PROJECT BACKGROUND

Approximately 70% of Cambodian households derive all or an important part of their income from agriculture, yet the majority of agricultural production is dependent on the monsoon rain and natural floods/recession of the Tonle Sap Lake and Mekong River. Climate change is likely to disrupt the natural cycle of the monsoonal system and the hydrological function of the interconnected Mekong-Tonle Sap River drainage system and therefore cause a significant impact on the livelihood and welfare of rural Cambodians.

This project was designed to reduce the vulnerability of rural Cambodians, especially land-poor, landless and/or women-headed households through investments in small-scale water management infrastructure, technical assistance to resilient agricultural practices, and capacity building support, especially targeting poor women, for improved food production in home gardens. The Project is being implemented in 89 communes and 10 districts of Siem Reap and Kampong Thom provinces.

KEY EXPECTED RESULTS

The project aims to improve sub-national administration systems affecting investments in rural livelihoods through climate sensitive planning, budgeting and execution.

1.     Climate sensitive planning, budgeting and execution at sub-national level strengthened;

2.     Resilience of livelihoods of the most vulnerable improved against erratic rainfall, floods and droughts; and

3.     Incentive mechanism is in place at sub-national level to manage greater volume of climate change adaptation financing aligned with local development plans.

ACHIEVEMENTS

• A total of 389 provincial, district and commune councilors (129 women – 33%) have been engaging and they now play active roles in the process of integrating CCA into local planning and execution of CCA priorities. To date, vulnerability reduction assessment (VRA) has been completed in all target communes, confirming 100% of target communes in10 target districts.
• All 10 target district investment programs (DIPs) and 84 commune development plans/commune investment programs (CDPs/CIPs) have been updated, in which gender and climate change adaptation priorities are fully integrated for interventions through Performance-Based Climate Resilient Grant (PBCRG) mechanism for small-scale resilient water infrastructures as well as through regular district and commune funds.
• End-line survey was successfully conducted in 28 selected villages out of 160 treatment villages receiving project interventions. The survey applied the same methodologies as that of baseline. The draft report has been made available and being reviewed by both national and regional teams.
• The knowledge and skills of the district, commune councilors, commune clerks, planning and budgeting committee (PBC) members and commune women and children focal points (WCFP) have been further enhanced on gender and climate change and they now play active part in VRA and CCA Mainstreaming in district and commune investment programs. This critical achievement is made through a series of annual trainings and workshops for a total of 350 sub-national administration officials (SNAs) and Commune Councilors/PBC members.
• Technical capacity of agricultural extension officers and livelihood service providers have been enhanced for climate-resilient livelihood to provide support to the local communities through a series of capacity building workshops on beneficiary selection and resilient agriculture extension packages. As a result, a total of 115 extension officers, service provider staff, and sub-national administration officials (34 women—30%) are playing their crucial parts to facilitate and provide technical support to project beneficiaries.
• Up to 6,745 households (74% women) have been mobilized and engaged in resilient livelihood activities. They have benefited from group ongoing saving scheme, small-scale resilient water infrastructures and livelihood improvement activities including home garden, animal (chick, duck and frog) raising activities.
• To date, 94 out of 100 target water schemes in 10 districts have been implemented with a total amount of $1,460,000 through a co-financed mechanism with the Commune Fund (Performance-Based Climate Resilient Grant – PBCRG). Thus far, 93 schemes are completed, and operational and one remaining scheme is under construction and expected to be completed in late August 2020. When all are completed, they are estimated to directly irrigate 11,899.48 ha of rice paddies and benefit 15,685 households in 62 communes in both target provinces.
• In collaboration with other initiatives, the project supported the NCDDS to update the existing PBCR grant manual. It has been approved by the NCDD and implemented in 10 target districts covering 89 target communes with enhanced climate-smart development planning integrated. The capacity of NCDDS and the SNAs on PBCR grant assessment and self-monitoring strengthened through hands-on training and assessment exercises. They are now able to prepare and conduct PBCR assessment on the annual basis.

For more photos, see our flickr here! 

 

 

FINAL BASELINE SURVEY REPORT