PHOTO CREDIT: USAID OW4C

USAID/ ONE WINDOW FOR CITIZENS (OW4C) PERIODIC PROGRESS REPORT 1 APRIL – 3O JUNE 2021

Contract Number: 72044219C00001

This publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development. It was prepared by Nickol Global Solutions LLC.

USAID/Cambodia One Window for Citizens (OW4C) Periodic Progress Report

1 April – 30 June 2021

Submitted: July 15, 2021

Submitted to:

USAID/Cambodia

Prepared by:

Nickol Global Solutions LLC

Disclaimer:

The authors’ views expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACRONYMS III INTRODUCTION 1 SUMMARY OF PROGRESS ON ACTIVITIES 2 TECHNICAL ENGAGEMENT 2 INSTITUTIONAL ENGAGEMENTS 2 COLLABORATIVE ENGAGEMENTS 3 LEARNING ENGAGEMENTS 4 ADAPTING 4 CIVIC TECH TOOLS 5 INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE AND FACEBOOK CHATBOT TOOLS 5 DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY DASHBOARD 6 DEVELOPMENT OF NEW TECHNOLOGY TOOLS 6 PUBLIC OUTREACH 6 ACTIVITIES BY PROVINCE 6 MONITORING TOOLS 8 OW4C PERFORMANCE MONITORING PLAN 9 OPERATIONS 10 REPORTING 10 MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS 10 OPERATIONS 10 TECHNICAL 10 CHALLENGES AND PROPOSED RESOLUTIONS 10 NEW CHALLENGES 10 CHALLENGE 1 10 PLANS FOR NEXT QUARTER 11 CIVIC TECH TOOLS 11 PUBLIC OUTREACH 11 11 BANTEAY MEANCHEY 11 11 MONITORING 11

ii | Periodic Progress Report – USAID/Cambodia OW4C – April to June 2021 usaid.gov ACRONYMS

API Advocacy and Policy Institute

COP Chief of Party

COR USAID Contracting Officer’s Representative

COVID-19 Corona Virus Disease 2019

GiZ The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit

InSTEDD Innovative Support to Emergencies, Diseases, and Distasters I-lab Southeast Asia

ISAC USAID Innovations for Social Accountability Cambodia Project

ISAF Implementation Plan for Social Accountability in Cambodia

IVR Interactive Voice Response

MEL Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning

NGO Nongovernmental Organization

NGS Nickol Global Solutions LLC

OW4C USAID One Window for Citizens Project

OWSO Royal Government of Cambodia One Window Service Office

OWSU Royal Government of Cambodia One Window Service Unit

PSOD Phnom Srey Organization for Development

SBAR Small Business Applied Research

TI Transparency International

USAID United States Agency for International Development

WE Act USAID Women’s Entrepreneurs Act Project

iii | Periodic Progress Report – USAID/Cambodia OW4C – April to June 2021 usaid.gov INTRODUCTION

On 1 October 2019, Nickol Global Solutions LLC (NGS) received the signed contract from USAID to implement the One Window Service Offices – Platform to Enhance Accountability program (Contract # 72044219C00001). The goal of the project is to increase the capability of civil society to engage the Royal Government of Cambodia in accessing improved public services through a series of tested interventions, including the design and implementation of civic tech tools and community engagement activities. Supported by strong monitoring activities and an applied learning approach, the project – later renamed the USAID One Window for Citizens Project (OW4C) – seeks to support the innovation, success, and sustainability of implemented project activities. The development hypothesis to achieve this goal is illustrated as follows:

• If citizens have real-time access to provide and receive reliable information about the Royal Government of Cambodia’s One Window Service Office (OWSO) services through civic tech innovations,

• And if they are engaged through meaningful processes,

• Then they will more effectively hold government accountable to improved public service through the OWSO.

Through the Small Business Applied Research (SBAR) contracting vehicle, NGS has developed and is promoting tech-enabled solutions to broaden public access and awareness about OWSO services and the role of Cambodia’s district ombudsperson role. NGS has also developed monitoring tools to enable citizens to report on their satisfaction of OWSO services as a means for government authorities to better measure progress on service delivery and respond to citizen service needs. Highlights from the 1 April – 30 June 2021 reporting period include:

• The OW4C Civic Tech Tools – branded as Pidor the Smart Villager – have served 4,900 individual citizens accessing over 7,000 services via the project’s Facebook chatbot and interactive voice response tools.

