6 Community �artici�ation in
VILLAGE NETWORK
7.2 Situating t��e Cambodian ex�erience and �olicy suggestions
Successful decentralisation requires a context in which dominant values are support-ive of genuine decentralisation and circumstances are suitable to collectsupport-ive decisions (Manor 1995, Blunt and Turner 2005). Returning to the categorisation of different forms of decentralisation presented in Chapter Two (section 2.2), it is fair to say that the Cambodia’s decentralisation of education is a ‘deconcentration’ with aspects of the ‘management by objectives’, described by Lauglo (1995), associated with the an-nual activity plans drawn at school or cluster level. At the same time, the stated ‘polit-ical rationale’ of ‘participatory democracy’ has so far resulted in a limited delegation of decision making authority and an inadequate consideration for the opportunities provided by greater spaces of participation for traditional associations members.
Cambodia’s experience with community support to schools is not unique. As shown in Chapter Two, other developing countries have a tradition of community fi-nancing derived from a strong demand for schooling which was not met by adequate government funds (Bray 1996). Different societies have different ways of engaging with schools and education, therefore similarities or differences between the Cam-bodian experience and those of other countries reside in the institutionalisation of these forms of community support in the decentralisation process.
The example from four Francophone countries in West Africa presented by Lugaz et al. (2006) shows an important difference with Cambodia in that when adminis-trative and education decentralisation go hand in hand, local government bodies can be given responsibilities for basic education. This avoids duplication of roles and tasks while, at the same time, requires an adequate capacity building programme.
Although the reform’s objectives in the four countries are, similarly with Cambodia, to access community resources to fund education, an organic and comprehensive decentralisation policy helps to promote greater community involvement and to in-clude education in the overall local development process. Malawi, as shown by Rose (2003), has a similar experience to Cambodia in terms of traditional community sup-port to schools. The institutionalisation of participation has been mainly extractive
Conclusions 157
and limited to contributions in cash or in kind for school construction. This has been the result of the attempt to bridge the ‘participation gap’ between communities and schools through the establishment of ad hoc school committees that have failed to gain legitimacy in the communities. The case of Ghana shows that communities, in order to achieve an active participation in school governance, need also to be given the capacity and skills required for active participation in school governance that goes beyond the limits of material contributions. This is similar to Cambodia’s expe-rience, where community members, based on the data presented here, are asked to join planning exercises without adequate preparation. The result is often ‘etiquette participation’. One positive lesson, as shown from the case of the Sangkor School Association in Kampong Thom, is that community participation benefits when a teacher is also involved in the School Associations as this helps to include the teach-ers’ perspective to association activities.
The examples from Latin America are not easy to compare with Cambodia. Some of the countries, such as El Salvador, have also suffered from years of civil war and have therefore a tradition of community support to school ‘by default’ as the only alternative. Furthermore, the state and civil society relationships have been, as Poggi and Neirotti (2004) put it, of indifference or cooptation. What is considerably differ-ent, however, is the influence of Freireian ‘conscientisation’ theories and the crucial importance of local alliances in strengthening community participation in local gov-ernance. These have led to the adoption of decentralisation as a long term strategy that influences the change of both design and management of the education system as well as citizens participation in the political arena (UNESCO 2005). The EDUCO programme in El Salvador is an example of the different perception of the role and functions of community support to schools. Though various evaluations of the pro-gramme show that educational standards in EDUCO schools are similar to those of regular schools, one additional and very significant contribution has been in rebuild-ing social cohesion. The growth of community social capital in communities where parents’ empowerment has strengthened serves to promote trust and democracy.
The Cluster School approach to the decentralisation of education in Cambodia has been a strategy applied in other countries as shown by Bray (1987). The reasons that have led to adoption of the cluster approach have differed in different regions.
In the case of Latin America, the ‘conscietisation’ objective was important. At the same time in some Asian countries (e.g. India, Sri Lanka and Thailand), the main objective has been administrative efficiency. This has also been the main objective in Cambodia, where the need to rebuild an education system has been coupled with scarce resources, while participation was a secondary aim. Though the experience of Cambodia can be compared with other Asian countries, it must be noted here that the current orientation of the MoEYS towards the PAP will reduce the relevance of the cluster system. As pointed out in the previous section, this missies the opportu-nity for increased social cohesion through the alliances and networking that clusters
can produce. Other Asian countries show that community participation can be lim-ited to material contributions by preventing teachers becoming involved in parents’
associations, as in the case of Indonesia. In the case of Cambodia, the research data show a greater formal and informal interaction between associations and teachers, although the main topic of discussion is material contributions.
It is usually more difficult to offer suggestions than it is to describe problems.
During the research process, the perception from interviews and project activities at the local level has been one of optimism for the opportunities created by the election of Commune Councils, in contrasts with the conclusion by Blunt and Turner (2005) that “the broad historical, cultural and governance settings of decentralisation in Cambodia are not conducive to strong forms of decentralisation” (p. 85). This is a long term process requiring long term strategies which, with regard to participa-tion, require a clear understanding of Cambodian social capital. The conclusions of this thesis therefore reinforce the claim by Collins (1998) that “any discussion about democracy building at the grassroots is going to have to consider the impact of any contemplated interventions on the relationships between government and rural Cambodia, the relationship between older and younger generations of villagers, and the relationship between more or less affluent members of the social and moral com-munity centred on the vat – in a time of rapid social change” (pp. 20-21).
The policy suggestions presented below include proposals for the further devel-opment of community participation in schools and local governance. The aim is to identify ways to strengthen the weak dimensions of social capital (i.e. bridging and institutional social capital) through policy measures and initiatives at national and local level.
7.2.1 Suggestions for t��e national level
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The drafting of the Organic Law (due in 2007) should include an institutional and regulatory framework for spaces of participation by, for example, defining a‘Traditional Association’s Council’ at commune level that would bring together existing community groups active in different sectors and contribute strengthen-ing local civil society.
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In order to strengthen bridging and institutional social capital, the government, with donors’ assistance, should design clear and simple capacity building and awareness rising trainings on the principles of democratic governance to line agencies staff, teachers and headmasters, and community representatives. In or-der to strengthen the cooperation between line agencies and CNGOs, trainings could be facilitated by government staff in cooperation with CNGO facilitators.•
Donor agencies should assist the government in deepening the knowledge about the characteristics of traditional forms of collective actions and, at the same time,Conclusions 159
avoid a rigid institutionalisation of spaces of participation by, for example, de-signing ad hoc committees that risk to duplicate existing forms community mo-bilisation. In other words, schools must open to communities and fluently engage with them as equal partners in management decisions.
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Traditional associations can play a vital role in the process of promoting com-munity participation and representing comcom-munity interests in schools. Policies to promote participation should start from the bottom, from ‘existing’ active community groups that are already supporting schools with material contribu-tions and involve them in instructional activities. They should then be supported (together with the school cluster staff) through capacity building initiatives to strengthen their understanding of the principles of active participation, account-ability, transparency as well as educational policies. KAPE’s Life Skill Programme has shown that community involvement in educational and instructional activi-ties can be successful. Now that ‘Life Skills’ are part of the national curriculum, the government has to take the lead in promoting this programme, gradually re-ducing the reliance on donors’ funding and initiative.•
The government must demonstrate a more serious effort to overcome corruption and bad governance and promote more transparent and accountable management mechanisms in local departments as well as schools.7.2.2 Suggestions for t��e local level