Factors affecting successful fiscal decentralisation in Cambodia

Alterations to Cambodia’s political and administrative structures under the Royal Government of Cambodia’s Sub-National Democratic Development (SNDD) reforms are still relatively new. The 2002 Law on Administrative Management of the Commune/Sangkat introduced directly-elected councils charged with producing development plans for their jurisdictions through participatory processes and given discretionary funds to carry out projects that met needs stated in these plans. The2008 Law on Administrative Management of the Capital, Province, Municipality, District and Khan (the ‘Organic Law’) allowed for indirectly-elected councils at provincial and district level, began the process of detailing and mapping the functions and fiscal resources to be assigned or delegated to sub-national authorities (SNAs) and defined the relationship between Cambodia’s 24 provinces, 193 rural districts, urban municipalities and khans, and 1,633 communes/sankgats (hereafter ‘communes’)(download).