fallavier, p. (1999). poverty analysis in phnom penh (pp. 57). phnom penh: action nord sud, united...

Action Nord Sud

ANS

United Nations Centre for Human Settlements

UNCHS

Poverty Analysis in Phnom Penh

Laying basis for strengthening participatory urban development - an identification of the most vulnerable and excluded populations -

Analytical Report of Findings

&

Basis for Policy and Project Directions

August 1999

A research project carried out by ANS for UNCHS/UNDP/UK DFID-supported “Phnom Penh Urban Poor Communities and Municipality Development Project.”

Team leader: Pierre Fallavier, ANS.

Research team members: Teav Ratanak, Mil Kun Visoth, Lorn Trob, Uy Sambath, Yit Viriya, and Ry Vissidh.

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Contents

USEFUL WORKING DEFINITIONS ................................................................................................... II ACRONYMS................................................................................................................................. III

INTRODUCTION - RATIONALE FOR THE POVERTY ANALYSIS..................................................... 1 BACKGROUND AND NEEDS FOR A POVERTY ANALYSIS.................................................................... 1 PURPOSE OF THE PRESENT ANALYSIS............................................................................................. 1 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY ............................................................................................. 1 ASSUMPTIONS .............................................................................................................................. 2

THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS: POVERTY AND EXCLUSION - CONCEPTS AND INDICATORS......3 POVERTY IS A LIMITATION OF CHOICES RESULTING IN EXCLUSION AND VULNERABILITY.................. 3 § The characteristics of poverty .......................................................................................... 3 § Especially vulnerable and excluded groups ...................................................................... 3 THE MEASURE AND ANALYSIS OF HUMAN POVERTY MUST BE A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY EFFORT.......... 4 § Analyzing a poverty of choices, rather than a poverty of income alone ............................. 4 § Assessing characteristics of vulnerability and exclusion - the HDI and HPI ...................... 4 USING PROXIES OF HDI AND HPI FOR THE POVERTY ANALYSIS IN PHNOM PENH ........................... 5 CONSTRUCTING URBAN POVERTY INDICATORS .............................................................................. 5

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY..................................................................................................................... 7 OVERALL RESEARCH APPROACH ................................................................................................... 7 SAMPLE SELECTION...................................................................................................................... 7 § Identification of the urban poor settlements...................................................................... 7 § Identification of vulnerable and excluded households....................................................... 7 DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS................................................................................................ 8 PRESENTATION OF RESULTS AND DISSEMINATION OF FINDINGS....................................................... 8 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF THE FINDINGS ............................................................................... 8

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MOST VULNERABLE AND EXCLUDED POOR IN PHNOM PENH........9 SECTION ONE - SUMMARY OF QUALITATIVE INDICATORS............................................................... 9 Category A. Background Data.................................................................................................... 9 Category B. Political organization and sense of community...................................................... 13 Category C. Socio-economic Development .............................................................................. 21 Category D. Housing ............................................................................................................... 34 Category E. Infrastructure........................................................................................................ 38 Category F. Transport.............................................................................................................. 42 Category G. Environmental Management ................................................................................. 43 § Needs of the poorest, as expressed by themselves........................................................... 45

ASSESSMENT OF THE CURRENT ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT......46 LOCAL COPING MECHANISMS – INITIATIVES TO BUILD UPON ...................................................... 46 CURRENT ACTIONS OF NGOS AND CBOS AND THEIR IMPACT FOR THE POOREST ........................... 47 EXTERNAL CONSTRAINTS TO HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN PHNOM PENH .......................................... 49 § Position of, and support from the Municipality of Phnom Penh ...................................... 49 § Racketeering, corruption and misuse of some project funds ............................................ 49 § Community-based approach may have to be reviewed.................................................... 49

IMPLICATIONS IN TERMS OF POLICY AND PROJECT DEVELOPMENT ................................... 50 MACRO DIRECTIONS: THE NEEDED ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT ............. 50 PROJECT DIRECTIONS ................................................................................................................. 51 § Immediate actions: answering the survival needs of the most vulnerable......................... 51 § Mid- to long-term projects: stabilize settlements & strengthen local institutions.............. 52 METHODOLOGICAL DIRECTIONS FOR PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION ................................................. 54

CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................................. 56 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE POVERTY ANALYSIS AND DIRECTIONS........................................................... 56 HOW COULD THE RESULTS OF THIS STUDY BE USED...................................................................... 56

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Useful Working Definitions

To insure clarity and consistency in the use of terms contained in this research project, the following definitions of key terms are used:

Human Poverty means a situation of exclusion from society and its social and productive systems. Poverty often is the result of a combination of (i) isolation (geographic, linguistic or social), (ii) high risks of losing one’s few assets (following natural disasters, sickness, or unplanned births), (iii) lack of access to productive resources (skills, information, land or credit), and (iv) lack of participation in the governance process (UNDP, 1996b).

Vulnerability means a lack of control over one's life directions. In our study, it is primarily measured by a high level of risks (i.e., income volatility and income poverty, lack of health and housing security, unsanitary living conditions, …)

Exclusion encompasses isolation, lack of access to resources, and lack of participation (i.e., a poverty of choices)

Human Development is the aim and process of reducing human poverty by enlarging people’s choices - the three essential choices are for people to lead a long and healthy life, to acquire knowledge, and to have access to resources necessary for a decent standard of living.

People’s time-orientation on life refers to the length of time they can “afford” to plan for. For people so poor that they can only rent a dwelling on a daily or weekly basis, time planning horizons maybe a day or a week, as they cannot even know where they will live after that time. For people with a stable dwelling and a regular source of income, planning horizons maybe several months or years, looking into home improvements or education for the children.

Household means a person or group of persons who make common provision for food or other essentials of living, and often share a common budget.

Settlement: a geographically or administratively defined area in which human activities take place.

Community means a group of individuals and/or families sharing similar economic, social and/or cultural characteristics and feeling a moral/spiritual bound to each other.

Note: The phrases “community”, “settlement” and “groups of scattered poor” are not used interchangeably in this study. This has important implications when defining community-based vs. other types of local development approaches:

§ A socially cohesive and homogenous settlement can be a community, but a settlement where there is no sense of common bond will not be considered as a community, it remains a concentration of people living in the same environment.

§ Alternatively, a scattered group of poor can form a community if there is homogeneity, sharing, and a common feeling of belonging to a specific group.

Khan: a city district, administrative division of the Municipality of Phnom Penh. There are seven Khans in Phnom Penh.

Sangkat: An urban commune, administrative sub-division of the Khan, made of eight to over ten Phums1.

Corruption is the misuse of public power for private profit.

1 Phums are administratively defined villages; they are usually made of four Khnoms, which themselves group four of five Kroms (mad e of 40 to 50 families each) – numbers in these administrative definitions are orders of value rather than clear-cut figures.

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Acronyms

ANS Action Nord Sud CBO Community-Based Organization CDC Community Development Council CPP Cambodian People Party DFID UK Department for International Development, United Kingdom FUNCINPEC Front dÚnion Nationale pour un Cambodge Indépendant, Neutre… IO International Organization LICADHO Ligue Cambodgienne pour les Droits de l’Homme MPP Municipality of Phnom Penh NGO Non Government Organization PACT Partners Acting Together ?? PADEK Partners for Development of Kampuchea SUPF Solidarity Among the Urban Poor Federation UNCHS United Nations Centre for Human Settlements UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNTAC United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia USG Urban Sector Group


Poverty Analysis - Draft for Internal Review ANS/UNCHS 1

Introduction - Rationale for the Poverty Analysis

Background and needs for a poverty analysis Since July 1996, UNCHS/UNDP/UK DFID-supported “Phnom Penh Urban Poor Communities and Municipality Development Project” (referred to as “the Project”) has been promoting capacity building and partnership development through working with the Municipality of Phnom Penh (MPP), its local authorities, local and international Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), and squatter and urban poor communities in Phnom Penh to define and meet the needs and priorities of the squatter and urban poor communities with a focus on poverty reduction.

It has enhanced dialogues and partnership between communities, local authorities and NGOs, and collaborates with them to improve the living environment of the communities and their ability to help themselves. This has, amongst other things, included the provision of footbridges in flooded areas, street lights, drains, toilets and improvements to roads and footpaths in existing squatter and urban poor areas in responses to requests from NGOs and CBOs. It has also supported development works for communities involved in voluntary relocation, and established vocational training and apprenticeship programs for the communities.

A June 1998 evaluation of the Project supported its recommendation to facilitate the establishment of Community Development Councils (CDCs) with representatives from squatter and urban poor communities, NGOs, the MPP and the private sector. It was agreed that the Project should facilitate the establishment of CDCs at the Khan (city district) level, and support the development and implementation of poverty reduction action plans at the community level to be decided by the CDCs, funded partly by the Project, and implemented by the communities.

The evaluation mission recommended that a poverty analysis be undertaken in Phnom Penh as a foundation to establish CDCs that truly represent the city’s poorest populations. Such an analysis was to be as participatory as possible to understand, from the poor people's eyes, what poverty represents to the populations the most vulnerable and excluded from society.

Purpose of the present analysis This poverty analysis identifies the most vulnerable and excluded groups of people living in Phnom Penh and articulates their needs and priorities to insure that future benefits of the Project's activities will reach the poorest groups in the city as a whole, and in the existing squatter and urban poor communities in particular.

It provides baseline data against which impacts of future participatory urban planning activities will be measured, and it will form a basis upon which strategies of participatory urban development involving the poorest may be developed, both at the policy and at the project levels.

Specific objectives of the study This study analyzes the field data presented in the Individual Report Series in a format that suggests directions for improvements both in terms of projects and policy directions to better meet the needs of the poorest urban populations in Phnom Penh. It also meets the following objectives, as set in the terms of reference (see full TOR in appendix):

1. The identification of urban poor groups living in a representative selection of urban poor and squatter settlements in Phnom Penh.

2. A participatory identification of the poorest families within each selected settlement, and the analysis of their poverty situations, taking into account UNDP’s Human Development Index, people’s time perspective on life (i.e., their willingness and ability to invest in a better future), assets, and regularity of income sources among other criteria. The analysis also investigates the extent, nature, and causes of indebtedness, and the extent to which very poor families in existing organized communities are included or excluded from participatory development processes.

3. The identification and analysis of other urban poor groups who live outside established communities. These are mostly:



§ street sleepers,

§ poor people living in small scattered groups in predominantly better off areas,

§ those living in recently developed squatter and urban poor areas in the urban fringe,

§ inhabitants of multi-occupancy dilapidated buildings, especially in the center of the city,

§ rooftop dwellers,

§ marginalized communities and people transient in terms of their shelter location because of their critical poverty situation, such as short term renters, riverside or floating communities and those who have migrated to the city, temporarily or permanently, due to indebtedness, lack of employment opportunities, or other factors.

4. From the different groups of excluded urban poor, livelihood strategy cases studies are presented to illustrate and appreciate their needs and priorities, and describe how families cope with their present economic and living conditions.

5. This work has been conducted in collaboration with local experts, NGOs and CBOs. It has also built local capacity in designing and implementing an urban poverty analysis by training and involving a local research team.

Assumptions A first important assumption at the origin of this study is that the poorest populations (i.e., the most vulnerable and excluded) in Phnom Penh are not being included in the current participatory development process of the city to the extent that other urban poor populations are2.

A second important assumption is that the analysis of the findings will help understand the reasons for this exclusion, and point out directions for including the poorest in the participatory development process of Phnom Penh.

2 For instance, despite the effective empowerment of some squatter and urban poor of Phnom Penh and the grassroots democratization of the city’s governance partly promoted by the action of the UNCHS Project, it was felt that some CBOs representing the poor are not fully aware of the needs, capacities and constraints of the most poorest, and/or are not including them in their community development planning processes.



Theoretical Foundations: Poverty and Exclusion - Concepts and Indicators A short conceptual review defining “human poverty” and its root causes, and introducing the indicators used in this study to assess poverty in Phnom Penh is presented at this point to clarify the research approach and the usefulness of the findings of this multi-disciplinary study.

Poverty is a limitation of choices resulting in exclusion and vulnerability

§ The characteristics of poverty Quantitative definitions of poverty (often measured by purchasing power parity, GDP per capita, food-equivalency or cost-of-basic-needs methods) are helpful to draw a line between populations living in relative vs. absolute poverty. The relative poor can afford inadequate, albeit sufficient intake of food and access to basic needs, while the absolute poor cannot even obtain food and basic necessities on a year-long basis. Yet, these definitions are not sufficient to consider that poverty is more than simply the lack of access to material wealth; it is also the deprivation of access to the higher-level needs of human development of living long, healthy and creative lives. Such factors of well-being cannot be measured in monetary terms alone (UNDP, 1995a).

Seeking a more universal definition, the common characteristic that identifies poverty across frontiers, levels of economic development and cultures is a situation of exclusion from access to basic survival needs (e.g., food, shelter and medical care), due to insufficient income - i.e., a poverty of income, and from access to the tools necessary to improve economic productivity (e.g., access to training and capital) and fulfill higher needs (e.g., improved social or political recognition) - a poverty of choices. By not having access to enabling factors for human development the poor are excluded from normal economic and social activities, and live in the margin of their own communities.

The core concept of human poverty is thus the lack of choices and opportunities that one is given for life when born and raised poor. This situation of lack of choice is mostly due to

1. Isolation (geographic, intellectual or social),

2. High risks of losing one’s few assets (due to income volatility, natural disasters, sickness, or unplanned births),

3. Lack of access to productive resources (skills, information, land or credit), and

4. Exclusion from participation in the community’s decision-making processes.

These factors compound to create a high level of vulnerability for the poor, closing the loop of a vicious circle in which difficult access to resources brings low economic productivity, itself calling for low income which does not allow to break out of dependence and perpetuates the situation among the next generations (Hainsworth et al., 1999).

It is thus important to realize that poverty is not the lack of material property per se. Rather, the lack of material wealth is one result of poverty, itself defined as a situation of exclusion from society and from its social and productive systems.

Box 1 : Vulnerability and exclusion are main components of human poverty.

Vulnerability is a lack of control over one's life directions. It is primarily measured by a high level of risks (i.e., income volatility and income poverty, lack of health and housing security, insalubrious living conditions, …).

Exclusion is a compound of isolation, lack of access to resources, and lack of participation (i.e., a poverty of choices).

§ Especially vulnerable and excluded groups Within a poor population itself, inequalities are often marked and some groups suffer more than others from social and economic exclusion. Notably, women, elders, children, ethnic minorities and the disabled are more likely to be stricken by multi-faceted deprivations.



Box 2 : Women, children, the elder, the disabled, and ethnic minorities are often the most excluded.

Women’s workload is often heavier than men’s, and less rewarding. When given the opportunity of working for an income, their new workload only adds onto the existing one of family and home care; hence they work longer hours than men and less of their work is rewarded by monetary income, most of it remaining unpaid, unrecognized and under-valued. Despite their prevalent economic importance, they are given little opportunity to improve their conditions (by lack of access to means of enhancing their economic potentials such as education and capital), often suffer from a lower social status than men, encounter legal discrimination, are subject to domestic violence and abuse, and are politically under-represented (UNDP, 1995a).

Disabled persons are also likely to be at the bottom of the poverty pyramid. Owing to their lack of mobility, education, and training and to discrimination, they are confined to the lowest level positions. Elders also are often excluded from the economic and social lives of their communities. Lastly, facing all obstacles, ethnic minorities are in many cases marginalized, and live in dire lack of access to factors that would enable them to fulfill basic needs and achieve higher goals of human development (e.g., language skills or political representation) (UNDP, 1996b).

The measure and analysis of human poverty must be a multi-disciplinary effort

§ Analyzing a poverty of choices, rather than a poverty of income alone For a long-term approach to poverty eradication, it is more relevant to focus on the poverty of choices and opportunities - human poverty, to improve one’s future than on income poverty alone.

Analyzing the lack of choices and opportunities focuses on the causes of poverty, and suggests strategies and actions to enhance people’s opportunities (UNDP, 1997b), thus enhancing their prospects for human development. Assessing poverty must thus consider comprehensive socio-economic indicators of human development rather than income or production levels alone.

Box 3 : Reducing Human Poverty means improving Human Development, defined as:

“A process of enlarging people's choices(…) the three essential choices are for people to lead a long and healthy life, to acquire knowledge and to have access to resources needed for a decent standard of living. (…) Additional choices range from political, economic and social freedom to opportunities for being creative and productive, and enjoying personal self-respect and guaranteed human rights” (UNDP, 1990a).

§ Assessing characteristics of vulnerability and exclusion - the HDI and HPI The UNDP has developed comprehensive indicators of human development, and refined tools to measure the impact of poverty and assess the potentials for policies to improve poverty situations in the long term. The base indicator used is the Human Development Index (HDI), which measures the level of attainment of human development through a composite of longevity, knowledge, and standard of living, thus appreciating both people’s choices in life and their level of well being.

The Human Poverty Index (HPI) builds on the HDI to indicate levels of basic deprivations, which poverty-eradication programs should remove3. The major advantage of indicators such as the HDI and the HPI is that, unlike the solely “monetized” approaches, they measure different attributes of poverty and thus suggest directions for intervention.

To measure progress in reducing disparities, the UNDP proposes a Gender-related Development Index (GDI) similar in measurements to the HDI but which notes inequalities in achievement between women and men. A Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) also indicates the extent to which women are given chances to take advantage of the opportunities of life by holding economic or political decision-making positions (UNDP, 1995a).

3 The HPI measures deprivation by chances of survival (the percentage of a population expected to die before 40), level of exclusion from the reach of knowledge (the percentage of adult illiteracy) and decency of living standard (a composite of the percentages of people with access to health service and safe water, and of malnourished children under five) (UNDP, 1997b).



Using Proxies of HDI and HPI for the Poverty Analysis in Phnom Penh Constructing HDI, HPI, GDI or GEM indicators for longitudinal studies requires quantitative data collected systematically, on a large scale, and systematically over time to assess variations in these indicators. It is not the purpose of this study to provide quantitative data of statistical relevance, and thus it does not pretend to derive such indexes for the poorest populations of Phnom Penh4.

Rather, in this analysis, the levels of human development, human poverty, and disparities within the poorest strata of the populations are measured and expressed in qualitative terms. Achievements are thus reviewed point by point, for each criteria of human poverty/development as included in the HDI/HPI, but with a specific orientation to describe urban life for the poorest in Phnom Penh. Our indicators thus encompass more variables than the basic ones used by the HDI and HPI.

The qualitative indicators used also draw from the Urban Indicator Program (UIP), a methodology used by UNCHS’s Global Urban Inventory to “build local and national capacity to collect and use policy-oriented indicators as part of a strategy for the development of sustainable settlements” (UNCHS, 1997). Part of the UIP set of indicators is used so that results of this research may later be integrated in a larger framework to analyze the needs and directions for participatory urban planning including both the poor and less poor in Phnom Penh, possibly along the lines of the UIP.

Constructing urban poverty indicators A main line of approach in this study is to obtain the vision that the poor have of their own situations, of their causes, and of local solutions that can be proposed. At the inception stage, it involved consultations with representatives of the urban poor and of major organizations working with/for them. At the implementation stage, it involved a team of six researchers (five of which are Khmer), spending six weeks in the poorest settlements of Phnom Penh, gathering information from the mouth of the poor themselves for a multi-disciplinary review of their situations.

To customize the UIP indicators to the specifics of Phnom Penh, we used the results of a November 1998 UNCHS workshop held to map the concerns of the urban poor and reflect on directions to strengthen their capacity to help themselves. Participants from the MPP, NGOs, and CBOs answered the questions: “why are we poor?” and “how can we get out of poverty?” To reflect their answers, this study uses indicators that assess their main areas of concern, presented in Table 1:

Table 1 : People-defined causes, situations, solutions to poverty in Phnom Penh (Fonseka & Mani, 1998)

“Why are we poor?” (by order of priority)

“How can we get out of poverty?”

Directions to reduce poverty in Phnom Penh

1 Lack of community organization and governance system/ Discrimination

Organize communities to plan for themselves, and help improve government policies

⇒ Improved governance

2. Lack of skills, education and access to capital

Provide access to education/ savings and credit, and promote employment creation

⇒ Improved income and savings

3. Lack of health, hygiene, family planning, sanitation; bad shelter

Improve family planning and health awareness and practices

⇒ Provide better access to basic services

The purpose of the qualitative indicators retained (see Table 2) is both to assess the conditions of the poorest and most excluded city dwellers in Phnom Penh, and to suggest policy directions for improving their level of human development. It is expected that these indicators can later be used regularly to monitor progress made in tackling the issues that they will help to identify.

