Speech by Country Director Elena Tischenko at launch of human capital study

Remarks by Elena Tischenko, UNDP Cambodia Country Director

On the occasion of the launch of
Human Capital Implications of Future Economic Growth in Cambodia:
Elements of a Suggested Roadmap

12 August 2011
 

Excellency Ros Seilava, Deputy Secretary General, Supreme National Economic Council
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to warmly welcome you to this meeting and discussion about the findings and recommendations of the report about The Human Capital Implications of Future Economic Growth in Cambodia. The report represents the collaborative efforts of the Supreme National Economic Council and UNDP. The purpose of the study was to assess Cambodia’s current educational supply and future demands for human capital as the country pursues economic diversification to achieve sustained and resilient growth.

This analysis that we have before us today, builds on the discussions about economic diversification in the context of the global economic downturn, reflects on the observations from the Cambodia Country Competitiveness report and is informed by the policy dialogue held at the Third and, most recently, at the Fourth Cambodia Economic Forums in February this year. In addition, Report benefit from wide range of consultations with government officials, academia, NGOs, research institutions and development partners, who all attach high importance to the area of human resource development to underpin Cambodia’s equitable and successful growth. Today we gathered here to reflect on the human resource implications of future growth in Cambodia and discuss the steps that could roadmap a human capital development strategy to support such growth and maximize the opportunities that will come with it.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

What will the regional and global economies look like in five years? In ten years?

We don’t have the full answer to that, but we do know that Cambodia’s future development will depend on a pool of skilled and competent human resources who can drive the transformation further through diversification and expansion of its current growth base. Gaps in education, training and skill development have become a major constraint to Cambodia’s economic development, economic diversification and poverty reduction. Planning for the future human resource needs of Cambodia’s growing sectors should guide systematic and coordinated efforts of government and educational institutions, private sector and other partners to produce the quantity and quality of skills that will be needed, and align them with short- , medium- and longer-term priorities of country development.  

There is no doubt that human capital and knowledge will hold the key to achieving sustainable growth and taking Cambodia’s development to a higher stage. The policy agenda laid out at the 4th Cambodia’s Economic Forum earlier this year aims to capture more value-added from the existing core sectors, upgrade the emerging industries that have growth potential and identify areas of latent comparative advantage. In order to succeed, this ambitious agenda will need to involve a sustained programme of skills upgrading and higher education reform. There are significant gaps between the demands of the sectors and available skills, and the existing educational institutions and curricula are often unresponsive to the evolving needs in human resources in public and private sectors. Coordinated response to these challenges has to span through a continuum of preventing high drop-out rates in school, addressing the mismatch between education and skills supply and demand in the labour market, and knowledge exchange with neighbour countries on the improvement of educational quality and attendance rates. In other words, there is a need for a human capital development road-map to align with and satisfy the needs of Cambodia’s development and growth agenda.

The recommendations for a Roadmap that we will be discussing today deal with short-, medium-term and longer-term elements of the Human Capital Development strategy. As such it looks into addressing a range of needs, from immediate priorities needs, such as filling the skills gaps and improving vocational training to longer-term objectives of reform in higher education system, increased access to all levels of education and life-long learning. These recommendations can be found in an annex in the back of the book. More importantly, many more insights and recommendations will hopefully be produced in the months to come as the road-mapping process will be going forward.  

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

The continuing effort towards preparation and implementation of the Human Capital Development Roadmap represents the ongoing commitment of the Royal Government to ensure that human capital priorities are set forth and aligned with the country’s development agenda for diversified, equitable and resilient growth.  As Cambodia moves forward on its path of further development and economic diversification, the Human Capital Roadmap, and the momentum that it will hopefully create, will help prepare the workforce and educational capital to support this progress. The road-mapping and planning process will require a new level of coordination and cooperation across ministries, with research and academic institutions, civil society and private sector, and with development partners.

We hope that today’s discussion of the Human Capital Report will help catalyse and energize the development of an integrated Roadmap and practical, implementable approaches to its implementation.
 
I wish all the participants every success in this important initiative and look forward to interesting discussions today.

Thank you.