Relevancy of the PEOPLE Service in Cambodia

PEOPLE = Promotion and Enhancement of People Livelihood and Equity

The recent adoption of the NSPS

The Royal Government of Cambodia, under the leadership of the Council for Agriculture and Rural development (CARD), developed a National Social Protection Strategy for the poor and the vulnerable, which was adopted by the Prime Minister’s office on 18 March 2011 and launched on the 5th December 2011 by the Prime Minister.

Five pillars to ensure basic social protection to the entire population

The RGC vision is to ensure a basic guarantee of social protection for the entire population. The NSPS relies on five pillars

Addressing the basic needs of the poor and vulnerable in situations of emergency and crisis,
Reducing the poverty and vulnerability of children and mothers and enhancing their human development,
Addressing seasonal unemployment and underemployment and providing livelihood opportunities for the poor and vulnerable,
Promoting affordable health care for the poor and vulnerable,
Improving social protection for special vulnerable group.

The PEOPLE Service as the nodal implementing tool of the NSPS

The PEOPLE service was endorsed by CARD and the development partners as the mechanism to facilitate the implementation of the NSPS and the coordination of all different social protection programs.

The PEOPLE Service, a tool for the implementation of the decentralization reforms

The implementation of the NSPS comes at a time when Cambodia is implementing changes in relation to sub national government administration. In early 2010 the Government published the National Program for Sub-National Democratic Development (NP-SNDD) 2010-2019. The changes that are envisaged are quite fundamental and will mean a major reorientation of the roles and responsibilities of government agencies at all levels. All sub national agencies will be given increased responsibility in order to make government more transparent and more responsive to the needs of the people.

The 5 objectives of the PEOPLE Service in Cambodia

Provide a coherent framework for the implementation of the NSPS and facilitate coordination between line ministries,
Simplify procedures and develop synergies between the components of the NSPS, reduce costs, share administrative tasks: (registration, vulnerability assessment, skills assessment, M&E …)
Empower subnational levels : the PEOPLE Service will be established at district and commune level. The districts and communes will be involved in the design and oversight of the PEOPLE Service,
Facilitate the establishment of a monitoring & evaluation system through a single database of beneficiaries,
Facilitate access to existing social protection schemes for the families who often lack access to information and services. The offices will be close to the people, at district and commune level.

A Assessment of Social Protection programs and Employment Services in Siem Reap and Banteay Meanchey has ben conducted as a baseline for the design of the PEOPLE Service. While assessing the programs, CARD and ILO better understand the needs of the service providers in order to design a relevant mechanism.