These indicators address the four main causes of poverty presented earlier (isolation, risks, lack of access to resources, lack of participation). In urban terms, this implies that income poverty, economic opportunities, environmental degradation, lack of urban services, degeneration of existing infrastructure, and lack of access to adequate shelter are among the main areas of concern.

4The UNDP presents national HDI and HPI for Cambodia, in its Human Development Reports for 1997 and 1998.



When looking at the most vulnerable and excluded, assessing the social cohesiveness and the processes of representation within settlements and communities are also some main concerns to investigate, so that policies and projects can later be designed to reach the traditionally excluded.

In the case of Phnom Penh, the extreme weight of corruption onto people's lives was also a very important criterion to assess (one so important that it proved to be the major impediment for the most excluded of the urban poor to ever benefit from community development processes).

The indicators used in this study are classified into seven categories, as presented in Table 2. Yet, several (most) indicators measure achievement in two or more categories, reflecting the need for a multi-faceted approach to understanding, and to coping with situations of poverty (e.g., sanitation problems can be considered both as infrastructure, public health, or environmental issues; and they can only be properly dealt with through a cooperation of all service providers involved).

Table 2: Indicators used during the fieldwork of the poverty analysis

Category Qualitative indicator

A. Background Data A1. Physical characteristics of settlements and basic demographic, economic and housing data

A2. History of the settlements’ creation and development A3. Particulars of community-based development processes

B. Political organization and sense of community

B1. Organization of people's participation B2. Representation of minority groups B3. Social cohesion B4. Weight of corruption

C. Socioeconomic Development C1. Employment patterns C2. Income generation and expenses C3. Access to financial services and weight of indebtedness C4. Health problems, access to care, cost, financing C5. Education levels, cost, barriers C6. Physical safety and criminality

D. Housing D1. Housing types, household equipment, cost, quality, financing

D2. Security of tenure, threat of eviction D3. Housing for the poorest

E. Infrastructure E1. Water supply E2. Electricity E3. Drainage and sewerage E4. Sanitation and health

F. Transport F1. Road access F2. Transport availability

G. Environmental Management G1. Air and water quality G2. Solid waste management G3. Disaster risk and management

These indicators are complemented by numerous case studies (presented in the Individual Report Series) that bring them to life and show how they directly affect the life of the people, their perceptions of their main problems, and of their possible local, and external solutions.



Research Methodology

Overall research approach Two approaches to an urban poverty analysis were suggested by the June 1998 Project evaluation: one identifying all the poorest groups in the city by category, such as street dwellers, women-headed households, elderly, disabled, etc., and the other identifying these groups on a geographical basis within existing squatter and urban poor settlement. The research process covered both approaches by first investigating poverty situations in geographically defined settlements, and then focusing on the situations, needs, and constraints of people by specific types of exclusion.

The analysis is extensively based on result from primary data collected in the poorest settlements of Phnom Penh. It also draws from primary and secondary data obtained from research institutions, NGOs and CBOs in Phnom Penh, and from experience on poverty in Cambodia and abroad.

Fieldwork consisted in a multi-disciplinary poverty assessment of twenty settlements representative of conditions of extreme poverty in Phnom Penh. It was conducted by a team of Khmer researchers (three sociologists, one architect, and one engineer), under the supervision of an urban and community planner, working for an organization with no direct interest at stake in evaluating the impact of poverty alleviation/community development projects in the city. Numerous local key informants have also been consulted at all stages of the research process.

Sample selection

§ Identification of the urban poor settlements It was first decided that eight settlements would be chosen in Khan Charmkamorn, the district with the largest number of squatter and urban poor settlements, and two settlements from each of the remaining six Khans of Phnom Penh. Due to overlapping of certain settlements over two Khans, and to some different definitions of settlement limitations by local governments and NGOs/CBOs, three settlements were actually surveyed in Khan Toul Kork, and only seven in Charmkamorn. Two settlements represent each of the other five Khans.

We identified the settlements during field visits to numerous areas of Phnom Penh. Along the selection process, we consulted with local experts (members of NGOs, CBOs, and UNCHS Project staff) to insure that no important community of urban poor group had been overlooked5.

The twenty settlements selected exemplify a representative variety of livelihood patterns and poverty situation, and all include representatives of some of the most vulnerable groups. These groups include poor people living in small scattered groups in predominantly better off areas, those living in recently developed squatter and urban poor areas in the urban fringe, inhabitants of multi-occupancy dilapidated buildings in the center of the city, roof top dwellers, people living within pagodas, marginalized communities, ethnic minorities, people transient in terms of their shelter location because of their critical poverty situation, such as short term renters, river side or floating communities and those who have migrated to the city, temporarily or permanently.

§ Identification of vulnerable and excluded households Within each settlement, we defined the most vulnerable and excluded households based on triangulation of information collected from key informants in the settlements (e.g., chief of group, village, or community) and outside (UNCHS staff and NGO/CBO workers), focus groups conducted with local inhabitants, random household surveys, and personal observations. We then conducted our research amongst the most vulnerable and excluded households defined.

Scattered groups have also been chosen to illustrate extreme conditions of exclusion and vulne-rability for some specific groups of people independently of where they live. We chose to focus on women in precarious situations, children, demobilized soldiers, and ethnic minorities, with the understanding that we were overlooking other important groups, such as people with disabilities, or street families. Limitation in time and means did not allow in-depth study of such groups.

5 The list of settlements is presented in appendix. The Individual Report Series presents research findings for each settlement.



Data collection and analysis During fieldwork, five main sources of primary data were used to assess the indicators chosen.

1. Interviews of local key informants to collect elements of the settlement's history, political and social organization; identify the poorest, and point out particulars of the settlement;

2. Focus groups with settlement dwellers were conducted which gave us elements on most of the seven categories of indicators, with emphasis on social capital, participation in community development, problems, coping mechanisms, and poverty ranking;

3. Informal surveys of the poorest households gave information on their life story, problems, and calendars of activities, socio-economic patterns, debt, and time orientation.

4. In depth interviews with people whose life stories are particularly representative of poverty situations in the settlement clarified how they arrived in the settlement, why, how they live, what their problems are, what coping mechanisms are used by individuals and by groups.

5. Personal observations and expert advice allowed to recoup, cross check and complement the often incomplete or inconsistent pieces of information obtained.

Data collected were then consolidated daily in individual reports that present findings for each settlement visited, and weekly meetings were held to refine our research approach.

Findings from the overall study were analyzed using a framework that relates our qualitative indicators of urban development to the four main causes of human poverty reviewed earlier. This analytical framework was instrumental in explaining the poverty situations experiences in the field as they relate to different layers of causes and explanations.

Clarifying the causal relationships between causes of poverty and their urban symptoms, allowed to derive directions for intervention at different levels (both in terms of policy and project directions) to influence the reasons for poverty situations, rather than treat their symptoms on an ad hoc basis.

Presentation of results and dissemination of findings To promote informed discussion on participatory urban planning, the results of this research project should be disseminated for the best use of all stakeholders. Yet, to avoid potential problems for informants who took risks to denounce abuses inflicted upon them, or to not jeopardize cooperation of persons or institutions mentioned in this report who could take umbrage of some findings, this report (along with the Individual Report Series) will not be submitted outside of UNCHS. Later versions of the reports will be re-drafted, in which elements that can un-necessarily point to specific persons, will be modified in their presentation (such as proper names of informants).

Once approved for circulation, a final version of the report will be delivered both in English and in Khmer, and presentations of results will be prepared to be delivered orally in front of interested parties, and strengthen the information basis of the MPP, NGOs, CBOs and other organizations involved in the democratization process of participatory urban planning in Phnom Penh.

Validity and reliability of the findings Fieldwork was conducted during the dry season, and one should assume that living conditions do worsen with the rain season. Results may thus reflect seasonal variability, difficult to crosscheck, as the study is not longitudinal. With time, if follow up surveys are conducted, there will be data to use as a benchmark, and data sets will be more continuous and less subject to seasonal variations.

We used triangulation to cross-check data and improve accuracy, through the application of various participatory research methods (e.g., by conducting surveys, semi-structured interviews and informal focus groups) and by employing different sources to validate information (an interdisciplinary research team to generate analysis from divers perspectives; different sizes of observation units, for several levels of probing; numerous interviews, for significance; and use of secondary data). Qualitative data, life stories, and observations complemented and crosschecked quantitative data.



Characteristics of the most vulnerable and excluded poor in Phnom Penh This part presents the findings of the field research organized in two sections:

The first section reviews each of the qualitative indicators retained to give a multi-disciplinary appreciation of the components of human poverty in Phnom Penh. For each indicator, it summarizes our findings, and uses case studies to vividly depict the situations encountered by the poor. This review of the every-day living conditions of the people later forms the basis to recommend concrete project directions for improving these conditions. When relevant, results are disaggregated by gender or relevant minority. The section concludes by a summary of what the most vulnerable people themselves consider as the main priorities in improving their lives (i.e., not always what their local group leaders express).

The second section presents an analysis of the findings in terms of the four main causes of poverty defined earlier. This analysis of situations as related to what contribute to creating them lays the basis for recommendations of policy-level decisions. Policy decisions are necessary to improve the macro-level enabling environment necessary for human development of the poorest in Phnom Penh.

Section One - Summary of qualitative indicators

Category A. Background Data

Indicator A1 - Physical characteristics of settlements and basic demographic, economic and housing data

Where do the poorest live?

For most of the poorest in Phnom Penh, exclusion is first characterized by the location where they live. Although their houses or shelters may be situated near the economic center of the city (for closeness to employment opportunities), they live in insalubrious areas, mostly on public land, or on land with little current value for private development6.

Case 1 : The most unstable settlements are located along the riverbanks. Tom Nop II is a squatter settlement along the Basac River, composed of 16 communities, with a population of 430 families living in a 100 by 200 meter area.

It was set up by Khmer, Vietnamese, and Cham families who had lived behind the Cambodiana hotel in the early 1990s, were forcedly resettled in Sam Rong Andet on the dike in 1992, and came back between 1994 and 1996 to the private reclaimed land they now occupy to be closer to their works and relatives.

A “flood line” separates the settlement in two distinct groups. This line is the average level reached by the Basac river for three to four months of the year, which forces all settlers who live under this line to seek housing elsewhere during the rain season.

The more permanent shelters are located above the flood line and form the majority of Tom Nop II. About 50 families live in a lower area, very close to the water. They live in a very precarious situation, as the area is totally flooded between July and October, a period during which they have to move their shacks on upper land, on a private plot of land they must rent for 30,000 Riels a season.

A third part of the settlement is composed of floating houses (about 25 Vietnamese families living on boats or rafts), located along the riverbank, and moving along the slope with the water level.

6 Only the Tom Nop area, in Sangkat Tonle Basac, where up to 40,000 people live as squatters, is mostly located on private land. This area has a high potential value for developers, but high barriers against eviction; one the one hand, the high density of the population make mass eviction difficult, and on the other hand, local authorities “insure” the squatters that they cannot be evicted by levying all kinds of “informal taxes” on housing and revenue.



The most vulnerable typically live on public land, along roads or waterways. They settle on the sides of relatively wide streets, of railway tracks, or along the banks of rivers, canals, and boengs (water reservoirs used to irrigate farming land during the dry season). Others live in insalubrious buildings in the center of the city, where legal owners wait to sell the building for commercial development. Increasingly, urban poor also “purchase” plots on the rooftops of multiple-occupancy buildings. Many used to live on more centrally located plots, and have been pushed to the limits of “habitable” lands by the commercial development of these plots, and the eviction of all dwellers.

Within squatter communities, the most vulnerable usually live where physical conditions are the harshest, which is often in ground-level makeshift shelters or very light homes, under the level of flooding for a large part of the year. They are mostly located on the very limit of the riverside, or in the water catchment area of the boengs. During the flood seasons, inhabitants of such dwellings either move “uplands,” where they rent more expensive plots to relocate their shelters, or live on rented pirogues in extremely hazardous conditions.

Within multiple-occupancy buildings, the most vulnerable live in the corridors leading to the rooms or apartments. They usually own nothing but a bed onto which the full family live, in the dark of unlit corridors, with no access to utilities or subsistence means except those given by neighbors.

Case 2 : Some ethnic minority communities chose to live in physical isolation. Some physically isolated communities do not fare as the most vulnerable, as the Vietnamese families who live onto floating houses with a basic degree of comfort (i.e., access to electricity, and ownership of a television set and/or a motorcycle).

Their apparent situation of housing instability actually allows them to move along the slope of the riverbank as water level varies, and to gather subsistence needs from the river as well as from on-land activity (from fishing and skilled construction work).

Table 3 : Characteristics of the location of the poorest dwellings

§ On public land where private owners cannot claim property rights and evict squatters (along streets, railroads, or water ways);

§ In the lowest parts of the settlements (along rivers and canals, open sewers, or boengs), situated in flooded areas;

§ Isolated from access to public utility networks (roads, water and power supply, street lighting, sewerage and drainage);

§ In very insalubrious areas, with very high health hazards (above sewerage outlets, nearby or onto dump sites);

§ In areas very difficult to reach (in mixed settlements with better-off inhabitants, in alleys and corridors of buildings, or on rooftops).

As is detailed later, the majority of the squatter and urban poor do not have basic education. They are unskilled workers, working as motordup or cyclo drivers, fruit or vegetables vendors, or porters. Most have relatively volatile revenue, and extremely high expenses in health care.

Among the most excluded, there is a high proportion of single mothers (widows or abandoned by their husbands), and elder people. We have not met many physically disabled persons (except in one settlement located near a workshop offering vocational training for people with disabilities), but this maybe partly due to the very difficult conditions of access to many settlements, that would not allow a person with a single leg, or moving on a wheelchair to live there7.

Although there are a rather high number of representatives of ethnic minorities living in very precarious conditions of hygiene and safety, they are not usually the poorest, and have their own processes of representation and community development (even though they look as if excluded from the mainstream process of representation and community development).

7 Street sleepers also feature amongst the most vulnerable of Phnom Penh's population. It was not yet feasible to assess their poverty situations during this research mission, and further research work must be conducted in this regard.



Indicator A2 - Historical basis for the creation and development of squatter settlements

Most squatter settlements have been created by the arrival of rural migrants, fleeing the countryside because of indebtedness and lack of economic opportunities, by returnees from refugee camps who did not have homes left in their birth places, and by internally displaced persons. They came to Phnom Penh for economic reasons, and settled in locations close to where they can earn a living.

Usually, once most or all plots in a settlement have been “sold” to squatters, the densification of the settlement is due to natural growth (families of the urban poor are as large as in the countryside, as there is no access to family planning education and practices), and to the in-migration of relatives of existing dwellers. In each settlement, a minority of renters, and people who have to move their shelters seasonally because of floods, account for the seasonal variation in size of the settlements.

More stable settlements (e.g., within or atop old buildings) have been created after 1985, once ownership of habitations was granted to the common inhabitants. Just prior to that period, the police, and leaders of local governments had appropriated many centrally located buildings, which they then subdivided, and started to sell out, with no formal titles. People living in the settlements thereafter created obtained legal access to public utilities as they were given family books that allowed them to be considered as stable dwellers, even though they did not have “registered” housing, or ownership titles. Those who owned family books stating where they resided could then still be evicted, but with greater chances of obtaining compensation either by the government or by private developers.

Other types of squatter settlements were created toward the end of the UNTAC period, in 1994, when NGOs and IOs involved in human right monitoring were able to support homeless people who wanted to settle new communities in Phnom Penh (e.g., along streets, boengs, and railroad tracks). These settlements received semi-recognition by the MPP, as “transitional communities.” Dwellers do not have family books though, which does not allow them to claim connections to public utility networks. Besides, they know that they can easily be evicted without compensation.

Case 3 : A typical story of squatter settlement creation. Klang Romsev squatter zone is located in a lane perpendicular to Mao Tse Dong Boulevard. It is close to roads and major markets, and to some basic utilities networks. It is made of 60 families, 20 of which are Vietnamese, and 40 are Khmer.

Most people living here arrived from refugee camps or from Vietnam; an important group is made of demobilized soldiers. Cambodian families are unskilled construction workers, while Vietnamese are mostly skilled workers and scavengers.

Another community had existed before 1982, but all inhabitants were forcefully expelled under the communist regime in 1982.

The current settlement was founded in April 1994, when a few families moved to the side of the road. Most of them were then former government employees who had lost their jobs. The government first wanted to forcedly remove the settlement.

The village leader went to the LICADHO and asked for human right protection. All settlers then went to demonstrate in front of the National Assembly and of the Municipality of Phnom Penh. They asked for the protection of the FUNCINPEC, as the CPP was pressing the community to move out. After the demonstrations, the Municipality of Phnom Penh decided to recognize the village as a “transitional” community.

Even though houses are not considered legal, or registered (and thus people cannot have access to public services), the village leader officially represents the inhabitants and the settlement in front of the Sangkat.

A last important pattern in the creation of a squatter settlement is the displacement of clusters of people who lived on unoccupied land, which got developed by private investors. It is the case of the Juliana Community, or the Tom Nop settlements, where the construction of large hotels displaced families to nearby, insalubrious districts. The displaced squatter settlements are located in prime areas of the city, in terms of their potential for commercial development, and it is likely that within a few years, pressure to recuperate the private land onto which they are located will increase.



The status of settlements such as the very large Tonle Basac area remains very unclear: the land is partly public (near the river), and partly private (belonging to three important families), and all residents live as “illegal” squatters (not even recognized as members of transitional communities). Yet, representatives of the local government and the police “organize” the communities, and levy enormous “taxes” onto the urban poor living there to insure them safety and tenure security. Such settlements are the archetypes of what the Khmer language refers to when describing “squatter settlements”: “places where anarchy and confusion reign”, and where there is no line between the legal and illegal, which render any medium to long-term planning extremely difficult.

Case 4 : Forced relocation, at high cost for the squatters. The 33-family squatter community had been removed from along the road, and the land it had occupied is now owned by foreign investors, who had evicted the squatters in 1996 (some forcedly with the military police burning their houses).

Local authorities had already sold some filling material to the foreign investors to elevate the sites where their factories would be built. The material had been excavated from a path in between two large plots of land. This excavation resulted in a 5 meter-wide, 10 meter-deep canal, filled by water. Local authorities then informally re-sold the canal and the small path along it to the former squatters from along the road to resettle. Although formerly registered squatters received a monetary compensation that allowed them to build houses, and only had to pay for the “registration fee”, the non-registered former squatters had as well to purchase the land on which they wanted to settle (for $200 to $500 a plot). This second category of squatters is undoubtedly the poorest in the community by now.

Indicator A3 - Particulars of community-based development processes

The location, economic and ethnic makeup of a settlement, and its history do influence the sense of community that can develop among its inhabitants, and thus directly affect its development process.

Some settlements are made of geographically distinct areas, even though they are administratively considered as single villages (or “communities” for NGOs or CBOs). Because of their differences in living conditions, people often feel that they do not belong to groups who share similar values or directions for development. When one group in the settlement is particularly isolated physically, or living in a transient situation, the most stable groups are not likely to include them in the development process, for they may feel that no long-term action can be taken including people who may soon relocate elsewhere.

Those who cannot contribute economically (by monetary contribution or labor) to the development process, are also likely to be outcasts in the community development process. Ethnic groups for their part tend to self-separate within a single settlement.

Case 5 : Typical split between people living above and below the flood line in a settlement. In settlements along the riverside, there are marked differences in poverty levels directly related to the geographical location of “sub-”communities. Community development initiatives have had very positive impact upon lands situated above the flood line, but have not reached at all the poorest part of communities, who live under this line (it did not affect floating communities, more united and relatively speaking better-off than the two others).

The lowlanders are clearly in dire need of attention, as their precarious housing situation compounds with very little access to life sustaining and productive resources, and with a lack of representation in the community development process.

Our survey yet showed a relatively strong sense of community among lowlanders, to be used in designing development schemes to reach the poorest and most excluded.

Within a settlement, time-orientations for planning thus widely differ, with the more stable inha-bitants, who own a house and/or some productive capital, and/or are supported by the rest of their community (often in the case of ethnic minorities), being willing and able to plan for the longer term, while the most vulnerable or excluded can only articulate basic needs of daily survival.



Category B. Political organization and sense of community

Efficiently organizing groups of people to live in peace with each other, to articulate their common needs and constraints, and to come up with plans to improve their conditions relies importantly on: (i) the administrative organization of the political representation process; (ii) the personality and qualities of the leader; and (iii) the willingness of people to act in a concerted way for the welfare of their settlement or community.

