Decentralization

35381 Public Disclosure Authorized Volume 4, Number 1 January 2006 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Social Development Team Visits Cambodia World Bank Social Development team munity empowerment. Brown, Senior Social Development Spe- Aled by Cyprian Fisiy, Social Develop- The team was accompanied in Cam- cialist, Bhuvan Bhatnagar, Senior Social ment Sector Manager, has visited Cambo- bodia by Nisha Agrawal, World Bank Scientist, Nil Vanna, Social Development dia to learn about social issues and com- Cambodia Country Manager, Gillian Specialist, Heang Path, Justice for the Poor Program Officer, and Bou Saroeun, Com- munications Specialist. During a ten-day mission in Cambo- Public Disclosure Authorized dia, the team met villagers, commune council members, district and provincial au- thorities, government officials, NGOs, donors, private sectors and community- based organizations, in Phnom Penh, Kampong Thom and Siem Reap provinces, to learn how they are working to improve social accountability and give a voice to the people. The team looked at several areas such as access to information, mediation insti- tutions and organizational arrangements, enhancing local governance and justice Public Disclosure Authorized for the poor at the local level, improving service delivery and sustainable management of common resources for the poor. World Bank newsletter has opportunity to interview Mr. Pellini (please see Villagers discuss with the social accountability team how to give more voice to the people page 1) and Mr. Fisiy (please see page3). Decentralization: letting people make their own decisions hile the World Bank Social Development team was visiting WKampong Thom province, the World Bank newsletter had an opportunity to interview Mr. Arnaldo Pellini, Adviser to GTZ, the German technical cooperation organization, who is working on civil society and local governance issues, and on a community-based rural Public Disclosure Authorized development project. Q. Could you tell us briefly about your in four districts in Kampong Thom - work here? Santuk, Stung Sen, Prasat Balang and Stoung - to support decentralization A. The community-based rural devel- management, local governance, agricul- opment project is a joint project funded by ture, natural resource management, eco- the International Federation for Agriculture nomic promotion, and infrastructure im- Development and GTZ under the direction provement. of the Ministry of Rural Development in two provinces: Kampot and Kampong Q. In terms of decentralization, have Thom. This program is being implemented See DECENTRALIZATION page 2 Arnaldo Pellini, Adviser to GTZ 2 The World Bank Newsletter January 2006 Phy Ny (feeding her baby) was sitting behind her son who was enjoying pre-school supported by UNICEF under a big mango tree in Seri Reach village, Trapang Russey commune, Kampong Svay district, Kampong Thom province. Decentralization ... continued from page 1 and with their annual planning because Cambodians as a whole about how to you seen any changes during your four they feel that their participation is im- improve the decentralization process? years working here? portant and helps the commune do its A. I think the decentralization process work better. as far as I could see in Kampong Thom A. The commune elections in 2002 very much relates to local governance and brought major change at the local level, in Q. You are talking about decentrali- management of local development. The terms of the opportunity for people in de- zation. How important is decentraliza- recommendation I would give is to try as cision making and the opportunity to de- tion in helping to develop the country? much as possible from the central level as cide what kind of projects they need and well as the local level to build up the trust want in their villages. My experience is A. The most important thing, I be- between citizens and the government. that the cooperation between commune lieve, is to allow people to participate in And this could be done if the decisions council and people is positive. I feel most making decisions about what they need can be taken together and the priorities of the time that there is a positive attitude and what they think are their priorities. be decided together and also implemented between people and commune councils, Before the commune council elections together, even though projects are small. which can provide for rural development. the institutional structure in Cambodia Everybody takes on responsibility for Soon we should see concrete benefits for was top down. So everything was de- what should work. I think this is a basic the people, who will see that their partici- cided at the central level and delivered change for Cambodia. Concrete examples pation is meaningful, such as in the areas to the local level. This vertical structure may be capacity building for communes of poverty reduction, livelihood improve- has existed for a very long time in Cam- and villages; and the establishment of net- ment and better basic services delivery. bodia and the people were rarely allowed works at the village level, or existing to participate. Now this has changed. groups or individuals, to participate in Another change I would like to share People are able to make decisions about commune council activities and bring up is that Village Networks were formed to what they need, for example, water wells, the issues important for the local commu- help link people with the commune coun- culverts, bridges, schools, or roads. To nity. This is what we try to do in Kampong cils. We have achieved some results. For improve this, I think now is the time to Thom and Kampot. example, some Commune chiefs in Santuk make this change become the reality. For more information contact: and Stung Sen districts have expressed Mr. Heang Path willingness to support people and Village Q. Do you have any recommendation Program Officer Network participation in their meetings to the Cambodian government and to Email: [email protected] January 2006 The World Bank Newsletter 3 Promoting Citizens as Partners for Better Governance nhancing social accountability by supporting E decentralization and promoting citizens as partners for better governance is one of the four objectives of the World Bank Country Assistance Strategy. The World Bank Newsletter had an opportunity to interview Cyprian Fisiy, Social Development Sector Manager, about his work on social accountability and community empowerment. Q. What is the meaning of social ac- gram and law, and to see to what countability and community empower- extent they going to improve ment for the World Bank? the way of development which is being done by this country. A. Let me tell you where we are com- The Minister of Interior is pre- ing from in terms of social accountability paring a framework of decen- and community empowerment. When we tralization of the organic law. are investing in a given country, we want So we look at how to contrib- to show that the investment has positive ute to this process and to see impacts, particularly on the lives of the to what extent we can engage poor. So, for our purpose we are looking with the government. We also at enabling the environment for those in- look at the engagement and the Cyprian Fisiy, Social Development Sector Manager vestments and assessing to what extent relationship between the villag- those investments are going to enhance ers and the commune council to find out to access other resources either in the mar- the livelihood of the poor. what they need and what is happening: ket or elsewhere. We are looking at the different levels what the nature of the engagement is and of engagement. First is the policy level. what commitment they have for local gov- Third, there are a lot of activities that We are looking at the law and enabling ernance. have been done by NGOs in different set- environment for citizens who have access tings. But these activities are not scaled- to information, and we asked a question: Q. What were the findings? up. Part of our challenges is to scale-up How do they access information? How do these activities. We build what is impor- they use this information to make their A. There are some very important find- tant as we move forward. choices and how do they use that infor- ings. The first is the broad openness to the Four, lack of market access. Even mation to be able to engage with the gov- fact that the government made the request though the citizens produce a lot of prod- ucts and activities in the village, there is I think that in the first place we need to get some clarity that we are no link to national markets. And not all on the same page – what we mean by social accountability. To enough is being sold in the local markets. So we are asking why it is that in a do this, we need to engage the Government. It calls for a system country where most people are living in where you get citizens to work closely with the Government to rural areas there is hardly any access to request better services, to ensure access to those services and also the market. the quality of services. Cyprian Fisiy Q. What is the Bank going to do with its findings? ernment, and to ensure that they have to help them to frame the NGO law, the law adequate services. So when we talk about on association and then we are going to A. The Bank is going to engage at social accountability, we are trying to see work with the government to see to what different levels. We work with the gov- how services are delivered to the citizens. extent the framework of the association law ernment and we engage the government When we talk about empowerment it is has been broadly consulted with civil soci- and we will present the final finding to about the citizen’s voice, and those voices ety.

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