• OW4C’s Pidor the Smart Villager was launched in .

• Project social media has reached 413,417 Cambodians through our two Facebook pages, directly engaging 23,612 citizens.

• OW4C produced two animations. One engages citizens on how to access the OW4C tools, the other providing information specifically on how to provide feedback on OWSO services. Designed for social media, the videos are also playing in the waiting area of the Kampong Chhnang provincial OWSO.

• OW4C conducted 29 virtual door-to-door online sessions in Kampong Chhnang, Banteay Meanchey and reaching 690 citizens.

• OW4C’s infomediary training on "Media and Report on Transparency and Accountability of Public Services” was conducted virtually in Banteay Meanchey and Kampong Chhnang Provinces.

1 | Periodic Progress Report – USAID/Cambodia OW4C – April to June 2021 usaid.gov

• The project convened a consultation with Battambang Provincial authorities, the Ministry of the Interior and district administration and OWSO officials to discuss challenges district officials are having in implementing suggested improvements to OWSO services.

These, and related key activities implemented during the reporting period, are detailed in the section entitled Summary of Progress on Activities.

OW4C achievements are set against a backdrop of operational challenges caused by a sustained COVID-19 outbreak in Cambodia. To date, preventative response actions have yet to contain the spread of the virus and the project is following government recommendations, both national and local that discourage in-persons gatherings of groups and encourages working from home. NGS is balancing our commitment to keeping our staff safe during these times, while continuing to move the program forward as local conditions and/or technology allow.

SUMMARY OF PROGRESS ON ACTIVITIES

TECHNICAL ENGAGEMENT Year Two of the project focuses on an expansion of the piloting of the OW4C technology tools, the development of a public data dashboard to share feedback on OWSO services, and the continued engagement and support of Cambodian citizens’ access to improved public sector services. To achieve these goals, the project continued its active engagement with key audiences, influencers, and users of OWSO services. In support of the continued development of the project’s activities and the expansion of Pidor to new provinces, OW4C emphasized active outreach and engagement with the following institutional stakeholders to assure the cooperation with, and success of, the project.

Institutional Engagements USAID: • OW4C’s Chief of Party (COP) attended the USAID/Cambodia Gender Inclusiveness Panel on 1 April.

• OW4C participated in the USAID/Cambodia Democracy and Governance Partners meeting on 29 April.

• OW4C participated in the USAID/Cambodia Implementation Partners meeting on 28 May.

Ministry of the Interior: • The Ministry of the Interior participated in the Battambang OWSO Consultation meeting held on 9 June.

• On 23 June OW4C met with the Ministry of the Interior to learn more about the planned technology investments and features of the e-government strategy promulgated in early June.

Provincial Governments: During the reporting period, the project engaged the three provincial administrations where OW4C has activities. Highlights include:

• Battambang: On 9 June OW4C conducted a sub-national consultation workshop. Bringing together representatives from the Battambang provincial and district governments, ombudspersons and the Ministry of the Interior, OW4C piloted OWSOs were able to present

2 | Periodic Progress Report – USAID/Cambodia OW4C – April to June 2021 usaid.gov progress to date in implementing citizen suggested service improvements, and present to the provincial government and Ministry of the Interior structural or procedural challenges preventing them from doing so.

• Banteay Meanchey: On 17 June OW4C conducted a virtual project orientation with the District Deputy Governor and other key officials.

• Kampong Chhnang. The OW4C conducted a virtual project orientation meeting with the provincial authorities on 9 April.

Collaborative Engagements USAID, The World Bank, GiZ, and the European Union all have social accountability programs that aim to support the voice of Cambodian citizens and increase the transparency and accountability of the delivery of government services. The OWSOs are a sub-set of the larger social accountability landscape and therefore OW4C’s work is conducted in close collaboration with other programs to eliminate redundancies of program and/or create confusion for Cambodian officials.

