Takeo commits for better public service delivery
Joint Press News
As a commitment to improve public service provision, the province administration has supported dialogue between service providers and users in nine districts and 97 communes during two-year project implementation. On 29th September 2020, public service providers are meeting to reflect on the progress and lessons learned to plan for the next phase of collaboration to improve public service delivery further.
Around 276 people are taking part in the meeting, including leaders from local health services, education services and public administration from the commune and district levels; a Community Accountability Facilitators (CAF). Participants are being asked to provide feedback and suggest actions to improve the performance of health centres, primary schools and commune administrations. The province administration and World Vision are cofacilitating the learning workshop.
“After the two years of implementation of ISAF, I observe that the local service providers are more accountable for their responsibilities. They are more friendly, providing essential services to our citizens. And our citizens understand their rights, they speak more openly and participate more actively in the creation of local service improvement plans,” said Takeo deputy governor Saveth Ly.
“These last two years, we have faced some serious budget constraints and have experienced the COVID-19 outbreak. Despite these challenges, the provincial, district and commune administration staff have worked hard to implement local dialogues in all communes of the province. This reflects a real commitment to transparency and accountability from the provincial authorities,” said Sotharith Ry, Senior Programme Manager of World Vision.
Since 2015, the ISAF project team has worked, through the Implementation of the Social Accountability Framework (ISAF) to enhance the accountability of subnational administrations and to improve local service delivery. This mission responds to Sustainable Development Goal 16, which focuses on developing strong institutions. These efforts to promote dialogue and accountability also reflects the vision of the Royal Government of Cambodia, as outlined in the fourth Rectangular Strategy (2018 – 2023), which calls for the development of social accountability mechanisms to contribute to the overarching national goals of growth, employment, equity and efficiency.
Takeo deputy governor explained, “the progress registered through ISAF toward better services and transparency convinced us that we need to sustain these local dialogues about public services. It will require more training and more effort to strengthen the program (ISAF), but we are committed to continue to involve citizens and work together in improving the performance of local service providers.”
With the financial support of the European Union, ISAF Phase 2 has been implemented in 30 districts and 290 communes in Takeo, Pursat, Battambang, Kampong Speu, Kampong Cham through partnering with 11 local non-governmental organisations in 2019 and 2020. World Vision International Cambodia, with a coalition of local partner NGOs, has worked on the Implementation of the Social Accountability Framework (ISAF) since 2015.
World Vision currently supports the Royal Government of Cambodia to implement ISAF in more than 750 communes and sangkats across the country.
More information:
- https://www.wvi.org/sites/default/files/2020-
09/Extension%20of%20Implementation%20of%20ISAF.pdf
- https://www.wvi.org/publications/development-guide/cambodia/implementation-socialaccountability-
framework-booklet-01st
For Further information:
- Ratana Lay, Communications and Public Engagement Manager, World Vision
Tell: 086 915 925, email: ratana_lay@wvi.org
- Malaya Him, Chief Deputy of Human Resource Office of Takeo Provincial Administration.
Tell: 077 530 998/ 097 387 777 3
Published by Chetra Ten, Lead Creative Solutions Supervisor