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Executive Summary

The NGO community appreciates the work undertaken by the RGC in developing the NPRS, and welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the first annual review of implementation.  The NGO community wishes to reiterate its support for the government’s implementation of the NPRS.  NGOs also wish to continue to work with the RGC and donors to further develop, implement and monitor the outcomes of the NPRS in achieving a real impact in poverty alleviation.

NGOs have been pleased to see dedicated people in government willing to put considerable effort into the NPRS document and the subsequent Progress Report, as well as willing to accept input from NGOs.  The NPRS has led to more sharing of plans between government ministries and with NGOs and, as such, is seen as a positive step forward. 

At the same time, the NPRS process has placed strains on limited capacity and led to some duplication of existing reporting and planning processes.  Ownership of the NPRS, both the document and the process, appears to reside in a small group of government officials.  As an externally imposed system of planning and reporting, the NPRS process appears more as a process of reporting to donors than a system of national planning.  NGOs call on government to define the planning process that best suits the Cambodian institutional and cultural context.  Existing planning processes need to be analysed to identify constraints and solutions.  Donors need to adjust their expectations to allow a Cambodian-led evolution of the planning process.  The RGC needs to lead the process of prioritising the many projects described in the NPRS, in discussion with civil society and with donor technical support. 

While encouraging the government to be in the “drivers seat”, donors have an important role in contributing to a long-term vision for Cambodia’s development.  Central to this vision must be the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.  Donors need to consider the level of external resources that will be needed to achieve this vision, and make a ten-year commitment to providing the level of assistance required.  This long-term commitment needs to be conditional on the RGC taking the necessary steps to efficiently utilise both external funding and its own resources.  Aid needs to be properly sequenced to respond realistically to capacity constraints.  Effective reforms in governance, administrative reform, judicial reform and strong anti-corruption measures are necessary prerequisites for effective aid delivery in many sectors.  Realistic benchmarks need to be set and agreed among all donors, the benchmarks need to be effectively monitored, and the implications of not reaching the benchmarks should be made clear.

The NGO community welcomes its inclusion in the process of contributing to the NPRS and assessment of its progress. It strives to engage in this process in a positive manner offering a pro-poor, experience-led contribution both to debates surrounding poverty reduction and through its own poverty reduction activities.   The question of wider civil society involvement in the NPRS process is difficult, since there has been less progress in this area.  More connections could be made between national planning processes and the decentralized local decision-making process to ensure bottom-up flow of information. 

The NGO community once again calls for a comprehensive poverty and social impact analysis of fiscal, monetary and trade policies in order that the policy instruments that will most effectively target the poor are embraced.  The NGO community encourages the RGC to continue to reform the budget disbursal system and strengthen internal and external systems of control over budgets, for example through an effective audit system, increased transparency, and strengthened institutional capacity.  Financial resources need to be provided to the ministries without political bias.

Every effort must be made to reschedule the debts owed to the United States and Russia.  The United States could consider some level of debt forgiveness as part of their aid to Cambodia.  The National Assembly should debate the level of loans to be accepted from international financial institutions, taking into consideration both the country’s needs and its capacity to effectively absorb aid, in order to limit the level of debt repayments in future budgets.

Whilst NGOs agree with many aspects of government strategy, there are a few areas where NGOs believe re-thinking of strategy may be beneficial.  This stems from the fact that various vulnerable groups within Cambodian society may become worse off as a result of rapid economic development unless their needs are sufficiently accounted for:

Finally, the significance of a stable political situation cannot be underestimated in ensuring economic stability, progress in reforms, and a reduction in poverty. The Cambodian people carried out their civic responsibilities in casting their votes in large numbers at the general election on 27th July 2003. It is now up to politicians to act responsibly in forming a new government and National Assembly under the Constitution and in developing a political agenda which will benefit all Cambodians.

Ultimately, the value of the NPRS lies in its implementation rather than in the document itself. The poor in Cambodia need to see real improvements in their lives as a result of development projects.  All stakeholders have a clear responsibility to work together to ensure that pro-poor sustainable development can be achieved.

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