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The
Workshop on Impacts of Decentralization and Elected Commune Councils on
Development
Programs of
NGOs |
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Due
to the initiation of Civil Society Working Group of the NGO Forum on
Cambodia, a workshop on the impact of decentralization and elected commune
councils on the development programs of NGOs have been held for two days
from 31st Aug to 1st Sep 2000 at World Vision.
The first objective of the workshop was to make NGOs understand the
process of decentralization, communes election and elected commune
councils and their impacts on development programs of NGOs. The second was
to find the recommendations for the government and the NGOs for improving
the elected commune council and ensure the effective, transparent, and
accountable implementation of this council.
The workshop was started at 8 O’clock.
There were around 250 participants, who came from the National
Assembly, Senate, government ministries, international development
agencies, international
and local NGOs, and Communities. Mr.
Lim Phai welcomed the workshop and presented the agenda for the day
(refer page VI). Then,
he invited Mr. Russell Peterson, the NGO Forum Representative to welcome
and open the workshop. First,
Mr. Russell paid respect to Excellencies, distinguished guests, and fellow
NGO colleagues. Then he said that it is his pleasure and honor, on behalf
of the NGO Forum on Cambodia, to open this workshop on the "Impact of Decentralization
and Elected Commune Councils on the Development Programs of NGOs. He also
welcomed to NGO colleagues from 22 provinces and municipalities around
Cambodia. Special greetings to the observers who have come from the
National Assembly, Senate, government ministries and international
development agencies. This
workshop is organized by the Civil Society Working Group of the NGO Forum
on Cambodia. The
large number of people present today shows the level of interest of NGOs
in responding to the impact of decentralization.
This is an issue about which most NGOs so far know very little.
Although we have read much in the media about the upcoming commune
elections, the responsibilities and roles that commune councils will
assume after the elections is
still something about which we need to learn more. This
morning, we will be learning about the new decentralized government
structure and the role of commune councils and villagers in local
development planning. We are
most privileged to have with us 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, who will inform us on this topic. He wished to also gave thanks to all the organizations that made this
workshop possible, including USAID and The Asia Foundation, ForumSyd,
CIDSE, Concern Worldwide, and all those other NGOs who helped with the
arrangements or sponsored the travel of provincial participants. He hoped that, after this workshop all participants would be able to return to their provinces and organizations and inform others about the meaning of decentralization and how it will affect NGO development work. We trust that you will all pay close attention during these two days, and share with us your knowledge and concerns. II. THE PRESENTATIONS OF GOVERNMENT ON DECENTRALIZATION PLANNING
First, His Excellency paid respect to monk, Excellencies, distinguished guests, and participants. He also expressed his thank to the NGO Forum that invited him to joint this great workshop and gave him a chance to present the new decentralized government structure and the roles of commune councils in local development planning. Then he raised some aspects that involved to decentralization and commune council election as following: Government and Democracy Government is being formulated and the democracy is being expanded in Cambodia. There is a grow understanding throughout Cambodia that people must take a greater part in decision affecting their affairs. There is also a growing understanding that government and administration must be more sensitive and more responsive to its citizens. New
Decentralized Government Structure Deconcentration and
Decentralization The
Royal Government of Cambodia is dealing with these matters in two programs
that support each other. These
programs are deconcentration and decentralization. As
regard to deconcentration, the government has endorsed a National Program
of administrative reform for 1999-2003. Deconcentration
is intended to improve the performance of the national functions by
bringing those functions, and the appoint national civil service, closer
to people that are designate to be served. Decentralization
has wider objectives than deconcentration. Decentra- lization is intended to: - promote democracy, good governance, and equity of life -
give ordinary people greater opportunities to determine their future, and
-
Encourage greater and sustainable development, especially the delivery of
basic service. The
government has to decide to implement decentralization at the commune
level. The basic policies and principles of decentralizing government are
outlined in the: -
Law on administration of Communes (Khum/Sangkat) -
Law on election of Communes councils. In
outline, decentralization will involve: -
Creating an additional level of democratically elected government with
appropriate staff in the form of commune councils -
Allocating government responsibilities (functions and powers) and
governmental resources (finance, infrastructure and assets) between the
government and these Commune councils, -
Encourage that local communities and civil society can participate in the
proper manner in the formulation of policies and decisions by their
commune councils, and -
Establishing appropriate working relationship between the government
including its provincial and district agencies and the new commune
councils. This
entire process must be integrated into other major national reform
programs. These are public administration reform, judicial reform, fiscal
reform, and legal and regulatory reform.
Decentralization
therefor doesn’t simply involve creating elected councils. It involves
all aspects of government and society in Cambodia. However, at the commune level, the elected commune council is recognized both in Law and the policy of decentralization as the local government authority for the entire commune. This concept is fundamental to all future development and relationships in the commune. The
Role of Commune Council in Local Development Participation in Government Greater participation in government is
an essential part of decentralization. This must take place at both
national and commune council level. At national level, it is not sufficient
that democracy should be exercise on one occasion every five years at the
ballot box. There must be a continuous spirit of partnership, consultation
and responsiveness between an elected commune council, its residents, and
civil society, including its NGOs. Democracy should be a continuous and
interactive process. The
village is recognized in the law as an important and valuable component of
commune society. The village must therefore participate closely with the
elected commune council. The village must play an important and continuing
role in commune governance. However,
the village is not a separate governmental institution. It now forms part
of a wider, democratically elected commune council. Close
interaction between the commune council and its community is vital for the
success of good governance. However, good governance also requires that
the commune council must not hide behind its community, its villages, its
NGOs or other organizations in civil society. Nor must the commune council
become paralysed by endless consultation, or by seeking constant approval
from sections of the community before it acts. There
must be a proper balance between consultation and action. The commune council must always remain responsible for leading it community. The commune council must take decisions regarding its affairs. The commune council must deliver development.
