| General Information |
Project/Program |
Project |
| Project Name |
Rural Investment and Local Governance Project |
| Duration |
Board Approval: 04/22/2003 Closing Date (original): December 31,2007; (actual): December 31, 2010 |
| Donor |
World Bank |
| Implementiong Organization |
The Secretariat of the National Committee for the Sub-National Democratic Development |
| Sector and/or Subsector Classification |
Government Administration |
| Region |
The project targets 1,110 communes in 15 provinces, affecting around 1.5 million households. The actual affected households are 1,545 communes in 23 provinces. |
| Financing |
The total project costs estimated at appraisal was USD 190.36 million; actual costs were USD 175.57 million. Source of funds were allocated among the following donors: the borrower (USD 31.46million and 55.73 million for different counterpart funds), International Development Agency (USD 23.98 million and ISD 36.39 million as a loan and grant respectively), PLG and PSDD( both organizations are consisted of UNDP, DFID, SIDA assisting USD 13.31 million and USD 14.70 million respectively). |
| Analytical Information |
Stakeholders |
Accountability Working Group, Community Based Organization, Department for International Development (United Kingdom), District/Provincial Facilitator Team, District Integration Workshop, Executive Committee (of the PRDC), Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Rural Development, National/Provincial Accountability Working Group, National Committee for Sub-National Democratic Development, National Committee for Support to the Commune Council, Non-Governmental Organization, Planning and Budgeting Committee, Provincial Rural Development Committee, Quality Assurance Group, Royal Government of Cambodia, Swedish International Development Agency, Sheila Task Force, Technical Support Unit/Officer, United Nations Development Program, civil society, affected people. |
| Cross-cutting Issue |
Environment |
Key risks identified in the project are the following: (1) delays in drafting laws and regulations, (2) fiduciary controls and safeguards and lastly (3) the limited capacity at the commune and sangkat level. In addition, the implementation phase had gone through two risks: the 2004-2005 late cash transfers from the National Treasury to the commune accounts at the provincial level and the 2008-09 inadequate project management performance. Other risks that were outside of control were the financial crisis of 2007 and the Typhoon Ketsana in 2009. |
| Gender |
There were no gender related issues found in the Implementation Completion Report. |
| Impact Analysis |
The project is aligned with the Royal Government of Cambodia's policies and priorities. In particular, the government's Governance Action Plan and the National Poverty Reduction Strategy is well coordinated with the project's objectives. In addition, the World Bank's Country Assistance Strategy (2000) support this project. |
| Effectiveness |
Ownership/Partnership |
Evaluation |
Government commitment was very high in this project; according to the Implementation Completion Report, the Royal Government of Cambodia had allocated increasing amounts of funding to the C/SF. Numerous stakeholder workshops at the national, provincial and commune levels were carried out. |
| Rating |
4/5 |
| Policy Coherence/Harmonization |
Evaluation |
Harmonization of the World Bank and implementing agency was high- the task team had identified problems and worked closely declaring twice the project as 'problem project' during the implementation process. However, the report notes there was limited coordination among ministries of the government. |
| Rating |
3/5 |
| Evaluation Framework |
Evaluation |
All evaluation and monitoring conducted by the World Bank was well supported; the World Bank had supervised with close coordination when the project introduced to newly affected communes. A fiduciary report was conducted in 2004 and was recommend in 2009. |
| Rating |
4/5 |
| Alignment/Composition of Finance |
Evaluation |
The project was successfully implemented and thus, the government formally set a further assistance over the next ten years with the approvement of the National Program for Sub-national Democratic Development (NP-SNDD), 2010-2019. Compliance with the financial management requirements and procurements were well followed over the seven years of the project. |
| Rating |
4/5 |
| Other Remarks |
The Seila program was initiated by the Government of Cambodia to promote democracy and a bottom up welfare system. This is the second phase of the Seila program; this program was well coordinated with numerous donors. |
