Context

Cambodia has made significant progress in decentralization and local governance reforms; however, fiscal decision-making remains highly centralized, citizen participation in local budgeting is limited, and vulnerable groups often struggle to influence public spending decisions. Many citizens lack access to understandable budget information, while local authorities often have limited capacity to facilitate meaningful participation. CLIPS addresses these challenges by strengthening fiscal transparency, citizen engagement, social accountability, and inclusive governance so that local priorities are reflected in sub-national planning, budgeting, and public service delivery.

Purposes

Citizens actively participate in and oversee local fiscal governance, leading to improved transparency, accountability, and responsiveness in public resource allocation and service delivery.

Approaches

  • Capacity building and coaching for sub-national administrations, citizens civil society organizations (CSOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), youth groups, women groups, vulnerable groups, people with disabilities (PWD) and journalists.
  • Citizen-led initiatives: Citizen-led monitoring, budget analysis, procurement oversight, and action research.
  • Integration of civic engagement into existing community and institutional structures.
  • Citizens’ participation in planning and budget monitoring Commune Investment Program (CIP), Commune Development Plan (CDP), District Investment Program (DIP) and District Development Plan (DDP).
  • Digital civic engagement (Citizen Budget, Public Information Database for Opportunities and Results (PIDOR), ISAF apps, One Window Service Office (OWSO)).
  • Multi-stakeholder engagement linking local to national policy dialogue.

Outcomes

Outcome 1: Capacity and participation - To strengthen the capacity of citizens and sub-national administrations to access, understand, and use budget information and digital participatory tools to engage effectively in local budget planning and fiscal decision-making.

Outcome 2: Accountability and oversight - To strengthen citizen-led monitoring and accountability mechanisms that track local public expenditure, promote transparency, and improve government responsiveness to community priorities.

Outcome 3: Institutionalization and sustainability - To institutionalize inclusive, transparent, and responsive mechanisms within subnational administrations that enable sustained citizen participation in local planning, budgeting, and public service monitoring.

Main Deliverable

  • Local citizens gain knowledge and skills in local fiscal management, budget monitoring, action research, and advocacy to engage commune, district, provincial, and national authorities on fiscal decentralization.
  • Commune and district councils are equipped with online fiscal management tools and strengthened capacities on fiscal decentralization and participatory public financial management. 
  • Citizens access and use online and offline platforms, including web portals, mobile applications, Facebook, Telegram, and community forums, to obtain information on local budgets, public finance, and service delivery.
  • Target groups including youth, women, and community organizations, have the capacity to lead their own initiatives on fiscal decentralization, gender-responsive budgeting, budget monitoring, and accountability.
  • Schools and community-based organizations integrate civic engagement activities into their annual plans and community actions.
  • Commune and district councils implement and enforce policies, guidelines, and mechanisms on civic engagement, fiscal management, participatory planning, and accountability.
Target area of CLIPS project

Implementing Partners

•    Advocacy and Policy Institute (API)
•    Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association (CamboJA)
•    Development and Partnership in Action (DPA)
•    The NGO Forum on Cambodia (NGOF)
•    SILAKA
•    Youth Resource Development Program Organisation (YRDP) 

Strategic Partners

•    The Ministry of Economy and Finance
•    The Ministry of Interior
•    The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport
•    National Committee for Sub-National Democratic Development Secretariat (NCDDS)
•    National School for Local Administration (NASLA)
•    Provincial, district and commune council members, commune financial assistants and clerks
•    Media and journalists
•    Academia/Research Institutions
•    CSOs and CBOs

CLIPS partners