CONTEXT OVERVIEW

1.1 Policy background

The Royal Government of Cambodia has adopted and implemented the World Program of Action Concerning Disabled Persons UN Resolution 37/52, 1982 and the United Nations Standard Rule on Full Participation and Equality of Opportunities For Disabled Persons, December 1993. Since October 20th, 1994, Cambodia has become a signatory to the United Nations Economic Social Commission in Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) Decade of Disabled Persons, 1993-2002. The Declaration states that the Royal Government of Cambodia has agreed to adopt United Nations principles. More particularly, it has agreed to adopt the UN-ESCAP guidelines on disability. The Royal Government is thus committed to implement the Agenda for Action of the UN-ESCAP Decade.

The Ministry of Social Affairs, Labor, Vocational Training and Youth Rehabilitation (MOSALVY) has been mandated by the Royal Government to lead and manage social affairs, labor, vocational training, and youth rehabilitation in Cambodia. One of the main tasks of MOSALVY is to prepare guidelines and regulations for the protection of Cambodian disabled persons. It also coordinates rehabilitation services for all categories of disabled persons.

The DAC has been officially formalized through PRAKAS (Ministerial Declaration) issued by the MOSALVY. The current legal status of the DAC has been recognized by the Sub-decree of Cambodian Mine Action Authority (CMAA) under which it is stated that CMAA shall delegate the coordination responsibility on victim assistance to MOSALVY and the DAC. The DAC aims to build national capacity, facilitate the inclusion of disabled needs into the planning cycles of government ministries and civil society, and develop, implement, monitor and evaluate a national plan of action in the disability sector.

MOSALVY has indicated that the strategic approach of the Cambodian government re Disability issues will be as follows for the foreseeable future:

Government role

Consultation with institutional stakeholders and coordination agencies;
Overall policy development;
Legislation development;
Standard setting;
Compliance, Monitoring, Evaluation;
v Very limited service delivery.

Third sector (NGO) role

Consultation with institutional stakeholders and coordination agencies;
Consultation with service users;
Service delivery.

The Minister stresses that this approach is informed and driven by:

An evolving government policy preference that service delivery should be provided by the third sector as a matter of principle; and
Ongoing, pragmatic and financial realities that make it impossible to secure adequate, government funded service delivery without the fullest possible participation of the third sector, and the increasing realization that the government may never be in a position to provide all the services that are required under UN-ESCAP.

This approach is consistent with the recommendations of the Cambodia NGO Forum Statement to the 2001 Consultative Group Meeting on Cambodia' of June 2001.

1.2 Challenges and constraints faced by Government and third sector

Whether or not government policy takes the direction indicated above, all current indicators suggest that two key issues will impact on the mentioned direction that DAC should take for the foreseeable future:

NGOs with the potential to implement (independently or jointly) government-approved programs/projects will need considerable investment in the coming years. The sector is still institutionally weak, poorly resourced, and lacks operational capacity. It is not in a position to become a major service provider to the government, and is unlikely to assume such a role within this planning period.

Even taking recent budget increases into account; government human and financial resources will be too limited for ministries to deliver even the basic services to the population. While government will benefit from continued cooperation with the private sector, NGOs and international organizations, it will be important to devote a significant investment in capacity development to concerned ministries in order for some basic service provision to be undertaken.

1.3 DAC's role in addressing the challenges and constraints

The Royal Government of Cambodia is aware of its human resource and technical capacity challenges and constraints on specific disability issues. These have impacted on its ability to develop and implement policy, to enact legislation, and to ensure standards are developed and upheld.

Nonetheless, in the past three years DAC interventions have been acknowledged as making a significant contribution with regard to some of the government's human resource and technical capacity challenges and constraints.

Examples:

Legislation on the rights of disabled persons development with Cambodian Disabled Persons Organization (CDPO), MOSALVY and DAC Legislation Working Group;
Policy on inclusive education to meet the specific needs of disabled children with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and DAC Children with Disabilities Committee;
Policy on medical rehabilitation with MOSALVY and the Ministry of Health and Medical Rehabilitation Working Group;
Standards on wheelchair production and quality of life of wheelchair users: with MOSALVY and DAC Wheelchairs Sub-Committee.

DAC has also contributed to the development and participation of the NGO sector in national programming on disability issues.

Examples:

Assistance to the Government re policy development, legislation, and regulations, and the dissemination of related information to NGOs;
Assessments and recommendations to the government for support and cooperation re the plans, project proposals and activities of NGOs;
Recommendations and advice to NGOs re situational analysis, sector development needs, and other data re people with disabilities (based on the National Plan of Action);
Provision of fora and facilitation to NGOs in order to build consensus on disability-related issues.

1.4 Challenges and constraints faced by DAC

While DAC has had some success in impacting on government policy and legislation, and in supporting the non-governmental sector, it currently lacks a sufficiently coherent or effective mechanism to prioritize, discuss, or negotiate on specific disability issues. It also lacks a sufficiently coherent mechanism to capacitate its government and NGO partners.

Factors taken into consideration include the following:

Emerging role and functions of DAC Secretariat;
Selection and appointment of a core group of senior staff members;
Need to consolidate the work of the DAC Secretariat to obtain achievable results within the staffing capacities, expertise and time availability;
Need to identify priority areas (within the UN-ESCAP components) and important gaps in order to recruit additional staff if these priority areas and gaps are to be met;
Dynamic changing nature of a newly formed body;
The DAC is setting guidelines- there have not been any blueprints to follow.

Therefore continuing monitoring (reviewing) is necessary to make the appropriate adjustment in line with lessons learned and objectives to be achieved.