In response to the question of how they were addressed by the OWSO employees, the customers answered: Very friendly 57.7 Percent

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1 Asia Urbs Newsletter No 7 - October 2006 Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, With some delay, we would like to once again inform you about the activities of the Asia Urbs Project, which is developing and implementing administration reform on the disctrict level with the help of European experts from the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis in Germany and the city of Spoleto in Italy, the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation and BBJ Servis. The reform is being tested in the two pilot districts Battambang and Siem Reap. The results which the two district administrations have attained in the past months have been remarkable. In particular, the service for the citizens has visibly improved. Please, enjoy the lecture The Team of Asia Urbs project Good Marks for the One Window Service Office The One Window Service Offices in districts Battambang and Siem Reap are developing well. The number of customers who have taken advantage of this service continuously rises and the customers have been very satisfied with the service. This is the result of a customer survey, which was conducted in both OWSOs with the help of the Asia Urbs Project. The results: In response to the question of how the service in the OWSO was delivered, the customers answered: Very good 30.8 Percent Good 55.8 Percent Average 13.4 Percent In response to the question of how they were addressed by the OWSO employees, the customers answered: Very friendly 57.7 Percent Friendly 40.3 Percent Unfriendly 1.9 Percent New Competencies for the One Window Service Office The Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction has delegated additional competencies to the two One Window Service Offices in Siem Reap and Battambang. Now, the citizens can get building permits for houses with up to 500 qm.

2 National Workshop At a national workshop in Phnom Penh, the project coordinators Hans Clasen from the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis and Annarita Cosso from Spoleto presented the results of a midterm evaluation in the two pilot districts Siem Reap and Battambang. At the same time, they gave a series of suggestions as to how the reforms in the two districts could be further developed. Among other things, they suggested that the OWSO receive more competencies in order to improve the service for the citizens. Tourism Promotion in Battambang With an impressive ceremony - organized by the district Battambang and the Asia Urbs Team - the advertising campaign for the Cultural Village Wat Kor was started. The village, which is only a few kilometres from the centre of Battambang, offers many things of interest to tourists, beautiful traditional houses, exquisite rice fields, and fruit orchards. The district administration decided, following counsel from the tourism expert of the Asia Urbs Project, Gilberto Giasprini from Spoleto, to adapt and promote the village with the help of the inhabitants. Provincial Governor H.E. Prach Chan stressed in his celebration speech how important tourism is for Battambang's development. He ensured the continued support of the district and the commune. Foto: Traditional rice pouding during the ceremony in Battambang Road of Khmer Tradition Tourism is booming in Siem Reap. In this year, more that 1 Million visitors are expected to visit the temple Angkor Wat. Still, the statistics show: the tourists stay on average no longer than 2.5 days in Siem Reap. The main reason: other attractions in and around Siem Reap are less well known and often not so set up that they can accept tourists. The district Siem Reap has therefore decided to also increase its efforts in the tourism sector. The goal is to give tourists the possibility to get to know the land and people, their handicrafts and traditions, in addition to Angkor Wat. After intensive discussion with the Asia Urbs expert Gilberto Giasprini, the idea to promote a "Road of Khmer Tradition" was developed.

