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Cambodia: Better local services back in the spotlight
The National Committee for Sub-National Democratic Development (NCDD) and World Vision International Cambodia have co-launched Phase II of the Implementation of Social Accountability Framework (ISAF). The launch was held yesterday at Raffles Hotel, Phnom Penh.
ISAF aims to improve local services by informing citizens of mechanisms they are entitled to access to create dialogue with sub-national authorities and foster joint actions in addressing issues in the rendering of public services.
“As Cambodia responds and recovers from COVID-19 and seeks to transition to upper-middle income status, it will need quality services underpinned by effective and inclusive governance,” said First Secretary for the Australian Embassy Sarah Wadley.
“When service providers work with local communities and respond to their feedback, it benefits everyone in the community. It means that public money can be used more efficiently, that the quality of services improves and that it promotes inclusion,” she added.
Citing the example of the IDPoor programme, a cash transfer initiative that has provided monetary relief to financially vulnerable and marginalised people during the pandemic, Wadley said that ISAF played an important role in ensuring the project’s success and that communities understood the services that they are entitled to.
ISAF’s first phase, funded by the European Union and World Vision Germany, saw the implementation of the programme in 290 districts across five provinces between 2019 and 2020.
Phase Two is set to run until 2014. It will encompass 10 provinces, as well as Phnom Penh and engage 458 communes.
Funding for the programme is managed through the World Bank’s Social Accountability and Service Delivery Trust Fund with support from the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and World Vision.
“ISAF has been a unique, groundbreaking programme in the Cambodian context and the achievement over the first phase of implementation prompted all the involved stakeholders to call for a second phase of ISAF implementation,” said Inguna Dobraja, country manager for the World Bank.
“The World Bank recognises the government’s Social Accountability Framework as a globally significant effort to compliment investments in education, health, water and other services with a sustainable approach to mobilising citizens and building the capacity of sub-national authorities to hold service providers accountable,” Dobraja added.
Meloney Lindberg, country representative for The Asia Foundation and the deputy chief of the ISAF Partnership Steering Committee, said that ISAF Phase II has broadened its scope to include the use of information communication technology, innovations and other digital solutions to involve a larger number of citizens.
“ISAF Phase I has provided us with lessons that we can refine and build on existing tools and methodologies to achieve full national coverage of communes. In Phase II we hope to establish sustainable support networks for active citizenship, integrate social accountability practices into existing government systems and expand ISAF into new delivery services and urban areas,” she said.
The launch ceremony was presided over by Ngy Chanphal, secretary of state for the Ministry of Interior and Chairman of the ISAF Partnership Steering Committee.
Representatives from the German Embassy, World Vision Cambodia and Swiss Development Fund were also present at the launching ceremony.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50815893/better-local-services-back-in-the-spotlight/