Strategy Development

In 2009, the Council for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) celebrates its ‘10th Anniversary’. CARD is a Council and Secretariat under the RGC Council of Ministers, and is chaired by H/E Deputy Prime Minister. Its mandate is the coordination of rural and agricultural development in Cambodia. CARD started with a focus on rural resettlement and agricultural rehabilitation. In the past years, CARD has mostly been known for its work in the field of Food Security; it is currently co‐chair of the Technical Working Group on Food Security & Nutrition. While this will remain an important aspect of its work, CARD is in the process of restructuring and assessing its orientation.
This strategy note concerns the capability of CARD to effectively carry out its mandate in a rapidly changing environment. It looks at four basic questions:

• Where is the organisation going (goal)?
• What are long‐term targets (objectives)?
• How to achieve those targets (outputs)?
• What resources are needed in the process (inputs)?

Drafting the strategy was informed by CARD’s mandate and vision as well as an understanding of environmental changes. The process also includes a redesign of the organisational structure and management arrangements, as well as an assessment of the skills necessary to provide relevant expertise in the coordination of rural development.
During the past 10 years, Cambodia’s institutional and strategic landscape changed drastically. For instance, at the time of CARD’s inception in 1999, decentralized administrative and political structures, the aid harmonization agenda, and community‐based resource management did not exist. The private sector was in its infancy, and the rural development agenda focused strongly on agricultural rehabilitation. The government is implementing a very broad reform agenda; old questions must be addressed in a new context; economic and social changes generate many new questions that seek attention.

Following are a few of the challenges in rural development which the RGC must address through legal reform and policy and strategy development: balancing food, livelihood and economic security with economic growth; increasing agricultural production and productivity, whether smallholder or agro‐processing unit ‐ in an economically viable and ecologically sustainable manner; managing delivery of water to satisfy growing demands for domestic and irrigation purposes; achieving and strengthening an effective dialogue with the farming community; mainstreaming gender and ethnic minorities and playing a proactive and instrumental role in poverty alleviation.

Besides a strategy, the outputs of CARD’s institutional change are an amended structure and work processes, which will be defined in a separate Royal Decree and Sub‐Decree. This strategy note outlines how CARD will respond to its mandate. It is not a detailed plan of action, but rather a map of where CARD is going in the long‐term, the kind of activities and resources involved, and the challenges and opportunities prominent in CARD’s operating environment. Concrete targets will be laid down in a Programme Results Framework and annual rolling work plans and budgets.
The strategy note fully recognizes and integrates the core experience and track record of CARD in the field of Food Security and Nutrition. In addition, three particular issues demand CARD’s attention: the diversification and productivity of smallholder agriculture, the development of non‐agricultural rural entrepreneurship, and social protection mechanisms for the most vulnerable rural households. To address these issues in a strategic way, CARD will actively seek a dialogue with all stakeholders in rural development: national and sub‐ national government, civil society, private sector, and development partners. It will do so using an evidence‐based approach.

The strategy note is the product of a process based on wide internal consultations as well as dialogue with key external stakeholders. In the end, it is good to remember two aspects of reform: the product must be viewed in its proper context, which is the reform of public sector management in Cambodia; also, capacity development is a non‐linear process of change. Formulation of the new strategy is but a first necessary step in a process of collective re‐thinking.

FURTHER READING:  CARD Draft Strategy Paper - June 2009