Decentralization letting people make their own decisions
While the World Bank Social Development team was visiting Kampong Thom province, the World Bank newsletter had anopportunity to interview Mr. Arnaldo Pellini, Adviser to GTZ, theGerman technical cooperation organization, who is working on civilsociety and local governance issues, and on a community-based rural development project.
Q. Could you tell us briefly about your work here?
A. The community-based rural development project is a joint project funded by the International Federation for Agriculture Development and GTZ under the direction of the Ministry of Rural Development in two provinces: Kampot and Kampong Thom. This program is being implemented in four districts in Kampong Thom – Santuk, Stung Sen, Prasat Balang and Stoung – to support decentralization management, local governance, agriculture, natural resource management, economic promotion, and infrastructure improvement.
Q. In terms of decentralization, have you seen any changes during your four years working here?
A. The commune elections in 2002 brought major change at the local level, in terms of the opportunity for people in decision making and the opportunity to decide what kind of projects they need and want in their villages. My experience is that the cooperation between commune council and people is positive. I feel most of the time that there is a positive attitude between people and commune councils, which can provide for rural development.
Soon we should see concrete benefits for the people, who will see that their participation is meaningful, such as in the areas of poverty reduction, livelihood improvement and better basic services delivery.
Another change I would like to share is that Village Networks were formed to help link people with the commune councils. We have achieved some results. For example, some Commune chiefs in Santuk and Stung Sen districts have expressed willingness to support people and Village Network participation in their meetings and with their annual planning because they feel that their participation is important and helps the commune do its work better.
Q. You are talking about decentralization. How important is decentralization in helping to develop the country?
A. The most important thing, I believe, is to allow people to participate in making decisions about what they need and what they think are their priorities. Before the commune council elections the institutional structure in Cambodia was top down. So everything was decided at the central level and delivered to the local level.
This vertical structure has existed for a very long time in Cambodia and the people were rarely allowed to participate. Now this has changed. People are able to make decisions about what they need, for example, water wells, culverts, bridges, schools, or roads. To improve this, I think now is the time to make this change become the reality.
Q. Do you have any recommendation to the Cambodian government and to Cambodians as a whole about how to improve the decentralization process?
A. I think the decentralization process as far as I could see in Kampong Thom very much relates to local governance and management of local development. The recommendation I would give is to try as much as possible from the central level as well as the local level to build up the trust between citizens and the government. And this could be done if the decisions can be taken together and the priorities be decided together and also implemented together, even though projects are small.