Context
In Cambodia, the political, administrative and financial power of the state is largely in the hands of the central government. Structures and procedures do not fulfil the requirements of a democratic, development-oriented state.
Local self-government is still in the early stages of development and the elected sub-national councils still lack the expertise and financial resources required to shape policies in their areas of responsibility. There are no clear, efficient and transparent processes to enable civil servants to fulfil their tasks. Their work conditions are unsatisfactory and they have virtually no incentive to carry out their tasks in a citizen-centred and efficient manner.
Objective
National and sub-national government bodies in Cambodia fulfil their tasks in relation to the country’s citizens more efficiently, transparently and responsibly.
Approach
The project advises the Secretariat of the National Committee for Sub-national Democratic Development (NCCD) on fine-tuning and implementing its decentralisation reform. The reform focuses on democratic accountability and on creating scope for the elected community, district, municipal and provincial councils to take action. This can be done by transferring sectoral tasks from the central to the sub-national level and by equipping the councils with their own financial resources as well as with the expertise to successfully execute their overall mandates.
The project supports elected sub-national councils in shaping policies in their areas of responsibility, in managing and monitoring their administration, and in involving the population in decision-making processes. The targeted promotion of female council members helps them to articulate and act on their interests more effectively and therefore to exert greater influence. The measures are being developed and tested in cooperation with the NCDD Secretariat in two provinces. The partner will subsequently be supported in disseminating the tested approaches throughout the country. For this purpose, the successfully tested approaches will be documented in a manual for the councils, which will in turn be advised on how to apply them through a coaching programme devised as part of the project.
With regard to administrative reform, the project supports the Ministry of Civil Service in improving human resource (HR) management within the civil service. By gradually introducing better instruments for modern HR management, particularly at sub-national level, the selection of government employees will be improved and HR management will be more motivated and results-oriented.
Those aspects of the project promoting decentralisation have been co-financed by the European Union and the Government of Sweden since 2010.
Results achieved so far
The project activities help make the public sector and its services more transparent, responsible and inclusive. With its flexible, learning-oriented approach, the project supports the stages of reform towards greater citizen-orientation and democracy.
Thanks to project support, government agencies and non-governmental organisations have developed a deeper understanding of democratic decentralisation. The action plan of the national reform programme now includes procedures for strengthening democratic accountability. Although the sub-national councils are still too limited in what they can do, the first election period has seen a visible improvement in their decision-making skills and ability to supervise local administration. Above all, the self-confidence of the female council members in the partner provinces has been considerably boosted and their skills in communicating their needs have been strengthened.
The Ministry of Civil Service is implementing a salary reform and gradually improving HR management. This is not only making the civil service more performance-oriented but is also increasing job satisfaction.
A manual and a database, developed with the support of the project, explain the laws governing HR management within the civil service. This has increased transparency and legal security and has helped to create a better basis for making decisions on further reform.