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Cambodia’s Preparedness for SDGs: Challenges,

Opportunities, and Financing

CCC Commissioned Researchby Sivhuoch Ou, and Sreang Chheat

21 September 2015, at Imperial Garden

Vision: Sustainable development for Cambodia

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Research Objectives Methodology SDGs in perspective Cambodia, from CMDGs to SDGs SDGs for Cambodia:

◦ Challenges◦ Opportunities◦ Financing

Key ingredients for SDGs success Recommendations

Outline

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To scrutinise the extent to which Cambodia is prepared to achieving SDGs, analysing existing development mechanisms/ frameworks and policies and the actual implementation

1. Look at tension between SDGs and Cambodia2. Analyse challenges and opportunities for the

localised version, and 3. Unravel the likely sources of fundings

Research Objectives

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Secondary data and primary data; it involves in-depth interviews with stakeholders in the private sector (3), government (2), and development sectors (7), August and September 2015

Methodology

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MDGs—◦ halving poverty, getting primary schooling met for all

children, promoting health for mother and son, eradication of gender discrimination, safeguarding the environment and for rich countries, providing foreign aid.

Poverty has fallen 3 times, from 47% in 1990 to just 14% in 2015 (UN 2015)

Hunger and diseases substantially reduced (Sach 2012)

SDGs in Perspective

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GOAL 1 End poverty in all its forms everywhere GOAL 2 End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture GOAL 3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages GOAL 4 Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all GOAL 5 Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls GOAL 6 Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all GOAL 7 Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all GOAL 8 Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment

and decent work for all GOAL 9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster

innovation GOAL 10 Reduce inequality within and among countries GOAL 11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable GOAL 12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns GOAL 13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts* GOAL 14 Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable

development GOAL 15 Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage

forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss GOAL 16 Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice

for all and build elective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels GOAL 17 Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable

development

SDGs in—global goals

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Sustainable Development?◦ “the so-called triple bottom line approach to human wellbeing…a

combination of economic development, environmental sustainability, and social inclusion” and the trio forces need the support from good governance (Sach 2012)

SDGs,◦ a world free of poverty, hunger, disease and want,... universal

respect for human rights and dignity, the rule of law, justice, and peace— integrated and indivisible,

a supremely ambitious and transformational vision

Will all good things go together? ◦ a big question, and literature suggests, it might not be the case (a

cautious warning)

SDGs in –Sustainable Dev?

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1. Crucial roles and collaboration of both developed and developing nations

2. Post-2015 pays more attention to local contexts—capacity in resource mobilisation from DPs and local sources

3. Emphasis on environmental protection—close to half of the targets, implicitly and explicitly

SDGs in—3 characteristics

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CMDGs Assessment

CMDG1: Poverty Met on main indicators

CMDG2: Basic Education Most likely to be met on main indicators

CMDG3: Gender Met on main indicators

CMDG4: Child Health Met

CMDG5: Maternal Health Met

CMDG6: Communicable Diseases

Met

CMDG7: Environment Met on main indicators

CMDG8: Partnership Met

CMDG9: Demining Some way to go

Cambodia MDGs (RGC 2014)

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Sustained growth of around 7.8% on average, contributing to poverty reduction

Gs. 4,5,6=achieved mainly due to its low to non-sensitivity

Governance, rule of law and judiciary reforms have not performed well, due to its high sensitivity

Past growth accompanied by serious environmental degradation

CMGS—performance explained

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Underachievement of Gs. 2 and 3 linked to underinvestment to the education sector (RGC 2014)

Across all the CMDGs, NGOs play and DPs play a critical role—much better in less sensitive areas, than the highly sensitive

CMGS—performance explained

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6 Challenges 4 Opportunities 3 sources of Financing

SDGs for Cambodia

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6 Challenges identified:

1. Not pro-green, growth at the expense of forest cut, and environmental degradation

2. mismatch of SDGs’ institutional focus and Cambodia’s reality—external pressure, that can be dangerous for peace and stability and growth