USAID Innovations for Social Accountability Cambodia Project (ISAC): OW4C engaged with ISAC in the following activities:

• On 2 April OW4C hosted a coordination meeting to discuss the overlap of ISAC’s work on district services and OW4C’s on OWSOs, specifically regarding scorecards. ISAC will not be conducting scorecards until 2022. The projects agreed to coordinate scheduling of scorecards as well as messaging to the district authorities when using scorecards to avoid confusion.

• On 20 April OW4C attended a meeting with ISAC implementing partners to discuss engagement in the communities and the related roles where the projects overlap.

• On 4 May OW4C participated in the meeting with ISAC grantee, Star Kampuchea, in Kampong Chhnang to discuss cross-project collaboration in the province.

USAID Women Entrepreneurs Act (WE ACT): On April 9, 2021, OW4C joined a USAID funded Pact WE ACT Project training. During the half day session, WE ACT invited OW4C to present its tools to 16 street vendors in capital (15 female).

Implementation Plan for Social Accountability in Cambodia (ISAF): ISAF is in the midst of planning the next phase of its program, which intends to expand conducting social accountability scorecards to district and municipal services, including OWSOs. OW4C has built an open conversation with World Vision, the coordinating agency, in their planning for this transition to eliminate possible overlap or conflict between the two programs. OW4C participated in ISAF’s Phase II Design Workshops on 22 April and 23 June.

Transparency International (TI): On 27 May OW4C joined a TI youth training providing awareness training to 43 youth group members (32 female) on the OW4C tools.

Advocacy and Policy Institute (API): In addition to being a project partner, API is a leading NGO in the social accountability community in Cambodia. As such, they are implementing other USAID, European Union and other donor-funded projects. In their commitment to higher level transparency and

3 | Periodic Progress Report – USAID/Cambodia OW4C – April to June 2021 usaid.gov accountability goals, during the quarter API promoted the OW4C project and the OW4C tools through the following initiatives:

• On 27 May API added OW4C tech tool use training and orientation to its 15 (8 female) Community Accountability Facilitators on the ISAF project.

• Outreach: On May 27, 2021, API and Phnom Srey Organization for Development (PSOD) co- organized a virtual awareness-raising with participation from 15 PSOD’s Community Accountability Facilitators under ISAF. API used the opportunity of the session to provide facilitators with an orientation on OW4Cs tech tools

• On 11 June API provided an OW4C tech tools training for the 26 staff (12 female) of Phare Ponleu Selpak in Battambang.

OWSO Coordination Group: An informal working group (composed of GIZ, Transparency International, Action Aid, and OW4C) – designed to coordinate and collaborate OWSO-related programming – held its quarterly meeting on 1 March.

Battambang NGO and Project Community:

• On 29 April OW4C hosted a meeting of USAID implementing partners based in Battambang to discuss challenges for and responses to activities within the COVID context. Participants agreed to meeting quarterly with a rotating chair. OW4C participated in the 3 June meeting as well.

• On 30 June OW4C attended the Battambang NGO Network quarterly meeting.

Banteay Meanchey NGO and Project Community: On 26 May the OW4C team participated in the quarterly Banteay Meanchey NGO Network meeting.

Learning Engagements Year Two Quarter 2 OW4C Reflection and Learning Workshop: Held virtually on 7 – 8 April, OW4C focused its quarterly reflection on the project’s learning questions and identified data and knowledge gaps in answering the questions, and steps to address those gaps.

Adapting Commencing in mid-June, the COVID situation in Cambodia has deteriorated as compared to last quarter. A two-pronged approach by the Royal Government of Cambodia: prevention practices and mass vaccinations, are battling the challenges of the transmissibility of the Delta variant. For the duration of the reporting period, OW4C was not able to conduct in-person meetings or activities. Leveraging the adapted practices from the previous quarter, OW4C used virtual platforms to complete all the planned activities for the quarter. Unfortunately, the OWSO Community Scorecards for Kampong Chhnang and PoiPet (originally scheduled for last quarter) remain on hold as local officials are not allowing for in- person community events.

OW4C is currently developing how to transform its planned August public forums to a virtual platform.

