Cambodia : Strengthening Resettlement and Income Restoration Implementation

Transport / Rail transport (non-urban)

The impact of the TA will be enhanced capacity of the government to effectively implement resettlement activities in transport projects in Cambodia. The outcome will be enhanced institutional and staff capacity of the IRC to improve the functioning of the GRM, implement resettlement programs, and implement the EIRP in a sustained and sustainable manner.

Enhanced capacity of the government to effectively implement resettlement activities in transport projects in Cambodia

Enhanced institutional and staff capacity of the IRC to improve the functioning of the grievance redress mechanism (GRM), implement resettlement programs, and implement the expanded income restoration program (EIRP) in a sustained and sustainable manner

1.Strategies are developed to improve the functioning of the GRM

2. Strategies are developed to build institutional and staff capacity of the IRC

3. The EIRP is made more sustainable

A national EIRP coordinator who supervised the implementation of the EIRP component was engaged under the TA assisted by 4 four community organizers. An international firm, Cufa, started its services in January 2016 and was completed on 30 November 2019. Cufa''s assistance included capacity building and institutional interventions for self-help groups (SHG); monitoring and auditing of SHG financial records; reviewing and recommending necessary changes to policies and procedures; and provision of training and training support in the preparation of financial reports. The capacity of the SHGs has greatly improved. It is expected that the SHGs may develop into sustainable institutions and eventually savings group.

The Government has approved national level of guidelines for Project-level Grievance Redress Mechanism which detail procedures for submission, receiving and redressing complaints along with an Individual Complaint Form and a template for Register of Complaints. These documents are part of Land Acquisition and Involuntary Resettlement Standard Operation Procedures for Externally financed projects in Cambodia. By June 2015, the detailed GRM procedures, guidelines and training materials were completed and each of GRM committee member has been given a copy of the manual. Training on GRM for IRC staff has been rolled out for all provinces targeting all the grievance redress levels that built capacity of grievance redress committees.

The Government conducted internal retreats for IRC, all staff of RD-MEF and the Gen. Department. The challenges, areas for improvement, and priorities in capacity building were identified.The Government developed a time-bound and verifiable action plan for capacity building. Internal workshops were held to share experiences gained from Thailand study visit conducted in February 2014.Several capacity-building retreats, public engagement training and learning visits abroad have been conducted by IRC using its own funds. The Government recruited consultants to provide hands-on training to all staff connected with GRM. The lessons learned are being mainstreamed into its work and they are being applied in projects funded by other donors as well.

The CDTA recruited 1 international consultant and 4 national consultants for a total of about 7 person-months international consultant inputs and 32 person-months national consultant inputs through individual consultants on an intermittent basis. Recruitment of consultants was done in accordance with ADB Guidelines on the Use of Consultants (2013, as amended from time to time).

The CDTA also engaged an NGO (firm) for about 10 person-months on an intermittent basis to assist in building capacity of the affected households including self-help groups in financial management and microfinance development.