NGOs cooperate across sectors to influence government and donors’ policy and practices so that they benefit poor and vulnerable groups.

Coordinating and facilitating NGO dialogue with multilateral development banks, donors and government on development issues is one of NGO Forum’s most important roles. The NGO Forum is often the first port of call for donor agencies, consultants and government officials wishing to receive policy input from NGOs. NGO Forum maintains relations with a variety of NGOs and NGO sectoral groups, including many outside the formal membership of NGO Forum, in order to facilitate multi-sectoral input to development policy dialogue. Throughout the period 2002 to 2005, the NGO Forum coordinated NGO input to the National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NPRS), facilitated NGO monitoring of the NPRS, and helped coordinate input to the Consultative Group (CG) meeting. In 2005, NGO Forum coordinated input from other NGO sectoral groups and produced quarterly NGO statements on the monitoring of CG indicators. The statements were taken seriously by the government and donors and had a positive impact. In 2005, the NGO Forum also coordinated NGO input to the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) 2006-2010, Cambodia’s new planning document under the PRSP (Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper) framework. These activities will now be continued and strengthened through the Development Policy Project, so as to ensure NGOs from all relevant sectors can contribute to policy debates in a meaningful and coordinated way.

In Cambodia, there are a variety of NGO sectoral groups representing NGO views in sectors such as health, education, natural resource management and human rights. These sectoral groups need to be able to speak with one voice in multi-sectoral development dialogues. Working together is a necessary prerequisite for influencing government and donor policies in the interests of poor and vulnerable groups. Providing multi-sectoral input to monitoring of the National Strategic Development Plan, to the annual Consultative Group (CG) meetings and to monitoring of the CG indicators requires a coordinated approach, backed by additional information gathering and support.