4 | Periodic Progress Report – USAID/Cambodia OW4C – April to June 2021 usaid.gov CIVIC TECH TOOLS Interactive Voice Response and Facebook Chatbot Tools OW4C has developed two tools to better provide increased, transparent access for citizens on information pertaining to services provided at the One Window Service Offices. Pidor the Smart Villager is an interactive voice response (IVR) phone line and Facebook chatbot that quickly direct citizens to the relevant information they are seeking. In addition, the tools allow citizens to provide anonymous feedback on the quality of the services they received and identify areas of improvement. Between the tools’ launch in Battambang on 27 August 2020 and the close of the previous reporting period (31 March 2021), there were 8,638 visitors to our tools and 4,900 unique users1. During the current reporting period, the usage of the tools increased to reach a total of: • 8,638 visitors • 4,900 unique users (47% female) • 7,055 services delivered2

Both tools provide three services: 1) information on the application requirements, fees, and delivery standards of OWSO services; 2) application status tracking (Kamrieng and PoiPet Districts only); and 3) citizen feedback on the delivery OWSO services.

During the April – June 2021 period, there were 1,864 users accessing 1,552 services, with 983 new unique users.

Pidor the Smart Villager Use (April – June 2021) Pidor Tool Total Users Services Accessed New Users IVR 213 183 82 Facebook Chatbot 1,651 1,369 901 Total 1,864 1,552 983

Overall, this represents a 264% increase in users and 186% increase in new users from the previous quarter. The most popular service requested was information on OWSO services (69%), followed by user feedback (25%) and ticket tracking (6%).

Pidor the Smart Villager Chatbot Enhancements: Due to the technology at the PoiPet District OWSO, OW4C is able to continue its testing of the application tracking feature (presently only available in Kamreing). This service for PoiPet was made “live” on 8 June.

1 Defined as a citizen that accessed the tool and completed a services request (e.g., information on OWSO services or ticket tracking, or provided feedback on OWSO services). If a user accessed more than one service, the user is only counted as unique user once. 2 Defined as a OW4C tech tools user that completes a request for either information on OWSO services, enters a request for application status, or provides feedback on OWSO services.

5 | Periodic Progress Report – USAID/Cambodia OW4C – April to June 2021 usaid.gov

Design and Development of a Public Accountability Dashboard During the reporting period the Public Accountability Dashboard was reviewed by the USAID Website Governance Board. On 3 June OW4C received feedback on recommended adjustments to the dashboard by the Board for this tool to become public. NGS technical partner InSTEDD applied the suggested edits, and the dashboard is ready for review by the Board in the coming quarter.

Development of New Technology Tools Telegram OWSO User Report: OW4C has been promoting the upcoming Public Accountability Dashboard during its OWSO Accountability Working Groups. The Battambang district ombudspersons have requested access to the dashboard will be providing publicly to include in their monthly reporting. This is a great step towards increased accountability of the government by the citizens. Working in consultation with the district ombudspersons the project has designed a reporting format to send data from our tools to them directly via Telegram. Ombudspersons will receive only the overall data information (likes, dislikes) for the OWSO they serve.

E-scorecard: Under ISAF funding, InSTEDD, API and CARE International have created an e-platform to collect data from community scorecards. Created with open source software, this platform has been widely shared to social accountability organizations for free use. The platform allows for quick tabulations of information, voting, etc., collected during a community scorecard exercise. OW4C has made minor modifications to the reporting format, and intends to test its use with the Kampong Chhnang and PoiPet OWSO Scorecards when they are able to be held. In preparation for this, OW4C held a project-wide digital scorecard orientation on 2 June.

PUBLIC OUTREACH Public outreach goals for the reporting period were to continue the expansion of the awareness and use of the OW4C tools. With the constraints on person-to-person activities due to COVID, OW4C’s Social Media campaigns become a center point of project outreach and engagement with Cambodian Citizens. • OW4C launched two animations on the Pidor the Smart Villager tools – one focusing on how to access information services and one of how to provide feedback on the services received. To date over 8,500 citizens have viewed the videos on social media, and they are the videos are playing the waiting area of the Kampong Chhnang OWSU.

• The OW4C Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/USAIDOW4C reached 276,061 citizens, engaging3 18,254 (7%).

