Concluding remarks by UNDP Country Director Elena Tischenko at Local Development Forum

Concluding Remarks by Elena Tischenko
UNDP Country Director

Cambodia Local Development Forum
1 July 2010, InterContinental Hotel

Excellency Sak Setha, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Interior and Head of the National Committee for Sub-national Democratic Development (NCDD) Secretariat

Excellency Hang Chuon Naron, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and Permanent Vice-Chairman, Supreme National Economic Council. Congratulations Excellency on your new appointment!

Excellency Pan Sorasak Secretary of  State, Ministry of Commerce

Excellency Mey Kalyan, Council of Ministers,

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

I have an honor and privilege to offer some closing remarks at this important event. Today’s event in some ways opens a new chapter in a vivid policy discourse about decentralization and local governance by bringing to its fore the focus on local development.

Allow me to begin by thanking presenters and participants for making this forum such a rich and insightful meeting. We have heard the perspectives of different stakeholders this morning, which helps us to piece together a fuller picture of local development needs, opportunities and potential actions across the country.

I would also like to commend UNCDF and the outstanding team of contributors  to the Report for  excellent and comprehensive analysis of local development trends in Cambodia. The Local Development Outlook argues that local development approach is needed if we are to effectively address the country’s development challenges – the approach that would allow to better target growing regional disparities and address local needs. This vision is also shared by UNDP.

This morning’s speakers have focused on the importance of taking a regional – or even deeper – a district or commune level approach to local development in Cambodia. The needs of people living under the poverty line in Phnom Penh are different from  those of coffee farmers in Ratanakiri and from the needs of people in Malai district that H.E. Dr. Naron outlined in his presentation with so much depth.

Report shows that while development needs are locally specific, they are also often cross-sectoral. So the familiar way of taking a projectised approach, based on individual sectors such as agriculture, energy and so on, has limitations when it comes to addressing cross-sectoral issues such as rural development, urban development or cross-border development.

As our distinguished speaker Prof. Leonardo Romeo emphasized in his speech, application of the local development approach requires that all key actors -– the government,  private sector, financial institutions,  civil society and development partners – work together. It is heartening to have with us today a representative from the financial institution, Mr. In Channy, the President and CEO of Acleda Bank and listen to the perspective that he shared.

In the context of Cambodia, it is important that such multi-stakeholder approach could build on our earlier decentralization efforts in order to further strengthen local systems of governance and ensure that they are supported by the right policies and informed by up to date, disaggregated data from the local level. Taken together, these essential ingredients will ensure that specific regional needs are identified and addressed.

Our speakers stressed that successful local development depends on the availability of credible, disaggregated  data, as well as on strong political will and commitment both from local governments and communities. It was very useful and enlightening today to hear the perspective shared by Mr. Say Kosal, the President of the National League of Communes/Sangkats. We heard that local development approach requires enhancing local-level capacities to handle data collection and carry out analysis, planning and budgeting, as well as monitoring and adjusting of the response, and to use for that purpose standard procedures, protocols, guidelines and other normative instruments. In this way, these processes need to become more closely linked to  national and sub-national processes, as H.E. Mey Kalyan of the Council of Ministers stressed in his presentation.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

As H.E. Sak Setha, the Head of NCDD Secretariat, stated in his speech this morning, Cambodia is presently at a crucial juncture of getting ready to embark on the implementation of the National Programme on Sub-National Democratic Development and its three-year Implementation Plan. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Royal Government of Cambodia and in particular NCDD and H.E. Sak Setha with the approval of the Programme and with this truly remarkable achievement.

The National Programme provides a very important context and space in which we can see the local development needs, as well as opportunities, with more focus, precision, evidence and prioritization.

When designing local development approaches, we can learn from experience of other countries, including neighbours in the region. David Jackson from UNCEF Regional Office has shared with us some statistics in his presentation. There are interesting practices underway and emerging in the region that can be of relevance to Cambodia, going forward. Among them, for examples, are the experiences from India or Indonesia of using localized Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Human Development Index (HDI), and instruments based on these frameworks, for generating locally-relevant, trackable data and using them for policy planning, better targeting of resources and monitoring development performance. Such approaches recognize that development targets differ from one province or district to another, and show in practice that tailoring the local policy to locally identified needs does help to address them more effectively and reduce regional disparities.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

As was mentioned by many speakers today,  enhancing local development requires balanced participation of a number of key entities: the government, private sector, development partners and civil society. The government has a role to play  in creating the right political and legal environment to ensure synchronisation and coordination among the different levels of government. This means ensuring there are appropriate and effective systems in place to foster local development. The private sector has a role to play in creating jobs, generating income and supporting initiatives such as micro-financing. Development partners and civil society play a role in enabling social, political, and economic interactions among the various constituencies.

UNDP and UNCDF have been closely involved in the country’s decentralization reforms for many years, starting from  helping to reestablish basic infrastructure and services for repatriated refugees following the country’s first democratic election in 1993 and then supporting the drafting and implementation of the Organic Law, which shifts much decision making and accountability to the new sub-national levels of government.

It is now time for a more deliberate, strategic focus on local development, within the context of D & D reform and  building  on the gains made in the reform to date. Further D and D reforms aim to provide the governance infrastructure that allows for an efficient and effective distribution of responsibilities and resources across government. Alongside it,  there is also a need to address the country’s local development challenges in an integrated, strategic manner as both Stephane Guimbert and Nicola Crosta stressed in their presentations.  As outlined by Nicola Crosta , this strategic approach needs to be in the form of a policy that covers key dimensions of rural, urban and cross-border development. Like good practices from many countries show, an explicit policy for local development could complement the existing National Strategic Development Plan, help ‘localize’ MDG targets and provide vision and guidance for sub-national planning. There should also be a clear role for development partners to support the design and implementation of this policy, through capacity development, technical expertise and facilitating South-South cooperation between developing countries to share knowledge and learn from others’ experiences.

UNDP stands committed to working with the government to move in this new direction. Finally, it is also important that we view today’s event not as an isolated activity, but as one step in the process that will lead to sustainable local development that makes the most of Cambodia’s local potential and minimizes regional disparities.

Finally, allow me to take this opportunity to extend my sincere thanks to our distinguished presenters and panelists for thoughtful and illuminating presentations. I would also like to thank the Chairs of our sessions for effective moderation and summarizing key points and forward-looking issues, which made my role so much easier. Allow me also to thank all the participants for their interest and being part of this event today. As we consider today’s event as a step in the process and a part of broader local governance reform effort, we hope that momentum and energies created by this forum will be sustained and carried forward.

Thank you.