The organization of political representation, the inclusiveness of minorities, the sense of social cohesion, and the heavy constraints imposed by corruption are reviewed here to assess an impor-tant basis to the local development process of squatter and urban poor settlements/communities.

Indicator B1 - Organization of people's participation

The urban poor in Phnom Penh are represented both formally and semi-formally. In itself, this is quite positive, given that most of them live illegally on land they do not own, and that the MPP could have decided not to recognize their right to representation.

The organization of their representation is nevertheless complex, and the overlapping of official and unofficial representations makes it difficult to obtain any clear directions and sense of duties and responsibilities from the authorities to the people and from the people to the government. While the MPP delimits administrative boundaries to settlements, CBOs and NGOs mostly use “community” boundaries to delimit their areas of intervention8.

Table 4 : De jure versus de facto recognition of “settlement” vs. “community” boundaries

Administrative boundaries, government) - de jure definition

Local associations boundaries – based on de facto definition

Municipality, made of 7 Khans ⇒ Federation Khans, made of 8 to over 10 Sangkats ⇒ Coordination of community rep-

resentatives for each of 7 Khans

Sangkats, made of 4 of 5 Phums Phum, made of 4 Khnoms Khnom (50 houses), made of 4 or 5 Kroms Krom, groups made of 40 or 50 families

⇒ “Communities” defined by the local inhabitants

Along fieldwork, it was sometimes very difficult to clarify under which administrative jurisdiction a given settlement fell. Some village or group leaders themselves gave contradictory information related to which Khan or Sangkat their settlements belonged to, which is quite representative of the extent of the confusion. It also makes it difficult to plan for decisions regarding the community development if no responsibility is clearly defined.

This points out an important problem of defining geographically, or administratively the boundary of a community: while official authorities need to clearly set administrative boundaries to settlements (the Khan, Sangkat, Phum, Khnom and Krom), the sense of community that bounds families together may span over several administrative delimitation. Oppositely, an administra-tively defined settlement may gather people who do not feel they belong to a same community.

This confusion is important at an administrative level, to define what areas fall under whose jurisdiction, but also, and primarily, it is important for the urban poor and their local representatives, who do not have clear ideas of what their rights and duties are, in front of whom. Hence, they do not know the roles of the Khan and Sangkat, and their only relations to them are to pay bribes and illegal fees, requested by the authorities.

In part due to this confusion, the poor do not feel that the MPP and its representatives (including police forces) represent their concerns at all. Most of the squatter and urban poor are afraid of

8 While it is not the point of this study to review the meanings of “community”, understanding the term is a fundamental basis for participatory development work in Phnom Penh. Proceedings of a May 1999 seminar on the theme of community in Cambodia , presented in appendix, bring elements to the discussion. Within this paper, I refer to a “community” as a group of individuals and/or families sharing similar economic, social and/or cultural characteristics and feeling a moral/spiritual bound to each other.



official authorities, for they represent the threat of eviction, racketeering, and abuse. This situation of distrust is obviously very detrimental to building cooperation between governmental and local representatives for concerted actions9.

At the settlement or community level, effectiveness of political representation depends much more on the personality of the village or community leader than on the any rule or regulation (either from the MPP, or from local organizations such as SUPF or USG). Broadly characterizing there were four main types of leadership encountered in the poorest settlements, as illustrated hereafter:

§ Honest and efficient leaders who represent and act in the best interest of all settlers,

Case 6 : An efficient leader in the Juliana Community. Juliana is one of the better-off squatter settlements. It is a rather small community, located in the central district in Phnom Penh under the leadership of a well-organized chief of community. He occupies a registered house since 1979 and leads the community since then. He is a former teacher, educated and articulate. He was chosen by the local authorities as well as by USG to represent the people.

He was trained by Padek for 6 months in the Philippines in 1997 as a community leader.

As a leader, he was able to turn the nearby Juliana Hotel's complaints on lack of proper solid waste management of the community (which affected the environment and attractiveness of the hotel) into an innovative partnership. By presenting a petition from community members, he stroke a deal with the hotel management that solid waste from the settlement would be discharged in the nearby collection bins of the Juliana Hotel. The community thus benefits from a free garbage removal.

He has also received training by PACT on environmental management and health issues, and now organizes public information meetings and goes door to door to inform people about health-related problems.

He has also requested help from USG to obtain direct connections both to the public water supply network, and to the EDC network. Under his control, the community had an effective drainage and sewerage network installed, as well as several public lamps.

§ Leaders honest and hardworking, but without the capacity to effectively act to improve the welfare of their community,

Case 7 : A strong leader, with no trust in external aid and little constructive directions. In this squatter settlement along a feeder road to a large boulevard, the chief of the village is a strong personality who acts to his best for the good of his community.

Thanks to his efforts to organize pressure onto the MPP, the village was able to obtain a semi-permanent recognition by the MPP. He was also able to obtain the free collection of solid waste, and has several times mobilized the community members to fight against abuses by the local police and government.

Lately, he resigned from his position as community leader with a major local CBO, for this one demanded he got involved in dishonest practices and misuse of external funding.

Although his strength of character and willingness to work for the good of the village are good basis of effective leadership, he yet has no trust in external intervention, and little means to articulate clear goals for the development of the settlement. He does not believe that anyone from outside is willing to help “for free,” and is very unwilling to cooperate with any external agency. Besides, he already works all day long as a motordup driver and would not be able to devote all the time needed to organize his community constructively.

This leader, as many others, would need training to articulate positively the needs of his constituency. Development actors must also regain the trust of such leaders by demonstrating efforts to be more transparent, corruption free, and by showing they really act in the interest of the communities.

9 Their fear of authority is such that squatters often report having to pay for bribes, and “protection fees” to more than the local police. Police from outside the community come as well to claim money, often at gunpoint, from the more vulnerable minorities



Case 8 : A dynamic grassroots leader, constrained by the official chief of the village. In a village in the very rural fringe of Khan Dangkor, the group leader we met is a strong and caring person. He does not hesitate to take directions in insuring the welfare and safety of the community: he initiated and worked on the construction of the access bridge and the road improvements, and directly intervenes in the fight against crime by helping the police arrest gangsters.

Yet, from everyone’s perspective in the village, he remains highly dependent from the will of the higher up village leader for any kind of long term action. This village leader officially represents the people, but does not even live in the village. People yet mention that they cannot take any decision without his consent; and add that he benefited a lot from the re-settlement of the village from along the roadside onto a canal, as he sold the land and collected high “registration fees” from the people.

In such a situation (often found in different settlements), should external aid promote the strengthening of the local social structure (clearly unfair to the poorest), or should it support direct involvement at the lowest part of the political representation?

§ Leaders who felt mostly as administrative, clerical appointees, with no effective roles to play in any development process,

Case 9 : Survival pressures prevent from devoting time to leading the community. The chief of this village along the main dumpsite in Phnom Penh spends most of his time scraping for survival, and he is far from articulate regarding his role of leader.

After four years living in this place, and over ten years as a scavenger (he moved from the old dump site when the new one was opened), he says that he does not really care about his role as a chief of village, as his main concern is day-to-day survival.

He is only here to transmit administrative information to/from the Sangkat. He is not even aware of NGO or CBO programs operating in the village, while 100 meters away from his home, the remaining part of the village has been mostly set up via NGOs assistance.

§ Others who view their positions as ways to get better off, and use their power to benefit unduly from their positions.

Case 10 : An effective but ambiguous community leader, with a “personal mandate”.

[…] She has been the community leader for the last 6 years allegedly elected by community members, as she has lived in the settlement since its early days.

She volunteers full-time in this position to represent the community needs at SUPF, and acts in partnership with UNCHS for projects of infrastructure, health, and vocational training. She is also a representative of SUPF for Kahn Charmkamorn.

She undoubtedly works hard for the overall welfare of the community, and a very nice network of footbridges and streetlights have been installed in the upper settlement. Yet, she is not (willingly or not) fully aware of the needs and constraints of her entire constituency – including the needs of the most vulnerable to isolation and risks, living in the lower parts of the settlement. Besides, she personally derives significant benefits from her position as, for instance, all her children attend schools or training sessions organized by SUPF or NGOs.

This, along with numerous reports on practices of nepotism and corruption (from the area as well as other parts of town) casts some doubts onto how representative SUPF is of the needs and constraints of the poorest in the community. Yet, this seems to be attached more to particular individuals (benefiting more than others from the community development process), than to the SUPF, or the participatory development process per se.

(illegal Vietnamese migrant workers, renters). People thus do not make a difference, and do not trust any “\outsiders” who claim to represents legal authorities.



Indicator B2 - Representation of minority groups

To be actually consulted in the daily management of the community, and in its long-term development process, one must be able to express oneself, to stand for one’s own rights or convictions, and contribute concretely (through money or work) to potential development projects.

This mere basic truth singles out all those in a settlement who are not used to, or able to speak out or contribute economically to the process. Typically, single mothers, widows, disabled people, isolated elders, and children are not heard, even when consultative meetings do take place. More generally, all these minorities who do not have an obvious potential economic contribution to any community improvement project, are not usually consulted.

Yet, except for people considered as transient dwellers (renters, migrants, or those who need to move seasonally because of the floods), it is not possible to mention that there is deliberate exclusion of specific groups of people. It is more likely that they lack representation because of a lack of adapted process to insure their participation, rather than because of deliberate discrimination.

Women heads of households are usually too busy earning an income and tending to the needs of children to assist to meetings, and they are not used to be considered for their opinion. They are usually not either eligible for loans from NGOs/CBOs or for vocational training, because it is considered safer, and with a higher potential return to lend to, or train, a man. When deciding upon infrastructure investment, it is also typical that community priorities differ when they are express by a male leader from when they are expressed by females (i.e., the poorest heads of households in the community). Males privilege road access (so they can keep their working capital, the motordup, at home), or drainage systems, when women consider building toilets (it is more difficult for them than for men to use public spaces), and improving access to water (they are always in charge of water carrying). Ultimately, men’s voices always seem to be better heard when taking decisions.

We did not encounter many persons with disabilities in the settlements we visited, most probably due to the difficult access conditions that would not allow people in wheelchairs, or without mobility to live for long in such places. Those we encountered though were not included in the community representation, even when they received help by specialized NGOs or CBOs (who provide them basic education and vocational training skills, but do not seem to help them integrate urban communities), and there was no sign of any special project components to cater to the needs of the physically or mentally impaired.

Ethnic belonging does not seem directly related either to the level of poverty, or to the level of representation of people in the poor settlements. The only ethnic minorities among the poorest somehow excluded from participation and representation is the Vietnamese. The Chams, for their part, seem to live in harmony with the Khmer majority (or within purely Cham settlements), and the Chinese minority is not mentioned here as none was represented in the settlements we surveyed.

Case 11 : There is no open racial segregation within poorest settlements. The majority of the Vietnamese living in the poorest settlements of Phnom Penh form very tight communities by themselves, and do not want to mix in with the Khmer. Either living on boats or ashore, they usually do not want to deal with the MPP or with external development aid.

They are usually better off than the Khmers (for they are usually better qualified and can find higher-paying employment), and have their own mechanisms of self-help (e.g., interest-free loans for emergency, or local fundraising for ceremony costs).

The fact that they live on or along the river, where some of the poorest Khmer reside is more due to their living habits (more Vietnamese than Khmer like to live on the water), than to the results of a situation of extreme poverty.

A minority of Vietnamese does live mixed in Khmer communities, and these people are often excluded from consultation, but mostly because of their inability to easily communicate in Khmer, and not out of racial exclusion.



Of all minority groups encountered, only these considered as short-timers in the settlements were deliberately excluded in the planning process, for they are not considered as stable within the communities. The migrants, the renters, and those who must move because of weather constraints are all considered as unstable members of a community, and not considered for participation in defining or implementing development projects. As they are excluded from the participatory development process, they lag further and further behind other community dwellers, and cannot improve their living conditions or socio-economic prospects.

Case 12 : Migrant workers and refugees are not considered “stable” and are excluded from communities.

A main problem for many migrant workers is that they do not belong to the community and are thus not included in its development process. The core of long term inhabitants that form a community usually consider migrant workers as unstable, whether because they are renters, or are seen as transient dwellers.

Exclusion does not allow them to benefit from community development initiatives and they are not included in participatory planning processes. They cannot receive loans, as they do not own a house10; they are excluded from physical improvement projects, whether building footbridge, installing sanitation or drainage network; and from initiatives designed to enhance their economic potentials (e.g., vocational training).

Excluding the “unstable” or otherwise “unreliable” members of a settlement from the definition of the community is a somehow natural and understandable phenomenon. Those in the community who form a tight group with common goals, and with the willingness to invest in their future, do not want to jeopardize the potential improvements of their lives by including people that they regard as unable to contribute in the long run to the community development process.

Yet, within the group of settlers considered as unstable, the large majority did not chose the short-term orientation of their life planning. Except for voluntary migrants (from the provinces or from Vietnam), the “ unstable” are forced into being renters, or having no productive value. If no other choices than their current situation is ever proposed to them, they will never be able to improve their health, stabilize their housing and income, and lengthen their time perspective on life so that they can plan for the longer term.

The first step to build their capacity in improving their lives is to include them in some kind of long term planning process, starting with evaluating their needs, desires, and capacities. Somehow, it is then possible that the solutions to their situations are not located within the local communities in the long term (for instance, many unskilled workers are willing to be relocated in the countryside), but excluding them from participation will never allow to find answers to their specific situations.

Indicator B3 - Social cohesion

Defining a “sense of community” remains very difficult in Cambodia in general, and in Phnom Penh in particular. It is yet an important foundation of many development projects, who base their long term effect onto strengthening the capacity of “communities” to organize themselves, elicit the main issues they face, their causes and solution, and propose plans of action to bring them answers. The basis of a community is a sense of social cohesion between members, so that they help each other during difficult times, and plan together to improve life prospects for the group as a whole.

If it is uneasy in the countryside to figure out strong basis of a community upon which to build for development purposes, the problems faced are even more acute in Phnom Penh. Squatter and urban poor settlements are made of disparate populations with diverse backgrounds and origins. Besides, most settlements are relatively recent (5 to 10 years old), and many settlers do not want to spend the rest of their lives there. It is thus difficult to find common historical or cultural elements that could contribute to cement people into belonging to a common group, with shared visions for a better future. Our research thus showed that most of the times, there is little of a village-like sense of cohesion in face of hardship in the poorest part of Phnom Penh’s squatter settlements.

10 Despite the many programs of micro-lending encountered, we have only met one, run by Kehmara, willing to lend to people without a physical collateral, using a Grameen-type group lending methodology, with moral collateral instead of an asset base.



Within small groups though, there are at times strong supports between neighbors. Besides, almost everywhere, there is a sense of cohesiveness in face of some traditional emergency needs (e.g., burial ceremonies), but it rarely goes beyond raising funds to pay for a ceremony that indeed benefits indirectly the ones who pay for it (by contributing to the religious ceremony, people accumulate moral credit for their next lives).

Overall though, social cohesion is not strong and is more of a superficial social harmony that can easily be disrupted by a few elements in the settlement.

Case 13 : Living on the same rooftop, but in no community. There is no real sense of community on the rooftop of this dilapidated building, and people are inarticulate in expressing their problems or needs. They do not have a leader who federates and represents them.

The community leader indeed holds a difficult position. She must represent three different groups (the three floors of the building) with difficult relations. Conflicts are mainly due to water and waste evacuation from upper floors affecting the lower floors (because of leaking or blocked drains). On the rooftop itself, there are frequent clashes between unemployed demobilized soldiers who are loud and violent, and the rest of the dwellers. The Vietnamese families living there do not want to get involved in «Khmer» problems.

The one person on the rooftop who is educated and could represent the other is a retired Vietnamese skilled worker. He has clear visions about the main problems (and their solutions) but does not want to represent anyone, or try to interfere in existing conflicts.

The case of the rooftop dwellers exemplifies the difference between a settlement and a community. Here, on the same 20 by 20 meter rooftop, there was no harmony between people. The troublemakers were the demobilized soldiers, and ethnic minorities were neither part of the community nor really willing to integrate. In such a situation, the settlement leader, especially when he or she does not directly live within the community is unlikely to catalyze all efforts to solve common problems.

Table 5 : Major reasons cited for a lack of trust and social cohesion within settlements

§ Administrative boundaries that split a community into several administrative units;

§ Uncertainty about tenure security, and prospects of eviction, which prevent any long interest in the betterment of the settlement or strengthening of the community;

§ A high level of crime within the settlement, or local dwellers involved in violent or illegal activities; which frighten people and isolate them from each other, and prevent NGOs or CBOs to provide development help;

§ A high level of racketeering and corruption by the police, which reinforces the lack of trust in local authorities, and in people supposed to represent the interests of the community;

§ The distrust from students and their parents into teachers, who daily asks for money to attend school, and beats the children who cannot pay;

§ Nepotism of some community or village leaders who always extend the benefits of community-development processes to their friends, families, and political affiliates.

The only strong sense of social cohesion we witnessed was among ethnic minorities, Vietnamese and Chams. Vietnamese settlements are often made of extended families, and we did not meet single women heads of households, or isolated elder people (who are often the poorest in the Khmer settlements). Unlike the Khmer though, most Vietnamese interviewed said they had access to employment, and were generally living better off in Phnom Penh than where they came from. Accordingly, they are not all in a survival situation, their time perspective on life is longer, and they can plan for the longer term, either individually, or as a community. For the Chams, religion is binding the community, as it gives both support and directions to improve the future of the group.



Case 14 : Within an administratively defined settlement, there may be more than one strong community. In Cham Chrang Res, a lot of the sense of community comes from belonging to a religious minority with strong moral directions, and its own set of laws. Crime seems much less widespread here than in other poor settlements we visited. It is important for people to be accepted as Muslims, and they do not tolerate bad behavior from community members.

The village leader is well educated, articulate and organized. Although he is a secular leader, he works closely with the local religious leader. Muslim Religion is important cement for the community. Solidarity seems strong to help the more vulnerable.

Two distinct communities exist in the village, with Chams living closer to the road, while Vietnamese live by the river. Villagers mention that “the community leader had organized things this way”, and that it allows peaceful relations between ethnic groups.

Even though it is difficult, or even illusory at times, to try forging a sense of community in excluded fringes of groups who may not have much in common. It is important to point out some of the existing basis we encountered which may give directions to strengthen social cohesion among the poorest, as belonging to a group with common interests (i.e., a community) should be at the basis of any development project directed at the full community. Table 6 presents some basis for reflection on strengthening social cohesion in the poorest settlements.

Table 6 : Some basis encountered that cement small groups of excluded poor

§ Religious obligations § Intervention of external help (CBOs, IOs, NGOs), which often helps strengthen

commonality of goals and efforts, even if it excludes some people from the settlement - as people see that their common efforts are concretized in better living conditions, they start believing in the system;

§ Some private entrepreneurs who act as public service providers, and bring access to water or electricity to people who were totally excluded from the services;

§ The presence of a strong leader, who can gather people, and federate them to take decisions and act together.

Indicator B4 - Weight of corruption onto community development process

Corruption is the misuse of public power for private profit (CSD, 1998). For the dwellers of the poorest settlements in Phnom Penh, corruption is not only a prevalent fact of their daily life; it is not even simply a heavy constraint onto their prospects of human development. It is indeed one of the major causes of their poverty situations, and it affects all aspects of people lives.

This part presents corruption as it affects the sense of trust and mutual help that people living next to each other are often expected to portray in a “community”. Yet, this is only one of the multiple facets of this ubiquitous weight on people’s lives, and especially on the poorests’. Hereafter is assessed the weight of corruption not only from some public servants, but also from some NGOs and CBOs who use part of the funds destined to the poor to their own personal advantage.

Local authorities extort a heavy proportion of the poor's revenue in bribes. Starting with the purchase of houses, people have to pay some local leaders and the police to settle on public land. Thus, they actually «purchase» their land or house from authorities that do not legally own them. Then, to repair or improve their dwellings (mending a leaking roof, or installing an indoor toilet), people need to pay for an “authorization”, before they can actually conduct the works at their own costs. Lastly, the police and local chiefs regularly request “protection fees,” even from the poorest.

Case 15 : Illegitimate “protection fees” must be paid to the police in all squatter settlements.

The first problem encountered in many areas is rampant corruption, and overall, people are kept very dependent from these who represent “authority.”

In the Basac, police “protection” costs averages 130,000 Riels per 12 months, to “insure” that a family will not be evicted, or that its shelter will not “accidentally” burn down. The police collect the money by monthly installments as most families cannot pay a lump sum.