• Pidor the Smart Villager Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pidorow4cbot reached 55,356 citizens and engaged with 5,358 (9%). Of those that engaged with the Pidor chatbot, 17% of visitors used the tool.

Activities by Province Battambang: • Door-to-Door Campaign: OW4C Youth conducted 12 virtual door-to-door campaigns engaging 301 (192 female). The hour and a half on-line session are aimed at creating awareness-

3 Engaged is a Facebook analytics measure defined as someone that has liked, shared, or commented on a posting.

6 | Periodic Progress Report – USAID/Cambodia OW4C – April to June 2021 usaid.gov raising on OWSO services and role of district ombudsperson and orient participants on how to use the Pidor IVR and chatbot.

• OWSO Accountability Working Group Meeting: The Thma Koul OWSO Accountability Working Group meeting was held on 16 April. Based on the discussion during the meeting, OWSO leaders and district administration officials have responded that they will continue to improve staff behaviors, service procedures, and document management through staff internal meetings. Until now the OWSO still lacked staff for providing the service to citizens. They will also integrate the actions into the district investment plan due to the district administration.

• Battambang OWSO Sub-national Consultation: On June 9 June OW4C hosted a virtual consultation reviewing the progress of the improvement of OWSO services from the OWSO Community Scorecard to date, based on the work of the OWSO Accountability Working Groups. Bringing together 66 participants from the Ministry of the Interior, the Deputy Governor of Battambang, district governors, OWSO chiefs, ombudspersons, and administration chiefs, the private sector, NGOs, and youth groups – district officials presented the results of their OWSO community scorecard, and how they are addressing the suggested action points by citizens and related comments and questions raised to officials during OW4C public forums as well as the OW4C tools. This forum opened directly between the OWSOs and district officials to discuss with the OWSO Department of Ministry of Interior and the Provincial Deputy Governor remaining issues raised by citizens that the districts cannot implement due to funding and/or policies. In general, the different districts are aligned on what is needed: increase administration and technical staff, materials and equipment for document filing, the inclusion of tax payments to be handled at the OWSO, strengthening of the capacity of staff on document management, a request to process car number plates at the OWSO, and request for the provision of cross-border letter/ticket processing services at the OWSO. They highlighted that the procedures for land titling and construction are still complicated, include functions outside of OWSO’s mandate and therefore take longer that the posted standard service processing times. The Ministry of Interior accepted the challenges and committed to using the meeting notes to address the procedural issues around land title.

Banteay Meanchey: • Youth OW4C Tools Training: OW4C conducted a training on the OW4C tools for project youth volunteers on 28 April to prepare them in conducting the virtual door-to-door campaign.

• Door-to-Door Campaign: OW4C Youth conducted 14 virtual door-to-door sessions reaching 229 (134 female) participants in Krong .

• OWSO Accountability Working Group: On 30 June OW4C held the initial OWSO Accountability Working Group Meeting in Serei Saophoan Municipality. Attended by 33 participants from the district administration, the OWSO, the district ombudsperson, NGOs, the private sector and youths, the meeting aimed at presenting goals of the OW4C project, its achievements, and the concept of the Accountability Working Group. Krong Serei Saopon has agreed to engage in the working group and the specifically, the OWSO has committed to addressing issues raised by citizens via the scorecard results.

• Infomediary Training: On 27 May OW4C virtually held its infomediary training: "Media and Report on Transparency and Accountability of Public Services” in Banteay Meanchey with 38 participants (24 female) attending. The training aims to improve communication and basic skills

7 | Periodic Progress Report – USAID/Cambodia OW4C – April to June 2021 usaid.gov in developing short stories and news articles on accountability issues. In addition, it provides skills building on photograph and the use of information technology and related ethical issues.

• PoiPet “Roadshow”: On 17 June OW4C organized a virtual project orientation to the PoiPet municipal administration with participation from 17 government officials; including OWSO staff, the district ombudsperson, and members of the commune council.

Kampong Chhnang: • Kampong Chhnang Project Launch: On 09 April OW4C conducted a virtual project orientation to Kampong Chhnang Province and launch of Pidor the Smart Villager. The launch was attended by 32 participants including provincial government officials, OWSO staff, the district ombudsperson, members of the commune council, municipal and provincial staff, and NGOs; and was presided over by the Deputy Governor of Kampong Chhnang.

