Under the talented, wise, pragmatic and long-term visionary leadership of Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo HUN SEN, the Royal Government of Cambodia has made tremendous achievements in socio-economic development by progressively sustaining economic growth for more than two decades, maintaining macroeconomic stability, controlling inflation, alleviating poverty and promoting people’s welfare and livelihoods.
To carry on the great momentum aiming at maintaining political stability, social security, promoting economic development and improving the living conditions of Cambodian people, especially marginalized group, Samdech Moha Borvor Thipadei HUN MANET, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia has officially established the “Pentagonal Strategy- Phase 1” at the first Cabinet Meeting on August 24, 2023 to serve as “Socio-Economic Policy Agenda” of the Royal Government of Cambodia for the Seventh Legislature of the National Assembly.
The government has made remarkable progress in managing development cooperation in recent years, whilst continuing to address challenges posed by Cambodian socio-economic transformation and evolution of regional and global development architectures. The government’s success in mobilizing external resources from year to year, from one legislature to another and the resilience of ODA during COVID-19 crisis has reaffirmed that development cooperation continues to play an important role in promoting and accelerating national socioeconomic development. In this regard, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of development cooperation continues to be a top priority for the Royal Government. On this basis, the Pentagonal Strategy - Phase I has emphasized the necessity to formulate the Development Cooperation and Partnerships Strategy 2024-2028.
The formulation of the Development Cooperation and Partnerships Strategy 2024-2028 has considered the context of Cambodian socio-economic transformation and the evolving regional and global development architecture, including progress toward socio-economic development, poverty reduction, CSDGs, LDC graduation, challenges and opportunities from COVID-19 experience, rising geo-political competition, and other regional and global events over the past years.
The Development Cooperation and Partnerships Strategy 2024-2028 has the objective to establish a framework for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of development cooperation in support of the national development priorities as articulated in the Pentagonal Strategy - Phase I, in readiness for Cambodia’s LDC graduation and the achievement of CSDGs. To achieve the above objectives, the five strategic goals are set out as follows: (1) strengthen the ownership and leadership of the Royal Government in development cooperation; (2) enhance the effectiveness of inclusive partnership mechanisms between the Royal Government and development actors; (3) increase the efficiency of the implementation of key tools that reflects the mutual accountability for results in sectoral development and the government reform programs; (4) promote public accessibility of information on development cooperation; and (5) implement and monitor the commitments on enhancing efficiency and effectiveness of development cooperation.
While outlining principles for efficiency and effectiveness of development cooperation, the strategy identifies partnership mechanisms and key tools for implementation. The partnership mechanisms defined in the strategy include: National Multi-Stakeholders Consultations, Bilateral Consultations with Development Partners, Technical Working Groups, Government and NGOs Consultation Meeting, Sub-national Partnership Dialogue, South-South and Regional Cooperation, and Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation. The key partnership tools include: ODA and NGO Databases, Development Cooperation and Partnerships Report, and Joint Monitoring Indicators. The strategy also focuses on monitoring the implementation by establishing a result framework and identifying institutional arrangement for leadership and coordination.
Given the significant role of ODA and the imperative need to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of development cooperation, the Royal Government under the leadership of Samdech Moha Borvor Thipadei HUN MANET, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, will continue to strengthen closer cooperation with all development actors to successfully implement this DCPS 2024-2028 strategy, based on the principles of the government’s ownership, equal partnerships and mutual accountability.