose of such local level elections should be to increase the participation of local communities in local development.

The political tensions that have beset Cambodia since the introduction of multiparty democracy have only recently eased. NGOs express the hope that the election of commune councils is not politicized and that a strong sense of accountability and willingness on the part of local representatives to serve their constituents is promoted. Leading up to the polls, NGOs expect to play a vital impartial educational role, informing citizens how to register and cast their votes, recognize irregularities and safeguard their right to a secret ballot.

Given the importance of free and fair elections for the lives of all Cambodians, NGOs have been promoting discussion on the draft Commune Council Election Law and draft Commune Administration Law. As a result of such discussions, NGOs have a number of points to raise.

KEY ISSUES

·        System of voting
Article 16 of the draft Commune Administration law stipulates that a commune council is elected under a system of proportional representation. It is assumed that this article will be implemented by way of a closed list system of proportional representation in which the party or equivalent group or organization prepares its list of candidates and deter- mines the order of candidates on that list. However, there are serious misgivings concerning the suitability of this system for elections at the commune level.

For commune councils to work effectively, there needs to be a strong sense of account- ability and willingness on the part of commune council members to serve the interests of their local communities, as opposed to serving the interests of national political parties. The electoral system should not result in undue domination by any particular group at the expense of other groups or individuals legitimately representing local interests. However, under a proportional voting system, candidates may be more concerned about securing a high position on a political party's candidate list than about being responsive to local needs.

It is important that the Commune Council Election Law provides maximum opportunity for independent, non-partisan candidates to stand for election and to be represented on commune councils. The system of closed-list proportional representation presents an undue burden on individual candidate