Sub-National/Local Governance

Cambodia

The Royal Government's firm commitment to governance reform is reflected in its Governance Action Plan (GAP) approved in 2001, including many recommendations from ADB's Country Government Assessment.

Among the results achieved, a 5-year action plan for the Department of Local Administration was prepared with help from an ADB TA. It led to the

creation of the inter-Ministerial National Committee for Support to Communes/Sangkats (NCSC), and its sub-committees, responsible for implementing the decentralization reforms, and
the commitment of significant resources from the 2002 national budget to the election process and to the fund for commune administrative and development expenditure.

In the first ADB project of its kind, the Commune Council Development Project will use a combination of grant and loan funds to provide democratically elected commune and sangkat councils with the facilities and support required to ensure citizen's rights and promote poverty reduction.

Reforms at the sub-national level are among many other GAP outputs, including:

completion of the civil service census and functional reviews
development of computerized personnel management and payroll system
elimination of ghosts and redundant workers from the payroll
discharging of 16,500 soldiers
establishing an Independent National Audit Authority
adoption of new land law and related sub-decrees