Gender and Development

Cambodia

Loan 2121/2122 - CAM: Second Education Sector Development Program, 2004

Cambodia’s National Poverty Reduction Strategy and the Second Socio-Economic Development Plan highlight education development as central to poverty reduction and socio-economic development. The low education level of the workforce, with 75% having primary education or lower and less than 3% having upper secondary, diploma or graduate qualifications, is recognized as a major constraint on Cambodia’s economic competitiveness and labor productivity. ADB’s Second Education Sector Development Program in Cambodia is designed to contribute to poverty reduction by improving access to and quality of secondary education and lifelong learning opportunities for out-of-school youth. It is designed within the framework of the Education Strategic Plan (2004-2008) which will also support the National Education for All Plan (2003-2015) in line with the Millennium Development Goals.

Objectives and Scope

• improve equity in access to education and training services through pro-poor systemic and targeted interventions
• improve quality and internal efficiency through more effective curriculum organization, improved student progression, better teaching and learning environment, and improved standard monitoring and quality assurance
• enhance capacity for decentralization of education services through strengthened financial planning, management and audit systems, a more focused human resource planning system and more efficient staff performance management, deployment and reward systems
• increase resource mobilization linked to measures that ensure resource allocation is pro-poor, equitable and efficient

Framework for Gender and Development Activities

Cambodia’s MOEYS developed a five-year Gender Strategy (2002-2007) consisting of three main components:

• girls’ equal access to education
• enhancing gender equity in education management and delivery services
• strengthening gender technical capacity in education programming and policy-making. A Gender Action Plan (GAP) was developed for the Project under this framework

Gender-Inclusive Design

The Project GAP includes interventions in both the policy-based program loan and the project loan. Gender-related actions proposed for the policy matrix include:

• Adding 2 female members to the MOEYS Gender Working Group before loan effectiveness.
• Increasing the number of female principals of primary and lower secondary schools from 6 to 10%, ensuring either a female school principal or deputy principal in primary and secondary schools in urban areas, and at least 1 female District Chief of Education Office in each province (target up to 24 women) before the second tranche release.

On the project loan side, a Gender and Ethnic Minorities Action Plan has been prepared during the design phase which addresses improving education access and quality for both females and ethnic minority groups through the Project’s three main components:

1. Developing Quality-Oriented Support Systems in Education:
• curriculum and examination reform measures will avoid gender stereotyping in textbooks and gender bias in test questions and marking
• new life skills curriculum will increase awareness of students and parents on benefits of school enrollment to avoid vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and human trafficking
• teacher training curricula will include methods on how to be sensitive to gender, ethnic and cultural diversity
• female trainers/tutors and students in pre-service teacher training will be increased up to 50%



2. Promoting Access, Equity and Participation in Education:
• additional classrooms will be constructed in areas of low female enrolment in upper primary and secondary schools with provision of water and sanitation facilities especially in urban areas
• targeted scholarships will be provided for poor girls in secondary and post secondary education
• an information, education and communication program will be conducted in targeted communities to convince parents of girls and ethnic minorities of the benefits of educating children and encourage girls to study math and science



3. Strengthening Gender Management in Education:
• Education management information system will include gender-disaggregated data tracking and analyses, including gender and ethnic minority mapping in post-basic education within private providers.
• Ethnic minority teacher deployment and promotion will be pilot tested through housing allowances, husband/wife joint posting and accelerated promotion after posting.
• Gender parity in middle/senior management positions will be improved via performance appraisals and special programs for potential female managers.

Guidance on Gender and Development Activities

The MOEYS Gender Working Group will monitor the implementation of the Gender and Ethnic Minorities Action Plan. The ADB Cambodia Gender Specialist will provide guidance to this working group as necessary to achieve the sector development program’s GAD objectives.