• Youth OW4C Tools Training: OW4C conducted a training on the OW4C tools for the project’s 22 youth volunteers in the province on 29 April. This was conducted to best prepare the youth in conducting the virtual door-to-door campaign.

• Door-to-Door Campaign: OW4C Youth conducted 5 virtual door-to-door sessions reaching 87 (41 female) participants in Krong Kampong Chhnang.

• OWSO Accountability Working Group: On 30 June OW4C held the initial OWSO Accountability Working Group Meeting in Kampong Chhnang Municipality. Attended by 33 participants from the district admiration, the OWSO, the district ombudsperson, NGOs, the private sector and youths; the meeting aimed at presenting goals of the OW4C project, its achievements, and the concept of the Accountability Working Group. Krong Serei Saopon municipal administration officials have agreed to engage in the working group and the specifically, the OWSO has committed to addressing issues raised by citizens via the scorecard results.

• Infomediary Training: On 28 May OW4C virtually held its infomediary training: "Media and Report on Transparency and Accountability of Public Services” in Kampong Chhnang with 27 participants (11 female) attending. The training aims to improve communication and basic skills in developing short stories and news articles on accountability issues. In addition, it provides skills building on photograph and the use of information technology and related ethical issues.

MONITORING TOOLS OW4C commenced multiple Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) initiatives during the January – March 2021 period.

Year Two Quarter 2 OW4C Reflection and Learning Workshop: Held virtually on 7 – 8 April, OW4C focused its quarterly reflection on the project’s learning questions and identified data and knowledge gaps in answering the questions, and steps to address those gaps.

Tendering of OW4C Midterm Evaluation: During the reporting period OW4C designed the scope for and terms of reference for an external party to conduct a midterm evaluation of the project. This was put to tender with proposals received and reviewed. The evaluation will be conducted during the coming quarter in July and August 2021.

8 | Periodic Progress Report – USAID/Cambodia OW4C – April to June 2021 usaid.gov

OW4C PERFORMANCE MONITORING PLAN

Year 2 1 October Q1 Q2 Q3 Y2 to date Life of Project Indicator Notes OW4C Performance Monitoring Plan 30-Sep-21 Baseline 2019 Target Actual Actual Actual Actual Target Actual

Activity Goal: Increase the capacity of civil society to engage in political processes through a series of carefully planned and tested interventions, including design and implementation of civic tech tools, outreach/engagement activities, monitoring activities, and other complementary activities to support innovation, success, and sustainability.

Objective 1: Build Civic Tech Tools to Support Enhanced Awareness and Accountability

1.1: # of tech innovations supported through USG assistance on OW4C. 0 1 - - - - 3 2 Standard Indicator: STIR-10

1.2 # of innovations supported through USG assistance with demonstrated 0 - - - - - 1 - Standard Indicator: STIR-11 uptake by the public and/or private sector. 1.3: # of beneficiaries accessing ICT-based solutions supported through USG 0 12,754 3,684 489 909 5,082 28,231 4,926 Standard Indicator: DR 4-1 assistance on OW4C. 1.4: % of beneficiaries who can name at least three one window services for 25% increase which information is available via USG supported civic tech solution by 26% - 44% - - 50% 44% Custom from baseline OW4C.

1.5: # of participants that take part in the civic tech solution design, 0 27 - 0 - - 64 49 Custom development, and/or validation.

Objective 2: Initiate Public Outreach to Support Enhanced Awareness and Accountability 2.1 # of individuals receiving civic education through USG-assisted - 45 Standard Indicator DR 3.2 – 0 25 - - 100 718 programs (OW4C) (m=14,f=31) 5 2.2 # of citizen journalist and youth trained on accountable media practice 21 65 0 116 34 120 335 222 Custom supported by OW4C. (m=13, f=8) (m=30, f=35) Objective 3: Develop Monitoring Tools to Support Enhanced Awareness and Accountability

3.1: % change in satisfaction with the provision of local government services 68% - n/a - - 85% - Custom through OWSOs in Battambang.