In the
past, the commune authority focused on controlling, regulating and
recording the affairs of the commune. The policy of decentralisation
changes this concept entirely. It puts development in the place of
restriction. The
principal object and purpose of a commune council is development of the
commune. In general, there are two kinds of development. Both are equally
important. First,
each commune council must provide and develop a culture of democracy. It
must establish and promote democratic governance in a way that did not
previously exist. It must deliver democracy that is responsive to its
residents and regularly accountable to them. Second,
a main objective of development in Cambodia is to reduce poverty and
improve the quality of life. Basic health services, education, road,
sanitation, potable water, power, and safety provide many of these
improvements. These services and amenities also provide the infrastructure
economic growth. Each
commune council must promote this kind of development. This
does not mean that the commune council must always undertake the service
or activity itself. In addition to the commune council, there is many
other important roles players that can contribute directly and indirectly
to the development of the commune. These role players include the
government, private enterprise, special interest groups, and local NGOs. A
main function of the commune council is therefore to facilitate and
encourage the provision of a service or amenity from whatever best
provider or source is available. In certain cases, the best provider will
be some other organisation - perhaps private enterprise or an NGO. The
commune council must encourage and promote development through every
available resource. The
creation of the commune councils should therefore increase the
opportunities for participation in commune development by a wide range of
qualified organisations. Communes should also assist and support each other and where necessary, combine their resources and provide common services or functions.
The
basic mechanism for the delivery of democracy and services is the commune
development plan. The law
obliges every commune council to prepare and adopt a development plan for
its commune. The
development plan must be compatible with the national economic and social
development plan. There must therefore be close consultation between the
council and the government. The
development plan must set targets and programs for the development of the
commune. The plan must be translated into money in the commune budget. A
commune council must implement its development plan. The council must
monitor the implementation of its projects and programmes in a way that is
transparent and fully accountable to its residents. The council must
report to its community on the successes and failures of the plan. Consultation and participation is an essential part of this process. Residents, village representatives and other local organisations must participate in the formulation, monitoring and evaluation of the plan. This is developmental democracy. It improves quality of life and gives ordinary people greater opportunities to determine their future. Guidelines for all planning processes must be developed and implemented. Functions,
Powers and Resources Commune
councils cannot deliver development unless they are given adequate
functions, powers and resources that they can use for development. The law
gives a wide rang of decentralised - or "own" - responsibilities
to commune council. It also provides that councils can have deconcentrated
- or "agency" - powers. In other words, while the main purpose of councils is to promote their own functions and powers, they can also act as agents of the government. Specific functions and powers must now be identified and transferred to commune councils. This will identify more precisely the developmental responsibilities of commune councils and will form one of the most important parts of implementation. Commune councils must also have financial and administrative resources and infrastructure to go with their responsibilities, functions and powers. These matters must also be dealt with in the near future.
Good
public services allow communities to function effectively.
Decentralisation therefore requires commune councils that have sufficient
capacity, skills and resources to provide or to facilitate good public
services. Political
and administrative capacity must be created and enhanced. Training,
education and development programs for both elected councillors and
appointed officials must be developed and implemented in the immediate
future. Officials
of the government and provincial and district administrations should also
be informed and oriented about the important role that the national civil
service must play in the implementation of decentralisation. Citizens and residents also need to be educated and informed on the meaning and purpose to the new commune councils. This is essential to proper participation. Commune Size The
populations of communes range from 305 to 44 513 each and the average size
is round 7 000 residents. All of
these communes are excellent starting points for the growth and expansion
of decentralisation and democracy. Even the smallest commune council can
provide excellent foundations for citizens to learn basic skills in
democracy and development. In the
long term, however, many of these communes will be to small for effective
development. The size and area of every commune should therefore be reviewed and predetermined where necessary. This must be completed during the first 5-year term of office the elected councils and come into effect for the second 5-year mandate. National and International Programs and NGOs Several
local, national and international programs and institutions in Cambodia
deal with development or development planning that has an important impact
or influence on village. Most of
these programs were initiated before the policy of decentralisation was
adopted. The
policy of decentralisation brings an important new focus into this
environment. Firstly,
the law now establishes the elected commune council as the appropriate and
pro-eminent local authority for the affairs of the commune. Secondly,
the policy of decentralization encourages local participation,
partnerships, facilitation and other arrangements with all qualified
role-players in every community. Thirdly,
the support of international, national and local organizations is
fundamentally important to development. Meaningful decentralization will
not be possible without these organizations and institutions. It is therefore extremely important for all of these organizations and institutions to review and re-evaluate their enormous contributions to development in the light of the role and needs of the new commune councils. Implementation
of Decentralisation The success of decentralization now depends on proper and thorough strategies and implementation. This will be a complex and intricate processes. The law
establishes an inter-ministerial committee to develop strategies and
implement decentralisation. Its terms of reference cover all the issues
that have been raised here today, excluding the conduct and management of
council elections. The
inter-ministerial committee is therefore the focal point for
decentralisation. Clearly it will need the active advice and support of
all local, national and international role players. The committee will
have to develop a good consultative process. Effective
commune councils that improve our quality of life by delivering services
and democracy The
implementation of decentralization and improvements to our quality of life
will be a long and complex process. It will not happen overnight. We must
start immediately and continue to grow with continuous study and
consultation that invites and draws on the best international, national
and local experience.