3. SDG’s ambitious goal and target vs. Cambodia’s low quantifying capacity—coordination challenges

SDGs for Cambodia: Challenges

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4. SDG’s governance focus, and Cambodia’s actual poverty and growth-focused

◦ Rice needs to be produced before rights can be respected

5. Poor and near poor, requires serious attention—3/4 categorised as poor or near poor, malnutrition, and new poor

◦ more investment in health, edu, and social protection

6. Govt, DP and NGOs coordination remains weak◦ among government agencies, govt-NGOs, and

traditional and new DPs

SDGs for Cambodia: Challenges

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4 opportunities envisioned:

1. SDGs for resource mobilisation and setting local agenda focus on sensitive issues such as climate change and environment

2. Governance is improving, especially after the 2013 elections, and in sector such as HIV/AID and Phnom Penh Water Authority

SDGs for Cambodia: Opportunities

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3. Government has shown strong capacity to own development agenda

◦ dealing with both traditional and new donors to address its development needs

4. ASEAN economic community is to benefit from◦ Free flow of goods, services, investment, capital,, and

skilled labor, free trade arrangement

◦ Projected, GDP growth by 4.4 percentage points, exports by 5.3 percentage points, private investment by 24.8 percentage points (Itakra 2013)

◦ For international reforms

SDGs for Cambodia: Opportunities

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3 sources of financing:1. Public Financial Management Reform

(PFMR) and better tax administration,◦ Resource Mobilization Strategy (RBS) 2014-18,

improving compliance

◦ Revenue to GDP increased from 10.2% in 2000 to 16% in 2015, expected to grow

◦ Progress on expenditure lacks behind, though improving

SDGs for Cambodia: Financing

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2. During SDGs, govt has shown its commitment to sustain growth and private sector

◦ SMEs, Industrial Development Policy, its success conditioned on state capacity, and public administrative reform

◦ WB doing business studies for the last several years point to a more stagnant reform;

◦ in addition to peace and stability, reform is needed, quality education for skilled labor key to diversity economic base

SDGs for Cambodia: Financing

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3. DP, ODA, and FDI◦ ODA (loan and grant)=about 40% of its budget; in

2013, up to USD1.46 billion;14% executed by NGOs

◦ 2013, for the first time, share of loan was bigger than grant, the trend to continue as the country graduates to Lower middle income country status

◦ NGOs role remains critical, especially to assist those who have not benefited adequately from development, poor and near poor etc.

◦ New bank, non-traditional donors, FDI

SDGs for Cambodia: Financing

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1. Continue unachieved CMDGs◦ GOAL 1 End poverty in all its forms everywhere

◦ GOAL 2 End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

◦ GOAL 3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

◦ GOAL 4 Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

◦ GOAL 5 Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

◦ GOAL 10 Reduce inequality within and among countries

◦ GOAL 17 Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

Localised SDGs: Ingredients for Cambodia SDGs Success

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1. Goal 16, ‘promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build elective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels’ will be burdensome, and controversial

◦ feasible standard—

2. SDGs’ environmental sustainability, more research on feasibility is needed

◦ Environmental sustainability, modernization, and growth

◦ Industrial development, construction, tourism and environmental pollution (Gs 6, 7,...15)

Localised SDGs: Ingredients for Cambodia SDGs Success

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1. Development partners’ role in mobilizing aid to meet the goal of 0.7% of their respective GNI is highly encouraged

2. A multi-stakeholder forum could be useful in guiding the SDG implementation as well ensuring accountability.

3. Relevant SDGs could be mainstreamed into the decentralization and deconcentration policies, so that the sub national authorities could operate in ways contributing to the overall realization of SGDs.

Recommendations in brief

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4. Incorporating SGDs into varied Technical Working Group meetings so that the key development stakeholders are constantly reminded of the existing SDGs and could together to achieve the goals. And

5. Capacity building on quantitative work needs to be further strengthened and equipped, especially for the concerned officials at the Ministry of Planning to assist M&E work.

Recommendations in brief

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Thank you