Cambodia’s approach to cross-sectoral coordination

In Cambodia, coordination within the social protection sector is embedded within the National Social Protection Policy Framework 2016-2025, driven by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MoEF), widely debated across all relevant Ministries, approved in 2017 by the Council of Ministers and issued by the Prime Minister – denoting extremely high policy ownership. The strength of the Framework lies in an accurate analysis of the challenges of the system to that date (fragmentation, lack of a sufficient legal framework, low coverage, etc), while proposing a clear vision for reform.

One of the reform areas that is clearly articulated in the Framework is the need to establish a “National Social Protection Council” (NSPC), responsible for policy coordination and steering of multi-sectoral issues across two key pillars: social assistance and social insurance. The Council – which is attended by Ministers across 10 relevant Ministries, chaired by the MoEF – was created in 2017 and has been meeting at least once a year since then, providing strategic guidance for integration within the social protection sector and beyond. The Council is also supported by two further coordination structures: a) an Executive Committee that meets to discuss operational issues and policy recommendations on an ad-hoc basis (often on a monthly basis), with representatives at General Department and  Secretary and Undersecretary of State level across the relevant Ministries; b) a permanent Secretariat housed within the MoEF and led by the Secretary-General, working on day-to-day technical implementation and coordination of the country’s social protection programmes. These three coordination bodies are all embedded in legislation, via Royal Decrees and Government Sub-decree, and have played an instrumental role in continuously streamlining the design and implementation of social protection programmes across a range of actors and sectors.

Coordination within the sector is further enhanced via the country’s social registry, known as ‘ID Poor’, which is currently fully government financed and mandated by law to perform a gateway function for targeting all anti-poverty programmes – government, development partners and NGO run. It was born in 2005, piloted in 2007-2008, and formally adopted in 2011 to respond to a need from the health sector (enabling free access to health care for poor households). It has since evolved into a national platform that is highly institutionalised across actors at all levels of implementation, and is trusted across sectors and by communities (due to its hybrid approach to registration, a mix of community targeting and PMT). As an example, ‘Equity Card’ holders (enrolled households) can access benefits and services across education, health, agriculture sectors, among others. Transparency and trust in the system is enhanced via a user-facing online platform, enabling access to aggregate data and key documentation. It is also worth mentioning that IDPoor uses census survey data collection, complemented by a recently developed on-demand mechanism which ensures timely updates.  The case study highlights the importance of inter-ministerial coordination and how a comprehensive approach can enhance the outcomes of social protection policy.

 

To see how this example facilitated national social protection responses to the COVID pandemic, please click here

 

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