NGO Position Papers on Cambodia's Development in 2007-2008 Published and edited by the NGO Forum on Cambodia, November 2008. Information and opinions expressed in this document reflect the position of the individual sectoral or issues paper authors. Contents of this document may be quoted and reproduced for development purposes, but acknowledgement of the publisher and sectoral or issue paper authors would be appreciated. ii NGO Position Papers on Cambodia's Development in 2007-2008 Table of Contents Table of Contents................................................................................................................................................ iii Preface..................................................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................. v Introduction........................................................................................................................................................... vi Acronyms and Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................ vii List of Contributors ........................................................................................................................................... xii Good Governance............................................................................................................................................. 1 Combat Corruption.............................................................................................................................................. 2 Access to Information Policy Framework................................................................................................... 8 Legal and Judicial Framework ...................................................................................................................... 11 Decentralization and Deconcentration Reforms.................................................................................... 17 Environment for the Implementation of the Rectangular Strategy.............................. 20 Election Reform and Democracy ................................................................................................................. 21 Donor Harmonization and Aid Effectiveness .......................................................................................... 24 Rising Food Prices: Impacts – Opportunities – Challenges ............................................................. 28 Enhancement of Agricultural Sector ................................................................................................. 33 Agriculture Development, Irrigation and Water Management........................................................ 34 Fisheries Issues .................................................................................................................................................. 40 Forests, Plantations and Concessions ....................................................................................................... 43 Environmental and Social Impacts of Expansion of the Extractive Industries Sector.......... 54 Land Reform......................................................................................................................................................... 63 Rural Water Supply and Sanitation............................................................................................................ 74 Rehabilitation and Construction of Physical Infrastructure .............................................. 77 Management of Revenues from Oil, Gas and Mining.......................................................................... 78 Hydropower Development.............................................................................................................................. 82 Private Sector Development and Employment........................................................................... 87 Community Finance .......................................................................................................................................... 88 Employment and Working Conditions....................................................................................................... 91 Capacity Building and Human Resource Development.......................................................... 97 Education............................................................................................................................................................... 98 National Youth Policy...................................................................................................................................... 104 Health ................................................................................................................................................................... 108 Gender Equality in Poverty Reduction .................................................................................................... 115 Disability and Development......................................................................................................................... 122 Child Rights ........................................................................................................................................................ 126 Costs, Resources and Programming of the NSDP ................................................................... 130 NSDP Financing ................................................................................................................................................ 131 NSDP Monitoring and Evaluation....................................................................................................... 137 NSDP and Its Implementation.................................................................................................................... 138 iii NGO Position Papers on Cambodia's Development in 2007-2008 Preface NGOs have been active in Cambodia since the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979. Once stability was achieved, from 1992 onwards, international donor-government assistance to support the reconstruction and development of Cambodia was restored. Initially, until 1995, only these organisations contributed to the annual International Committee on the Reconstruction of Cambodia (ICORC) meetings. However, since 1996, NGOs (initially international, but now only local organisations) have participated in the annual Consultative Group meetings that were replaced by meetings of the Cambodia Development Cooperation Forum (CDCF) in 2007. Each year, Cambodian local and international NGOs use this opportunity to present their detailed statements on issues and recommendations for the development of Cambodia as seen from the national and grassroots perspective. This publication is a collation of information from local and international NGOs working in a wide variety of sectors in Cambodia. It presents their observations and recommendations regarding the progress made during 2007 and 2008 in terms of implementation of the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP), achieving the Joint Monitoring Indicators (JMIs) and other development strategies. Building on the day-to-day operations of many of these local and international NGOs working at Cambodia’s grassroots level, these NGOs are able to make genuine observations of the impacts of development and bring the voice of these poor and vulnerable communities to the attention of decision makers. The NGO community would therefore like to show their appreciation of their inclusion in the assessment process by sharing their observations and subsequent recommendations for each associated policy development. The NGO community strives to ensure its inputs are presented in a positive, supportive manner, and would like to incorporate shared ideas which will achieve poverty reduction within their own work agenda. This publication, along with the NGO Statement to the 2008 CDCF, is intended to contribute to this policy dialogue and inform the discussions that will take place during the CDCF to be held in Phnom Penh from 3-5 December 2008. The NGO community in Cambodia hopes that this publication will be used as an important reference tool for all stakeholders, whether they are from NGOs, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC), donors or development agencies, working to reduce poverty in Cambodia. iv NGO Position Papers on Cambodia's Development in 2007-2008 Acknowledgements The NGO sectoral and issues papers were prepared voluntarily by local and international NGOs, their network members and working groups. The development of this work would not be possible without the assistance of numerous individuals and organisations. Information presented in these papers is based on their experiences of development work in Cambodia. Drafting and editing of this publication and the NGO statement to the CDCF was coordinated by the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia (CCC), MEDiCAM, and the NGO Forum on Cambodia (NGOF). The table of List of Contributors below only shows the organisations who took the lead in coordinating, collating and drafting each of the sectoral papers. CCC, MEDiCAM and NGO Forum would like to formally recognise the time, energy and input that was given by all contributors to the development