Balancing out development

The Phnom Penh Post
Thursday, 01 July 2010 15:00
By Nicola Crosta

Cambodia has made strides in sustainable development, but progress will hinge on bridging existing disparities that separate the rural and urban populations


Over the last decade, Cambodia has been successful in achieving sustained economic growth, but this has been narrowly based and continues to be challenged by stark social and territorial disparities. Alongside these challenges, there is enormous unexploited potential for sustainable economic development and diversification across both rural and urban Cambodia. Clearly, many of the key factors influencing the country’s development dynamics – both positive and negative – are localised, and are thus best understood and addressed at the sub-national level. This is one of the main conclusions we reached in the Local Development Outlook: Cambodia, launched on Wednesday by the UN Capital Development Fund in Phnom Penh at the UNCDF/UNDP Local Development Forum.

On the one hand, modest progress towards some of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is concentrated in specific regions and dependent on local circumstances. On the other, Cambodia possesses significant unexploited potential. Notably, some of its strongest assets are localised just where poverty and exclusion is the greatest. For example, despite its strong tourism and construction industries, Siem Reap remains one of the country’s poorest provinces.

In this context, a strong consensus is emerging across both developed and developing countries that a new policy approach is needed – one that builds on local knowledge to tailor public policy to locally specific circumstances. This should allow the provision of public goods when they are needed and where they are needed, in an integrated fashion. This logic is behind recent efforts to use more disaggregated data, such as that gathered in Cambodia through the already existing commune database, to localise the MDGs and attack poverty traps via deliberate, place-based strategies. For instance, in many countries, local MDG “scorecards” are being developed to track progress at the local level and provide input to national and sub-national planning processes. This approach also guides local development strategies that seek to harness endogenous potential and capitalise on opportunities for economic diversification and development. Additionally, this localised approach is increasingly being adopted to drive policy responses to climate change that has significant – and territorially asymmetric – impacts across developing countries.

What does this mean, in practice, for Cambodia? As argued in the Outlook, action is needed on at least two fronts. First and foremost, decentralisation reforms must advance. This will provide the necessary governance infrastructure to empower local actors as agents of change and development. Decentralisation is not just about promoting local democracy and participation; it is also a key tool to promote economic development. Second, policy that clearly outlines a localised approach to development is needed at the national level. This doesn’t mean top-down planning. It means adopting a strategic approach that is sensitive to the different characteristics of different parts of the country. This includes – for instance – developing the government’s capacity to tailor its sectoral policies to the specific context of rural areas, urban areas and cross-border or coastal provinces.

But realising local development potential is not just the responsibility of government. Private sector and financial institutions have a critical role to play to ensure local economic development opportunities are harnessed. Development partners can also do more to make sure their support is strategically targeted where it is needed and in ways that maximise synergies and integration, rather than duplication.

This local perspective may not be the solution to Cambodia’s economic, social and environmental challenges. But it is certainly part of the solution. Anyone who has travelled across Cambodia knows that this is a land of immense opportunities. A future is possible where rural areas thrive and where Cambodian cities act as hubs for development. But for this to happen, efforts need to be localised: Economic growth in Phnom Penh does not automatically translate into development in Ban Lung. In other words, growth is necessary, but it doesn’t necessarily imply balanced, sustainable development. If sustainable development is the objective, key actors need to act collectively, strategically and deliberately towards it.

This will allow all Cambodian regions, and their populations, to participate in national growth and development.

Nicola Crosta is chief technical advisor to the UN Capital Development Fund, the UN’s investment agency for least developed countries.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2010070140195/National-news/balancing-out-development.html

Workplace bans on beards raise hairy questions

Tuesday, June 22, 2010
By MIKI NAKANISHI
Kyodo News

MAEBASHI, Gunma Pref. — The issue of men with facial hair in the workplace has recently prompted serious discussions as well as actual bans based on "decorum."

News photo
Hairy issue: A bearded shopkeeper is given a "no" sign by a customer in an illustration addressing the issue of banning facial hair in the workplace. TARO ARAI ILLUSTRATION / KYODO

In May, the city of Isesaki, Gunma Prefecture, banned all male municipal employees from sporting beards in the office on the grounds that public servants should look decent. The city took the action after some residents complained about its bearded workers.