First,
His Excellency came to pay homage to monk and welcomed all ladies and
gentlemen, local and foreign guests. Then he said that this was his good
chance in the name of the Ministry of Rural Development, who was invited
by NGO Forum in Cambodia to describe the roles of the ministry and
Non-Governmental Organisations in making development plans to commonly
develop villages. He was also happy to have discussed and exchange the
ideas with groups of Civil Society Organisations on the day. He said «Ladies and gentlemen have already known about the decentralisation plans, preparation for commune elections and the objectives of the government with the aim of practising democratic principles to strengthen local authorities stated by His Excellency Prum Sokha. The transfer of responsibilities to local authorities is one of the biggest national reforms that will help boost the practice of democracy and local development. He later mentioned some important points relevant to the roles of the Ministry of Rural Development and Non-Governmental Organisations in making plans to commonly develop villages as stated below: The Stand of the Government The elimination of poverty is the only one goal of the government in this reform. The rural development is the ground of common development to restore the living conditions of our people and raise income, and to reduce the inflow of people from rural areas to the city. The increase in agricultural income will improve business possibilities and markets in order to find extra work and ensure the food supply for people in rural areas. This is the factor that ensures and leads to the improvement of family living, national economy, and can bring stability and security for our society as a whole. The current situation requires all reforms to integrate local and international economies. Globalization has been covering all developed countries, so Cambodia does not have to let circumstances go away from the current of the world. The government is preparing its clear policies and strategies to develop its economy according to the current of globalization. The
Work of Rural Development The
work of the rural development is vast that is mainly related to
institutions. This requires closest cooperation in order to achieve the
last objective – the elimination of poverty. Therefore, we have to
strengthen partnerships in all the activities of rural development. The
partnership among the government institutions, Non-Governmental
Organizations, private institutions, local authorities is the factor that
determines the achievements of rural development. The role of the Ministry
of Rural Development is to particularly collaborate with local
authorities, civil societies and donor agencies to prepare clear plans,
strategies and right-tuned applications, in order for the results of this
development to reach rural areas and serve people's interests. Revolution of Rural Development From 1993 to 1995, some development activities were aimed to meet urgent needs of people that much of the work is focussed on repatriation of war-displaced people. The work during that time was mainly focussed on quantity to help people in time. From 1995 to 1998, the development work was changed to the restoration of certain activities and gradual relief based on the existing experiences. We have 5-year restoration plans based on international development experiences. Third phase starting from 1999 is the stable step and the arranged activities have aimed at quality other than quantity. All activities need the participation of people to find self-responsibilities and self-development. In the following years, according to the scope of rural development activities that has special characteristics and requires participation from institutions involved, an important activity is the improvement of mixed rural development systems at provincial and local levels in order to upgrade local authorities in making building plans, projects and to define priorities for applying, controlling and estimating the mixed development projects. The structure of this type can ensure the facility and is compatible with development agents involved, land authorities and particularly the participation of people in rural areas. What is Decentralization? Decentralization
is the transfer of authorities and responsibilities for duties of some
central government institutions to inferior institutions and to local
authorities that sometimes is transferred to communities and private
institutions.
By this definition, Cambodia has already had many experiences not
just the recent practice. We know but we do not give its name as
‘decentralization system’ and there is a little difference in the
scope. We have so for discussed decentralization and deconcentration
systems because we gained some experiences from other countries and some
international organizations that used to fail to fulfil their activities.
The United Nations Development Organization, World Bank and some other
development organizations considered their activities done so far by
changing attitudes and strategies in order to boost their activities both
effectively and constantly, and help facilitate or solve problems that
have to be done, and reduce the poverty as a whole.
That is why partnership, local decentralization participation,
transparency, good governance have become the groundwork in making
development activities efficient and durable. The failure of some
international organizations in reducing poverty makes leaders of many
organizations or institutions build up some new targeted strategies that
are the main factors among the some methods for practicing or
strengthening decentralization systems in order to solve difficult
problems because decentralization is able: § To strengthen local administrations § To gather resources in communities and solve problems related to community development § To increase transparency in administrations, politics and finance in order §
To
efficiently provide services by community models §
To
strengthen local authorities with the of providing necessary services §
To
strengthen the effectiveness of the distribution of public investments § To strengthen the participation from civil society, help create an environment for providing ideas and selection. 3
Mechanism to Create Local Plans In
rural structures, village development committee is an important mechanism
that ensures the participation from people in villages and the indication
of necessity and urgent needs in making each project. The system of this
local committee is created with the spirit and the target of receiving
participation and responsibility in bringing about development plans. He
put strong emphasis that according to the spirit of the government's
approval No 02 issued on January 22, 1999 on the creation of
development committee of all levels – rural, provincial and city – the
Ministry of Rural Development made it known public in all 24 provinces,
cooperated with local and international development organizations and
succeeded in village development committee elections amounting to 9151 or
35%. Village
Development Committees are basic plans of mixed rural development
structure. These committees are independent local development institutions
and capable enough to direct and manage their development activities
through the application of decentralization system and co-decentralization
system of the government. Institutions around these committees include
Provincial rural development committees, local authorities, relevant
institutions, various organizations, each has a goal to strengthen Village
Development Committees. The
application of decentralization system is the main objective of the
government in encouraging people in rural areas to be responsible for
themselves, to be self-confident, and to be able to make their own
decisions, and it is hoped that they can solve problems in the society by
themselves. So the Village Development Committees are the pavement of the
training and improvement of democracy. He
said « Decentralization system has its own notion and
development according to concrete situations. It needs time and reforms in
administration and financial systems and human resource development. The
word 'decentralization' can be wrongly described or be confused, can make
the final result depart away from the desired goal because the type of
decentralization contains administration, politics and finance. And the
other hand, we just know that in the current situation of social
development, the advance in technological sciences can not still be
determine. Only effective system in our real society and using
appropriate time can get word done in order to choose another
system in other circumstances. He
said that the Ministry of Rural Development and Non-Governmental
Organizations have their roles in bringing about local plans with the
participation from people. Decentralization system in the topic of rural
development is just reasonable means or mechanism that, through previous
experiences, can provide possibilities for people in rural areas to
understand obligations responsible for them, families and communities. The
main purpose of rural development activities is to change likelihood of
poor people, especially people in remote areas, not only increases their
income, productivity or yield distribution, but also ensures durability,
social justice, reconciliation, peace, good governance, eliminate
corruption, transparency, participation, civil society and partnership
with private and public institutions. Decentralization is a mechanism to
achieve the above goals. At
the end of his speech, he mentioned that this was the only chance that
could help us develop future economy. So we had to show strong
responsibilities for the sake of Khmer people, and there was no time
better than this that we could fight poverty.