3 The Road of Khmer Tradition begins in the villages Rohal and Sra Srong and leads through Wat Enkosey, Wat Bo, Spean Chrev, Po, Anrah, Phon Krom to the floating villages. It links Angkor Wat with the Tonle Sap and offers everything which interests tourists: villages in which woodcarvings are made, beautiful landscapes with rice fields, old pagodas, and the life of people with and on the river. The execution of the project has already begun. At the beginning of October, on invitation from the district, a meeting of citizens from Rohal and Sra Srong took place in which the concept "Road of khmer Tradition" and the next steps towards implementation were presented. Around 400 citizens of the two villages participated in this meeting. Foto: Wood carving in Rohal village Districts go online Following the establishment of e-government working groups and the handover of the software licenses in May, both districts began gathering the necessary data. These data include general imformation about the districts and about the structure of the administration, the services of the One Window Service Offices, legal fundaments, forms, prices, etc. Supported by Asia Urbs expert Thomas Heine this process is almost complete. In addition, following the execution of trainings by the NIDA (National Information Communications Technology Development Authority) in mid August, the data entry into the Web Portals has begun. In this context, the AUP has made additional equipment available and the net-com AG has established connections between the district administration and the central server in Phnom Penh as well as local computer networks inside of the district administration. Parallel to these efforts, a design competition took place with the support of the net-com AG. The citizens of both districts were called to actively participate in the designing of the respective web portals. The response was enormous, particularly when considering that this type of participation is an absolute novelty in Cambodia. The winner of the competition was selected by a jury decision and was awarded by the net-com AG. Following concluding discussion in the egovernment working group and following small changes, web portal designs based on the design ideas of the competition were finalized. The implementation of the designs is currently taking place through the net-com AG. You can find additional information under Foto: Mr. Meyer, Head of KAS and the winner of the 1. price in Siem Reap New Models for People's Participation The two working groups "People's Participation" in Battambang and Siem Reap have developed new models as to how the citizens can be more heavily involved in decisions of the district and how the transparency of the administration could be improved. Among other things, the working group suggests that a citizen assembly take place in every commune of the district with the District Governor once a year. The District Councils from Battambang and Siem Reap will discuss and decide in November on the suggestions of the working groups. Starting in January, the new forms of people's participation should be tested.

4 Job Placement Agency The Job Placement Agencies (JPA) in the two pilot district does not yet function. Up until this point, only a handful of job seekers have been connected to free positions. With the support of two students from Germany, a basic analysis has been made as to why the JPAs have not been accepted. The summary: The offices are poorly equipped, the personnel is not properly trained and the concept must be adjusted to the employers and the job seekers. In addition, the JPA should develop, among other things, work opportunities for the youth in order to ease the transition from school and studies to working life. The Asia Urbs Team presented the results and suggestions from the studies to the District Governors of Battambang and Siem Reap. Both districts want to stick to the goal of establishing a public JPA and support the new concept. Management of the District Administration Organizing the workday in the District Administration is no easy job. There is not only a lack of equipment, but also a lack of internal rules, filing system, representation rules, and much more. In numerous workshops, important basics were set: along with the Asia Urbs expert Manfred Schneider, the responsible parties in the two districts constructed a DEIKA in which the work rules of the administration are summarized. They developed a filing system and a monitoring scheme with which the implementation of the DEIKA can be monitored. Priniciples of Budget Planning and Control The two pilot districts Siem Reap and Battambang still have no individual budget. The budgets are part of the respective provincial budgets. Still, both districts already have the right and the responsibility to create an expense plan. These plans are then integrated into the total budget of the province. Prior to this year's budget planning, the Asia Urbs Team organized numerous workshops with the themes, among others of "Calculating the Running Costs of an Administration" and "Calculation of the Costs for Special Activities." From the viewpoint of the Asia Urbs Team, the communal self governance of the cities and communes requires full autonomy in budget planning and control in the long run. This is not to be expected aside from with a corresponding resolution by the Cambodian administration prior to the introduction of the Organic Law; still, the Asia Urbs Team has begun with the preparations for Day X. Professionally supported by Stefania Nichinonni from Spoleto, the department leaders of the two district admini-

5 strations discussed "Principles and Rules of Budget Planning and Control." The basis for the discussion was a presentation by Stefania Nichinonni in which she introduced the participants to the Italian system. Starting from this discussion, the expert from Spoleto will construct a draft concept for Cambodia, which will then be discussed with the responsible parties in the two district administrations. Finally, the concept will be presented to the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Finance. Upcoming Activities October 15-28: Study tour on decentralisation policy to Germany and Italy. November 27 - December 10: Visit of Rainer Fritz, expert on local fees for training on the job End of November: Meetings of the District Councils in Battambang and Siem Reap: Topic: People's participation December: Second Training on the job for the spokespersons of Siem Reap and Battambang December: Visit of Andrea Simon for the evaluation of the Asia Urbs Project Asia Urbs Project, TCO, Mrs. Ruth Gruber, gruber@bbjnet.it or Mr. Ros Thansan, san@kas-cambodia.com The partners of the Asia Urbs project are: Rhein-Sieg-Kreis, Germany; City of Spoleto, Italy; District of Battambang and Siem Reap; Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation in Phnom Penh; BBJ Servis, Germany. The projcet is co-financed by the European Commission