Economic Costs and Benefits of Cross-country Labour Migration in the GMS: Synthesis of the Case Studies in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam
There is growing interest in promoting cooperation in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), comprising Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Yunnan province of China, where socioeconomic development varies widely between countries. Job creation in the worse-off countries does not keep pace with increases in the labour force. Due to the highe...
Costs and Benefits of Cross-border Labour Migration in the GMS: Cambodia Country Study
Most Cambodian migrants travel by illegal or informal routes, mainly to Thailand, as the legal option is costly and inconvenient. Government agencies face a huge challenge in managing this growing labour migration. Since the creation of productive jobs does not keep pace with the number of new entrants to the labour force, the pressure to emigrate...
Agricultural Trade in the Greater Mekong Sub-region: The Case of Cassava and Rubber in Cambodia
Cambodia’s agricultural sector accounted for 27 percent of GDP in 2007 and employed about 56 percent of the total labour force, especially the poor. Aware of the importance of agricultural trade for economic growth and poverty reduction, the government’s approach has been to enhance agricultural exports while developing the sector. This study exami...
Leadership in Local Politics of Cambodia: A Study of Leaders in Three Communes of Three Provinces
Using the state-society gap as its assumption and point of departure, the study seeks to identify different kinds of local leaders (including women leaders) and their associated characteristics and elements of legitimacy in order to see whether and how they can help bridge this gap, in the midst of the decentralisation and deconcentration refor...
The Environmental Impacts of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement for Countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region
This study examines the environmental implications of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) for countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), with a particular focus on Cambodia. It explores how trade liberalization under ACFTA has influenced trade flows and environmental outcomes, using pollution intensity as a proxy for environment...
Accountability and Human Resource management in Decentralised Cambodia
This working paper explores the complexities of accountability and human resource management (HRM) within Cambodia’s civil service, particularly in the context of decentralisation and deconcentration (D&D) reforms. It critically examines how centralised control, politicisation, and neo-patrimonial governance structures undermine sub-national accoun...
Accountability and Planning in Decentralised Cambodia
This paper is about sub-national accountability and planning, where accountability is the central focus and planning is considered an instrument for achieving accountability. The paper aims to understand major issues that affect sub-national planning’s ability to advance accountability and then to draw key lessons for the decentralisation and d...
Accountability and Public Expenditure Management in Decentralised Cambodia
Cambodia is entering a new phase of decentralisation and deconcentration (D&D), aiming to restructure sub-national administration, particularly at the provincial level. The reform seeks to establish unified provincial and district administrations accountable to both the central government and local populations, supported by transparent allocati...
Framing Research on Water Resources Management and Governance in Cambodia: A Literature Review
This literature review, produced under the Water Resources Management Research Capacity Development Programme (WRMRCDP), offers a foundational assessment of water resources management and governance in Cambodia. Drawing on international, regional, and national experiences, the paper explores the physical, institutional, and legal dimensions of wate...
Youth Migration and Urbanisation in Cambodia
Since the late 1990s, a growing number of young adults in rural Cambodia have migrated to urban areas to take up jobs created as the result of the country’s opening to a free market economy and its subsequent high economic growth. Moving from one place to another is always risky, especially for young workers most of whom have never left their h...