Thank for listening QUESTIONS and ANSWERS After
he finished his speech, some participants raised up their doubts about the
practice of decentralization policy and the role of the commune council.
Detailed questions and answers are as follows: Question: Your Excellency raised up decentralization and deconcentration that have two powers – power provided by people and power given by the government that is the agent of the government. But the meaning of the word ‘decentralization’ given by NGO Forum is the transfer of responsibilities. So what is the difference between agent and transfer of responsibilities? As we already seen, a series of elections were held through agents. Answer:
His Excellency expressed thanks to His
Excellency Sun Chhey for bringing up this question. His Excellency Prum
Sokha, when answering this question, said « I can not say
that any translation of the word ‘decentralization’ is right or
wrong,» but that « decentralization or
deconcentration is the transfer of power to the inferiors. The difference
is that deconcentration is the transfer of power in the name of a superior
while decentralization is the transfer of both power and ownership to
local people, and the provision of self-making decision to local
development. Moreover, decentralization and deconcentration are two
distinct procedures, but closely compliment each other. In the future, the
power of commune councils will include both own power and the power as
agents of the government.» Question: Why does the government choose a period of five years for every communal election? Why doesn't it choose a period of three years? Answer: The government has decided to take a period of five year for communal elections because: a). local development plan and five-year national development plan b). related to the preparation of elections. Communal elections, though low grade, take a long time to prepare due to the large scope of work. Question: Does the government have any plans for the income that comes from natural resources in local areas such as benefits mine, forest, fishery and revenues from tourism, ancient temples, restaurants, and so on. Answer: Every commune will have two sources of income – direct income that is determined by communal budgetary law by giving rights to tax collection in communes – and public property that will be divided between national and communal levels, and the property that is classified as communal ownership, councils can extract the income from that property while property that is defined as national property will managed by communes, but the income from national possessions has to be distributed as percentage to national level. Indirect income is the budget that is distributed to each commune according to a concrete situation. Mine is the national wealth so the nation gathers income yearly. Communes can also help the nation when they have a large amount of income. Other income comes from commune development funds. Question: What is the advantage of taking political parties as grounds for boosting candidacy participating in elections? Answer:
We choose election system by parties because we already had two previous
experiences relevant to the elections of this type – 1993 and 1998
elections. He put strong emphasis that no election system is perfect. Question: If communes are the agents of the government, this council is still under the power of the government and this development is contradictory to the existing national law. What plans does the government have for these problems? Answer:
Regarding the superior and inferior powers that can have effects on one
another, superior power can have impacts on inferior power,
decentralization plans will have an effect on the society as a whole.
Therefore, if there is any law that seem incompatible with these plans,
that law has to be amended for the sake of decentralization. In fact, we
discuss and distinguish legislative power and executive power because all
the work is in inferior level. After elections, however, the communal
council will become a local government and this government will have both
legislative power and executive power. Question: Pertaining to the decision, if the plan of decentralization decision is made, what responsibility does the commune council have to take? Answer:
Everything is stated by law. If the application of the decision can not be
achieved, the commune council has to report and tell what it can do for
people. By doing this, we will know what is right and what is wrong. In
this case, people supervise him and another person is the superior who
transfers power to the council .In the case that the council can not do,
the Ministry of Interior will him it. However, if it still can not do, the
council has to be dissolved. Question: Does the Ministry of Rural Development have any plans to help find markets for agricultural product of people? Answer: The Ministry of Agriculture is the specialized ministry while the Ministry of Rural Development is just the ministry providing skills and tries to do everything so that the skills reach local areas. Concerning the agriculture, we have two stages: first stage is to help agriculture supply itself and family, second stage is to domestic market or regions and industrial agriculture. Objectives of agriculture are not only for domestic demands but also for exports. The first objective that we do with Non-Governmental Organizations is the discussion on food supply. On behalf on the Ministry, we do not have any plans for him to grow this crop or harvest that crop, it is up to the market that he can sell his product. But we have plans for him to have enough food, and these plans are more related to the Ministry of Agriculture than the Ministry of Rural Development. However, we can help him choose seeds and follow to get high yields. III. THE PRESENTATIONS OF NGOs AND UN OVER DECENTRALIZATION PLANS
At first, he thanked the NGO Forum on Cambodia, Mr. Russell and civil societies working group for inviting him to participate in the important workshop and for providing an opportunity to describe the concerns of NGOs over the preparation of decentralization system, commune council elections and the roles of these councils. Because the election system that the government has chosen is full of concerns. He said we had to anticipate what would happen because these concerns would make oriented implementation efficient and satisfy people, especially for poor.
