| Project Detail |
Project Development Objective(s)
Proposed Development Objective(s)
To improve the performance of public service providers through the development and institutionalization of national
and sub-national government systems for improved transparency, strengthened citizen engagement and responsive
action.
Key Results
· Percentage of service providers covered by the project that are meeting key national standards.
· Percentage of JAAP actions completed or ongoing in target communes/sangkats.
· Percentage of target communes/sangkats that have completed three full annual ISAF cycles.
· Percentage of target communes/sangkats that allocate resources to support the implementation of
the ISAF process.
Preliminary Description
Activities/Components
There are three main components of this project which comprise the annual cycle of social accountability
activities: (1) Transparency and access to information; (2) Citizen monitoring; and (3) Implementation of Joint
Accountability Action Plans (JAAPs). Components (4) Training and capacity development, and (5) National
and subnational coordination and partnership support, provide overarching support to building the capacity
required to implement the planned activities and sustain them beyond the duration of this project.
Overall there will be three levels of intervention at the district/municipality (DM) and commune/sangkat (CS)
level. The intensity of effort in each locality will vary depending upon whether ISAF has been previously
implemented in that DM or CS. This differentiated approach is aimed at reducing external support over time
as a way of “graduating” DMs from ISAF external support and integrating social accountability activities into
core government systems and civil society action. DMs/CSs that have had no previous experience with ISAF
with receive the most support as they will need to start from the basic concepts and processes of ISAF.
DMs/CSs with previous ISAF experience will not need to receive support on the basics of ISAF, and many of
them may also have experienced local NGOs and trained CAFs to draw on, but they will still need support to
prepare them to graduate from external project assistance. Finally, a third package of significantly reduced
support will aim at leaving behind subnational government, service providers and civil society actors
(especially CAFs) that continue to carry out social accountability activities after project support has receded.
NCDDS will focus most of its support in new DMs, as the experienced DMs have already been trained and set up ISAF working groups. Experienced DMs, CSs and district line ministry units will be encouraged to finance
and implement social accountability activities without NCDDS support.
In terms of service coverage, ISAF II and this project and the complementary demand-side project in
particular, will continue to focus on the basic services covered in ISAF I: commune councils, health centers
and primary schools. In addition, a new instrument and methodology for holding District and Municipality
Administrations accountable for quality service delivery will be developed, piloted and scaled up over the
duration of this project and ISAF II. This represents a fourth type of service provider that will be covered in
ISAF. In addition, this project will also enable NCDDS to support other line ministries to develop, pilot and
implement ISAF activities for other services. Another World Bank financed project, the Water and Sanitation
Improvement Project, will support the piloting of ISAF tools for water supply operators and wastewater
services provided by the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft (MIH) and Ministry of Public Works and
Transport (MoPWT), respectively. As such, this project will allow NCDDS to support this initiative and others
that may emerge during the duration of the project. There are ongoing discussions about the application of
ISAF to nutrition-related public services, agricultural extension and protected area/natural resource
management.
Below are summary descriptions of each project component.
Component 1: Transparency and Access to Information (US$ 480,000)
This component will finance primarily training, consultants and goods to strengthen transparency and citizen
access to, and demand for, public service performance information, budget and expenditure data. The goals
are to: (i) strengthen the supply and dissemination of relevant public service information (including financial
information), (ii) make the information more accessible to the public, and (iii) strengthen the capacity of
citizens to understand the information provided so that they may more actively and effectively participate in
dialogue on service provider performance and use of funds.
For provinces and districts that have not yet implemented ISAF activities, NCDDS will provide training-oftrainers (ToT) to key government officials as well as support overall awareness raising. The NCDDS will
support the concerned line ministries to review and update as necessary, service performance indicators,
produce Information for Citizen (I4C) posters, and work with relevant sub-national authorities and service
providers to ensure the timely collection, posting and proactive dissemination of I4C annual “post-on”
information (i.e. annually updated data on budget, spending and performance). NCDDS with also work with
the ISAF Partnership Steering Committee (PSC) and individual line ministries to ensure that the aggregated
results of I4C data are effectively communicated to national, provincial and district-level officials and that
corrective actions are implemented by line ministries as required to meet established national standards and
to improve the quality and responsiveness of public services. NCDDS will also encourage subnational
authorities (i.e. Commune Councils) and/or the service providers themselves to produce I4C materials using
their own resources so that these activities can be sustained over time.
