Local Administration and Reform Program

Duration

October 2005 – October 2010

Donors

USAID

Overview

Cambodia’s decentralization process commenced in 2001 with the enactment of laws on commune administration, management, and elections.   With the commune council elections in February 2002, Cambodia took a bold step towards deepening democracy. 1,621 councils were elected, resulting in 11,261 councilors taking office and assuming responsibilities for local governance and local development. 

Since the elections, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC), in partnership with both the donor community and civil society, has made substantial progress in pursuing democratic local governance through decentralization and deconcentration (D&D) reform, providing the Cambodian people with greater opportunities to influence the decisions that affect their lives.

There continues to be a need for increased citizen participation in council activities beyond commune planning and for the development of additional transparency and accountability mechanisms in line with the RGC’s rectangular strategy. Inadequate budgetary resources, limited staff capacity, and lack of decision making authority remain major challenges.

The Local Administration and Reform Program (LAAR) will take a multi-dimensional approach to addressing these needs.  It is designed to build on and enhance existing programs in decentralization, with attention to good governance, under-represented populations and natural resource management (NRM) woven throughout.

Goal

Institutionalize participatory democratic practices within local (referred to as sub-national) government and activate sustainable links between commune councils, civil society, and national level government that positively impact D&D reform.

Objectives

• Increased citizen acceptance of and participation in the D&D reform process at the sub-national level in 500 communes covering ten provinces and municipalities.

• Increased partnerships between commune councils and civil society that can effectively respond to citizen expectations and priorities.

• Increased citizen and sub-national level knowledge of and influence on national D&D and local policy implementation.

Program Components

• Capacity Building and Support - LAAR will deliver an intensive capacity building program for both civil society organizations and commune councils focused on 1) increasing public participation and decision-making in council affairs and 2) improving transparent and accountable management of council funds. This training curriculum will be delivered by provincial NGO (PNGO) partners and other civil society partners, who will also be responsible for ongoing coaching and mentoring of training participants to help them reach program objectives. Civil society organizations, in collaboration with Commune Councils and government facilitation teams will develop joint action plans to encourage the practical application of skills acquired.

• Social Development Funds - The LAAR program will provide Social Development Funds (SDF) in the form of grants as an incentive for councils to incorporate socially-focused investments into commune planning. Each targeted commune will have access to US$3-5,000 for up to three consecutive years. Funded priorities must be identified through the government-established CIP process and follow the existing government bidding process for procurement of services.  Matching funds will be required from communes to increase ownership and sustainability of the projects.

• Grant Support - The LAAR program will offer one-time grants of up to US$5,000 to innovative commune councils, local NGOs, CBOs and village networks to support projects that aim to increase citizen involvement and that focus on cross-cutting issues of good governance, under-represented groups and NRM. Civil society initiatives must demonstrate strong partnership links to commune councils to be eligible for funds. 

• Transparency and Accountability - The Program will increase transparency and accountability at the sub-national level by employing a Commune Council Performance Assessment (CCPA) process, currently being developed by the Working Group for Partnerships in Decentralization, that includes a citizen evaluation survey and commune council self-assessment. The outputs of these two tools will result in a public annual performance improvement plan for each commune. Additionally, LAAR will require annual external spot audits of commune councils to foster an environment of open fiscal disclosure.

• Dialogue and Awareness - The LAAR program will support mechanisms to increase the flow of information between government and civil society and will work to strengthen civil society and commune council networks, increasing their credibility and legitimacy to play a more active role in D&D reform. These mechanisms include provincial-level, thematic public forums, D&D working groups, inter-commune associations, the NGO Liaison Office, and regional decentralization associations.

• Outreach -  LAAR will also implement an integrated media strategy to raise awareness around partnership best practices, citizen participation in commune activities; citizen and council rights, and D&D policy initiatives. 

Subgrants

Please see the Subgrants page.