Mr. Panha said, « The issue on communal council
elections is interesting because the elections use too much strength. If
we choose a wrong election system, it not only causes losses in finance,
but also interrupts the processes of development and democracy. The
arrangement of communal council elections, decentralization planning and
its effects, and making an electoral law are the problems that we are
concerned about.» He also mentioned the points made by H.E
Prum Sokha – (1) decentralization system is a system that fulfills the
will of people, follows our constitution and leads to power
decentralization and responsibilities in communes because communes are the
closest to people (2) the preparation of communal council elections is a
mechanism that makes the decentralization practice successful and makes
democracy take root in local (3) decentralization system will push for
oriented implementations and especially the poverty reduction. He
emphasised that those were the points that H.E raised. Will
the electoral laws made by the government have effects on the
decentralization plans? Our NGOs have a little chance to discuss the
electoral laws. It is not
enough to make laws by mainly focussing on experiences and the existing
documents is not enough because the areas of Cambodia are different from
place to place. We already have had concerns over the strategies of
electoral preparations. Later he mentioned eight-point concerns regarding
elections by proportional system and the draft of the current electoral
laws that can have an impact on the preparation of the decentralization
system. The eight points are as follows: Weak Point: If we
concentrate the reality, we mainly do everything by the existing document
and rely on experiences. Electoral System: If we
choose the proportional electoral system, we will encounter difficulties,
in particular, responsibilities because the proportional system focuses
only on political parties and it will lead the elected candidates to put
more concentrations on the interest of political parties than on the sake
of people and theirs. We are afraid that, through the proportional
elections, the elected candidates will work for the sake of their
political parties, not for themselves and the interests of people, and
perhaps the selected candidates to stand for the elections will be the
unwanted candidates by people. This will lead to partism and the increased
corruption. Political parties cause too much trouble that people think
more about their preferred parties and politics than about their future
and stomachs. The disputes among the political parties can bring about the
inactivities, differences and disputes, and make people forget about their
communal development. Discrimination: The
division of political parties in the elections will result in political
intimidation due to the effects of political parties and party
discriminations. He said, « Even relief aid for natural
disasters is concentrated on the interests of political parties.» Loss of Rights: Members
of political parties will intimidate people over their electoral rights.
Those who are not the members of a political party can not stand for
elections. The demand and preparation for 40 per cent of women to be
elected face a lot of difficulties because it is required that the
lobbying and approvals be first given from political parties. If we can
not choose just men we will encounter many problems after the elections. The Influence of Political Parties:
Those who are elected by means of a political party will not think too
much about the interests of people. Even though the elected candidates do
not everything for people, the people will never be able to drop them for
their positions because everything is done by political parties. Difficulties Encountered in Solving Disputes after
Elections: Even in the national elections
there is sensitive issues of violence. Now we have 1600 communes and there
will be many complicated problems if there is no compromise. Violence and Impunity Culture:
Since they have parties to safeguard them, those who commit violence can
break even, and most problems are considered as political issues. All
violence is termed as political issues because everything is finished when
talking about politics. Possibilities for Women to participate in elections:
There are a little possibilities and opportunities for women to become
members of communal councils elections since candidates for communal
elections have to be chosen by political parties. At the end of his statement Mr. Panha welcomed opinions and questions asked by the participants of the workshop.
Firstly, she esteemed local and international guests who were present in the seminar. She also expressed her thanks to NGO Forum and Women Working Group for permitting her to make a statement in the workshop. In the name of Women Working Group, she raised up women's positive qualifications to become local administrative leaders as follows: A.
Women's Qualifications for Leading Local Administrations There
are many possibilities that encourage women to lead local administrations
well: §
The number of women is greater than that
of men, approximately 52.8% of the total population of Cambodia §
Women are now suffering so they have to
struggle to cut down the injustice in a society. §
The serious problems of a society are
related to the issues of women. There is no one who understands and knows
the difficulties of women than women themselves. §
The difficulties of women come from
women’s little participation in leadership. Therefore, women have to
take part in the activities of administrative leaderships as many as
possible. §
Women's issues will be solved quickly if
there are women as partner with men in communal leaderships. §
Women's leaderships are the spearheads
for oriented development to be accomplished quickly. § Women are industrious, patient with hard work, gentle and clever in finding reasonable ways to cut down disputes effectively. B. Women's Positive Qualifications in Developing Communal Activities Efficiently
In general, women do not indulge themselves in sexual affairs,
drinking alcohol and games. The three things are the main cause of
disputes and violence. Women are loyal to husbands and pay much attention
in providing healthy food and taking care of all members in families. This
makes women clever and try hard to do the following things: §
Find all means to improve living
conditions of families: Housewives always think about how to get extra
income for their families. Therefore, women have enough abilities to work,
and are clever in changing their existing recourses to incomes for their
families. So women are good at economics, have initiatives to well develop
local economies. §
Find ways to get pure water for the needs
in families. Moreover, body hygiene is the necessity that makes women be
aware of difficulties when there is pure water. What women need most is
clean water. Women know the difficulties of women clearly so they will try
their bests to find solutions for people in a society because when facing
a problem, they understand how difficult it is. §
Find ways to build routes, schools and
hospitals because being mothers to take good care of children directly,
women face many problems when their children get sick, their children have
no schools, etc. We strongly hope that women can lead communal administrations well because they used to suffer poverty of all types. Women are also active, patient with hard work, gentle, good at communications that can make them fulfill the duties successfully. Moreover, women are good at finding reasonable methods to cut down disputes efficiently. C. What should we do to find possibilities for women to join the communal council activities?
