The National Social Protection Council in Cambodia (NSPC), the inter-ministerial coordination structure for social protection, and the IDPoor, the country’s social registry, collaborated for the implementation of the COVID-19 emergency cash transfer. While the IDPoor provided a platform for rapidly identifying and reaching new beneficiaries, NSPC monitored and coordinated the process across ministries and administrative levels.
The emergency cash transfer scheme introduced by the Government provided an average monthly transfer of 176,000 Riels between June 2020 and March 2021 to eligible households at an estimated program budget of USD300 million.1 The Ministry of Planning was responsible for beneficiary identification through IDPoor, including making data on eligible households available to the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, which managed registration, benefit calculations and payment processes. The Ministry of interior and several development partners supported the process.
Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, approximately 506,000 households were eligible for the cash transfer. During the pandemic, the On-Demand IDPoor (OD-IDPoor) registered an additional 178,000 households after a new poverty assessment had identified them eligible for the cash transfer.2 While poverty assessment by the IDPoor is typically conducted every three years through a door-to-door administrator-led census survey, the OD-IDPoor households with perceived need for support could request a new assessment through village chiefs, commune councilors or designated NGOs. New eligible households were issued IDPoor cards. By early 2021, nearly USD200 million had been disbursed.3
The program was not without bottlenecks. With the need to prioritize speed and inclusion, the fast-tracked scale-up of the OD-IDPoor inevitably struggled to ensure the fidelity and integrity of implementation at the commune-level. The registration process was also undermined by nepotism. For instance, between June 2020 and December 2020, 14,400 IDPoor cards were cancelled,4 often because the households consisted of relatives of commune council members managing the registration process.
The COVID-19 experience offers several important lessons to strengthen the responsiveness of the social protection delivery systems in Cambodia. First, it shows the importance of strengthening systems to enable sudden expansions when an emergency strikes. The Ministry of Planning had been piloting the OD-IDPoor since 2017 to dynamically update changes in households’ circumstances at the commune-level and thereby guarantee greater inclusion. The nationwide roll-out of the OD-IDPoor, initially envisaged to be gradually scaled up over 2020-2022, was fast-tracked to support the emergency cash transfer scheme. Second, the experience highlights the importance of digitalization to enable rapid scaling-up. The OD-IDPoor’s use of digital technologies enabled efficient data collection and management, reducing the overall turnaround time. Finally, the accelerated implementation of the OD-IDPoor required strong inter-ministerial coordination, which was made possible by the strong sense of leadership and stewardship shown by the NSPC.
As Cambodia continues to build upon this experience, it will be crucial for future investments to strengthen transparency and accountability within the social protection system. This implies a structured oversight and grievance redress function within the NSPC with clear operational mechanisms and lines of responsibility.
Further reading:
- Pagnathun, T., Cerceau,S., & de Riel, E. (2021). Cambodia’s social protection response to COVID-19. In IPC-IG (Eds.), Policy in Focus Volume No. 19, Issue No. 1, March 2021 What's next for social protection in light of COVID-19: country responses. http://ipcig.org/sites/default/files/pub/en/PIF47_What_s_next_for_social_protection_in_light_of_COVID_19.pdf
- BMZ (2020). In Cambodia, corona’s economic effects take their toll. Available at: https://health.bmz.de/events/In_focus/cambodia-coronas-economic-effects-take-their-toll/index.html
- Ministry of Planning, Government of Cambodia (2020). Cambodia’s Social Protection Response to COVID-19 – presented at the socialprotection.org e-Conference. Available at: https://socialprotection.org/sites/default/files/publications_files/Cambodia_IDPoor%20Presentation%20-%20socialprotection.org%20e-conference_Asia_final.pdf
- Karamba, W., & Tong, K. (2020). The socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 on households in Cambodia – Results from the High-Frequency Phone Survey of Households Round 2. Washington, DC: World Bank. Available at: http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/802571605876118363/CAM-HFPS-R2-Brief-2020-11-17-Final.pdf
Footnote
- https://www.social-protection.org/gimi/RessourcePDF.action;jsessionid=xlck827pa8lRCZFhlWkXxS4XlCAY9DfNVTednxWezGK9riY0qFJL!445242879?id=56921
- https://health.bmz.de/events/In_focus/cambodia-coronas-economic-effects-take-their-toll/index.html
- https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/KHM_Socioeconomic_Response-Plan_2020.pdf
- https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50798105/crackdown-on-idpoor-eligibility/