In response to the news, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said it had never heard of any municipality introducing such a rule.

Isesaki's move, however, is nothing new. A growing number of Japanese, including athletes, are being prohibited from turning up for work unshaven so they won't "offend" the public.

Seven-Eleven Japan Co. is particularly strict about the appearance of its employees and says it won't hire men with beards.

"We might fire workers growing beards regardless of whether they are regular staff or part-time workers," a public relations official said.

Oriental Land Co., owner of the Tokyo Disney Resort, also bans beards, like its U.S. counterpart.

"It's important that workers serving our guests maintain an immaculate image," an official said. "But the rule doesn't apply to the man playing the role of Captain Hook in our park."

The manufacturing arm of razor maker Kai Corp. tests the quality of its products almost every month on its male workers. They grow facial hair until the monthly test date arrives and get back to work cleanshaven after the tests.

Some men take issue with the bans.

An employee of Japan Post Service Co. sued the firm to protest a pay cut imposed because of his beard.

In March, the Kobe District Court ordered the company to pay him ¥370,000 on grounds that a person's appearance is a matter of personal freedom and a uniform ban on beards is unreasonable.

In sports, the Yomiuri Giants baseball club is well known for its ban on beards. When he left the Nippon Ham Fighters for the Giants in December 2006, infielder Michihiro Ogasawara made his fans gasp by shaving his trademark beard.

The baseball star said abiding by his team's rules was a matter of manhood.

No regulations exist regarding facial hair in the world of sumo, the most tradition-bound of sports in Japan.

According to the Japan Sumo Association, some non-Japanese wrestlers have taken flak in the past because they tend to be more hairy than most Japanese and some fans found their bushy facial hair unseemly. By and large, not wearing a beard is a tacit rule.

The association, however, is rather flexible regarding the issue.

"We work in the world where luck counts a great deal, so some wrestlers don't shave during a winning streak" because they fear it would change their luck, an association official said.

"It is said that growing a beard or not should be a matter of personal freedom and left to each individual to decide, but organizations fail to function well if they lack a certain measure of discipline," said Mitsuru Yaku, a cartoonist and commentator on various social issues who himself sports a beard.

"A beard is a symbol that is the polar opposite of a virtue associated with a serious-minded adult, and many people equate beards with decadence or moral laxity," he said.

World Bank applauds Cambodia for success in financial industry

People's Daily Online
15:34, June 08, 2010
World Bank applauded Cambodia on Tuesday for a success in financial industry.

Delivering speech at the opening of the workshop on corporate governance in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, Qimiao Fan, World Bank's country manager said "the success of Cambodia's finance industry is proof that improving corporate governance works. Thanks to the national bank of Cambodia's regulations and standards, and close supervision, many of Cambodia's commercial banks and microfinance institutions have raised their standards of corporate governance and been rewarded with greater investment."

Qimiao Fan also prospected that Cambodia will have a promising future due to its geographical location and the growth in many sectors.

"Along with a number of sectors with strong growth potential, a young population with a lifetime of work ahead of it, a stable society and a good geographic location close to much large markets in Asia, Cambodia has a promising future, and especially so if its financial institutions and enterprises offer the comparative advantage of good corporate governance," he said.

Chea Chanto, governor of the National Bank of Cambodia said the recent bad experience of the world financial crisis taught Cambodia the hard way about how the failure of bank and financial system can impact livelihoods. "It is important that countries such as Cambodia take stock of this lesson and seek to avoid a repeat in our own banking and financial system," he said at the workshop titled "Corporate Governance for Banking and Financial Institutions."

He said having learned from the Asian financial crisis, the National Bank of Cambodia has taken a series of measures to better supervise and regulate the banking and financial system in the country.

Chea Chanto, meanwhile, said banks have an overwhelmingly dominant position in the country's financial system, representing more than 90 percent and are extremely important engines of economic growth, citing they are the source of finance for the majority of firms.

Source:Xinhua