Article 15 of the draft on communal council elections states that:
all people, male and female who have willing to stand for communal council
elections have to meet the following qualifications: § Have Cambodian nationality from birth § Can read and write Khmer language § Have enrolled in the list of communal council elections that that they want to stand for § Aged not less than 25 years by the election day. §
Have enough qualifications according to
the laws on communal council elections. By this
article, we see that there are a lot of qualified women that fulfill the
above requirements By the statistics of the Ministry of Education, Youth
and Sport, 45 per cent of Cambodian women completed their high school
education and 33 per cent finish secondary school education every year. She also brought up plans to push for a large number of women in communal councils– try to do everything, by all means, make local authorities be well informed about both democratic principles and good governance. If we need the equality between men and women, we have to take the equity of genders into account. If we want to find social justice, we have to use a quorum system in a circumstance in which women are weak, for example, in Cambodia at present. However, when women are strong enough, we do not use a quorum system any more. Moreover, in the circumstance that our Country is poor, we have to gather all people renovate and develop communities. In this case, women play an important role that we do not have to isolate and discriminate them because doing so is not a peaceful culture. So what we have to do are as follows: § Request to all political parties for 30 per cent of women to stand for elections § Request to the government, parliament and senate for making electoral laws stating at least 40 per cent of seats allocated for women in communal councils. § Request for electoral enrolment lists that contain names of men and women alternatively. § Request for 40 per cent of women in every electoral national committee. §
Educate and train women to be
self-confident and have willing to direct communal administrations. Conclusion: decentralised power is an effective way to push for legislative and executive democracy in local authorities based on women's participation. QUESTIONS
and ANSWERS Question: You mentioned the concerns or breath choking of COMFREL over issues of communal elections. Does COMFREL have any projects or plans to respond to the concerns you mentioned above? Answer:
Mr. Panha expressed his thanks to Madam Keo Khim for raising up the
question. His answer is: COMFREL has cooperated with other organizations
to get a common voice because it is advocacy work. We are too proud that
all of our civil societies have understood the problems such as NICFEC,
COFFEL, GAD, Women Working Group and other organizations based in Phnom
Penh and provinces in order to strive for advocacy with the government,
powerful men, planners and law makers. We are very happy to have met the
supreme leaders of the Royal Government, Parliament and the three
political parties to discuss what we are concerned about such as the
electoral system, the strengthening of electoral national committees and
women's concerns. We are also happy that Samdech Hun Sen, Prince Ranariddh
and His Excellency Sam Rainsy considered our concerns right. We made this
support known public, but we do not know whether the support is true or
not. What we have requested to the government and the three political
parties was done by ourselves alone, we surveyed people's opinions, and
what we raised up is what people wish for. We also received a draft on
elections secretly. We modified some parts of the draft and requested to
the government to discuss the draft again but the government seemed to be
too hurried and did not give a chance by sending the draft from Minister
Cabinet to Parliament immediately.
We are very sorry that what the government did seemed informal
because the electoral draft that we received was not by the government, we
received it secretly. However, we will try our bests to get the work done
to have transparency and strong responsibilities. We have already done it
up to local levels. If we do not succeed in this term, we will try again
next term. Question: Do you have any strategy to urge women to participate in elections? Answer: She welcomed this the question and her answer is: Women Working Group of NGO Forum and GAD network had considered this issue seriously with the participation from COMFREL organization to submit the request to the Royal Government, Parliament and Senate for the role of women in the electoral laws. We made a statement on this issue and sent it to the Royal Government, Parliament and Senate. COMFREL also put this request in the draft on communal elections.
Moreover, our Women Working Group has plans to educate women in all
provinces to understand their roles in elections. Meanwhile, Khmer Women
Voice Center included a program on decentralization, good governance and
the role of civil society within its program in Kampong Cham province, and
it has many other projects for training women to take part in the communal
elections. She said, « Concerning the request for positions of 40 per cent for women we chose this option through our experiences from India. They do like this when the status of women is low. In Cambodia, the number of women in supreme leaderships is high enough, but very low in local authorities approximately 3 per cent. So there is no balance between high and low classes.»
