Provincial workers load district data books on their pick-up trucks to take to provinces.

They could be called one-stop-shop books. In them, one can look up a variety of information such as road distance from a district office to its nearest commune, how many families in one district have access to toilets, the number of women who have suffered from domestic violence or the percentage of villagers using chemical pesticide on farms. The list goes on.

 

These new provincial district data books have been produced by the National Committee on Sub-national Democratic Development, or NCDD, to assist policy-makers and development planners in carrying out democratic reform at the local level in the Kingdom of Cambodia.

The books have been distributed to all 185 provincial districts after they were unveiled on 3 February. At the launching ceremony, H.E. Sar Kheng, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, described them as a significant tool for decision making and for more concrete development planning.

The data books hold a comprehensive set of information on demography, natural resources, poverty, infrastructure, economy, education, development plans and projects, and existing services and organizations in the districts and provinces. They also contain local maps.

“It is the first time in Cambodia that such detailed data has been compiled for use as broadly as possible,” H.E. Sar Kheng said.

The Cambodian government has, in recent years, taken a series of crucial steps in implementing democratic reform at the local level through decentralization and deconcentration. Those steps include the enactment of the Law on Commune/Sangkat Administration and Management, two Commune/Sangkat elections since 2002, the adoption of Organic Law which provides a framework for administrative management of capital, provinces, municipalities, districts and Khans. In May 2009, Cambodia held the first indirect election to choose provincial and district/khan councils.

As it pushes ahead with the reform, the government faces a growing need for information – which to date is only available through scattered sources – about the country’s 185 districts, 23 Provinces and Phnom Penh capital. Trying to address the challenge, in 2009 the NCDD, began compiling the data books with support from UNDP.

For some officials, who were among the first to have their hands on the books at the launching, it was a bit early for them to digest the information. But they said the significance of the books could not be simplified.

“They are certainly very useful. For example, if we do not know how many women or children are living under our jurisdiction, how can we do the proper planning to respond to their needs? Having budget is only one part of the job,” H.E. Kep Chutema, governor of Phnom Penh, explained.

The data books are compiled from the commune data base of all 1,621 communes, Ministries of Health, Education and Land Management, and several other projects funded by different development partners of Cambodia. They provide an important tool for setting baselines for planning, defining priorities and monitoring, and in drawing lessons from the sub-national level.

They have been printed in 9,250 copies in Khmer for Cambodian officials, accompanied by 7,400 copies in English to be used by research institutes, non-governmental organisations and development partners working in Cambodia as well as the media.

Training of Trainers has been held for several local officials on how to use the data and more will be conducted in the future to help others to increase their understanding of the information and how to use them for development planning.

H.E. Sar Kheng urged local officials to make the best use of the data for defining strategies and planning for delivering development services in their communities “sustainably and equitably.”

Aside from the hard copies the books will also be available upon request from the NCDD and on its website (www.ncdd.gov.kh).