Cambodia

Overview

Cambodia is recovering from almost three decades of war, civil conflict and economic stagnation involving the elimination of key institutions, government records and educated people. The country has achieved solid development progress since 1993, having moved to a multi-party democracy and a market-driven economy. Steady government reforms and export-led private sector development have made Cambodia a strong economic performer, although the 2008 global food and economic crisis has reduced growth substantially. Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy with an elected government.

Even though Cambodia has made advances in reducing poverty, more than two out of five Cambodians still struggle to live on less than $1.25 per day and the country ranks 139 out of 187 countries on the United Nations 2011 human development index. Almost 80 percent of Cambodia's people live in rural areas, where poverty is concentrated. One out of three Cambodians is between 10 and 24 years of age.

Food security and malnutrition are major concerns. One in three Cambodians is food insecure and one in four children under the age of five is underweight. In order to balance higher food prices with lower incomes, more households are now relying on less nutritious food, buying food on credit, eating less, reducing spending on health and removing children from school.

Cambodia's economy, which is based on agriculture, lacks diversification, efficiency or competitiveness. Cambodia imports most of its food from neighbouring countries.

Expanding agriculture is extremely difficult as Cambodia is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. An estimated four to six million landmines and other unexploded ordnances remain, affecting more than half of the country. Some 670 square kilometers of the country, or 46 percent of its villages, still need to be cleared of explosives.

Thematic Focus

CIDA's programming in Cambodia is closely aligned with the country's National Strategic Development Plan Update 2009-2013 which focuses on promoting good governance and creating an enabling environment for sustainable economic growth. This includes increasing private sector development, agricultural production, land reform and mine clearance.

The goal of CIDA's program in Cambodia is to help the country stimulate sustainable economic growth and increase food security.

Economic growth

CIDA focuses on helping the rural poor clear their land of deadly land mines so it can be used for agriculture. CIDA is also helping increase access to legal land titles, using participatory community methods to provide land titles―destroyed during the war―to the rural poor.

Food security

CIDA focuses on improving agriculture extension services, encouraging more productive small-scale agricultural techniques and tools and increasing farmers' access to information about local, national and global markets. CIDA will also help Cambodia build strong agricultural value chains―the full range of activities to bring a product from an idea through production, delivery to consumers, and disposal after use. These efforts will help increase the amount of safe and nutritious food available to the rural poor.

Progress on Aid Effectiveness

Cambodia adheres to the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (PDF, 317 KB, 23 pages). Donor harmonization and alignment is improving. Donors are shifting from project-based support to programs which use and improve government systems for service delivery. Cambodia is improving its management for results.

Canada supports these changes and is the lead bilateral donor in land administration.

Accomplishments 2009-2010

Economic growth

• Helped the Government of Cambodia issue nearly 1.4 million land titles to poor rural farmers―about 25 percent of rural households―between 2002 and 2009, improving land security for farmers and enabling them to invest in their land and increase overall productivity
• Contributed to demining efforts, clearing 35 million square metres between 2006 and 2010 and helping to reduce total casualties from landmines and unexploded ordnances by 70 percent between 2005 and 2009

Food security

• Provided technical assistance in agriculture to more than 13,000 poor rural households, half of them headed by women, and helped reduce food shortages and increase production and incomes for 80 percent of these households

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