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
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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.
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Increased partnerships between commune councils
and civil society that can effectively respond to citizen
expectations and priorities.
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Increased citizen and sub-national level
knowledge of and influence on national D&D and local policy
implementation.
Program Components
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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