The second decade of the 21st century marks the time the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) officially directs the nation’s public sector, economy, and society to accelerate technology adoption and digital transformation. This present study aims to observe developments of such direction in Cambodian higher education (HE) sub-sector before and in response to Covid-19 by (1) examining policies and interventions on technology integration of HE system and institutions and (2) analysing perceptions and behaviours of Cambodian faculty members towards technology […]

This Book Brief is a compilation of findings from studies in the LIBROS-Cambodia Project. It provides overall pictures of the primary-level book supply chain situation in Cambodia and Track and Trace (TnT) system, which is now the Core Textbook Supply Management System in Cambodia.

This flagship publication is the result of a regional two-year research project entitled: “Enhancing Research and Dialogue on Contract Farming in the Mekong-Lancang Countries”. It represents a close collaboration between CDRI and project partners – the China Agricultural University (CAU), Kasetsart University (Thailand), and the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD) (Vietnam). The project explored and documented best practices in contract farming, successes, failure factors and lessons learned from each country, as well as providing […]

A recent survey study conducted by CDRI found that university students in Cambodia were keen to pursue an entrepreneurial career. The study also found that a simple provision of entrepreneurship education and support programmes at universities fell short of converting those interests into actions. This policy brief presents five recommendations that higher education institutes should consider adopting to increase entrepreneurial activities: Involve SMEs in providing internships and other work opportunities to help students learn from business owners. Organise innovation and […]

In the past two decades, Cambodia has been committed to the global agenda of ensuring that all children from all walks of life have access to education and quality learning opportunities. The focus was not only on access to education but also on gender parity and learning quality. Three years after the adoption of the Dakar Framework for Action in 2003, Cambodia adopted the national plan for Education for All (EFA) as a guiding pathway to realise the government’s commitments […]

Voluntary contributions to public goods are vulnerable to free riding. A potential solution is the implementation of a costly institutional arrangement that deters free riding behavior. In this paper, we analyze to what extent resource users are willing to bear those costs and vote in favor of costly institutions. We carried out lab-in-the-field experiments with Cambodian farmers in the Kampong Chhnang province. In the first experiment, the subjects played public goods games, with an option to vote for a costly […]

Cambodia is now on the path to economic recovery with projected GDP growth rates of 5.5 percent in 2023 and 6 percent in 2024. However, as a small, export-dependent economy, Cambodia is more susceptible to external environmental conditions and global economic shocks (UNDP 2022). Particularly, the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, the China-US trade war, widespread economic sanctions and other chronic conflicts around the globe still negatively affect the Cambodian economy. These negative impacts include supply chain disruptions, oil […]

The majority of businesses in Cambodia are micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), which account for 99.9 percent of all businesses and a sizable portion of employment in the private sector. The adoption of digital technology (DT) among Cambodian MSMEs is still uneven and relatively low, despite the fact that it has become an essential component of successful business operations. This study looks at the adoption of digital technology among MSMEs in Cambodia’s tourism industry and empirically evaluates how it […]

This paper investigates the correlation between international experience in China and the self-perceived employability of Cambodian students using an explanatory mixed-methods approach. The findings suggest a positive correlation between international experience and students’ self-perceived employability, with technical knowledge and skills acquisition, employability skills enhancement, and personal traits and attitude improvement reported as the determinants of employability. Integrated results revealed substantial evidence confirming that international experience has given students credits to their employability. Notwithstanding, employability is determined not solely by the […]

This research examines the impact of digital technologies on the productivity of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Cambodia’s tourism sector. Drawing from extensive survey data, the study confirms that higher DT investments correlate with increased productivity. Notably, MSMEs at the intermediate level of DT integration experience a marked 16 percent productivity increase compared to basic DT adopters. This highlights the value of digital tools like websites, social media engagement, and e-payment systems. The study emphasises the need for a […]

This study aims to investigate the characteristics of students who switch versus those who do not switch when they transition from upper secondary to higher education. The data from 1338 students randomly selected from 21 HEIs in Cambodia in 2020 found that upper secondary school students are more likely than not to switch academic majors when they enter higher education. The tendency to switch is more common for female students in science-track, most of whom chose non-STEM majors such as […]

This study investigates factors affecting welfare prior to and during Covid-19. It employs analysis of the Cambodia Living Standards Measurement—Plus Survey 2019/20 data, Frequency Phone Surveys between May 2020 and March 2021 to assess socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic. The results point to a range of factors which could contribute to explaining poverty incidence prior to the pandemic. Household resource endowment was an important correlate of welfare, particularly in terms of possession of a mobile phone, ownership of livestock and […]