All kinds of informal taxes, levies, and bribes that the poorest have to pay in the conduct of their daily, informal income generating activities, diminish the revenue available to cater to their very basic needs of housing, feeding, clothing and educating their families. Cyclo or motordup drivers must pay the police, who arrest them without clear purpose, small traders must pay market guards not to kick them out, and all must pay the local police, whenever they come and request money.

Case 16 : Fee to the police is a major cost component when building an illegal house. At the entrance of a lane, a new house of cement and bricks was in construction. It was surprising to build a concrete house in a settlement bound to eviction soon.

The owner first said that because of high wood price, a cement house was not more expen-sive than one of wood, and that anyway, the house could be removed quickly “if needed.”

As we talked longer, he looked very uncomfortable, until several men equipped with walkie-talkies arrived. They were the chief of the village, the chief of the police for the Sangkat, plus several soldiers in uniform, and police officers in civilian. All were very nervous, exchanging information about whom we were and what we were investigating.

We later figured that it was forbidden to build in the area, and that the police was in charge of enforcing the rule. Yet, the owner of the house had paid a $300 “authorization fee” for the police and other local authorities to close their eyes (for comparison the cost of construction material for the house was $600).

We also learnt that having a concrete house (as opposed to a makeshift shack), was as well a good option to be potentially eligible for compensation, should settlement dwellers be evicted. As the local police get a percentage on all such transactions, it becomes a sound investment for them to “allow” the construction of permanent buildings.

Public servants do not yet have a monopoly of exploiting the poorest: some of the very organizations working for the poor, take advantage of them by misusing donor agencies' funding.

Nepotism and improper use of funds by some local NGOs and CBOs are widely reported in the squatter areas which receive external help. People working at the highest levels of SUPF and USG for instance are often attacked, by their own representatives or field workers, and by community members. It is said that they embezzle some project funds, or use benefits of projects to satisfy their own needs and these of their acquaintances. Irregular practices are also used to locally raise funds from community members for projects actually fully funded by external donors, and some projects are over-billed.

The negative image these practices give to NGOs' and CBOs’ efforts can be very detrimental to any further projects, as potential beneficiaries lose all faith in the honesty and impartiality of external intervention intended “for their own good.”

Case 17 : Misuse of funds by USG prompted withdrawal from USG member. The chief of the village is a former soldier and used to be the “community” leader, working as a representative of USG. He yet felt that USG did not properly fulfill its mandate in the community and has recently quit working for them.

After some time, he told us that dishonest practices were conducted at USG, that motivated his withdrawal from the CBO: a senior USG officer was asking for money to extend services USG should have provided for free to the community, and was using project's funding for unaccounted use (possibly for his own benefit). Hence, during training sessions paid for by external donors, participants received only 2,000 of the 7,600 Riels ($2) donated to defray the trainees. In another instance the community had to pay $200 to allow one community member to participate in an awareness trip organized in the Philippines. The trip should have been free of charge instead. To raise the $200, the USG officer over-billed the construction of a kindergarten, a project financed by outside funding.



Category C. Socio-economic Development

The section on socio-economic development encompasses a variety of indicators that picture how people live and cope with their daily needs, from describing their current standards of life (through employment, income generation and spending patterns) and their capacities to solve problems (through access to education, or health services), through to assessing the potential offered to them to improve their lives in the long run (through access to capital, or to vocational training).

Indicator C1 - Employment patterns

Employment patterns describe the kinds of income generating activities the poor can rely on to meet their financial needs. In Phnom Penh, occupations of the poorest usually fell into: joblessness or the conduct of non-remunerating activities, unskilled labor, and skilled work.

The majority of people living in the poorest areas of Phnom Penh hold occupations that do not necessitate professional qualifications. Men are cyclo or motordup drivers, porters on the docks or in the markets, unskilled construction workers, or scavengers. Women are small vendors of fruit or vegetable, or they work as unskilled laborers on construction sites, or as scavengers.

Case 18: Street cleaner, head of household. They live with their 5 children along a public lane. She is a street cleaner, working seven days a week for 80,000 Riels per month. Her husband is sick and must stay at home.

She gets up at 3 every morning to go and clean the central market, with equipment she had to buy herself. Only the cart has been provided, and she must take care not to have it stolen, or replacing it would cost more than a month salary.

If one day she is not well and must stay home, her salary is cut by 2,500 Riels. Sometime her salary is not paid at the end of the month and she must wait till the next month; meanwhile, she must borrow rice from her neighbors.

The house they rent for 30,000 Riels a month has no electricity, and no toilet. Water from private vendors cost 1,000 Riels per bucket.

They say they cannot plan for the future, as their main problem is to get enough rice every day to feed the family.

Obviously, the lower value-adding occupations do not allow people to generate much disposable income for daily needs, let alone enough savings to invest in improving their lives for the long term. People in such activities usually do not have the basic educational and vocational skills necessary to run their own business (they also lack the self-confidence, and access to capital required). Most thus depend on employers who treat unskilled workers as easily replaceable commodities. Among the vulnerable, the better off are the motordup drivers who at least have their motorcycles as productive capital, and as collateral when applying for informal loans.

Case 19 : Surviving as a scavenger near the dumpsite. Over 70% of the village inhabitants (including its chief) are scavengers. Others are motordup drivers and unskilled laborers. Some women work at a nearby blanket factory.

Living as a scavenger on the dump is particularly difficult as there are only few goods still likely to be recyclable at this stage of the waste management. Most valuable waste has already been diverted from the stream, either at the source by door-to-door junk buyers, or on the dump trucks by the better off scavengers who can pay a monthly fee to the truck driver to ride with them. Most waste arriving the dump thus have little trading value left, especially as they are already dirty and damaged.

Scavengers still collect old metal, cardboard and plastic items. Plastic containers are sold for 100 Riels per kilogram, and aluminum cans are worth 100 Riels for three pieces. Recyclables are sometimes bartered for rice instead of cash.

The work is extremely dangerous as, on the top of all sanitary and hygienic matters encounters on the dumps, there is a constant movement of bulldozers and trucks, spreading the waste over the dump site, and accidents often happen with children being



run over by the trucks. To minimize the risks and work in a more “comfortable” way, local scavengers work at night, when the trucks are away, using the light of burning tires.

Obviously, the work becomes even more hazardous during the rain season, as the work-site becomes more slippery - with filthy mud up to the knees for adults, is mosquito- and disease-infected, and much of the waste discompose even faster.

Typically, a family of half a dozen scavengers in the village can earn just enough to pay for the day's worth of food, and its total daily income rarely exceeds 4,000 to 5,000 Riels.

We visited the settlements during day time and did not meet many unemployed men. These we met were either demobilized soldiers with no qualification, or young men, playing snooker in the outdoor. The unemployed demobilized soldiers were often handicapped, and without qualifications. They did not have the physical strength to conduct hard labor, and many were occasional beggars. The young men were often flashing watches and jewelry, which, along with their attitude, indicated they had decent revenues, most from illegal activities (which our purpose was not to uncover).

More women than men did not hold paid employment, but were working at home to take care of large families. A few owned sewing machines (they were often able to buy them through credit granted against some collateral, such as the motordup of their husband), and were stitching baby clothes for nearby garment factories. Many others though did not have income generating activities, and would like to access the training and credit needed to start small, home-based businesses.

Case 20 : Corruption and exploitation are barriers to obtain and keep a salaried, low-skilled job. When young women want to work in a garment factory, they first typically only receive half a salary (i.e., $30) for the first two months of work, as they are supposed to be trained.

After two months of training, they are often informally required to pay the equivalent of two month of full salary to the workman, so that they can obtain the position. Many also report that sexual abuse is prevalent for them to keep the job. All workers know that if they get sick more than two days in a row, they will be laid off without compensation.

Positions requiring higher qualifications are usually held by Vietnamese workers who have an overall higher level of skills than the Khmers living in comparable settlements. They are masons, carpenters, iron workers, or even foremen on construction sites.

The permanence of employment (i.e., migrant or seasonal vs. year-round work) also directly affects the income stability of individuals or households and their likelihood to be accepted as part of a community, or to feel that they actually want to take part in its development process.

Case 21 : Effects of seasonal variations onto income security in a boeng. Many people are fishermen, but a new regulation prevents them from catching fish during the rain season. Yet, fishing is the only skill that most know, and they have no other means to survive. Despite the interdiction, many fishermen still practice their trade all year round, and catch fish using electricity. They pay the local police to close their eyes.

The most “fortunate” of the migrant or seasonal workers, have a house and family in a province, and stay in Phnom Penh either a few weeks a month (some cyclo drivers stay until they save 40,000 Riels and spend the rest of the month at home), or a few months a year (for farmers who come to work as construction workers). Their goal in Phnom Penh is to earn money, and even if they live very cheaply (often as renters for 1,000 Riels a night, or sleeping in the cyclo they rent), they have long term horizons of improving the welfare of their families, back in the provinces.

Illnesses affect people's ability to work, and directly, their ability to survive, and in the poorest settlements, unemployed people were often severely sick. Either when the breadwinner or a dependent gets sick, the direct costs (for medicine or hospital expenses), or the indirect costs (lack of salary if one cannot go to work) weight extremely heavily onto the budget of the poorest, who usually make barely enough to feed themselves and their families. Very often, we met households, which the sickness of one person had run into severe indebtedness.



Case 22 : Cyclo driver living along an open sewer with a sick child. A 50-year-old woman lives along with her husband and two children in a wood shack in an alley near the stinky canal (the place is hidden by better-off houses). She used to be a small vegetable trader until her 16 year-old daughter got severely sick and had to stay in bed. The mother now stopped selling vegetable to stay home and look after her daughter.

The family moved from Kandal 10 years ago to allow their two children to attend school. They though that their poverty was due to a lack of education, and they wanted to insure that their children could receive good schooling in Phnom Penh. The husband has been riding a cyclo since then, while his wife sold vegetable and children went to school.

Now, illness affects both the daughter and the entire family. There is not enough income from the father’s work to pay for medicine (there is often hardly enough to purchase sufficient food), and the children cannot go to school anymore, thus destroying the parents’ hope that they could one day rely on them for a better life.

They are indebted because of health expenses. They cannot even pay for a visit to the doctor, and can at best afford to purchase tablets from the drugstore. Mostly though they need to borrow from the loan sharks, who come every other day to collect their dues (6,000 Riels every two days, for 24 days, to repay an initial loan of 10,000 Riels). They are afraid that their home will be taken away is they cannot pay.

Life in Kandal, they say, was easier than here, but they cannot see any way back to their homeland as they had sold their house and belongings when moving to the capital.

The most dependent in terms of income generating activities are usually the elders, who at best live with their families, and tend the house, while the younger earn a livelihood. But, among the poorest are often isolated elders with no families to count on for support. Many depend on the solidarity of their neighbors to feed them, and sometimes to host them if they cannot afford to rent a house. Their prospects for finding employment is extremely low; they often beg on the markets, or are employed as house servants.

Case 23 : Elder and without support living along a lane. Hoil is 72 years old, she has been a widow for over 10 years, and only has her two daughters and their children as a family and support.

Both her daughters work in night clubs, where they entertain customers, and occasionally engage in sex trade. Both have children of husbands who left them.

Every morning, Hoil gets up at 4. She then works as a house servant, cleaning dishes of nearby families. Later in the day, she stays home to look after her four grandchildren. At times, a neighbor comes who is sick; she then applies suction cups and ointments and she scrap his or her back with an old coin (a traditional healing practice) to relieve the pain. Revenue from these activities barely allows her to purchase the two buckets of water the household needs for a day (she pays 1,500 Riels for each). When her daughters cannot make enough at night to purchase rice for the family, she must borrow it from neighbors.

She lives in a house made of palm, zinc and bamboo collected from construction sites. The floor is only 50 cm above the ground, and under the house sits a pool of black fetid water in which float plastic bags filled with human waste (there is a public toilet nearby, but she cannot afford the 200 Riel visit), and household garbage. The air in an out of the house is filthy, and both her and the children often get sick, yet with no mean to seek treatment.

She does not know how her future can be improved: her daughters have not received basic education, they have no capital ahead of them, and no way back to their home place in the countryside, which was long ago sold out to pay for health costs.



Indicator C2 - Income generation and expenses

Data on income levels and expense patterns help understand the priority spending needs of the poorest, and how much of them they can meet. They also show the cash-flow problems they encounter as they depend on fluctuating incomes, have regular daily living expenses, and have usually no financial reserve in case of unexpected financial needs (mainly for health expenses).

Informal spending (such as corruption and racketeering), which better-off people do not incur, or not with such a pressure on their subsistence, are a heavy burden, which the poorest are normally afraid to discuss (they are regularly threatened by the police who promise retaliation, should they speak up on how much they had to pay, for what reasons, and to whom).

The following case studies highlight typical livelihood characteristics, and income generation and expense patterns of the families living in Phnom Penh's poorest settlements11.

Case 24 : Income and expense pattern in the rural fringe. San Sry Van is 23, and only studied for three years in primary school. She lives with her 32 year old husband and their two young children in a village located on the rural fringe of Phnom Penh, within the water catchment area of a boeng under flood level.

During the dry season, she plants morning glory, which she sells for 8,000 to 10,000 Riels a day, complementing the monthly 65,000 Riels her husband earns as a policeman.

In 1997, they bought this 5 by 18 meter plot of land with a 4 by 4 meter house of wood, bamboo and tiles for $560. She then had it repaired for $18, but the shelter is now dilapidated as, during the rain season, the floor is deep under the flood level. The house has no access to toilet, running water or electricity.

They have high transportation expenses as soon as the area is partly flooded, as they need to rent a boat to get to the land. Then, when the water level is too high (i.e., over 3 months in a year), they need to leave their house and rent a place on the dike.

Their typical weekly expense and income pattern is a follows (in Riels):

Income from farming 50,000 to 70,000 Income from policeman job 15,000 (Expenses for) water (3,500) Oil for lamp (1,000) Transportation (3,000) Food (45,000 to 50,000) Bribe to the police at the market (7,000) Khmer medicine (1,500) Remaining weekly disposable income around 5,000 Riels

During the floods, they also need to spend 20,000 Riels a month to rent a house ashore.

The family has never been able to save any money. The little they can spare is usually spent on emergency health costs.

Case 25 : Demobilized soldier turned hotel cleaner. He was demobilized in 1986 for health reasons, and came with his family in 1990. He is now 54 and works as a cleaner in a hotel for $30 per month. His wife sell roasted bananas and their two children have gone back to Kompong Speu to farm with their grandmother.

They live in a small house made of palm leaves, directly set on the ground. There is no toilet, and no access to water. They have only one bed and a few clothes.

They get private power for 700 Riels per kW, and water for 200 Riels per bucket. They have always avoided indebtedness (they get free treatment at the public hospital), but they only make enough to survive and know that any emergency could run them in a debt trap.

They don't want to live here but they have no savings, and no skills. They would go back to the countryside if they could, but they say their land could not feed the whole family. They would join relocation programs if they knew of any.

11 Each case study is made of responses from several families, and is thus not a mere anecdote about the life of a single family; it tries to represent a typical income/expense pattern for a representative income generative activity of the poorest.



Case 26 : Small trader and motordup driver living along a lane. Sek Teav is 42 and came from Kampot with her husband in 1987. She sells cakes and earns 4,000 to 5,000 Riels per day. As a motordup driver, he earns 7,000 to 10,000 Riels per day.

They have 7 children. The older is 20. He dropped out of school in grade 10. He now drives a motordup and earns 4,000 to 5,000 Riels per day. Three other boys and two girls attend school. The youngest boy (6), stays at home.

They purchased the land they occupy along a public lane for about $700, and built a 3 by 4 meter house with a cement floor, wood walls and a zinc roof. They have an indoor toilet. Their typical weekly expense and income pattern is a follows (in Riels):

Income from selling cakes 28,000 to 35,000 Income from driving the 2 motordups 77,000 to 105,000 (Expense for) water (2,400) Electricity (4,000) Wood and coal - for cooking the cakes (12,000) Rice (21,000) Ingredient to make the cakes (8,000) Other food (45,000) Market fee to the police (2,100) Fee paid to teacher (12,000) Other expenses for school (16,000) Medicine (6,000)

Remaining weekly disposable income nothing

Over the year, the family also spend between 50,000 and 70,000 Riels for clothing, and 30,000 to 50,000 Riels of repairs for the motorcycles.

Most of the year, they barely make enough to live on a day-to-day basis, and have never accumulated savings. They say that their priority is education for the children, and that it is why they stay in Phnom Penh. But they would rather go back to Kampot, if they could.

Case 27 : Repairman along a street. Sem Hong is 43 and his wife is 46. He repairs bicycles and motorcycles for 5,000 Riels per day. His wife is sick and cannot work outside of the house.

They live with their 6 children. Three are married and living with their families in the 4 by 6 meter house, made of palm, wood and zinc. One of the married son is unemployed, but his wife works as a beer girl and earns $40 a month. An other work as a repairman with his father, while his wife stays at home. The husband of their 20 year old daughter works for $60 a month at the Royal Hotel. Another son is unemployed, and two other attend school.


Income from repair job 35,000 Income from children 82,000 (Expense for) water (10,500) Electricity (6,000) Wood and coal (3,500) Rice (30,000) Other food (56,000) Fee paid to teacher (7,000) Medicine (1,000)

Remaining weekly disposable income around 2,000 Riels At times, the family borrows money from the chief of village to buy food.

Overall, they think they need more access to basic education and vocational training to improve their prospects. They also wish they had access to credit, to buy a motorcycle for the unemployed son to become a motordup driver.



Case 28 : An elder widow, supported by her family. Phan Pech is 67 years old. She was born in Kandal, but has lived in Phnom Penh since 1945. Her husband died in 1987, and she is now head of the family. She has 4 children, 2 married sons and 2 daughters, who all live with her and their families (3 grand children).

Her house is 4 by 3 meters, set on the ground surface. It is made of leaves, carton paper and sand sacks, and is furnished with two beds, mosquito nets and blankets, two buckets, a water jar, and a few old clothes. It has no toilet.

Her sons are construction workers and earn 6,000 Riels per day each. One daughter sells fish for 3,000 Riels a day. The other is learning sewing in a vocational training program.


Income from all children 90,000 - 105,000 (Expense for) water (6,000) Rice (15,000) Other food (35,000) Firewood (700) Medicine (3,000) Electricity (1,500) School for the three grand children (6,000) Remaining weekly disposable income around 30,000 Riels

Case 29 : Pickle seller and unskilled workers living along the railroad track. Phally is 39; she was orphan very young and has never studied. She married in 1979. Now, she sells pickled cucumbers and earns 2,000 to 3,000 Riels per day. Her husband Chit is an unskilled construction worker and can earn 3,000 to 4,000 Riels a day.

Out of her six children, only one was able to go to school, for three years. They cannot afford education for the five others.

They arrived in Phnom Penh less than a year ago, from Kampong Chnan, and live in Chit's sister's house along the railroad track. The house is 3 by 4 meters, and very low. The roof is made of zinc, the wall of wood, and the floor of bamboo. It has no bed or furniture, but two small jars in which to keep the pickled cucumbers, and basic cooking utensils.


Total income 35,000 -49,000 (Expense for) water (5,000) Cucumber and ingredients to process for sale (9,500) Rice (14,000) Other food (12,000) Firewood (1,500) Medicine (6,000) Remaining weekly disposable income nothing

They say that they need vocational training, access to credit, and access to health care.

Income and expense patterns are very similar for all families interviewed: the revenue of most vulnerable urban poor in Phnom Penh fluctuates, and does not allow them to constitute any reserve for emergency needs. Most spendings are related to basic needs an their levels do not even allow all people to cover food expenses.

Quite a lot of families are nevertheless trying to pay for school expenses for their children (often before spending on house repair), as they think that education is an important answer to the situation of poverty they live in. For all, the stumbling block remains health expenses.

To improve their levels of well being in the long term, the poorest in Phnom Penh need access not only to the productive factors that would enable them to increase and stabilize their revenues (such as basic education, training and capital to run their own businesses), but also to ways they can manage the unforeseeable needs of health costs (through free health services, some kind of health insurance, and/or adapted credit and saving programs).



Indicator C3 - Access to financial services and weight of indebtedness

The ease of access to financial services measures whether and how people can face unforeseen events, especially harsh financial conditions, or when possible, invest for a better future.

Assessing the nature and extent of indebtedness is a prerequisite to understanding whether and on what basis financial services should be brought in from outside the community. If indebtedness is due to borrowing for emergency costs (food, health, funeral), loans are unlikely to be repaid and people are likely to fall deep in a debt trap. On the other hand, if people borrow for productive investment, it is more likely that this will have an overall positive impact on their level of revenue.

Most people among the poorest dwellers in Phnom Penh do not have access to formal credit service (i.e., from NGOs or CBOs), either for investment or consumption purpose. Often, because they do not own any form of physical collateral (such as a house), they are not eligible for most of the micro finance programs available (a motordup driver can use his motorcycle as a collateral for a $100 loan from moneylenders at 30% interest over 3 weeks, but not for formal credit schemes). Renters or people with low productive value are excluded as well for being “risky” borrowers. They are excluded both by the micro finance service providers, and by the local committees who decide who is eligible to loans, in regard of how risky they may be considered as borrowers.

Yet, many households mentioned their needs for credit. Most want credit for productive purpose, and the poorest mention that they need loans with low interests to refund money they owe to private lenders for health expense or for other urgent consumption needs (such as food).

Productive loans are mostly requested from women who stay at home. They do not work usually because they look after the children, or because they have no skill and/or no startup capital for a micro-business. They request loans to buy a sewing machine (a second-hand machine costs $20), or to get a basket and buy a few vegetable from a market to sell them at another. Men mention that they would borrow to purchase a motorcycle and work as motordup drivers.

Case 30 : Low-interest loans mostly reach the better-off. Most workingwomen living along the railroad track are vendors of fruit, vegetable, or clams. Many women yet do not have capital to start up business, and stay home all day.

They say that no NGO wants to provide credit to the poor in the settlement, because many men around are gamblers, and would not use the money for productive purposes.

They also mention that the only people who get access to loans from NGOs or CBOs are either the friends and relative of the village chief, or are owners of houses, as NGOs do not lend to people without physical collateral. Thus, usually better-off people obtain loans at low interest rates, and re-lend the money at high costs to their poorer neighbors.

Some people in the settlement are yet indebted from loan sharks. When they cannot repay on time, their house equipment is taken away, and they receive verbal/ physical threats.

Noticeably, people request loans for individual activities only, rather than to start larger than micro-enterprises, or to unite with friends or relative in a cooperative, or group-type venture. This has negative effect for finding credit, as formal micro-finance institutions usually lend to the poorest only on a group-basis. It also removes potential opportunities for non-entrepreneurial poor to be hired in local, small- to medium-sized ventures started up by community members.

Only once did we meet very poor people who had received loans. The credit and saving scheme was organized by the NGO Khemara for women who need productive loans, and even the poorest can have access to loans, provided they group with four others to form a lending group. In these groups, each member is responsible for the timely repayment of her loan, and insures that other members repay their own debt. Such practices provide productive capital to women, and contribute as well to build their self-esteem, and a sense of solidarity amongst them. Savings are compulsory before the loan to show commitment, and they can be relatively quickly withdrawn when needed.

A minority of people do not want to take loans, either for consumption or investment, as they are afraid of not being able to refund them. Noticeably, these who refuse the idea of taking loans live in the rural fringe, and have usually not directly heard about any credit program specifically tailored for the poorest, such as group-lending, instead of collateral-based individual credit. They



are mostly used to the practices of usurers, and this may be a reason why they seem much more cautious than dwellers living more centrally in the city, and who have heard of credit programs by NGOs and CBOs. Not all people who had knowledge about credit schemes by NGOs or CBOs trust in them though, and many knew about difficulties to get loans from some NGOs or CBOs.

If most people agree that they need access to credit, the response is much more ambivalent regarding savings. Although people need some financial reserve to absorb unexpected costs (mostly for medical treatment), many are not ready to entrust any outsider with the very little disposable income they may have at times. Many people say that “they do not believe in saving books”, as they have heard of treacheries and of savings not being returned to the people.

In many locations, people have stopped trusting local CBOs for credit and saving services. Around the Basac for instance, most people do not want to deal with SUPF anymore. Saving with SUPF is compulsory (at 200 to 500 Riels a day per family); it is supposed to help people accumulate a reserve to be used for relocation in case of eviction. Yet, all people interviewed in the Basac and in other locations (i.e., the poorest in the settlements) mentioned that they had never been able to withdraw any of their savings when they had needed them (and some have been saving daily for four or five years). Worse even, people say that their savings books have been taken back by SUPF, and that they therefore had no proof of how much they had actually saved. In many places, people stopped giving their savings to SUPF, and do not trust the CBO as willing to help them.

There are yet NGOs and CBOs saving schemes, in which participating members can withdraw their savings relatively quickly. Schemes in which the chief of village or community is (trained and) responsible for the collection and disbursement of funds are more likely to be run in the best interest of members than when funds are managed by the CBO or NGO from outside the settlement.

Case 31 : Access to credit and weight of indebtedness. There is a high level of indebtedness among the poor in the Municipal hospital community. Most people are illiterate and do not really understand the notions of interest and how much they have to pay at the end of the loan. For $500 borrowed from the money lender to build a house, a woman knows she must pay $50 to $60 a month, but does not know for how long; it has been more than a year and a half she started repaying.

People stopped saving with SUPF. They say that SUPF is much worse than the moneylenders. People worry about getting their savings back. SUPF collects the savings directly - everyday someone from SUPF comes to collect 200 to 500 Riels of savings, but without giving any written trace (the saving books have been taken back long ago) . One lady says she has saved over 40,000 Riels. Now that she needs the money back, SUPF request her to pay interests of 2,000 Riels for each 10,000 she has saved!

SUPF requested people to save much before any community development work was undertaken. People understood that projects (e.g., installing sewerage) would then be free or at low cost; yet , they had to pay rather high fees when projects were implemented.

Overall, indebtedness among the poorest is high, and touches over two third of the people we interviewed. The main reasons for indebtedness are low and irregular income and the lack of savings, with yet regular spending and high health costs (due to very poor living conditions). The constant racketeering of anyone who starts making money also undermines people’s ability to generate disposable income and repay their debts. The indicators on income and expense pattern, health, education and corruption all review as well important factors of indebtedness.

Indebtedness of the poorest is thus due mainly to borrowing for life sustaining and emergency spending. Many are already deep into a debt trap, and the prospects that they can repay their debts, improve their health, and regain financial balance are almost nil without direct intervention. Such intervention is needed not only to help them repay their debts, but more fundamentally to remove the causes of indebtedness, most likely acting on improving productivity (through better health, and training), and giving them access to the financial services needed (credit, savings, insurance).



Indicator C4 - Health problems, access to care, cost, financing

A prerequisite to being productive is to be physically able to work. Assessing health issues, the availability of health services, their costs, and ways to finance them, is necessary to understand whether and how health problems and expenses affect the productivity, income, expenses, and indebtedness of the poorest households.

Health problems are prevalent for most people living in the poorest settlements of Phnom Penh, who are regularly affected by diarrheas, vomiting, or acute respiratory diseases. Working conditions of the poorest are also very likely to engender sicknesses; for instance, scavengers work all day in contact with hazardous matters, and porters at warehouses are often given amphetamines to increase their work capacity, which makes them extremely weak after work.

Three key issues were raised by most people in regard to health: the availability of services, their affordability and the transparency of payment for services, and the lack of knowledge about basic health practices, and about service policies for the indigent in hospitals.

Case 32 : Health problems are major reasons for poverty. He is a motordup driver and earns 5,000 Riels per day, living in a shack made of leaves, cardboard and plastic sacks. He used to have a nice house, but had to sell it to pay for medical treatment for his wife. As she did not get better from the treatments delivered in Phnom Penh, he had to bring her to be hospitalized in Vietnam.

She now stays at home, but cannot work. The house has no access to water or electricity, and they have to sleep on the floor, having sold all furniture and equipment. It is in such a poor shape that during the rain, they cannot sleep and must all stand up in the water.

Availability of medical service is an obvious need to timely and proper health care. Yet, we have surveyed many settlements in which there was no local availability of services, or where services did not answer local needs (a major request is to have a medical referent for night emergencies). When they get sick, people have to be transported to the closest hospital or health center; but for isolated families, or destitute poor, reaching the hospital is not even an alternative, as there might be no communication way available, or as they cannot afford the fee for the cyclo to drive them to the hospital (in Tom Nop, two women died of sickness a few days before our visit as none could afford the 2,000 Riel cyclo ride to the hospital).

Case 33 : Health risk along boengs and riversides increases during the rain season. Health risks are particularly high during the rain season, both because of water-borne disease (especially acute as sewer lines directly discharge into the catchment area, and most human/solid waste of the area end up in the water), and because of the risk for children and elders to fall in the water at dark (and die of drowning or infections).

Although people know that they can send children for free treatment at Conterbopha hospital, it is 7 or 8 kilometers away. For adults, there are only a few nearby private clinics for emergency, but they are expensive to attend, and the poorest cannot even afford the ride there. Health costs are high and particularly affect elders and widows.

Health spending are indeed the first reason for indebtedness in the community, and a majority of the people are indebted. In case of medical emergency, most people cannot afford to seek any medical treatment and can only stay home.

The second important point is the affordability of medical services. Even though medical care is supposedly free for the destitute poor, it is rarely the case, and no-one actually gets fully treated if they cannot afford to pay for what is requested under the table by nurses and physicians. It results that those who cannot pay often do not get treatment (an informant mentioned the case of one women who got a difficult birth delivery at the municipal hospital and whom doctor did not want to suture. She has since then suffered of health problems related to the infection that ensued).

Corruption and the lack of clarity regarding what must be paid are thus main reasons while many of the poor families do not seek health support much beyond the borders of their small settlements. They mostly rely on local remedies and traditional medicine, cheap and easily available, but often unable to cope with the severe conditions that deplorable living conditions inflict on people.



In case of serious illnesses which cannot be treated with traditional means, people thus decide to go to the local drug seller, for self-medication. There, they are not often prescribed an adapted therapy and, for budget consideration, they cannot receive a full treatment; they purchase just enough medicine so symptoms disappear, rather than causes of the illness. The improper treatment of even minor ailments leaves them very likely to catch other diseases on top of the existing ones.

But even to purchase an insufficient amount of medicine, the person who makes barely enough to provide for a day's worth of food, has to borrow money. And while it is already very difficult for the destitute poor to obtain productive loans at non-usurious interest rates, it is impossible to get funding for health costs from anyone but the loansharks. These private money lenders are the gold seller/money-changers located in most markets. They lend money to everyone from the settlement because they know that, with threat and violence, they always recuperate enormous profits.

Case 34 : Typical terms for emergency loans: 300% to 900% interests over 24 days. For emergency, on-the-spot (i.e., health-related) loans to the poorest, loansharks lend at interest rates of 300% to 900% per 24 days!! For 10,000 Riels lent to buy medicine, collectors will come daily to collect 2,500 to 4,000 Riels for 24 days.

When the family cannot pay (and after verbal and physical intimidation), collectors seize household equipment for resell, or even abduct a child to sell in the commercial sex trade - in last resort if the family cannot pay, the lender will take the house as a payment, expel the tenants, and resell the house for many times what they had paid it for.

The third and important point is the lack of knowledge of basic preventive health and sanitation practices, and of where and how people can obtain low-cost or free treatment.

First, a lack of knowledge of basic health and sanitation practices makes people unnecessarily live in dangerous environments. For instance, there is often no waste management practice; solid and human waste are scattered around settlements, with children playing in or nearby the waste. Simple schemes to collect and burn garbage could easily remove some of these hazardous living conditions.

Similarly, basic knowledge about reproductive health, basic health care of children, and family planning is unknown to most women. Yet, in all the settlements surveyed, demographic pressure is an important factor contributing to the depletion of the resources available in the households. Having more children means higher costs in food, clothing, health and education. It also means higher health risks for mothers, who mostly deliver at home, in precarious sanitary conditions. In most cases, mortality rates are very high amongst children under five (in Cham Chrang Res, many women reported that they had lost over two third of their babies in their early years).

During our survey, we also observed quite a high proportion of physically and mentally disabled children living in the settlements, for whom there does not seem to be special care available.

Second, when there is free treatment offered, many people do not know about the programs, or do not dare going to the clinic, as they suspect having to pay “informal fees” anyway. People often let sicknesses worsen, and only come to see the doctors once they are very sick, and indebted.

Our research team did not include medical experts, and we looked at health aspects of life in the squatter and urban poor settlements from the socio-economic viewpoint. Therefore, we do not pretend to have surveyed in depth the medical conditions of the poorest.12 Yet, it is clear that inadequate health conditions and high costs of treatment form one of the major reason for people being unable to work, losing all their asset base, and falling into indebtedness. It is a major reason of poverty and tackling health conditions is the priority to help people improve their living standards and overall level of human development.

12 A World Health Organization study is being conducted in July-August 1999 to provide an in-depth understanding of health seeking behaviors for the poorest in Phnom Penh.



Indicator C5 - Education levels, cost, barriers

Most people interviewed are functionally illiterate. Widespread illiteracy render the poorest inhabitants of Phnom Penh very dependent. They are unable to comprehend written material (either of informational, educational, or administrative nature), and thus have a limited potential to retain, understand and use information. The main situations of dependence created by their lack of clear basis to understand the relatively complex urban world in which they live (as compared to the rural lives they often left) are presented in Table 7.

Table 7 : How illiteracy affects poverty for the urban poor

§ The illiterate will apply his/her thumbprint on a property contract, thinking it makes them the legal owner of a dwelling, when it is often not the case;

§ They cannot express any complaint or concern to authorities in a written, permanent format;

§ They cannot fill simple administrative forms, and can easily be intimidated by official documents, procedure and people;

§ They cannot be reached by written campaigns of information, either about their rights or about preventive help, etc;

§ They have a relatively low self-esteem and feel helpless dealing with authorities;

§ They cannot easily learn and retain new skills; § They have difficulties understanding basic accounting principles and are

easily duped into paying much more than what they should.

Although education level is very low amongst all the households we interviewed, we often encountered a strong belief in the value of education for children (and the family) to increase the family’s earnings and development potentials. Many families were ready to spend substantial part of their very tight resources to pay for the cost of sending children to school.

Case 35 : A small trader - widow. She is 40 and lost her husband 5 years ago. She is now alone to support her six children. They arrived from Kampong Speu 15 years ago and settled on the land now occupied by the Juliana Hotel. Later, she received 7,000 Riels to relocate when the hotel was built.

She has no basic education, and sells dry clams, making 4,000 Riels per day. Two of her children go to school and work as scavengers the rest of the day, earning up to 2,000 Riels per day; the other children cannot afford school and must stay home.

Her house is made of wood and leaves and is not even furnished with a bed. There is no toilet, and they must use plastic bags. Their few clothes have been donated by an NGO.

Food and water costs use up all her earnings, and often, she must borrow rice from neighbors to feed the children. She once had to borrow 50,000 Riels for health costs. Repaying the 3,500 Riels per day required for 24 days was almost impossible.

She says that the only way she can improve her life is by educating her children. But she cannot do it without external support.

Adult women have much less formal education than men in all areas surveyed. Nevertheless, among the children living in the central parts of the city, there was no obvious selection of whom could go to school on the basis of gender, and the proportion of boys and girls going (or not going) to school was roughly identical. In settlements located on the rural fringe though, girls were more likely to stay home, take care of younger siblings, work in the field, and accompany their mothers to sell on the market, while boys would go to school (it is sometime mentioned that they stay home for safety reasons, as the walk to and from school may be dangerous, and they could be abducted).

Distance to school is a major issue for many isolated settlements. In several settlements, children must walk between one and two hours during the dry season to reach the nearest school, and during the rainy season, most children stay home. Distance, along with the cost of education and the need for labor in the fields account for low school attendance.



School fees requested from pupils are another side of corruption that weights heavily on the poor-est families, and prevents most of their children from attending school. Although public education is supposed to be free, teachers request a daily “informal fee” of 200 to 500 Riels from each pupil. When children do not have the money, the teacher beats them and sends them away. If they cannot come for a few days because they cannot pay, they are also beaten the day they come back.

This fee seems an acceptable social cost for many parents, and very few families - even among the very poor - question its legitimacy, as they think it is normal for under-paid teacher to look for a complement of revenue. This cost yet does prevent most children of the poorest areas from attending school.13 Obviously, with no access to basic education, children will not even have the basis for later vocational training. Illiterate and unskilled, they are doomed to live in similar situations as their parents and remain in poverty.

Among ethnic minorities, there seem to be rather efficient coping mechanisms to the problems of inability of going to school. For the Chams, children who cannot afford public school can still receive education from the Muslim school (at the mosque). Children thus receive better education services than most others in Phnom Penh. Children going to learn at the mosque only have to pay 500 Riels per week, while these going to the Khmer public school pay 200- 500 Riels per day to the teacher. Most of the poor families can thus at least send their children to learn at the mosque. The poor children learn only at the mosque, while the better off attend both Khmer and Muslim schools.

Vietnamese settlements have similar (although non-religious) educational practices. Vietnamese schools are organized in the communities to teach Vietnamese language to the children of migrant Vietnamese. Even the poorest thus have access to some schooling. Such local mechanisms not only help build the knowledge basis of the children, but also act as a way to cement the community around cultural activities.

Case 36 : Mith Samlanh and positive answers to lack of access to school for the most excluded. Mith Samlanh (also known as Friends) is the only organization we encountered in many of the squatter settlements that really reaches the most excluded (at least in settlements located in the center of Phnom Penh). It provides education and vocational training to street children, and to the children of families in the most difficult situations.

After a year spent in one of the Mith Samlanh schools, pupils who have often quit schools a few years earlier, can make up two or three grades, and re-integrate public school with a much higher chance of success than before.

The NGO also provides vocational training for children 16 and above who are uneducated, and particularly at risk of falling into exploitation or illegal activities. Providing vocational training and building their self-esteem help them enter the production cycle.

In the poorest areas, all families who know of, or have a child with this NGO are very positive about the image and results of Mith Samlanh, and only wish they could send all their children to attend their (free) services.

An important limitation to their activity though is that they cannot intervene in settlements located too far from their schools for the lack of transportation means. They says that if people can provide transportation, they could send their children to the organization (provided they fit required socio-economic patterns of extreme poverty).

Indirectly, the NGO has also contributed to improve access to education by supporting groups of poor parents in their struggle against the compulsory (but informal) teacher fee requested from all children. By writing matching letters to these of parents, addressed to the school headmasters, and to the Ministry of Education, they had the fee collection practice stopped in several cases.

As well, by showing very poor families that their children have the capacity to study, they help rebuild hope that some people had lost in the value of education for a better future.

13 Including food and book/uniform expenses, it costs roughly 4,000 Riels a day to send a child to school. The average gross income of a cyclo driver is 7,000 a day, while average number of children witnessed is 5 per family.



Indicator C6 - Physical safety and criminality

Insecurity is a widespread phenomenon in, or just around many of the poorest settlements. Women and children get attacked on their ways back from work for as little as 5,000 Riels, motordup drivers are always afraid to come back after dark as they fear to be attacked and dispossessed from their motorcycles. In most settlements, no activity, either economic or social, happens after night falls, as people are too afraid to get out of their houses.

Case 37 : Kidnappings also occur against the very poor. We met a family whose 12-year-old daughter, selling pieces of sugar cane from a basket carried on her head, was abducted by a gang from the Basac area. The kidnappers knew that the family had recently arrived from a refugee camp and had received an allowance for reintegration. They requested 300,000 Riels for the release of the child.

Crime and violence happen within settlements for groups living in the central parts of the city, while they are more frequent outside settlements for communities living on the rural fringe.

Within the city, crime happens in the form of mugging, house robbery and abduction. Sellers are assaulted for the little cash they may bring back home, houses are robbed of the very few valuables they may shelter (such as a TV, or a radio set), and young girls do disappear when coming back from work or school. People also feel threatened by the armed youth gangs roaming around some settlements, and by drunken demobilized soldiers who get loud and violent.

In the more rural parts of Phnom Penh’s outskirts, communities are more isolated, and the threat of insecurity comes mostly from the outside. People are attacked on the dark roads leading to the village, but within villages, there is usually no theft or physical threats.

Although some settlements are easier to secure than others (for instance, people living on a rooftop or along the same footpath only have to watch one possible entrance way for burglars), crime affects all of the poorest settlements (with a higher incidence in the settlements situated in the Basac). Some dwellers put their efforts together to prevent intrusion (by blocking the common access to all dwellings, or by investigating on the perpetrators of crimes and bringing them to the police).

Physical safety is also related to poor access to settlements, as people either walk in disease-infected mud, or risk falling in the water (especially during the rain season).

The most paradoxical situation though is that often, people are as afraid of the police as they are of gangsters. They see the police as being the criminals themselves, and will thus rarely seek their help for any matter (no-one wants to deal with the police who will do nothing but ask for money).

Case 38 : Physical isolation and abuse from authorities. Ming Sok came to live in the village in 1991. In 1992, the Military Police burnt all houses in the village during clashes with the army over ownership of the land onto which the village was established. The MP then sold the land as industrial estate to private investors.

To move to a new place nearby, she had to sell her family’s house in the province to pay over $500 to build a new house on land she had to “purchase” from the Sangkat.

Today, personal safety is a major issue for the community, directly related to the isolation of the area and the lack of lighting onto the access roads. Muggings of motordup drivers are frequent, as are the kidnapping, rape and trafficking towards brothels of young seamstresses coming back at night from the garment factories. Even very poor vegetable traders are being attacked for less than two dollars by gangs of teenagers.

Some well-needed improvements, such as road access and public lights, would greatly help reduce criminality and insecurity in the majority of cases as, obviously is the enforcement of proper rules of conducts among all members of the public forces supposed to apply the law.



Category D. Housing

Access to decent living conditions and to a stable shelter are prerequisites for people to feel secure, develop a sense of belonging to a place, and start planning for the future.

For the poorest and most vulnerable in Phnom Penh, access to a stable dwelling is often not insured on a long-term basis, and knowing where one will live in a day is a concern of all instants.

Indicator D1 - Housing types, household equipment, cost, quality, financing

In most poor settlements, there are three main categories of dwellings: the poorest, the poor, and the better off among the poor:

The poorest houses are usually made of the lightest materials, and located in the most risky parts of the settlements (e.g., they are subject to floods, or located above stagnant water). They are temporary either because of potential for eviction, because of seasonal floods that force people to resettle elsewhere, or simply because of intense income poverty. They often are built directly onto the ground surface, are made of light, recuperated material (cardboard, sacks or leaves), have no access to public utilities, and feature at best a bed and a few dishes as all equipment. In such houses, water is usually kept in 20-liter plastic buckets. Inhabitants are single women, elders, and “forced’’ renters (i.e., those who cannot afford to purchase their habitation).

Picture 1

The second category of houses is this of the majority of the poor. It is mostly made of light, dilapidated material, such as palm leaves, bamboo, and old planks. Roofs are of leaves, but there are occasional hard roofs of zinc. They have bamboo floors and some houses are built on stilts, but often houses get flooded for long hours during the rain season. Equipment remains very simple, with a bed per family, sometimes a table and a couple of chairs, and a fan or a single neon bar/light bulb powered by a battery. There is generally a jar to keep water. Despite the low quality of the habitations, some families have lived in such conditions for years.

Picture 2

The better off among the poor live in the most stable dwellings. They have wood walls and floors, iron or tile roofs, and gutters. They are built on “stable” ground above flood levels, and the closest to road access. This is where people can afford to have private access to electricity when it is available in the settlement, and where some receive piped-in water, directly in their water jars. Typically, the owners of such houses also own a motorcycle, sometimes a TV set, and a closet in addition to a bed, and at times a table and a few chairs.

Picture 3

The following case studies illustrate housing conditions, cost and quality in representative settlements of Phnom Penh’s poorest:

Case 39 : Housing conditions along the railroad track. The better houses have a zinc roof with gutters, walls, a door, shutters and floors of plywood. They are furnished each with a cabinet, a bed, a few dishes and cooking pots, and a stove. They cost $300.

Poor houses cost $100. They have palm roofs, thatched walls, plywood floors, doors and shutters of palms. They are furnished with a bed, dishes, a cooking pot, and a stove.

The poorest houses cost $25. They are made of leaves, bamboo and recycled cardboard. They have no door or windows. Furniture are limited to a bed, dishes, a pot and a stove.



Case 40 : Housing in the urban-rural fringe. This settlement of 33 families, along with a smaller one, form a village in Stoeung Meanchey. It is located along paddy fields near a road and set up above a closed-off canal.

First settlers had to unofficially buy the land from the Sangkat for $500 to $600 a plot in 1996. Similar unoccupied plots now cost $1,000 to $1,500 to purchase.

Better houses cost $400. They have zinc roofs, wood and leaf walls, doors and shutters, and wood floors. They are furnished with a cabinet, a bed, a few dishes and pots, and a stove.

Houses of the poor cost $100. Their roof is of leaves, walls of old plywood, floor of bamboo, shutters and doors of leaves and old plywood. They are furnished with a bed, dishes, a few pots, and a stove.

Poorest houses cost $25. They have palm roofs walls and shutters, and a bamboo floor. Furniture are limited to a few dishes and pots, and a stove.

There is almost no nonessential furniture in houses, except for an occasional TV set. Most people live with the bare minimum and spend the majority of their income on food expenses and education costs for the children.

About half a dozen families cannot afford to own a house and rent one for $10 a month.

Case 41 : Living within the fences of a pagoda. Huts housing 60 families are located along both sides of the lane driving to the pagoda.

The people living in the pagoda had only to pay a nominal fee ($10 to $20) to the Sangkat to settle in here. Most heads of households are unskilled construction workers or vendors.

Better houses cost $150. They have zinc roofs, thatched walls, wood floor, palm doors and shutters. They are equipped with a bed, a table, a few dishes and pots, and a stove.

Poor houses cost $50. Their roofs and walls are of leaves, floor of old plywood, and door and shutters of leaves. They are furnished with a few dishes and pots, and a stove.

The poorest house cost $25. They are made of old palms and recycled material, with a bamboo floor. They are furnished with a few dishes and pots, and a stove.

Costs of house repairs and improvement are also major impediments for people to improve their living conditions. The direct cost of material or labor is not always the highest though. It is often the informal “authorizations” from local authorities, which must be obtained prior to the actual work, which cost so much that the poorest cannot afford to improve their dwellings and living conditions.

Case 42 : Police “authorization fee” prevent many from improving their houses.

We met Mr. Ly in front of his large, but dilapidated house (made of palms). Despite the relative wealth of his house (as compared to this of his neighbors - he had a motorcycle and a TV set ), his roof was in very poor shape, with many hole all over its surface, which forces all of his family to seek shelter elsewhere during the rainy season (he alone stays in the house at that time to prevent anyone from stealing his land).

When asked why he did not have it repaired, he first said that the threat of eviction made him unwilling to invest in maintenance or upgrading. Deeper probing revealed that to have his roof repaired, he first had to request authorization from the village leader and the local police. Such “authorization” is necessary if one does not want to see one's house catch fire. Any repair cost is then to be paid by the dweller.

We were told that such practices were common for any house improvement or construction (such as connection to the water network, or construction of an in-door toilet).



Indicator D2 - Security of tenure, threat of eviction

Although labeled as “squatters,” the majority of people interviewed regard themselves as the owners of their dwellings, and of the plots they occupy. They have bought these plots, with or without a house, from local authorities (the police, chief of village, and/or representatives of the Sangkat or Khan). Most dwellers yet fully understand that the transaction had no legal authority (the local officials are “selling” at their own profits land that belongs to the Government).14

Case 43 : Rooftop dwellers “purchased” their houses from the local police, with no legal title.

The building formerly known as the International Hotel, located between Street 130 and 136 in Khan Daun Penh, was constructed in 1943 during the French colonial era.

It has not been maintained for 25 years and is now in a dilapidated state, with walls and ceiling cracked, drains leaking, and makeshift water and power networks.

In 1985, the police (who did not buy the building but had de facto ownership), and the local chief of group, started “renovating” and selling apartments in the building, and setting up houses on the rooftop. 57 families now live in the building, 18 of which live on its rooftops.

Inhabitants have no ownership titles, but consider themselves as the owners of their small house on the rooftop. They yet know that they have little bargaining power to claim compensation, in case of eviction for the commercial rehabilitation of the place.

In each settlement, a minority of people rent their habitations (typically 5 to 7 houses in a 50 to 60 house settlement, with 2 or 3 families sharing a house, for as little as 5$ per month), and the poorest are most often renters, living under the constant threat of losing their homes.

Case 44 : Renting a house on the dumpsite. He arrived 5 months ago from Kampot. As a demobilized soldier, he thought that he would find work in Phnom Penh. Indeed, without any skills, he had to settle as a scavengers on the dump, sharing a house with an other family for a rent of $20 per month. All of his three children are mentally disabled, and he now realizes that his life was better in the Province. He yet cannot go back as he sold his house there to afford coming to Phnom Penh.

After only a few months living near the dump and working in it along with his entire family, health problems have already run him into 500,000 Riels of indebtedness.

Yet, not all renters are “forced into” renting. Seasonal migrants for instance, do not consider it a threat upon their lives to rent the place were they stay, and even if they live in very precarious situations of hygiene and overall security, many are willing to do so to save money that they can later bring back to their families, in the provinces of Cambodia, or in Vietnam.

Case 45 : Some choose to be renters. The owners of the two houses situated at a corner onto the stinky canal rent about ten shelters on each side of the road to Vietnamese families. Local Vietnamese renters pay 60,000 Riels a month for a 2 by 3 meter house with outside access to drainage. They have access to private power source for 700 Riels per kW, and access to water for 1,000 Riels per small water jar. There is no indoor toilets, but a common, privately owned toilet is available during the dry season along the canal for 200 Riels a visit – during the rain season, dwellers must resort to use plastic bags which they throw in the canal.

While the village leader tends to think that most renters are short-term occupants and that people move regularly, the majority of the Vietnamese families have indeed lived in the area for several years (up to five years for some).

Unclear situations of ownership make the fear of eviction a constant constraint for most people to plan for their future, or simply to feel part of a community. Many thus do not see any future benefit to participating in the settlement or community development process.

14 Although most of them do not have any written record of the transactions with the sellers, some have written agreement, featuring the thumbprints of contracting parties, to attest their “ownership” (the only value of such document is to claim some kind of compensation in case of eviction).



Indicator D3 - Housing for the poorest

It has been mentioned in several sections already: the poorest live in the most precarious situations of risks and isolation. Extremely difficult housing conditions give them no stable basis to plan for the long term to improve their lives, either in the community where they reside, or anywhere else. Income poverty pushes them to live in the cheapest places, which are always the most isolated and un-healthy. They become and stay sick, and often cannot improve their income generating potentials, or this of their children, in the short or longer-term.

Case 46 : Fourteen people living in less than 10m². The palm-and-rice-sack shack is 3 by 3 meters and 50 centimeters above the ground. It is located within the water catchment area of a boeng, inundated four months a year. Two families of farm laborers (totaling 14 members) live in it. It has no furniture or equipment but two plates, two bowls, a cooking pot, and a small charcoal stove.

The head of the household is handicapped, having lost one arm as a soldier.

His family has lived in the area since 1962, and he was born in the village. He and his family used to have a nicer house, but in 1991 they had to sell the house and the land when family members got sick. Now, they have lost everything but two pirogues, and do not even own land to cultivate. They set up their shack on a tiny part of a neighbor’s un-farmed plot, and know they will have to move when he wants it back.

During the three to four months of high floods, they cannot stay in the shack, which is under the water. They use their two small pirogues to live on (they are very narrow and have no protection from the rain), after they anchored the dismantled elements of their shacks, so that they don’t drift away on the flood.

They have no access to electricity and drink un-boiled water, as they cannot afford firewood. All of them are often sick, and without the means to get treated.

They work as fishermen and field laborers, making no more than 5,000 Riels per day, which is hardly enough to pay for basic food, and does not leave them anything to save for health spending or other emergency (they owe money to neighbors for health expenses).

No-one has any basic education in the household but his wife, who can read a little. He and his brother joined the army very young, and never went to school, and his children cannot attend school because of the cost, and of their higher value working in the fields.

Case 47 : Corridor of an old dilapidated building - a blind man living with his family on a single bed. The woman sitting on a bed in the dark of a corridor of an old multiple-occupancy building in the center of the city is the second wife of a blind beggar, who works from market to market. Her 54 year old husband lost his sight 30 years ago and has been a beggar since then. He used to have a house in Kampong Cham, which he had to sell when his first wife got severely sick. When she died, he had lost everything he had, and put his three children in an orphanage. He came to Phnom Penh to beg, and married his current wife.

Now they have four more children, and the whole family owns nothing but a bed donated by neighbors.

As a beggar, he makes 4,000 to 5,000 Riels a day, while his wife brings 2,000 to 3,000 from cleaning dishes in a restaurant. This is hardly enough to pay for food, and does not allow them to get medical treatment for the many times they get sick.

Case 48 : Living under a roof, but with no walls. They just got married and have one daughter. Her husband is porter in the market; she stay home and doesn't work because she has a weak health. Her husband earns 6,000 to 7,000 Riels per day. Their house is set between two other dwellings directly onto the ground and has no wall, just a roof, made of leaves. They have few clothes, and no electricity but they have water from the mobile seller at 1,000 Riels per bucket.



Category E. Infrastructure

The lack of proper public infrastructure in the poorest settlements forces people to turn to the private sector to obtain access to basic services, such as water and electricity. Drainage, sewerage, and solid waste management for their parts remain mostly un-tackled with, which very negatively affects the living conditions of people. The main barrier to accessing public utilities remains the illegal status of the squatter and urban poor settlements.

Indicator E1 - Water supply

Water supply is the main problem mentioned by most households surveyed in terms of basic survival needs, which they cannot have access to (or at very high costs). Almost no squatter settlement uses water supplied by the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA), either directly or indirectly. Most rely on private sector distribution of raw water from the river, or wells.

The poorest households do not have access to public water supply, for they do not live in registered dwellings, and therefore cannot obtain an official connection to the network. Many do not even have roofs with gutters which could allow them to collect rain water during the wet season. They must hence purchase water year-long from private vendors who obtain their supply either directly from the public water network, or when this one is not available in the area, pump it from the river.

Case 49 : Mechanisms for private water distribution. Water is usually supplied three different ways by the private sector to “unregistered” households (prices are indicative, for a settlement located by the river, 200 to 400 meters from houses with legal connections, but they vary widely throughout Phnom Penh):

i. Re-distributed by households located outside the squatter settlement, with registered connection to the PPWSA. Water is supplied to households either through a network of PVC pipes, or via pushcarts for 2,000 Riels/m3 (buyers must push the cart);

ii. Piped in by a private distribution network organized by a local entrepreneur, who pumps water from the river, stores it in reservoirs and distributes it to houses for a cost of 1,500 to 3,000 Riels per jar (i.e., around 200 liters);

iii. Pumped from the river and carried by drum carts for distribution to the poorest family living along the riverbank. In this case, the water buyer (typically the woman in the house) goes to the water vendor, fills the drum, rolls the drum cart to her house, where she stores the water, and returns the cart to the vendor, for 2,000 Riels per 200 liters.

In the rural fringe of Phnom Penh located far from the river, private entrepreneurs also drill their own wells, and redistribute water.

The water that people purchase is often of low quality, and is always proportionally much more expensive in their budget than water costs are for someone with access to the public network. A cubic meter of water privately purchased costs between 1,000 and 10,000 Riels, while it costs 350 Riels from the public network (price varies widely depending on the distance between the water supply and delivery points, and on whether the service is at the door-step). That is, the liter of water costs 3 to 30 times more in the squatter settlements. Yet, the poorest earn incomparably less than anyone who can afford to live in a registered dwelling.

Because of cost, the poorest groups living near the river often use raw water that they scoop direct-ly at the riverside. Due to firewood cost, they cannot always boil the water they use (or not for long enough to clear it of all germs), and end up chronically sick with stomach problems and diarrhea.

To the purchasing cost, one must add the burden for women of carrying water from the vending point to their home, as often, water vending is a self-service in which the buyer comes and picks the pushcart from the seller, fills it, transports it to his/her home, empties it, and brings the pushcart back to the seller. Given that the poorest usually only have small buckets to store water at home and live in areas difficult to access, women (they are in charge of water management in the home), must come often to replenish their supply, every time having to make difficult or even perilous journeys.



Better-off households for their part often have roof-gutters, and can collect rain water into jars during the rain season, which reduce cost and efforts spent on fetching water.

Case 50 : There is little sense of local ownership of community-based water supply systems. In the rural fringe of Phnom Penh, where water can often be pumped from the water table, we have sometimes seen hand pumps installed over wells put in place by NGOs. Yet, in all cases, water supply was insufficient, and was inaccessible during flood seasons. Besides, the lack of training and follow-up for maintenance of the pumps resulted in broken pumps, whom no-one cared about or knew how to maintain.

It was clear that in the case of installation of wells and pumps for public use, the lack of sense of ownership and responsibilities from communities toward the water work was a main reason for the surprising lack of involvement in maintaining the installations.

Access to affordable water supply is less of a concern for the dwellers living in or atop multi-occupancy buildings. The squatters can usually have access to water at reasonable cost (less than 1,000 Riels per cubic meter) from some registered households living in the buildings. The quality of the water they receive is thus not a major concern. The main problem in these places is often the quality of water storage, as uncovered jars or buckets are kept in dark and humid areas which are ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes. In the old buildings where squatters live in the center of the city, mosquitoes are the main health hazard related to water management.

Indicator E2 - Electricity

The majority of the poorest dwellers living in the settlements we visited do not have electricity. This is in part due to the same issue as for water supply: houses are not registered as permanent dwellings and dwellers cannot have access to public services. In less frequent cases (as in the urban-rural fringe), access to the public network is too far, and not easily accessible.

Electric power is easier and cheaper to transport than water though, and the private supply of electricity is quite well organized in many squatter settlements.

Better-off households, usually located close to main roads, receive electric power, privately redistributed by registered households who are connected to the Electricité Du Cambodge (EDC) network and are authorized by EDC to act as wholesalers for the unregistered houses. The system is metered and payment is calculated at 500 to 1,200 Riels per kW (EDC’s rate to individual registered households is 350 Riels per kW). They sometimes also obtain power from registered households who do not officially act on EDC’s behalf, and redistribute at their own, higher price.

In some areas in the rural fringe, where access to the public network is too difficult to set up, private vendors run their own generators, and usually charge a flat, monthly rate, based on the number of lights or electrical appliances one has in the house (e.g., it costs 10,000 Riels a month for one light bulb, as the generator runs from 6 to 10 PM every day).

In most cases, lack of access to power is because of income poverty. Poorest households cannot afford to access private supply. Hence, in the poorest parts of urban poor settlements, and in the rural fringe, very few people at all have access to power supply, private or public. As the poorest dwellers are located in isolated or unstable housings, this adds difficulty to delivering power. People mostly use batteries, candles and kerosene for lamps, and usually own no other electric appliance.

At the community level, the lack of electricity directly affects people safety: dark alleys or unlit footbridges, especially near or above water are dangerous as children and adults often fall in dirty water, get sick and occasionally die (typically, for a 50 to 60 household settlement located above water for three or four months a year, four to five children die every year from falling in the water, mostly at night). The use of alternate sources of lighting, such as kerosene lamps or oil lamps also increases fire hazards in settlements usually made of very light, flammable material.

The lack of light after night falls also limits people’s potential to increase their productivity, as children cannot do schoolwork, or parents cannot run small home-based businesses after hours.



Indicator E3 - Drainage and sewerage

Most of the settlements we visited face important problems with drainage and sewerage systems, especially during the rain season.

As soon as one leaves central areas of the city, and the vicinity of registered houses, the drainage system is clearly inappropriate, and most people living in squatter settlements cannot evacuate storm or waste waters. When some systems are installed (e.g., via local CBOs), services often stop less than 100 meters from the roads, and the poorest, who live in the lower parts of the settlements, always live surrounded by the unhealthy water discharged in the street by all upstream dwellers.

The lack of drainage results in long lasting floods after heavy rains. Even in settlements situated above the level of rivers, rain water takes up to fifteen hours to disappear after a storm, meaning that during the rain season (July to October) stagnant water is always present in and around many (of the poorest) houses. Families mention that stagnant water is the main source of disease in many settlements, with mosquitoes, worms and water borne diseases infecting wide areas.

Rainwater mixes with wastewater, sewage, and garbage. Children walking and playing daylong in this environment, elders slipping on muddy paths, women having to transport heavy loads of water, are all particularly sensitive to the consequences of this very unsanitary environment and many fall and stay sick regularly. In the houses where there is no furniture and people sleep on the floor, everyone must stand up during the floods.

Case 51 : Lack of drainage forces people to move onto the dumpsite. There are over 100 families in 40 houses living near the boeng, alongside the dump.

There is no garbage removal, and during the floods, local waste float along with the garbage coming from the dumpsite. In the rain season, adults are flooded waist-high for 2 to 3 months in this mix of garbage and dirty water. People living on the ground level must go to set up tents on the dump site and live there along with the village's domestic animals. No children can go to school during that time.

There is a three year old tube-well used by over 100 families. Water supply is insufficient all year long, and the well is under flood level and cannot be used during the rain season.

It is difficult for most settlements to figure out local coping mechanisms to handle drainage problems. The investment in time, work, and money is too important to be taken alone by the community. Besides, all settlements situated under the flood level need more than drainage system; they need to elevate their houses, roads and paths above the water level first.

Yet, settlements with articulate leaders are sometimes able to organize and express their common needs together and look for external funding for drainage projects. In some cases, the proper installation of sewerage networks (managed by SUPF or USG, and funded by UNCHS) resulted in dramatic improvement in population’s health and safety, and in the accessibility of the settlement. In other cases, very small communities have been able to share a sewer connection with a neighboring institution (on road 134 a sewerage system was connected to the municipal hospital’s).

From an outside approach, evacuation of rainwater and wastewater is a concern in all settlements surveyed, and local leaders often request funding for drainage systems. Yet, it is not always a key request from the inhabitants. This might be due to different time perspectives people have to plan their lives, as most poorest squatters are too preoccupied with earning enough to pay for food and rent to request improvement that would (in their view) only benefit the community in the long term. Community leaders are more likely to see the longer-term development of the settlement and most are not personally in a situation of survival.15

15 An extrapolation of some abuses we witnessed in the “use” made by some village, or community leaders of the opportunity to get financing for infrastructure works, also shows that it may be in the best interest of a dishonest leader to request sewage as a priority investment, because he or she can easily get income out of such project. In several instance, some very poor people had to pay up to $30 to local leaders to obtain connections to sewer network fully financed by outside funds.



Indicator E4 - Sanitation and health

The most vulnerable in any settlements do not generally have easy access to toilets.

Human waste is mostly discharged in open spaces, as indoor toilets are not available to roughly 70% of the families in the poorest settlements. Children squat nearby piles of garbage, and adults use plastic bags or chamber pots during daytime (which they empty under houses), and go onto vacant land, or into nearby water pieces at night. Settlers who live on boats or house above boengs directly discharge waste in the water. Human wastes thus end up under or nearby houses where they represent health hazards and contribute to the degradation of the local environment.

Case 52 : A poor household living among the better-offs dearly needs access to sanitation. The house is located in the back of better-off dwellings, near the stinky canal. Accessing there is perilous even in the dry season, as one has to walk on makeshift footbridges and bricks not to fall in black, stagnant water, where worms wiggle around. Water comes from the smelly canal where all nearby solid and human wastes end up. It is highly hazardous.

The house is 4 by 3 meter, built on stilts that permit to double the living area during the dry season. Between July and October, the ground floor stays under a foot of filthy water (coming from the smelly canal) for three or four days after each heavy rain.

A family lives here since 1987. Their house is bare but for a bed, and filled with mosquitoes. Both spouses are orphans. They had 3 children but 1 died after falling in the canal. The husband drives a cyclo for 6,000 Riels a day. His wife, unskilled, stays home.

There is no toilet in the house and they must use the nearby public toilet – when they can afford it - paying 200 Riels per visit. The rest of the time, they go at night near the canal.

The private sector partly brings an answer to the need for toilets, with public toilet facilities that people can use for 100 to 200 Riels. Yet few people use them because of cost and fear of diseases.

Case 53 : Private toilet service provider in the Basac. There are three public toilet facilities in the settlement for people who do not have indoor toilets. We met one owner, who was one of the first settlers in the squatter area.

The public toilet is connected to a private water supplier, who charges 2,500 Riels / m3. Waste water discharges into the main sewer, above which the full lane of houses is located.

This facility opened in 1997, providing services for 100 to 200 Riels per use. When it first opened, it received around 100 customers a day, but due to the construction of indoor toilets in the area - a SUPF project), there are now only around 20 customers a day.

Obtaining in-door toilet facilities was a priority for most families interviewed, although village leaders were much less likely to put the item on the priority list of the community needs. This maybe due to the fact that most of the people we interviewed were women (as mentioned, they are often the poorest in the settlements), while community and village leaders were mostly men. It seems that often, the needs and constraints of communities are not dis-aggregated by gender or age groups, and too often in community meetings, men take decisions regarding priorities, which do not reflect the specific needs of women, children, and elders. Referring to the need for toilets, while men interviewed did not find it difficult to urinate or defecate in open space, women must walk long distances in dirty, and dangerous grounds (especially at night) to find a suitable place to relieve themselves, and were much more eager to request for the construction of toilets.

Chrang Cham Res was the only settlement visited where almost all (poor and non-poor) families had access to private toilets (shared between 15 users). The toilets have only been set up recently, (by UNCHS) and it is too early to assess whether they will have a strong impact on limiting the incidence of diseases and risks related to previous practices of using open spaces. Yet, and although conflicts sometimes arise on the responsibility of maintaining the facilities, all users said that they felt much better using these toilets and that it had greatly improved their living conditions.



Category F. Transport

Indicator F1 - Road access

Isolation is a main difficulty for many communities, as it affects access to services, access to economic opportunities, and personal security. People suffer from two levels of geographical exclusion: one is the lack of easy access to a main road leading to the village or settlement, and the second is the difficulty of circulating within the settlement, and of accessing their own houses.

All year, isolation from the main roads means that access to public utilities is difficult: sewer lines, water and power networks do not reach isolated communities, nor do garbage collection services. Access to schools is often a burden on children (some settlements in the outskirts of Phnom Penh are located 4 or 5 km from the nearest school), as is access to markets for their parents.

During the rain season, the situation worsens, and many of the poorest settlements (located in on nearby boengs, and alongside rivers or canals) are cut from access to the nearest main roads. Difficult or no access to roads, prevents people from reaching markets for daily food supply, and increases the cost of food, which they must purchase from a single retailer within the settlement. Children often drop of school during the floods; and access to health services is extremely difficult.

Isolation from main roads also decreases economic opportunities for all women who must stay at home and look after their children. In settlements located along a busy road, they can always set up a tiny business and sell gas, candies, or basic necessities to passers-by. But when people live away from easy road access, unskilled women have very low economic prospects (all inhabitants of a rural fringe settlement relocated from alongside a road to a remote path along a rice field mentioned that average household incomes had largely decreased because of their relocation).

Motordup drivers are also affected by the lack of or difficult access to their homes. They must either pay a parking fee near the main road to leave their motorcycles at night, or tempt to bring the cycle back home onto boats, or pushing it on very unstable and damaged footbridges.

The other key concern related to the lack of access to main roads is this of personal safety. Secondary paths are in very bad shapes, flooded and usually unlit. Atop the risks of falling in holes, or in the water, the dark paths are where people get attacked and robbed. This has a very high incidence in isolated areas on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, where muggings of motordup drivers are frequent, as are assaults on of seamstress coming back at night from the garment factories.

Within settlements, the lack of footbridges prevents people from leaving their homes during floods, or forces them to walk in mud, or stagnant pools of water in very dangerous conditions. In some places, dwellers of houses located above boengs must walk onto dilapidated footbridges (with many missing planks and large holes), which are under the level of a stinky and almost opaque water.

Case 54 : Flooded road affects all aspects of life. The access road to this small community located along a lane is flooded several months of the year. The road is of very irregular level and quality with some part staying under an inch of water when other are under a feet in the water. The community has shown its sense of organization and solidarity by raising capital to finance part of the road improvement (with laterite) as well as a wooden access bridge. Yet, they did not have enough capital to rehabilitate more than twenty out of the one hundred meters of the path.

One of the many drawbacks this has is that motordup drivers cannot bring their bikes home for the night during floods. They have to pay a 500 Riel parking fee to have their motorcycles kept at the entrance of the settlement on the main road.

Floods also particularly affect some houses which floor is under the flood level. The owners of these houses cannot afford to elevate their houses (a simple work to do). They also cause the presence of mosquitoes and epidemics of dengue during the rain season.



Indicator F2 - Transport availability

The poorest households in Phnom Penh do not own transportation means. For any long distance they have to travel, they must either walk or hire the services of a cyclo or motordup driver. But the majority cannot afford to pay for transportation and are forced to stay in or nearby their homes, either to conduct daily activities, or in case of emergency.

Case 55: Lack of transportation means affects access to work, education, and health care. In several parts of the city, we met young women who work at garment factories located toward Pochentong airport, and had to walk one and a half to two hours each way to work and back, as they could not afford to purchase a bicycle or to pay for daily motordup rides.

In many locations where people cannot afford to send their children to public schools, they yet know that some NGO could provide free education or vocational training to them. The cost of paying for transportation is however too high for them to face.

When facing health emergencies, the poorest also mention that transportation cost is a main reason that prevents them from going to hospitals, independently of health care costs. As mentioned earlier, some of the poorest die at home from conditions that could have been treated, if only they had been able to afford a cyclo ride to the hospital.

The lack of transportation is a main problem for many of the poorest, but finding local solutions should not be overly difficult in settlements where important proportions of working men are cyclo or motordup drivers. Local transportation of children from several families to free school, or emergency transportation services for the poorest should be simple and inexpensive to implement.

Category G. Environmental Management

Environmental degradation affects the living standards of all the settlements we surveyed. People are usually aware of the consequences of such problems as lack of waste management, extremely unsanitary living condition, low water quality, and their impacts on health. Yet, most did not believe that they could have much influence on improving or worsening the situation.

Indicator G1 - Air and water quality

Air quality in squatter settlements is affected by the lack of waste removal, and of proper toilet facilities, and by the ubiquitous presence of stagnant water in or around the poorest dwellings. It is even an acute health concern for people who live nearby the dumpsite or the smelly canal, where many adults and children are affected by acute respiratory infections because of the miasma infecting the air. Some of the working conditions of the poorest also contribute to such diseases. For instance, porters of rice or cement sacks report to be often sick because of the rice or cement dust floating everywhere around the warehouses where they work.

But people do not only suffer from existing pollution; they also contribute to creating some. On the dumpsite for instance, people prefer to work at night (for it is cooler than in the day, and bulldozers stop their work), and work in the light of burning tires. Many children working in the smoke of the tires have constant headache, red eyes, respiratory problems, and are overall very weak.

Most squatter inhabitants can only have access to low quality water, which affects their health both from drinking it, from using it to wash clothes or bathing (people get rashes and skin infections), and from living by very dirty pools of stagnant water. Many families report to have lost children because of sicknesses coming from the water. Around Boeng Kak Lake, people cannot even use the lake water for washing clothes, and they cannot catch fish (or if they do so, it is not for their own consumption, they prefer selling it away).

People also contribute to water degradation because of the lack of toilets linked to proper evacuation systems (they defecate along paths, near the river, or directly from their houses into lakes), and of the un-managed disposal of all wastes.



Even though most people recognize the problems related to low air and water quality, they do not feel that they can change the situation. On the one hand, many people located in the lower parts of settlements, or in or above boengs, receive waste water and solid waste discarded by people living higher in the settlements, or being discharged from the neighborhood by sewer lines. And on the other hand, most people are more concerned with day-to-day survival needs than with the long-term impact of their livelihood upon an environment they do not consider as belonging to them.

Indicator G2 - Solid waste management

In the squatter and urban poor settlements of Phnom Penh, solid wastes are collected within settlements, and removed by the municipal services only when there is a nearby access to a major road, and when the process is well organized by a village or community leader (usually trained by an NGO or CBO on environmental management). In such few settlements, removal can even be carried on for free if the village or community leader obtains agreement from the municipality.

Yet, this is not the case in most settlements which are isolated from the main collection routes and where there is no organized system of solid waste collection and disposal. At best, garbage are piled up and burnt, but they are often simply thrown in open public spaces, near or under houses, or in nearby boengs or rivers.

For settlements near collection routes, who were not able to obtain free garbage removal, solid waste management is often a subject of dispute. The average removal cost is one dollar per month and per family, but the poorest usually cannot afford the charge, and simply discard their waste in public spaces, creating arguments with better off settlers who properly dispose of their wastes.

Case 56: Local arrangements for solid waste management. In Klang Rom Sev and in the Municipal Hospital Community, village leaders obtained free garbage removal from the Municipality, and people pile up waste bags or individual bins alongside the road where they are daily collected by a dump truck.

In the Juliana Community, the leader has obtained an arrangement with the nearby Juliana Hotel to use the Hotel’s bins to discharge the community’s solid waste.

Indicator G3 - Disaster risk and management

The main risks of disaster are floods and fire.

Floods force many settlements to elevate public path by setting up makeshift footbridges. Yet, many still live in very unsanitary conditions during the floods (and sometimes for 3 to 4 months in a row), with water high inside the house, and many are forced to relocate on higher lands.

Case 57: Resettling onto boats during floods. Most families have a boat, which they use during the rain season to navigate between houses and to reach the land. When the flood level is too high for people to stay in their houses, most families go to the provinces for rice planting. Of these who stay, those who can afford it rent a dwelling on the shore. Others raise their furniture onto a makeshift elevated floor and live with water inside their houses.

The poorest whose houses are not high enough to escape water, and who cannot afford to rent ashore, live on boats during the full flooding time (some do not even own a boat and must rent one during the floods). The poorest are thus the most affected by the floods.

Living above the water without footbridges and/or lights is also a hazard for children and it was reported that every year, 4 or 5 children drown after falling in the water at night.

Fire hazard is always present as people cook in their wood and paper shacks, and use candles and kerosene lamps for lighting, but many settlements manage to organize against it. In the better off squatter settlements, there are outdoor kitchens that are slightly detached from habitations. Elsewhere, there are meetings to discuss about fire hazard and organize neighbors in case of fire.



§ Needs of the poorest, as expressed by themselves While the indicators reviewed earlier result form the triangulation of different perspectives, Table 8 summarizes the needs of the poorest directly as they expressed them.

Table 8 : People's expressed needs to improve their situations of extreme poverty

Physical security and stability of livelihoods § “Housing tenure, or some kind of land title to be eligible for access to public utilities” § “Road access to the settlements, and to houses within settlements with footbridges, elevated

paths, and public lights” § “Low rents during the flood season for those who need to relocate” § “Improved health, so we can go to work every day” § “We want to know about family planning and have access to it ” § “Longer term employment for income security” § “Removal of violence, crime, and exploitation/corruption”

Access to basic services at affordable prices § “Clean water and power supply at low cost” § “Drainage to remove stagnant water after the rains” § “Free garbage removal” § “Access to indoor toilets” § “Free access to basic education and vocational training” § “Schools, markets and hospitals located close to settlements” § “Information and projects on health and sanitation issues” § “Education on maternal health, basic hygiene and child health care” § “Insured low-cost health services for the poor” § “Access to emergency loans at affordable rates for health spending”

Access to resources to increase income generation capacity § “Basic education for adults” § “Vocational training for adults and children over school age (15 or 16 years old)” § “Micro-credit program” § “More job potential” - through creation of micro-enterprise or wage employment

Recognition of the particular needs of the excluded, and prompt action § “Poorest need to be somehow represented in the local development planning process” -

including elders, women, and ethnic minorities § “Want regular community meetings, not only when chiefs decide it necessary” § “Want intervention not only through group leaders, as they do not represent the poorest” § “Need concrete actions in the settlements, to benefit people who cannot afford to go to

external meetings and training sessions” § “Short-term, survival needs (food, health, shelter security) must be answered quickly”

To plan for the long term, people say they need to have access to stability of housing and revenue, and to be protected from risks upon health and revenue. They need affordable access to basic education, vocational training, and to startup capital to enable self-help initiatives and increase their revenues.

Then, they need external development actors to actually consider the particulars of planning with the poorest (i.e., people in unstable circumstances), by listening to their specific needs, and adopting intervention approaches that actually reach the poorest (more likely to be individually- or group-targeted, than community-based).



Assessment of the current enabling environment for human development The situations described and analyzed have pointed out clear mismatches between the needs of the poorest to improve their prospects for a better life, and the conditions in which they now live.

Now that needs, and interactions between factors engendering and nurturing poverty have been clarified, how likely is it that projects will actually reach the most excluded on a large scale?

To design adapted projects and policies, this part reviews past and current interventions in Phnom Penh’s urban poor settlements, to learn from what has worked out or failed, so that new projects can build upon the positive results, and avoid some of the known pitfalls. It looks at three main concerns: (i) the nature, extent and impact of coping mechanisms within settlements, (ii) the nature, extent and impact of external aid, and (iii) the enabling or impeding external factors.

Local Coping Mechanisms – Initiatives to Build Upon The only local coping mechanism found in all settlements is the implication of the private sector to supply public services. These services are yet limited, and do not always reach the poorest because of their cost. Besides, they are mostly motivated by a profit-orientation, and do not reflect much sense of spontaneous solidarity in the community.

Table 9 : Mechanisms of the private sector in coping with some situations of poverty

Achievements in terms of reducing poverty Limitations of coping mechanism

ü Provision of water: redistribution from public network, pumping from the river, or from wells

û quality of water remains very low û transportation costs make drinking water

unaffordable û insufficient supply in many settlements

ü Provision of power: authorized retailers from EDC, or use of power generators

û some areas are not reached by EDC networks. û cost is too high for poorest

ü Privately-owned toilet facilities available for people who do not have indoor toilets

û poorest cannot afford 100-200 R per visit û people are afraid of hygiene conditions

ü Provision of credit by local money lenders for emergency needs

û usurious rates run people in debt traps for health costs

Although there is no single ingenuous self-help mechanisms to be found in all settlements, the following examples are representative of non profit-oriented self-help initiatives in communities:

ü Some groups of persons with disabilities live together, share rent costs, and help each other after they finish training at Wat Than.

ü Some ethnic or religious groups create and run their own schools for free, support burial costs for all inhabitants, and help the poorest with health spendings.

ü Some families get together and refuse to pay illegitimate school fees. ü Some help the most excluded: vendors occasionally give water for free to elders,

neighbors provide free use of toilets, or even host the homeless for free. ü Local orphanage was set up by former monk, staffed with volunteers, for 180 children. ü Most families living in corridors of old multi-occupancy buildings do not have to pay

rent. ü Water/power vendors at time provide communities with public lights for free. ü Some people spend high levels of their revenue to send children to school. ü During floods, people sometimes construct footbridges together. ü Some community leaders are able to mobilize communities and present projects to

funders. Among the poorest, self-help initiatives are thus the results of individual actions (for profit, or out of solidarity), rather than organized cooperation. Clearly, the poorest who do not benefit from a village/community leader who looks after them do not have alone the capacity to organize common actions to improve their conditions, and although some leaders already include the poorest in community development, most still need to learn how to reach and represent the most vulnerable.



Current Actions of NGOs and CBOs and their impact for the poorest Following is a summary of the major achievements and limitations of the current external interventions in favor of the poorest in Phnom Penh, as encountered in a representative sample of twenty settlements, by area of intervention. It is not an exhaustive listing or evaluation of projects, and examples mentioned are these encountered in the poorest settlements. The names of NGOs and CBOs are used for illustration only, without judgement of value regarding their achievements.

Table 10 : External intervention for the poorest: CREDIT AND SAVINGS

Achievements ü SUPF’s Urban Poor Fund Initiative has allowed many urban poor to save substantial amounts

in prevision of eviction and re-settlement expenses (through 200 to 500 Riels in daily savings). Some people have access to productive loans.

ü USG runs low-cost credit and saving funds administered by the community or village leaders: credit is at 5% interest over 50 days, and savings can be withdrawn quickly.

ü Loans from ACLEDA allow existing businesses to expand. ü CCB runs affordable credit and saving programs in several communities and (for 100,000 Riels

borrowed, people repay 12,500 Riels bi-weekly for 6 months, i.e., 11% monthly interest). ü Loans from Padek allow the poorest women to run some micro-businesses, such as vegetable

trading (for 100,000 borrowed, one repays 7,000 Riels for 20 weeks - at 9% monthly interest). ü Savings and credit programs by Khemara operate in the poorest settlements and do reach some

renters. The credit and saving scheme allows people to borrow once they have accumulated 10,000 Riels in savings. Repayment can be done according to borrowers’ ability.

Limitations û Most credit services still have a very limited outreach amongst the urban poor. û People who do not own fixed assets (i.e., a house) are not eligible to most credit services.

Services thus do not reach the poorest (only Padek and Khemara loan to the “unstable”). û Many people distrust savings as the word has come from other communities that savings were

often not given back to the poorest by some NGOs or CBOs. û Loans from NGOs or CBOs sometimes profit better off people who then re-lend funds at

usurious rates to those ineligible to the NGO’s or CBO’s loans (e.g., renters). û There is very little use of group-lending methods that would yet help strengthen solidarity. û No NGO yet provides financial support for consumption needs (for food or health). û SUPF credit programs are allegedly reserved to people closely associated with SUPF (i.e.,

friends and relatives of leaders, who then re-loans to poorer members of the settlement). û Most would appreciate to have access to credit, but are afraid of falling into indebtedness.

