Presented by H.E. Louise Hand,
Australian Ambassador to Cambodia
and
Louis-Georges Arsenault
Representative, UNICEF Cambodia
The donor community congratulates the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports in undertaking this visionary reform. Donors jointly welcome the opportunity to contribute to the evolving ESSP process, and to offer comments on the ESSP, the ESP, and related work plans. We thank MoEYS officers and educational staff at various levels for their efforts in facilitating the ESSP Appraisal process.
We strongly support the broad principles of the sector wide approach, the shift from donorship to partnership and the pro-poor policies which are embedded in the initiatives. We believe the approach has the potential to enhance transparency, co-ordination between all stakeholders, greater equity and lead to more efficient use of the available resources.
We are impressed with the volume and quality of outputs to date achieved in a spirit of positive co-operation between the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, other Ministries and agencies, donors and NGOs. The level and intensity of interaction these last two weeks exemplifies these collaborative efforts.
The Ministry is developing enabling legislation and regulations which will greatly facilitate implementation. It already has in place an established Educational Management Information System which can be built upon in the development of an integrated monitoring and evaluation system.
The donor community strongly supports the commitment to Universal Basic Education as the "priority of priorities" within the Ministry's strategic plan. Perhaps the most important feature of the ESP and ESSP is this commitment to universal, inclusive, quality basic education to Grade Nine for all children by 2010, within the wider framework of EFA by 2015
The donor community is pleased to note that the appraisal has endorsed the priority programs identified in the ESSP. They have been judged as important, complementary programs focussing on key priorities.
The rolling program approach with its inherent flexibility, needs to respond to the complex issues involved. The inbuilt mechanism of annual reviews by all key stakeholders should provide the opportunity to fine tune programs and processes.
The donors are concerned about the magnitude, complexity and proposed pace of change. The overall program is dependent on achieving a large number of objectives, targets and indicators. The task and timeframe appears overly ambitious. Efforts should be made to streamline the process, possibly by either establishing a hierarchy of objectives/targets, or re-scheduling and prioritising implementation over a longer, more manageable timeframe
The program objectives for the Institutional Development and Capacity Building Program may not be achieved, as they could be too ambitious and complex. The new approaches represent a major challenge in terms of change management and must give sufficient opportunity for MoEYS staff members at all levels to properly comprehend and absorb the implications. The objectives are also dependent upon the timely and successful implementation of the National Program for Administrative Reform.
The donors are concerned that the processes described focus almost exclusively on the planning and management of the Priority Action Programs, which account for a relatively small percentage of MoEYS expenditures. More attention needs to be given to convergence of these programs with existing Ministry expenditure as well as existing donor programs.
Notwithstanding our endorsement of the content of the Priority Action Programs the donors are concerned about the limitations of relying so heavily on these as the sole instruments of change. They cannot guarantee the required funding nor do they address the fundamental changes needed in the system.
The overall approach seems too ‘top down’ and hierarchical. The system that is developed should give more attention to provinces, districts and institutions, which would be consistent with the core theme of decentralisation. Local initiatives will need to be actively encouraged and promoted to the extent possible.
Whilst we acknowledge the pro-poor initiatives, donors would nevertheless like to see greater attention devoted to issues associated with gender and minority groups in the documentation. These are particularly important aspects that need to be mainstreamed in implementation planning and activities
The donors are concerned that the ESSP proposals for reception classes and summer remedial classes do not address the underlying causes of poor 'readiness' for school. MoEYS is encouraged to include in the ESSP, plans and activities to promote inter-ministerial commitment to early childhood care and development. Its role might be to act as catalyst to bring interested parties together to develop a workable national policy on Early Childhood Care and Development. In these efforts, the support of donor, NGO and community partners will be essential.
The positive directions taken by the Government in developing more strategic approach with enhanced transparency and accountability, and more dynamic partnership arrangements provide the platform for widening the education resource base.
The intention of all of us is to move education in Cambodia forward. In the end the responsibility for the education of Cambodians belongs to the government and people of Cambodia. The donors are here as partners to provide support, encouragement and resources as they are doing in this appraisal.