Ladies and Gentlemen, First
of all Mr. Scott thanked the NGO Forum for organizing this workshop and
for inviting him in this workshop. He added that for those who don't know
him the Programme Manager of the UNDP/CARERE Project. Then he raised the
background of SEILA that since 1996 CARERE has been supporting the Royal
Government of Cambodia's SEILA Programme to design, implement and
strengthen decentralized management systems for planning, finance and
implementation of local development. SEILA is currently operational in the
six provinces of Siem Reap, Oddar Meanchey, Banteay Meanchey, Battambang,
Pursat and Ratanakiri as well as the Municipality of Pailin. The Royal
Government has decided to expand the SEILA Programme in 2001 to an
additional five provinces: Kampot, Kompong Thom, Kompong Cham, Takeo and
Prey Veng. I have just returned this morning from a three day workshop in
Siem Reap in which seven Ministries and 12 provinces, including Governors,
Deputy Governors and the Directors of Planning and Rural Development,
joined together with GTZ, UNICEF, WFP and CARERE to prepare a framework
for the next five year phase of SEILA, 2001-2005. In
Cambodia today SEILA is the only programme that is implementing a full
decentralized approach and has therefore provided an important experience
to the Royal Government in how decentralization can be established and
managed. As confirmed by several senior officials of the Royal Government
such as HE Keat Chhon and the Deputy Prime Minister, Sar Kheng, on many
occasions the experience provided by SEILA has been an important factor in
convincing the government of the effectiveness of decentralization, local
democracy and local good governance. Decentralization, local democracy and
local governance, however, are long-term processes that are only just
beginning in Cambodia. Obviously we are all concerned that the process get
off to a good start and that is what I believe the NGO community is trying
to ensure. Nevertheless, we must all realize that the start is not the end
and that success will only come from a sustained effort that includes the
government, civil society, NGOs, the private sector and international
agencies working towards a common objective. In my mind that common
objective is best described as participatory local development and good
local governance which helps to alleviate poverty in Cambodia. Decentralization involves the government assigning certain powers and
authority to an elected local government; in Cambodia this will be the
Commune Councils. Deconcentration involves delegating certain
responsibilities within the State structure from the higher levels to the
lower levels of the administration. The Royal Government is correct to say
that both of these processes have to be implemented together. Following
the Commune Council elections there will be two levels of elected
government in Cambodia; the national level, represented by the National
Assembly and the local level, represented by the Commune Councils. As the
national level and the national administration is so far away from the
communes, the national authorities must ensure that the provinces are
delegated responsibilities necessary to provide support to the Commune
Councils. Otherwise, the support required by the Commune Councils to
function, such as training, capacity building and provision of development
services, will be difficult to provide. For the provinces to be able to
provide the necessary services they will also need training and support
from the national level. As such we can see that in order for the Commune
Councils to function effectively involves the entire State administration.
This in itself over time will involve a reform of the government as the
government must organize itself in a new way in order to respond to the
local level.
He has been asked to talk about the Commune Councils and how to build
their capacity for local development planning. This is an important topic
but it must be linked with financing and implementation as well. Planning
only makes sense if it leads to action and action can only happen if
resources are mobilized; both human resources and financial resources.
In the SEILA Programme today, Commune Development Committees are playing the role of commune management for development. These CDCs are composed of one man and one woman elected from each village to the VDC, and who are chosen to represent their village on the CDC. In most communes, the Commune Chief serves as the Chairman of the CDC while in others the village representatives have elected their chairman who in some cases is not the Commune Chief. The CDC oversees the preparation of the Commune Development Plan that ends up determining a list of priority projects to support development in the commune. The village representatives on the CDC interact at village level to determine village priorities and these are then discussed at commune level to determine commune priorities. It is felt that the commune is a better planning level as many local development priorities involve more than one village. Particularly when we talk about infrastructure such as roads, bridges, schools and irrigation systems, these always involve more than a single village. Once having determined there priorities, communes present their plans to a District Integration Workshop held each year in each District. Representatives of provincial line departments, representatives of all agencies, IO's and NGO's, working in the District join together with the communes to try and integrate their respective programmes. Many times, a priority project of a commune matches with a priority of a department or an agency and the project eventually receives support from that agency. Once the communes know which of their priorities will be supported and which do not have support, they make the final decision about how to use their own resources. When we talk about their own resources we refer to financial allocations made by the Royal Government to the communes through SEILA national level and resources that the commune themselves must mobilize within the commune. These resources are then committed to priority commune projects. Many of these projects are local infrastructure and in these cases, following a bidding procedure, the commune hires the private sector to carry out the work under their supervision. In some cases, the commune and other local committees implement the project themselves.Mr.
Scott said that he did not have time to go through the entire
decentralized planning process at commune level. That would have to be
left for another occasion as it will require time to cover this topic in
full. At this stage the decentralized planning, financing and
implementation systems within SEILA apply only to the SEILA provinces.