In addition to the continuing focus on commune council services, health centers and primary schools, NCDDS
will also develop, pilot and scale up the use of a set of district/municipality administration ISAF tools which cover a full annual cycle, including the production and dissemination of I4C posters (outlining citizen rights
and minimum service standards), and the community scorecard and JAAP processes. These tools will be
integrated with processes for evaluating the other three core services. Once these tools have been
developed under Component 1 and put into use, their ongoing use will be captured in the components
below.
This component will also support the enhancement and management of an electronic platform for access to
information through investments in system upgrades as well as consultants to manage the system, conduct
training on system use and encourage public use of the system through a mobile application and website.
Videos will also be developed in partnership with World Vision and other NGO partners, to reach a wider
audience with information about public services and to make this information more accessible, including to
those who are illiterate, physically disabled, or are unable to otherwise participate in ISAF activities and may
instead access information through mobile devices.
Component 2: Citizen Monitoring (US $80,000)
This component will finance primarily training to empower citizens to monitor and assess public services and
propose actions for improvement using a well-tested, community scorecard (CSC) methodology. Through
complementary demand-side activities, volunteer Community Accountability Facilitators (CAFs), with the
support of local NGO partners as needed, will undertake the groundwork for the citizen monitoring process
by identifying and mobilizing community participants and making logistical preparations for assessment
meetings. CAFs will then help to prepare and support separate assessment meetings with the (i) providers
and (ii) users of each service. Service provider (i.e. primary school, health center, C/S Council and D/M
Administration) assessments are called “self-assessment” meetings. In both the citizen/community and
service provider meetings, participants collectively generate and prioritize assessment criteria, score each
criterion, describe strengths and weaknesses, and identify priority actions for improvement. Following these
separate assessment meetings, users and providers for each service come together in an “interface meeting”
to discuss the outcomes of their respective assessments and to collectively agree a set of priority actions for
improvement – distinguishing between those actions that they can implement themselves with available
resources and those that will require additional resources and/or action on the part of other (i.e. external or
higher-level) actors.
NCDDS will encourage the integration of CSC activities into Health Center Management Committee and
Village Health Support Group activities, in the case of health centers, and integration into the activities of
School Support Committees, in the case of primary schools. These community-based service provider groups
are natural bodies for incorporating CSC and other social accountability functions over the long term.
For the introduction of the new D/M Administration services, an appropriate approach to citizen
engagement will be designed which takes into account the much wider coverage area and the fact that D/M
Administration services are less well known and used by the public, except for One Window Services. So, a
form of citizen representation of each C/S area and perhaps even C/S Council members will be engaged. The District Ombudsman office will also play a significant role as their mandate includes obtaining and
responding to feedback from citizens on public services.
Through the proposed project, NCDDS will coordinate with all sub-national authorities and service providers
to ensure their active collaboration in, and support for, self-assessment meetings, user assessment meetings
and interface meetings. Specifically, NCDDS will train district administration ISAF trainers (one from each line
ministry) to conduct self-assessment meetings. The NCDDS will also liaise with relevant line ministries and
authorities to ensure that, by the end of ISAF Phase II, the (minimal) direct costs of conducting these
meetings on an annual basis are built into government budgets.
