UNDP interventions at the seminar on the 9th Cambodia Millennium Development Goal

UNDP interventions

Seminar on achievements and challenges in making progress towards Article 5 Extension Request and 9th Millennium Development Goal

11th Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty

29 November 2011

Statement by Ms. Elena Tischenko, Country Director, UNDP Cambodia

Excellency Prum Sophakmonkol,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Participants,

Allow me first to congratulate Cambodia Mine Action Authority for the lead role in the organization of this landmark 11th Meeting of the State Parties here on Cambodian soil and hosted y the Cambodia’s government. We are very pleased also to be part of this seminar today and have this special opportunity to discuss a very impressive progress, as well as the remaining challenges, faced by Cambodia in the mine action sector and in the advancing of Cambodia-specific MDG 9. It is very timely and appropriate indeed that Cambodia can now offer its telling story and share an inspirational example of the national leadership and commitment to mine clearance and turning the land into productive use.

UNDP in Cambodia has had a privilege to work with Cambodian Government in this sector over years, with dedicated and strong support of other development partners, in particular Australia and Canada, who are present here today at this important review and discussion. I will now turn over to Melissa Sabatier Bodewig, UNDP adviser to our collaborative programme in Cambodia, Clearing for Results, to reflect on the experiences, achievements and lessons from the programme as it assist the implementation of Cambodia’s National Mine Action Strategy and acceleration of the MDG 9.

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Statement by Ms. Melissa Sabatier Bodewig, Mine Action Adviser, UNDP Cambodia

Thank you HE for inviting partners and other actors to share their views and perspectives on making progress towards the CMDG 9 and the targets of the Article 5 Extension Request.

Since 2006, UNDP has been supporting the Government of Cambodia in addressing its mine problem through a multi-donor project facility entitled “Clearing for Results”. The project includes developing further the capacity of the Cambodian Mine Action Authority to manage, regulate and coordinate the sector as well as clearing land from mines and ERW for productive use by the poor.

The long standing partnership between the CMAA, UNDP and donors mainly AusAID and Canada has resulted in substantial capacity development gains at CMAA and a better-managed and more coordinated sector. Examples include the clearance of 50 square kilometres in the North Western Provinces of Cambodia which are host to the highest number of casualties and the densest concentration of population. The project also enabled the development of a 10-year Mine Action Strategy, the formulation of an Extension Request of the Article 5 deadline under the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC), the formulation of Partnership Principles with development partners, the training and deployment of a Quality Management capacity, the formulation of tools for mine clearance planning and lastly support to the hosting of this conference.

These achievements demonstrated a certain level of maturity and capacity in the management of the programme which gave enough confidence to the CMAA, UNDP and partners to shift last January the management responsibilities of the then UNDP-led project from UNDP to the CMAA and therefore to promote further Cambodia’s ownership and leadership of the management of the sector and its resources.

The Phase 2 of Clearing for Results (2011-2015) aims to bring the CMAA to a higher level where it can effectively lead the policy and strategic agenda towards greater efficiency gains especially in ensuring that mine clearance resources effectively support the implementation of the National Mine Action Strategy to achieve the goals set by CMDG and the Extension Request.

In particular, the project aims to further promote CMAA’s leadership and ownership in the management of the sector, securing solid management and technical capacity at the CMAA, as well as accelerating the clearance of mine affected land while ensuring that mechanisms to allocate resources promote cost-efficiency, transparency and alignment on development priorities at community level.

UNDP and the CMAA mobilized some USD 24 million for the implementation of the first phase of the project (2006-2010). For the second phase of the project, UNDP and the CMAA have already mobilized some USD 17 million out of a USD 24 million budget from CIDA, AusAID and Dfid. In addition, Clearing for Results has facilitated contributions for donors to channel their support in preparing the 11th MSP to the APMBC.

However, the sector will need more to be done in the coming years for Cambodia to achieve its yearly targets. With the National Mine Action Strategy, the TWG, the Partnership Principles, CMAS and Planning Guidelines, solid foundations are in place for the sector to achieve greater result.

While Cambodia has received substantial amount of support, these contributions do not compare to other countries with similar or even lesser level of contamination such as Afghanistan for example. Some operators have seen their contribution decreasing in the last few years and there is little visibility on financial support in the coming years.

A strong partnership between development partners and Cambodia is therefore key to ensure that adequate resources are allocated to the priorities that unfold from the National Mine Action Strategy and which are further identified by affected communities themselves in accordance with their development priorities. Such partnership should also aim at promoting the ownership of the programme by the Cambodian Government represented by the CMAA to ensure that resources are being spent effectively and that a longer term solution to the problem is in place.

Therefore, UNDP encourages all development partners to sign on the Partnership Principles, so as to strengthening partnerships and increasing the effectiveness of the resources for the implementation of the Mine Action Strategy, and to engage with the CMAA in the design of their programmes and project to ensure that these are aligned to the national and sub-national priorities.

Finally, only due diligence by development partners in observing existing policies and mechanisms for the quality and safety of operations, the planning and prioritization mechanisms including engagement with affected communities will permit a substantial and systematic contribution to the Extension Request and progress towards CMDG 9, and will result in a substantial decrease in the number of casualties as well as a noticeable reduction of the number of areas suspected to contain mine/ERW for a better development result.