3.2: # of accountability issues reported on by infomediaries to the public n/a 15 - 0 2 2 35 2 Custom Objective 4: Implement Complementary Activities/Tools to Support Enhanced Awareness and Accountability 4.1: # of events or activities designed to engage community members in the prioritization of needs and activity identification to be addressed through the n/a 8 - 3 - 3 31 15 Custom OWSOs. 4.2 # of mechanisms for external oversight of public resource use supported by n/a 2 n/a n/a - 2 2 2 Standard DR 2.4 USG assistance

4.3 % of actions implemented by OWSO and related authorities to improve services based on OW4C activities/OW4C OWSO Accountability Working 0 72% - 54% - - 82% 54% Custom Group.

9 | Periodic Progress Report – USAID/Cambodia OW4C – April to June 2021 usaid.gov

OPERATIONS

Reporting NGS met the reporting requirements during the 1 April – 30 June 2021 period. Report Delivery Date Status Year Two Second Quarterly Progress 15 April 2021 Approved Report Foreign Taxes Report 15 April 2021 Acknowledged as received Technology and E-Governance Landscape 8 June 2021 Acknowledged as Report received Quarterly Level of Effort Report 20 June 2021 Acknowledged as received

MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

OPERATIONS • Project experienced only minor delays to planned programming despite challenged presented by COVID prevention measures taken by the Royal Government of Cambodia.

TECHNICAL • 4,900 individual citizens have now used the Pidor IVR and Facebook chatbot tools.

• The OWSOs, district, provincial and Ministry of Interior officials show commitment to understanding the requests for improved services from the citizens and support active dialogue between the citizens and the OWSO service providers and related government officials. This is supported by the following: o The OWSO Accountability working groups newly established in Kampong Chhnang and Banteay Meanchey. o Battambang district ombudspersons requesting OW4C tech tools user feedback information for inclusion in their official reporting. o The Ministry of the Interior welcoming the feedback and inputs from district officials from the OW4C Battambang consultation and committing to using the proceedings outputs to address procedural challenges to improve the ability of the OWSOs to deliver land title services.

CHALLENGES AND PROPOSED RESOLUTIONS

NEW CHALLENGES

Challenge 1 COVID-19 is a continuing challenge in Cambodia. The project has been nimble and able to adapt its programming to virtual platform, however the scorecards for both PoiPet and Kampong Chhnang will not be able to happen until health conditions allow direct, in-person activities. The project is monitoring the situation and developing strategies on how to adapt activities should restrictions to prevent COVID continue.

10 | Periodic Progress Report – USAID/Cambodia OW4C – April to June 2021 usaid.gov Challenge II

Related to challenge I – the promotion and demonstration of the tech tools has moved from traditional public activities to virtual ones. This creates two challenges for the project. First, as was discovered in the annual Battambang survey, Cambodian citizen seek new information via traditional sources (friends, family, officials) and prefer in-person outreach. Secondly, in virtual events, it is harder for our teams demonstrating the tools to see and address when attendees are having challenges using the tools and whether those challenges are based on connectivity issues, user understanding, or the tools themselves. To address this OW4C has increased the integration of technical team support into its virtual field activities and provide a standard form for virtual facilitators to better identify any challenges that participants may have.

PLANS FOR NEXT QUARTER

CIVIC TECH TOOLS • Launch and roll out to the public dashboard (July/August) • Engage a consultant to assess the user experience and use of the OW4C Tech tools, and related platforms (July/August)

PUBLIC OUTREACH Battambang • Conduct the semi-annual OWSO Accountability Working Groups • Develop and pilot virtual public forums. If shown effective, conduct 7 virtual public forums during the upcoming reporting period. • Conduct 8 virtual door-to-door campaigns.

Banteay Meanchey • Conduct 6 virtual public forums • Conduct 9 virtual door-to-door campaigns.

Kampong Chhnang • Conduct 4 virtual public forums • Conduct 6 virtual door-to-door campaigns OWSO Accountability Working Groups

MONITORING • Year Two Quarter 3 Reflection and Learning Workshop (July) • Mid-term Evaluation (July/August)

11 | Periodic Progress Report – USAID/Cambodia OW4C – April to June 2021 usaid.gov