Overseas Fieldwork Report 2014: Kampong Speu Province, Cambodia Graduate School of International Development Nagoya University Overseas Fieldwork Report 2014 Kampong Speu Province, Cambodia March 2015 Graduate School of International Development Nagoya University Nagoya, Japan Overseas Fieldwork Report 2014 Kampong Speu Province, Cambodia Copyright © GSID 2014 Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Japan 464-8601 http://www.gsid.nagoya-u.ac.jp/ Introduction The twenty-second Overseas Fieldwork (OFW 2014) of the Graduate School of International Development (GSID), Nagoya University, was carried out in Kampong Speu Province, Cambodia, from August 17 to August 31, 2014. The OFW is an important part of GSID’s curriculum, designed to provide students with exposure to “real world” development issues in rural areas of a developing country and an opportunity to develop field-based research skills in a group setting. Each year, GSID carries out the OFW in a developing country in Asia in cooperation with a GSID local partner university. This year, the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) kindly accepted to host the OFW, adding to the past successful collaborations in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012 and 2013. Building on many years of cherished relationships between the two universities, the OFW 2014 was managed smoothly and it contributed to further strengthening GSID’s ties for academic exchange and collaboration with this prestigious university in Cambodia. Considering the relevance of topics to Kampong Speu’s local developmental context, we divided 25 graduate students into four thematic working groups: Microfinance (WG1), Local Governance (WG2), English Education (WG3), and Community Development (WG4), to study and observe various dimensions of rural development in that area in a holistic manner. Students conducted their research in sangkats and villages of Chbar Mon City, Kampong Speu Province. On August 28, the teams of OFW 2014 visited Chbar Mon City government office and shared their preliminary research findings with local governors and officials. On August 29, before the departure from Phnom Penh, they presented their preliminary research findings at RUPP, to share them with, and receive feedback from, faculty and students of RUPP. Reflecting comments and advice received at the presentation and in the course of their fieldwork, participants tried to elaborate their analysis in the final report. This volume is a collection of the working groups’ reports. i Acknowledgements The committee of OFW 2014 is indebted to many people and institutions both in Cambodia and Japan for the successful completion of this year’s program. Our appreciation must be directed first to the people of the sangkats and villages of Chbar Mon City in Kampong Speu Province. We are especially grateful to local authorities including the deputy provincial governor, H.E. Soeur Soknal, Mayor of Chbar Mon City, Mrs. Pork Setha, village chiefs, staff members of government offices and other relevant organizations for their generous assistance and cordial hospitality. We also would like to express our sincere gratitude to all those who kindly provided us with precious information during interviews. We could not have accomplished the OFW successfully without their kind support. Next, our appreciation goes to faculty and students of the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP). We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the RUPP faculty, Dr. Heng Naret, Mr. Chap Nimol, Dr. No Fata, Dr. Heng Kreng, and Dr. Sok Serey. Participants of the OFW 2014 received tremendous support from them and their students during the field research. This year’s OFW received continuous support from the program on “Training a New Generation of Leaders in International Cooperation for the Development of the ASEAN Region,” which GSID has been implementing under ”the Re-Inventing Japan Project (Support for the Formation of Collaborative Programs with ASEAN Universities: “Campus ASEAN Program”) of Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). As part of this “Campus ASEAN” program, we had a courtesy visit to the Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE) to discuss further institutional collaboration between RULE and GSID on August 29, 2014. Moreover, we also invited students of RULE to participate in research presentations in a joint seminar by RUPP and GSID at RUPP on August 29, 2014. Prof. Jinhwan Oh, from Ewha Womans University, with his students, also took part in this seminar. This joint seminar was very successful, presenting and discussing current socio economic challenges that Cambodia faces to promote its sustainable development. Our special thanks goes to the Royal University of Law and Economics, especially Prof. Phalthy Hap, for his superb arrangement and for issuing certificates of completion to the participants of OFW 2014 as part of Campus ASEAN Program. Last but not least, we are very grateful to those who provided valuable lectures to our participants in the preparatory seminars for the OFW 2014: Dr. Heng Naret, Department of Community Development, Faculty of Development Study, Royal University of Phnom Penh; Koung ii Teilee, Associate Professor, the Graduate School of Law, Nagoya University; Dr. Satoru Kobayashi, Associate Professor, Kyoto University; and Ms. Sayaka Akiho, University of Tsukuba. We also would like to thank Ms. Erin Sakakibara for the English editing of this volume. Committee on OFW 2014 Wataru Kusaka, Associate Professor and Chair Naoko Shinkai, Associate Professor Shinji Ido, Associate Professor Campus ASEAN Program Sumire Kanda, Assistant Professor Office of OFW Jing Liu, Assistant Professor iii Table of Contents Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................................ iv List of Participants ......................................................................................................................................... vi Program of OFW 2014 ................................................................................................................................. viii Preparatory Seminar .................................................................................................................................. viii Interim Presentations of Research Findings .............................................................................................. viii Presentation of Research Findings in GSID ................................................................................................ ix Overall Schedule of Fieldwork in Cambodia .............................................................................................. ix Detailed Schedule of Fieldwork by Each Working Group ........................................................................... x Background Information of Kampong Speu Province, Cambodia ............................................................. 1 Working Group 1 The Relationship between Microfinance Borrowing and the Income and Expenditure of Rural Households in Roka Thom, Cambodia .......................................................................................................... 7 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 8 2. Literature Review .................................................................................................................................... 12 3. Methodology ............................................................................................................................................ 16 4. Results and Findings ................................................................................................................................ 20 5. Conclusion and Recommendations .......................................................................................................... 34 6. Appendices .............................................................................................................................................. 37 7. References ............................................................................................................................................... 52 Working Group 2 Decentralization as a Bridge between the State and the People ................................................................ 55 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 57 2. Methodology............................................................................................................................................ 60 3. Research findings and analysis [Section 1]: Effectiveness of the CSC's role ......................................... 64 4. Research findings and analysis [Section 2]: Limitations of CSC's role .................................................. 67 5. Research findings and analysis [Section 3]: NGOs' contribution to increasing CSCs' effectiveness ...... 71 iv 6. Conclusion