Component 3: Implementation of Joint Accountability Action Plans (US $120,000)
This component will primarily finance training to support communities, public service providers and
subnational government officials to take collective action to implement agreed Joint Accountability Action
Plans (JAAPs). In each target community, at the final interface meeting, a joint committee made up of local
officials, service providers and community members is formed to support and monitor the implementation of
the resulting JAAP. The JAAP Committee prepares a detailed implementation plan for each priority action,
mobilizes the resources required, coordinates/supports the implementation of each action, monitors
progress and reports publicly on results twice yearly. The Committee also ensures that the JAAP is presented
at the annual District Integration Workshop and that JAAP actions are incorporated into Commune
Investment Plans, health center and school improvement plans as appropriate. A format for the D/M
Administration JAAP will also be developed and incorporated into the C/S level JAAPs for review and followup at the D/M level, but also with Provincial Authorities as the next highest subnational level to apply
accountability and mobilize resources within the government system. NCDDS will also engage specifically in
monitoring D/M Administration JAAPs in order to strengthen their capacity, particularly as D/Ms receive
increasing resources and authority to invest, deliver services and ensure service quality.
The NCDDS will conduct JAAP training of district JAAP Focal Persons as well as cascading training by district
staff down to each commune for all JAAP Committee members. For districts which are implementing ISAF for
the first time, basic financial support (i.e. for direct meeting costs and refreshments) will be provided for
district JAAP and JAAP Committee meetings at the C/S level, but this support will be reduced over the course
of the project to the point where C/Ss self-finance the meetings. As a whole, NCDDS will work with line
ministries and coordinate with all sub-national administrations and service providers to ensure their active
collaboration in and support for JAAP Committees. NCDDS will also encourage primary school and health
center directors as well as Commune Council Chiefs and Clerks to draw upon their own limited budgets to
implement JAAP actions. If health center and school budgets are insufficient to address JAAP actions, then
commune, district, provincial or national budgets should be considered.
Component 4: Capacity Development (US $420,000)
This component will finance primarily training, consultants, operating costs and goods to support the review
and revision of the ISAF Supply-side Manual, associated forms and documents, incorporating lessons from
ISAF Phase I. It will support the development of new guidelines for district administration services, and possibly additional services to be identified during implementation. These revised documents will be printed
and disseminated electronically, as needed. To ensure integration and sustainability, the project will also
support strategic planning and training for key stakeholders in MOI, especially officials involved in the
National School of Local Administration (NaSLA) and/or other relevant government training bodies. It will
also review, revise and standardize the training curriculum and accredit government staff that have
completed the required training. At the close of the project, supply-side social accountability training will be
integrated into core training for civil servants, in particular through MOI’s training, and likely NASLA’s
curriculum which is still under development.
Component 5: National and Subnational Coordination and Support (US $620,000)
This component will finance primarily training, consultants, operating costs and goods to complement core
annual financing for ISAF activities funded through the national budget and implemented by NCDDS. The
national budget will finance two civil servants working in NCDSS to provide national leadership for ISAF as
well as support for operational costs such as office space, utilities, and travel. The project will support this
management team with a small team of consultants, namely a Social Accountability Advisor, Social
Accountability Officer and Finance Officer to manage project finances. The project would finance monitoring
and support for the national team at the provincial and district level to ensure overall quality
implementation. Provincial and district ISAF Working Groups would also be supported to prepare annual
workplans and budgets as well as quarterly meetings, with financing reducing each year until these activities
are self-financed by the subnational governments.
Modest support would also be provided for the joint, government-civil society, national-level Partnership
Steering Committee (PSC) and funds would also be allocated for targeted evaluation studies such as an
assessment of the new district administration ISAF activities and steps toward sustainability such as CAF
networks and the role of the district ombudsman office. Beyond the activities financed through this project
and the complementary demand-side project, the core ISAF team in NCDDS would support the overall ISAF II
implementation, including reporting to the high-level NCDD (chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister for
Interior), coordination with line ministries, coordination with other DPs and NGOs that are implementing
ISAF activities in parts of the country not targeted by the project, and other core ISAF functions the arise over
time.
The project is supported with funds from the Social Accountability and Service Delivery Trust Fund (SASD-TF)
as the primary financing instrument. |
