In light of the coming local elections this year and the national election in 2018, we urge all participating political parties to adopt and implement policies and procedures that promote greater equality among women and men, particularly in decision-making structures, on political party lists and in funding the campaign of women candidates. A political system that includes women, at the top as well as at the grass roots level, is one that better represents all Cambodians.

It requires an innovative and well-coordinated effort between MoWA, other state institutions, development partners, private sector, and civil society organizations to align their programs to national priorities, to mobilize and pull together both financial resources and technical expertise, and to make systematic gender mainstreaming in their other development projects with sufficient funds allocated.

Building on its financial support from 2013 to 2015, the Government of Switzerland has committed an additional US$3.5 million to Cambodia’s demining sector, from 2017 to 2019. The fund will support the Government to maximize mine action results on human development in poor communities in Battambang, Banteay Meanchey and Pailin, through Phase III of the Clearing for Results project. The project is also supported by the Australia Government...

UNDP was awarded the Royal Order of Sahametrei, Tepidin Class (Commander of the Order) from the Royal Government of Cambodia for its major effort to the country’s environmental conservation and protection. The Order was founded by the late King Norodom Sihanouk in 1948. It is the highest ranking medal conferred to foreigners for their distinguished service to Cambodia...

Persons with disabilities face multiple challenges such as inequality and discrimination in access to education, healthcare services, social and economic social justice, political participation as well as being particularly vulnerable to violence and other violations. With a predominantly Buddhist population, it is often thought that disability is seen as a result of a sin in a past life. There are however, other cultural norms that impact on people’s perception of disability...

As Cambodia crosses the threshold into the middle income country category, government intervention in education is highly justified and desirable to avoid the so called ‘Middle Income Trap’ also called ‘low skills trap’ by correcting the labour market imperfections and proving equal life chances for all citizens in education and skills building.

If the returns to labour are to be increased, Cambodia will need to diversify the economy providing productive employment opportunities for the 275,000 youths reaching the working age population annually (ILO, 2008). It also needs to make agriculture more productive to provide higher returns to labour to young people who would remain employed in rural jobs. Lastly, there is a need to enhance long-term savings to build-up financial assets and strengthen household resilience and set the foundations for inclusive and sustainable economic growth...

To achieve the goal of Planet 50-50 for these women farmers, there is an imminent need for the Government and its development partners to further step up through an increased and targeted investment to improve women’s farming knowledge and sustainable farming practices and technologies that can adapt to the changing climatic conditions. Over and above investing in women and girls as an investment for our future, gender equality is an ultimate goal in itself and women and girls should have equal rights and opportunities to men and boys.

To expand the scope for public action, UNDP will focus assistance on public institutions for poverty reduction and resilience and on strengthening voice and participation. The focus will be on upgrading value chains, financing development sustainably, building resilience and fostering participation. An important tool will be fostering partnerships in the context of transition.

But the term ‘gold’ should also be used for another important resource in Cambodia — water. Water is central to agricultural production including paddy rice, through the expansion of irrigation...

Despite its reclassification as a Lower Middle-Income Country, Cambodia’s transition from a Least Developed Country will take perhaps another ten years while its human asset and economic vulnerability indices remain within the LDC category..