Cambodia: Tonle Sap Lowlands Rural Development Project

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Lessons

Linking community−driven development (CDD) to investments in rural infrastructure and services can have an immediate positive impact in improving the conditions of the poor.

Use of the CDD approach of empowering communities to identify, prioritize, and implement commune-level infrastructure investments aligned the investments to beneficiary needs. Along with the creation of new on- and off-farm opportunities, these investments enabled the project to significantly contribute in improving the connectivity, food security, productivity, incomes, and living conditions of the poor in 3 provinces in the Tonle Sap basin. By project completion, average village–commune travel time had been reduced; cropping intensity rose; rice production increased; and more diverse livelihood and income sources were generated. The resulting decline in poverty incidence in the participating communes reduced the need for the communities to migrate seasonally to the buffer zone of the Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve to meet their subsistence shortfalls. Going forward, wider impacts can be achieved by disseminating good practices and ensuring the sustainability of productivity and income increases.

Capacity building enables farmers’ groups to be self-reliant in working together to achieve common goals.

Major social capital increases had occurred with the formation of various types of farmers’ groups, including agricultural cooperatives, savings groups, and on-farm and off-farm business groups. This was established by the end-of-project financial and economic analysis, which also revealed that typical agri-enterprises, with 30–35 members, had an annual turnover of about $1,700−$3,400. Repayment rates of 100% for credit accessed from self-help groups and cooperatives, and the growth of savings group capital from an initial $40 to, in some cases, tens of thousands of dollars were indicative of significant social cohesion and a remarkable level of collective capacity. But before all these could happen, intensive training had to be provided to enable individual farmers and their groups to diversify income and livelihood sources and make their small businesses profitable.

Empowering communities to monitor the implementation of infrastructure projects minimizes financial risks and fosters the sustainability of projects.

The project empowered the communities to identify and prioritize infrastructure subprojects through the participatory Commune Investment Plan process. While fostering ownership and commitment, the process also placed the communities in a good position to effectively monitor project implementation, which helped address the risk of corruption and financial mismanagement and ensure high-quality infrastructure. Community participation in enhancing the sustainability of physical assets and project benefits was further bolstered by the formation and subsequent operationalization of special purpose groups such as farmer water user groups and road operation and maintenance groups.

Active participation by key agencies, adequate funding and human resources, and gender−disaggregated monitoring and reporting enable the successful implementation of Gender Action Plans (GAPs) in Asian Development Bank− (ADB) assisted projects.

GAP implementation was highly successful: the project completed 95% of its gender activities and achieved 90% of its gender targets. This resulted in women’s socioeconomic empowerment, indicated by high levels of women participation in project activities and decision-making and access to project benefits. Active participation and close coordination between the implementing agencies and the gender consulting team primarily accounted for the project’s strong gender performance. To boost the chances of success, GAD implementation in future projects should ensure the conduct of GAD orientation and training among key agencies at project inception, adequate funding and human resources, and the collection and use of gender−disaggregated data in project monitoring, reporting, and evaluation.

Background

Many of the poor households in the provinces surrounding the Tonle Sap Lake would migrate seasonally to the lake and upland forests to meet their food shortfalls and supplement their livelihood in the villages. This exacerbated the severe threats to the lake’s ecosystem, which included overexploitation of fisheries and wildlife resources, land clearance of the flooded forest, pollution, natural resource degradation, and more.

To help reduce the need for the poor to encroach into the lake, which is central to sustaining the Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve (TSBR), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved in December 2007 a $10 million loan and a $9.9 grant for the Tonle Sap Lowlands Rural Development Project. The project focused on improving the livelihood and income opportunities in 40 selected communes of 3 lowland provinces in the Tonle Sap basin. It had 3 planned key outputs (i) improved rural infrastructure, (ii) improved rural livelihoods and employment options, and (iii) strengthened project management. Output 1 rural infrastructure improvements were to be delivered in 3 sub-output areas: social infrastructure, agricultural water management, and rural roads.

At project completion, 160 subprojects supported the construction or rehabilitation of commune council buildings, village or commune roads, schools, wells, latrines, conservation ponds, and riverbank protection structures; 58 subprojects rehabilitated or upgraded irrigation canals, embankments, and other small-scale irrigation infrastructure, increasing the total irrigated area to 13,376 hectares or 139% of the target; and 54 subprojects rehabilitated or constructed a total of 205.91 kilometers of rural roads or 90% of the target. 7 major subprojects supported the dissemination of modern farming practices and agricultural technologies.

Community participation in identifying, prioritizing, and implementing the subprojects was ensured through the community-driven Commune Investment Plan process and the formation of several community organizations, including farmer water user groups, road operation and maintenance groups, savings groups, agricultural cooperatives, and on-farm and off-farm business groups. Special attention to promoting women’s participation and access to project benefits resulted in women comprising 43% of the 16,112-total membership in community organizations and 60% of the 42,246 beneficiaries of agricultural training and extension.

Delivery of almost all the planned outputs allowed the project to achieve its overall aim to increase livelihood and income opportunities through improved infrastructure and services. By project completion: cropping intensity had risen, with farmers growing 2–3 crops per year; paddy rice production increased by 23.8% during the wet season and 99.6% during the dry season. 439 new enterprises, including 397 agri-businesses composed and run mostly by women, provided additional incomes to poor households. Overall, the project helped reduce poverty incidence in the participating communes from an average of 46% in 2007 to 25% in 2017 and enhance the connectivity, productivity, and food security of the poor in turn reducing their need to enter the TSBR buffer zone to meet livelihood and food shortfalls.

ADB’s Southeast Asia Department rated the project successful. The Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology (MOWRAM) was the executing agency. MOWRAM, the Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, and provincial local administration units implemented the project.

Project Information

Project Name:

Tonle Sap Lowlands Rural Development Project

Report Date:

July, 2016

Main Sector:

Multisector

Country:

Cambodia

Project Number:

37287-013 37287-022

Project/Modality: