Page 6 - Sustainability and entrepreneurship for CSO's and CSO networks Cambodia 1 November 2018

CHAPTER 1: THE CSO SECTOR IN CAMBODIA
The CSO sector started off after the Paris Agreements around 1992. Many international agencies arrived in a situation where the government was weak (and under UN supervision). The private sector was in its infant stage and international investors were absent while ICT and social media did not exist yet. The CSO sector between 1992 and 2012 became influential in sectors such as education, health, governance and infrastructure. The CSO sector introduced its own structures, systems, policies, agendas and lingua franca (terminology including abbreviations). An impressive number of staff were trained to internalise CSO principles, methods, agendas, and systems. The CSO sector invested 500 - 600 mill. US $ per year (2016) in Cambodia and employed over 43.000 staff1. Out of 3.500 registered national and local CSOs some 1.350 are operational, with 80% of the funds spent in Phnom Penh and 20% in rural areas.
Most local CSOs were established after the first general elections in Cambodia in 1993 when international CSOs entered the country in large numbers looking for local partners to disseminate their mission, services and budgets. Contrary to many other countries the CSO sector in Cambodia considers itself merely as project implementer / administrator and service deliverer. Over the past few years local CSOs, Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and welfare organisations started to contribute to Cambodian development2 with local resources.
Lately several reports on CSO influence and effectiveness, advocate for a shift in paradigm (Cambodia Development Resource Institute - CDRI) and better collaboration (OXFAM, CCC, CDRI3). Most local CSOs depend on external donor funding, their autonomy is limited and sets the parameters for their operations and outputs, putting an onus on dealing with donor requirements. This effectively curtails CSOs ability to assert independence when dealing with the Government4. The CDRI Shift in Paradigm report (2004) stated that most International Civil Society Organisations (INGOs) did not take time and efforts to adapt their policies and methods to the Cambodian circumstances and culture. The language introduced by INGOs is hardly understood by emerging sectors in society, isolating the CSO sector from these sectors (Government, private sector, foreign investors and religious organisations). Many INGOs now face a decline in funding. Increased competition leads to concentration and accumulation of budget, to higher overhead and internal management processes. A growing resentment of citizens in their home countries say that “INGOs do more for strangers, than for our own people”. This may lead to re-allocation of aid for INGOs being keen to invest in countries where the return on a buck is high.
1 CCC GHP 2017 - 2021
2 http://www.eeas.europa.eu/archives/delegations/cambodia/documents/publications/
2015/2014_2018_eu_roamap_en.pdf
3 https://www.cdri.org.kh/webdata/download/wp/wp85e.pdf
https://cambodia.oxfam.org/policy_paper/future-role-ingos-cambodia
4 http://www.eeas.europa.eu/archives/delegations/cambodia/documents/publications/
2015/2014_2018_eu_roamap_en.pdf
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