Press Release:14 Million Dollars in continued Swedish Support for Basic Education
	Speech by H.E. Tol Lah, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of MoEYS
	Words by Mr. Daniel, Counsellor, Embassy of Sweden

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MoEYS/ SIDA Agreement for Support to Basic Education

January 30, 2002

Presentation By H.E. Toh Lah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Youth and Sport

I am very pleased to make a short presentation at this important occasion of the formal signing of the agreement between the Government of Sweden and my Ministry on future support for basic education. 

I believe that this ceremony represents another important milestone in implementing new forms of partnership with our key donor friends. I would like to highlight some illustrations of how the process of education partnership is changing and improving.  

Firstly, I was particularly gratified at the extensive consultative process that took place in formulating the assistance program from Sida. The sector review missions by Sida staff in 2000 and 2001 helped to refine our joint thinking on the way forward. The opportunity to work with Unicef in preparing a joint submission to Sida in late 2001 helped further to strengthen this sense of national leadership but joint ownership of future assistance.

This model is completely consistent with the new partnership paradigm of ownership not donorship presented by the Government at the CG meeting in 2000. The openness and transparency of the preparation process is also in line with the new partnership principles agreed between my Ministry, the donor community and NGOs in early 2001.

Secondly, this agreement of support responds directly to the education reform priorities set out in the Education Strategic Plan and Education Sector Support Program which was jointly reviewed in mid 2001. I am pleased to note that both this agreement and the Sida/ Unicef agreement focuses on the priority programs set out in the ESSP. I note particularly the priority given to capacity building at all levels in the education system. This will enable my Ministry to accelerate the process of decentralising the management of education services to provincial authorities and schools.  

It is very important that all partners, especially my Ministry, Unicef and Sida, have a common understanding of the detailed results and activities expected from the Sida support program. I would therefore like to propose an early seminar to ensure a clear understanding of the program objectives and outputs set out. This will allows us to jointly plan the monitoring program for the Sida support and feeding it into the broader ESSP review. It might be helpful to invite other donors/ NGOs and key Government ministries to participate in such a seminar.  

I like to take this opportunity to thank both Sida and Unicef representatives for their proactive efforts in promoting intensive MoEYS/ donor consultative processes. I welcome the component in the program for continued consultancy support for strengthen donor coordination. There will be a further opportunity for reinforcement through the formulation of the common policy matrix in the next few months. This will ensure that the Sida program is integrated effectively into the broader donor support program and its objectives.  

Thirdly, I note in the agreement, the intention to assist moving forward with the Swap process. This is also very encouraging, along side the stated objective of developing innovative approaches aimed at direct budget support in the future. With this in mind, I would like to emphasise that the program should give early priority to strengthening technical and financial management and monitoring capacities at all levels of the system. A robust and transparent financial system is critical if we are to move forward confidently with more flexible investment project and budget support modalities.  

Early I am emphasised the openness of the process for preparing this assistance program. This has enabled the Ministry to keep other potential donor agencies well informed about the nature of the Sida program. I am pleased to see that the Sida program will complement other new assistance for education scheduled for 2002, especially the new education loan from ADB. I note that, for example, that the capacity building program of the Sida and ADB support avoids unnecessary overlap or duplication.  

I am also gratified that the new program allows the Ministry to continue its long standing relationship with Unicef in Cambodia. Like all long term relationships, the one with Unicef has evolved over time. I would like to use this occasion to thank the Representative and his education staff for the way they have responded quickly and positively to the new partnership principles we adopted in 2002.  

I note that the capacity building support in the new program is very comprehensive. This will provide the opportunity for integrating capacity building in such a way that it will assist the implementation of other reforms supported by a range of donors. In addition to careful coordination with ADB support, I would like to see the capacity building assist introduction of the Ministry's new incentives for the poor initiative. This will ensure that the school feeding support from WFP and the anticipated support from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction achieves maximum benefit. 

The focus in the program on the drafting of an education act is also timely. My Ministry is committed to putting in place appropriate legislation and regulation for the education service. This activity can bring significant crosscutting impact. Firstly, it will help to underpin our reforms aimed at providing greater operational autonomy to schools, and post secondary institutions. Work on the legislation, will also help to facilitate the start up of scheduled World Bank support for higher education. Nevertheless, it needs to be acknowledged that the enactment process may take some time.  

I would like to emphasise the importance I attach to active and broad ranging participation in the annual joint review scheduled for late May 2002. I would like to strongly encourage a number of Government ministries and CDC to be involved this year, along side donors and NGOs.  

With this in mind, I am particularly encouraged at the stated intention in the agreement to ensure that the program review coincides with the annual joint ESSP review. This will help to optimise the use of time and resources on broad sector and program monitoring. I trust that in the future other donors will be able to follow a similar approach in time tabling its review and supervision missions.   

Finally, I would like to reiterate my thanks to the Swedish Government for their sustained commitment to education reform in Cambodia. Like all friendships, there may be times when we have to share difficulties and risks over these important reforms in education. I am confident that with open and frank dialogue our mutual goals for education can be achieved.

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