Weaknesses in Cambodia's public
expenditure management system-including the difficulty in
channeling funds down to service providers-have resulted in
costly inefficiencies... Show More +
in the effectiveness of expenditures
in improving social welfare outcomes (World Bank, 1999 PER
and 2003 IFAPER). In response to these problems, the Royal
Government of Cambodia (RGC) initiated implementation in
2000 of the Priority Action Program (PAP), intended to
delivery resources to front line service delivery units in
the priority sectors in a timely manner. The introduction of
the PAP in education also represented a major change in
terms of resource allocation and education sector strategy.
The PAP education was launched in 10 provinces in 2000, and
expanded to cover all provinces in 2001, and, it shifted the
focus of education policy toward basic education, in
general, and demand-side constraints in particular. The
assessment of the primary education PAP 2.01, which provides
for schools' operational budgets, and accounts for over
one quarter of the entire PAP budget in education, is the
subject of this report, which is based on a survey of two
hundred schools in seven provinces carried out in 2004. The
survey found that reported leakage in PAP 2.1 is low, but
also found that the PAP system is characterized by low
quality record keeping, thereby limiting the robustness of
the empirical findings on leakage. In terms of total PAP,
there is no reported leakage of funds between Provincial
Treasuries (PTs) and Provincial Offices of Education (PEOs).
There is also evidence of low leakage of PAP 2.1 funds in
terms of what District Offices of Education (DEOs) receive
from PEOs, and what schools receive, over the 2000-2002
period, but this finding is not very robust since the survey
found that the quality of official, required PAP records is
low, especially at the school and district levels. The poor
quality of record keeping, including low reliability of
receipting records and spending books, and weak monitoring
and inspection of PAP implementation, must be taken into
account when interpreting all the reported results. The
introduction of the Priority Action Program represented a
major change in terms of sector strategy, budget
formulation, and resource flow. As such, a comprehensive
assessment was needed to analyze the impact in terms of
providing resources to schools in a timely, and predictable
manner, making sure those resources are used as intended,
and improving education outcomes. The challenge for Ministry
of Economy and Finance (MEF) is to mainstream PAP, building
on the lessons learned thus far, into the cornerstone of a
medium term financial de-concentration program. However, at
the same time, MEF recognizes, and this report shows, that
improvements in the design of PAP are necessary before it is
mainstreamed. The report concludes with a summary of the key
issues and recommended actions. Show Less -