They are not national policy. Following the passage of the Commune
Administration Law, a National Committee for Support to the Commune
Councils will be established and their mandate will be to prepare the
systems and support services required for implementing the law. This
inter-Ministerial Committee will consist of many of the same Ministries
within SEILA today and it is thus expected that the SEILA experience will
have a big influence on the eventual systems that will be applied to the
Commune Councils. One of the issues that SEILA is focusing on at present is what will
happen to the CDCs once the Commune Councils are elected. Will they
disappear and just be replaced by the Commune Councils? We believe that
the CDCs should become a committee under the Commune Councils recognizing
the authority of the Commune Councils for decision making but bringing
more of a participatory approach to the formulation of commune development
plans, mobilization of human and financial resources, decisions on the use
of public funds to support commune development activities and in the
implementation of development activities. It is quite unlikely that each
of the villages in a commune will have one of their villagers elected to
the Commune Council. Many villages will not have anyone on the Council. By
establishing a sub-committee composed of one man and one women from each
village chaired by the head of the Commune Council there would be many
advantages as follows:
-
Each village would be represented, have a voice in commune planning and
be more willing to mobilize human and financial resources for the good of
the commune;
The participation of women representatives in commune development would be increased;The
accountability and transparency of the Commune Council to the villages
would be strengthened. The
Commune Administration Law, as currently written, gives the Commune
Council the right to establish committees to assist in the work of commune
development. They are not obliged to but they have the opportunity to. When
we look at the role of the Commune Council in managing local development
there will be over time more and more functions and activities for them to
carry out. Ideally, the Commune Councils should ensure coordination of the
various structures of civil society that exist within the commune for
development purposes. This includes such things as Parent Teacher
Associations, Health Center Management Committees, Temple Committees,
Farmer Associations and whatever project committees have been established
to support work in the commune. Good governance and good management at
commune level is not about Commune Councils taking over all of the work of
the commune it is about providing direction through planning and
coordination for implementation. As such, the ideal picture of a
functioning commune in the future is one where a variety of civil society
organizations are working in harmony towards common development objectives
in the commune. This would maximize the number of people involved in
development and better ensure that the overall work is distributed across
the commune not just limited to a few people on the Council. If
we agree that this is a good scenario then we must ask ourselves what can
be done to better ensure that this happens. Commune Councils are not
forced to operate this way but through training and interaction they can
learn that this type of inclusive management approach will produce the
best results for the commune and ultimately will lead to the Commune
Councils being appreciated by the commune population. After
the commune elections there will be more than 1,600 Commune or Sangkat
Councils with over 10,000 elected councilors. All of them will be new to
the job and most of the functions will be new as well. Whatever feelings
we have about the election process, I believe it will be important for the
country and for the people of this country that a best effort is made to
make this new policy direction work and to assist the Commune Councils to
function. Some of the Councils and the Council members will rise to the
occasion and do a good job and some of them will not. This is the same in
any country. From our experience with SEILA we have seen many examples of
people who are committed to doing a good job and with training and support
begin to function well on Commune Development Committees. I believe we
will see the same with the Commune Councils. What is clear is that the
Councils will most likely not be able to function without support and
assistance and that includes support from Government and support from
agencies and NGOs. This is an exciting new opportunity for development,
democracy and governance in Cambodia and success will be determined by the
extent of the assistance provided to the new Commune Councils. In that
regard he believed that the role of NGOs will be crucial. A
wide variety of management training is needed for Commune Councils to
build their capacity to manage in an effective manner. While the
government is expected to provide a good deal of this they will greatly
benefit from assistance from NGOs. The type of training that CIHR is
carrying out on human rights, good governance principles and democracy
represent an excellent beginning point for basic principles to be
established. Then more specific training in such things as financial
management and administration to selected Commune Council members such as
Silaka provides would be useful. Training in planning systems is another
area that NGOs could provide great service. If
the idea of a subcommittee under the Commune Council to better ensure
participatory approaches and involvement of villages is seen positively
this would be a natural area for NGO support as it would be an extension
of the support that many are currently providing to VDCs. With half of
these people being village women representatives, training for women so
that they can better assume their responsibilities would be useful as
well. Many
approaches by NGOs would be useful to better ensure that the Commune
Councils develop good relations with other structures of civil society in
the commune such as parent teacher associations, farmer groups and temple
committees. For
agencies working in villages within the commune, discussing and reaching
agreement on project activities and the role of project committees within
the villages will be important so that the role of the elected Commune
Council is recognized and their support offered to work being carried out
by existing associations within the commune.
The
extent to which NGOs may want to channel resources through the Commune
Councils will depend on each agency but if systems and accountability are
developed by the Councils then doing so will also strengthen the concept
of local government and local ownership. The
dissemination of information to the population will continue to be
important long after the election so that villagers will develop an
awareness of what the Commune Council is meant to do and what they are
doing to promote development and the principle of the Council being
accountable to the people who elected them. NGOs can be very helpful in
this regard. The
establishment of local development forums at provincial level and the
active participation of NGOs with the provincial authorities in
discussing, monitoring and evaluating progress will also be very useful.
These forums have been operating in the SEILA provinces for several years
and I believe provide a good opportunity for problems and solutions to be
discussed between NGOs and government. When the Councils are elected,
these forums would offer a good opportunity for dialogue on support to
Commune Councils. Thank you.
Mr.
Russell commented that it had originally been intended to have small group
discussions at this point in the workshop.
As the number of participants is too many to break into small
groups, a different process to discuss the issues and to gather people's
opinions will be used led by Mr. Khoun Bunny in the next session. Mr.
Russell invited the participants to first take a look at some of the
background materials in the folders.
(See Appendices 5, 6 and 7). 1)
The NGO Statement to the 2000 Consultative Group
Meeting, held in
Paris last May, contains a section on "Commune Administration and
Decentralization" and a section on "Commune Elections."
The former was prepared by NGO Forum together with NGOs involved in
community development work. The
latter was based on the concerns raised by election monitor groups and
other NGOs concerned about the election process.
Together, they summarise many of the concerns about the policy
framework for decentralization raised by NGOs to date. 2)
"The Potential NGO Sector Role" is discussed in the draft
report of the formulation mission for the SEILA Decentralization Support
Programme. The report states
that NGOs' involvement is essential to the success of an effective
decentralization program, especially the creation of effective
"downward accountability" from commune councils to villagers. 3)
The "Note on the Engagement of NGOs/Civil Society
Organisations with Decentralisation Reforms" was drafted by a
consultant working with an international aid agency, and made available
for the NGO Forum to use at this workshop.
With reference to the two documents mentioned above, it explains
the need for NGO involvement in the decentralisation process, some of the
obstacles to NGO involvement, and how these obstacles can be minimised.
In particular, obstacles to involvement could be minimised by:
"The
NGO community thus has the potential to take up at least four roles in the
decentralisation process: 1. | ||||||||||||||||