Cambodia

Cambodia has an agricultural economy producing mainly rice, rubber, forest products and fish. It derives its export earnings mainly from rice and rubber. Normally the country’s external trade appears to have been in balance, although in the first half of 1955 there emerged a small deficit owing to the decline in rice export consequent upon the poor rice crop in the previous season.

This outcome stems from the recognition that broad-based socio-economic development in Cambodia can only emerge from a democratic environment in which the government is responsive to the needs of the people. However to ensure a democratic environment, it is essential that the executive is made accountable for its actions. In turn, the executive’s accountability depends on its relationship with other actors in society. This outcome identifies two groups of actors in this connection—civil society and the legislature—and seeks to strengthen them to improve the checks and balances of the executive.

Ever since Cambodia emerged from the darkness of history with the Paris Peace Accord of 1991, UNDP Cambodia has been actively engaged in helping the country achieve the triple transition from conflict to peace, from autocracy to democracy, and from a centrally planned economy to market-based economic development. The challenges of this triple transition are enormous, especially as Cambodia has had to attempt it from a very low level of development. UNDP has been a staunch ally of the RGC in its attempt to meet the challenges, by providing support in such diverse areas as aid coordination, democratization, decentralization, environmental conservation, and poverty alleviation through employment creation.

Ever since the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979, Cambodia has been making a valiant attempt to emerge out of its tragic past. However, the absence of international assistance from most of the world and continued internal warfare, made rebuilding the nation difficult in the 1980s. A major shift occurred in 1989, when the country embarked on a new path to development based on reliance on the market and the private sector, aided and supported by the government. Soon thereafter, the political environment also improved as persistent turbulence gave way to relative stability following the Paris Peace Accord of 1991. The transition towards peace was strengthened by the holding of the first democratically conducted general elections in 1993 under the auspices of the United Nations Team of Action for Cambodia, which was followed up by the adoption of the new constitution and formation of a national Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC). Since then, Cambodia’s move towards a peaceful, democratic and prosperous society has gathered momentum and the country has moved forward, except for a brief interlude in 1998 when a new civil war threatened but was eventually averted.

The Assessment of Development Results (ADR) in Cambodia is an independent country-level evaluation conducted by the Evaluation Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2009. Its objective is to assess UNDP overall performance and contribution to development in Cambodia during the two most recent programming cycles and to draw lessons for future strategies, particularly for the next programming cycle.

The Evaluation Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) conducts country evaluations called Assessments of Development Results (ADRs) to capture and demonstrate evaluative evidence of UNDP contributions to development results at the country level, as well as the effectiveness of UNDP strategy in facilitating and leveraging national effort for achieving development results. ADRs are carried out within the overall provisions contained in the UNDP Evaluation Policy.

UNDP strategic positioning in Cambodia was analysed in terms of four criteria: the strategic relevance of UNDP activities in the light of development challenges faced by Cambodia; the quality of UNDP responsiveness to Cambodia’s changing development needs; the contribution that UNDP (and the UN system in general) makes to the propagation and inculcation of wider UN values in Cambodia; and UNDP success in forging strategic partnerships with various actors in the development arena—multilateral and bilateral development agencies, national and international NGOs, the private sector and civil society—while assisting RGC in achieving its development goals.