Table 11 : External intervention for the poorest: INFRASTRUCTURE WORKS

Achievements ü UNCHS footbridge projects improves access to many houses. UNCHS provides material and

supervision, and people provide labor and maintenance. It also installs public lights and shared toilets. Impacts of community-based projects look very positive for stable communities, with access to more basic service, a certain cleanliness, and less apparentl sickness.

ü USG and SUPF contribute to infrastructure improvement by projects to rehabilitate or install sewerage, drainage, electricity, and water supply networks, and set up public lights.

ü In the rural fringes, diverse NGOs have installed wells and water pumps.

Limitations û Still many communities are flooded and need basic infrastructure services, but do not have the

human and institutional capacity to articulate their needs. û People often do not feel responsible toward the maintenance or operating costs of the works

(wells, pumps, toilets, footbridges, or public lights), there is little local sense of ownership. û Although a majority of populations benefit from interventions, minorities seem excluded from

program outreach (Vietnamese, and people living in transient or unstable conditions).



Table 12 : External intervention for the poorest: HEALTH

Achievements ü USG, Care and Mith Samlanh support health/AIDS awareness programs. ü Médecins Sans Frontières/CUHCA provides medical assistance for immunization and

operations of urban dispensaries. ü Punctual, short-term operations to support AIDS affected individuals run by Maryknoll.

Limitations û Very limited direct intervention among the poorest - insufficient outreach. û Lack of health centers nearby unstable settlements. û Still very poor knowledge of basic health and sanitation practices.

Table 13 : External intervention for the poorest: VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND BASIC EDUCATION

Achievements ü USG, Padek and UNCHS conduct six-month training apprenticeships in motorbike repairs,

sewing, driving and electrical appliance repairs. Trainees and trainers are paid, and upon completion of apprenticeships, trainees actually start their own businesses.

ü Mith Samlanh provides education for street children and children of the very poor families.

Limitations û Outreach of apprenticeships is limited for now, but has high potential for success. û Lack of transportation still prevents students and trainees to get to school or training center.

Table 14 : External intervention for the poorest: community strengthening for local participatory planning

Achievements ü USG, and SUPF have federated and significantly empowered many communities. Most stable

settlements have thus developed good basis for community organization and development. ü Most leaders trained by PACT and Padek in community planning, problem solving, and

management of basic health and environmental issues now run efficiently their communities. ü Training has been delivered to village and community leaders through USG and ADHOC on

issues of human rights, criminal law, Cambodian culture and tradition. ü Some local leaders are able to oppose the inappropriate practices of the NGOs or CBOs who

want to divert funds from their intended purposes.

Limitations û In many settlements, NGOs come and conduct surveys, or invite people for meetings, but do

not provide concrete action, and some community leaders do not trust external intervention. û Financial aid does not always reach intended beneficiaries as some persons in CBOs and NGOs

use funding for their own benefits. It was mentioned many times that SUPF and USG started by honestly working for the good of the poor, but that some people in these organizations are now as corrupt as the rest of the local authorities, and that they do not act anymore as planners or advocates representing the aspirations of the poorest populations.

û External intervention often aims at strengthening existing informal social and political structure in the name of community building. So doing, they may reinforce existing power, without always providing the mechanism to care for the excluded. People often mentioned that intervention goes through political leaders or local organizations not willing or able to work for the “unstable” and ends up not reaching the poorest people.

û Many of the poorest settlements visited are still not reached by any initiative. Many interviewees mentioned that our visit was the first time that anyone indeed took the time to come in the settlement, sit and talk with the poorest people. Most programs thus only benefit rather stable parts of the poor settlements, as they do not consider the needs, capacities and constraints of the most excluded and vulnerable.

û Some leaders only support politically affiliated community members, or simply extend access to project benefit to their close surroundings only. In several communities, one must have good relationships with the CPP and or the local police to benefit form external help. Too often, help is only extended if a bribe is paid to local authority (chief of community or police).



External constraints to human development in Phnom Penh

§ Position of, and support from the Municipality of Phnom Penh Due to continuous efforts by UNCHS and to the positive results achieved by such organizations as SUPF and USG to create a dialog between the Municipality of Phnom Penh, and representatives of the poor, there seems to be an increasing willingness from the MPP to find solutions to the situations of unbearable poverty that many squatter and urban poor live in. Members of the MPP attend SUPF planning meetings, and SUPF/USG members work in collaboration with Khan and Sangkat authorities, under the auspices of UNCHS for decisions affecting the lives of the poorest.

Yet, a wide gap remains between the way some government officials understand “the problem of illegal squatters” in Phnom Penh, and what maybe needed to improve the conditions of the poorest. Many official representatives view squatter settlements literally, as the phrase translate into Khmer, as “places where anarchy and confusion reign”. They also depict how much of a nuisance squatter settlements represent to the aesthetics of the cityscape, or how much they contribute to environmental degradation. They consider the squatter populations themselves as being the problem, which must be solved by eviction. They hence reverse the issue (as people living in such conditions are, and should be considered as victims, rather than causes of problems) and do not consider the human aspects of living in the poverty and exclusion of informal settlements.

Continuous exchanges are thus needed between members of the Government and of the Municipality, representatives of the poor populations of Phnom Penh, and local and international organization representing the rights and aspirations of the poorest, so that all parties better understand the needs and constraints of each other, and that solutions to the problems of deep human poverty can be put in place to reach the most vulnerable and excluded in Phnom Penh.

§ Racketeering, corruption and misuse of some project funds Racketeering from and corruption of local authorities, nepotism, and lack of transparency of certain CBOs, NGOs, and “representatives” of the poor are all constraints to effectively empower the poorest over the conduct of their own lives. The poor always pay more than what they are supposed to for access to housing, utilities, and even to public services that should come for free. They end up spending a higher percentage of their income on corruption than any other category of population, most of this being paid to public servants, supposed to insure the proper application of the law. Then, too many local organizations are unwilling or unable to work with or on behalf of the fringe of the poorest population within poor settlements. They work for the benefit of a few rather than for the very poorest, and external funding thus improve the life of a better-off fringe of communities.

In all cases, as long as development aid is not actually used to reach intended beneficiaries, and that local authorities put the poorest under such financial pressure that they can never improve their standards of life in the medium to long term, poverty will not be alleviated in Phnom Penh.

§ Community-based approach may have to be reviewed In many of the poorest settlements, there is no sense of community and/or solidarity, and the basis of “community development” used by many external agencies may not be appropriate. The lacks of social cohesion and of long term orientation of the poorest people living in the daily pressure of survival makes it very difficult to reach them through development processes aimed at people with common goals and objectives, relatively stable livelihoods, and a sense of belonging to a group with a common future in a common place. Hence, although there is a need to pursue the community development process which has had many positive effects on poor communities in general, there is a need for differentiated intervention mechanisms to reach the most vulnerable and excluded.

Then, some inappropriate practices of local development actors have damaged the trust that people may have had in external intervention. Many people amongst the poorest think that NGOs and CBOs work for their own benefit and this of their friends, rather than for the poor.



Implications in Terms of Policy and Project Development This part uses the findings on the poverty situations, and the assessment of the environment for human development, to derive directions for policies and projects aimed at giving the poorest of Phnom Penh’ squatter settlements the necessary tools to improve their lives. It first presents macro-level policy orientations necessary to suppress the root causes of poverty, and then suggests directions for concrete interventions and approach methodologies, both in terms of projects, and in terms of political support needed to achieve the goal of empowering the poorest.

The points covered are to be considered as directions for reflection, and specific projects must be thought of further with members of the settlements in need. The Individual Report Series presents more specific basis for project development, as they apply in the cases of particular settlements.

Macro directions: the needed enabling environment for human development The goal of poverty eradication is to promote human development by bringing choices and opportu-nities to the excluded poor to live healthier, longer and more creative lives. For expanded choices to contribute to improved well-being, people must be able to increase their productivity, have equal access to opportunities and be empowered to govern their development process (UNDP, 1997b).

Table 15 presents directions that the Government can work on to complement and facilitate actions of local development actors (i.e., members of settlements/communities, CBOs, NGOs, and IOs).

Table 15: Macro-level policy directions to reduce the main causes of poverty

(i) Reduce geographic, intellectual/social, and economic isolation § Build roads for safer access to dwellings, and better access to markets, services and utilities. § Ensure that the poorest have access to functional literacy, schooling and technical training to

increase their productivity and potential to find or create employment. § Ensure that land, capital, and information are available for potential micro-entrepreneurs.

(ii) Improve risk management § Reduce health risks by building local dispensaries and training local health practitioners. § Provide sanitation, health care services and family planning choices. § Provide a safety net for the destitute poor who cannot integrate the market economy (with low

cost housing, insured free health and education, credit for consumption, and potentially the development of a social insurance scheme).

§ Reduce dependence from income fluctuations by training workforce to value-adding income-generating activities, and facilitate the creation of wage employment.

§ Improve access to housing and tenure, and provide resettlement opportunities to volunteers.

(iii) Increase access to resources for income generation § Facilitate the development of self-employment initiatives: ensure more access to locally-

adapted credit and saving programs promoting the development of financially sustainable micro finance programs (through setting up specialized institutions and adapted legal structures), and setting up the necessary systems of insurance for productive capital.

§ Set up employment creation programs by involving local labor in infrastructure/public works. § Develop activity diversification into higher value-added activities by encouraging vocational

training programs, developing legal frameworks for micro and small businesses, and cooperatives, facilitating information flows for better market price transparency.

(iv) Political Representation - Increase participation of all § Develop cooperation between CBOs, IOs, NGOs and governmental agencies to empower the

poor and minorities by ensuring their participation in identifying local priority needs and developing solutions. Insure CDCs develop mechanisms to insure the participation of all.

Efforts must also be taken by the highest levels of government to eliminate corruption and racketeering from local authorities onto the most vulnerable populations. As long as corruption remains at its current level, there is no way that any development program will be able to improve the prospects of the poorest to improve their lives.



Project directions The following projects directions aim at tackling the causes of urban poverty by improving access to basic services, enhancing income generation potential, and strengthening the representation of the poor in the participatory urban development process. They focus first on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded, and then on strengthening the basis for participatory development already in place in some squatter and urban poor communities. They should also help strengthen links and concerted actions between the private sector, the Municipality of Phnom Penh, and true representatives of the poor.

§ Immediate actions: answering the survival needs of the most vulnerable With the rain seasons, a large part of the populations described as “unstable” have seen their shelters flooded and have had to relocate in other insalubrious parts of the city. It is important to put in place urgent actions to secure their physical safety, as expressed in table 16.

Table 16 : Urgent actions to implement in favor of the poorest.

(i) Provide shelter to the victims of floods § Inform NGOs, CBOs, IOs, and the municipality about the current emergency situations faced

by the poorest fringe of the population in Phnom Penh (now living in flooded areas, or resettled in very poor conditions), and about the fact that very few development and aid programs actually reach them.

§ Answer the needs of the unstable populations who had to flee floods or are to be evicted soon. Many of the poorest are willing to leave their settlements if given the chance and resettlement programs could be implemented either transitionally or permanently. They would provide the destitute poor with a safe living environment, health services, and education/vocational training so that they can become physically able to work and obtain marketable skills. Transitional sites would mainly prepare people before they can resettle elsewhere, while permanent sites would form the basis of new communities. Humanitarian relief donors could be approached to cooperate with UNCHS (e.g., ECHO) for the physical relocation work, and several NGOs are ready to contribute with education/vocational training programs.

(ii) Give savings back and rebuild a positive image to external intervention § Clarify with the NGOs and CBOs concerned why savings are not given back to saving scheme

members, and insure that people who want them can receive their savings back. § Work with NGOs and CBOs to understand the “image problem” they have. Clarify why all

funds are not clearly allocated to project financing (whether this is to cover NGO/CBO running costs, or whether it is for personal use). Clarify the institutional needs of local NGOs/ CBOs to strengthen their procedures, monitoring and control, and regain beneficiaries’ trust.

§ Do act in the settlements surveyed for this study (20 amongst the poorest in Phnom Penh) to show people that UNCHS cares for them and that the poorest are not solely subjects of studies.

(iii) Reduce immediate health risks § Develop local capacity to prevent and handle health emergency needs: train resource people in

communities to be first-aid workers or health assistants (the Cambodian Red Cross, French SAMU and WHO have programs to train such workers in the provinces).

§ Designate drivers in the settlements responsible of emergency transportation to health facilities and of insuring that indigents get free treatment. A local fund (with matching external funds) could be set up to pay partial transportation costs and the service of “ambulance” drivers. (the “ambulances” can be local motordups with trailors, or cyclos).

§ Implement information campaign on basic hygiene, sanitation practices, and health care for children and mothers. Material such as UNICEF's Facts for Life could be used, along with peer education and campaigns based on easy-to-understand videos or role plays (theater companies such as the Magic Circus have developed theater plays in traditional Khmer style to inform populations on health and AIDS - they have received very positive feedback in the Provinces).



§ Mid- to long-term projects: stabilize settlements & strengthen local institutions

Table 17 : Direction for longer term projects to improve the situation of the poorest.

(i) Improve quality of life in squatter and urban poor settlements

HOUSING: § Develop social housing programs for the poor, either in or outside Phnom Penh. When

possible, projects should be located near current living and employment places. Partnerships between UNCHS, communities and with governmental or private owners of existing settlement sites could be thought of. For instance, along the railway, the Cambodian railroad company could help relocate squatters who are to be evicted soon; they could request financial and operational support from the private company in charge of rehabilitating the tracks and railroad system - Siemens - or from foreign public transportation authorities with experience in social work - e.g., the French Railroad company, SNCF. Voluntary relocation outside of Phnom Penh must come with potential for income generation.

HEALTH: § Activities related to reproductive health care, child care and family planning must be integrated

in local development both in a preventive and in a curative format:

− make family planning information and packages available (see RACHA and RHAC). − implement HIV/AIDS awareness programs (AFESIP has designed simple/effective

information campaign). − alert NGOs in HIV/AIDS patient support (Kanha) and in aid to people with disabilities

(Handicap International, Veteran International) to come and visit the poorest settlements where people with AIDS and disabilities do not receive any help.

− create mobile clinics going in the settlements, and dedicated to reaching the very poor (must work with persons knowledgeable of where hidden pockets of poverty are located).

− create community-based health-related insurance scheme for the working poor (see GRET or Grameen trust for pilot projects on the subject).

WATER: § Quality water must be supplied in sufficient quantities and at affordable costs:

− tin roofs with gutters can be installed to collect rain water, individual filters can be set up, wells drilled, and water pumps installed in the rural fringe.

− in settlements located near the main public network, connections for groups of households could be set up if agreed by the public distributor.

− a system of official resellers could also be put in place on a similar system as what is done by EDC for power (with official water counters and a cap on prices).

POWER: § Networks could be extended at low cost in the areas not yet covered, and more meter boxes

could be installed in one or a few points within settlements, with official EDC agents appointed to deliver power at a specified cost (an extension of current operations).

SANITATION AND TOILETS: § Build on UNCHS experience, evaluate the impacts and replicability of current programs, and

install more shared toilets in the poorest settlements. § Accompany with education programs on health and sanitation.

DRAINAGE: § IOs and NGOs could help improve drainage systems when physically possible, build

footbridges and laterite paths, or elevate house when settlements are under flood lines.

ROAD ACCESS: § Safety problem as well as some criminality could be alleviated by installing road lights and

improving road access to settlements and to houses within settlements.



(ii) Develop productive potential of the poor

EDUCATION - Children must be able to go to school. § Concerted action must be undertaken between representatives of the poor, IOs, NGOs and

CBOs to oppose the “informal fee” requested by teachers, which prevents most poorest children from going to school. Parents must be organized to claim for the rights of children to free education. Letters could be sent to school directors and to the ministry of education by groups of parents, with matching letters from an external agency, and the engagement of the government to act on the matter.

§ When schools are located too far from settlements for children to walk there, transportation schemes can be developed in the poor settlements. School “buses” (or rather “motordups”) could be organized where local motordup drivers could bring to school and back a group of children from the community. External aid could supply the trailors to be pulled by motorcycles. This transportation would also allow children to reach other, free educational and vocational training programs, such as these organized by Mith Samlanh.

VOCATIONAL TRAINING: § There is a need for diversification of skills for adults, especially during the rain:

− training programs should be developed specifically for women who must stay at home, or in their settlements (hair dressing, sewing, weaving). As much as possible, training should take place in the settlements, so that women with family obligations can attend.

− diversified training for men should be offered on a larger scale (e.g., as barbers, carpen-ters, electrical repairmen), and existing apprenticeship programs should be extended.

− along with vocational skills, marketing channels should be put in place to sell services or products. Several NGOs are ready to participate both in the training and marketing parts.

ACCESS TO FINANCIAL SERVICES: § More micro-financial program, better methodology:

− open a dialog with current service providers of micro-credit in Phnom Penh to understand the limits and opportunities to lend to the most vulnerable in the local context.

− extend support to the very few institutions lending to the poorest (e.g.,Kehmara), and develop more group-based, collateral-free lending methodologies (contact Cashpor, or Grameen for Grameen replication). Micro-loans would enable the poorest entrepreneurial women to start micro-businesses such as food- or convenience-item-selling.

− access to financial services is not limited to the need for credit. Savings are often valued, as are other micro-financial services that help set up and run small business, such as micro-leasing or insurance. Support actions that provide diversified micro-financial services to poor communities in general (i.e., not the poorest only), as lending to the better-off poor can contribute to creating employment to the most vulnerable.

− develop saving/lending funds for emergency with low interest rates, or insurance scheme (contact GRET/EMT).

(iii) Advocate for the recognition of the rights of the poorest § Inform donors of the situation, and actors of the need for more outreach and adapted

approaches to reach the most vulnerable and excluded, and create regular forums for discussion, involving representative of the poor, of the Municipality of Phnom Penh, of local and international CBOs and NGOs, and of IOs.

§ Disseminate information in the poorest settlements about people’s rights, and about existing development programs. For instance, insure that people understand their rights to free medical treatment or free education for their children, and that they know how they can express their grieves. Development actors must also ensure that people know where they can request help if needed, as the poorest usually do not have access to information, and think there is no external help available, which strengthen their distrust in development organization.

§ Encourage the active participation of the poorest members of settlements or communities in planning for their future from projects’ inceptions to completion, by helping local groups representing the poor to set up mechanisms to include the most vulnerable.



Methodological directions for project implementation Despite many positive results, external intervention for the development and strengthening of communities in Phnom Penh still falls short of reaching out and answering the needs of the poorest. Results of fieldwork revealed that most of the poorest of the poor do not benefit from external help. They are either not informed of the programs that could reach them, or not included in the develop-ment process, for stable dwellers in the communities consider them as short-time residents only.

Yet, many NGOs and CBOs interviewed are persuaded that their actions do reach the poorest, as they intervene in or nearby some areas where we conducted research.

A reality is that most interventions aim at strengthening local communities, whose concerns are more to organize long-term dwellers to improve their conditions together, rather than to integrate populations with little potential to contribute to the community development process, for they are sick, uneducated, indebted, and live in transient situations.

The current lack of integration of some of the poorest in the community-based planning process does not result from a voluntary exclusion of these groups though. It is rather because the poorest are usually not able to express their voices that they are not heard.

This suggests that a most important action to undertake is to give a voice to the excluded to express their needs as part of the local development process. If they cannot attend meetings, or are afraid to speak up in public, someone must come to them, help gather their needs, represent them at community meetings, and find ways to gradually involve them directly in the process.

A first phase of intervention amongst the poorest could thus be a highly human intensive work by social extension workers. They could be paid members of the community, visiting and listening to the most excluded, explaining the process of community development, and including people’s needs and capacities in the discussions with the rest of the community (monks could be trained and employed for such a social work).

The second part is to strengthen the mechanism of representation of the poorest within programs and the institutional mechanisms in place to help settlements and communities organize their development process. Table 18 reviews specific methodological directions for insuring that the poorest are reached and included in adapted community-development mechanisms.

Table 18 : Methodological directions to reach the poorest and strengthen participatory urban development.

(i) Identifying the poorest § The poorest live in areas difficult to reach. Most are physically isolated from main

communication ways, and many live in small clusters scattered amongst groups of better-offs. They thus often go un-noticed by external development agents.

§ The identification of where the poorest groups of people live is time consuming, but it is necessary to map out pockets of extreme poverty and understand their relation with the community-development process. The Individual Reports Series appended to this report can be used as a basis, as it identifies 20 of the most excluded settlements in Phnom Penh, and the poorest groups of people within them. Working with these groups first would give good basis to identify other similar clusters of population.

§ Within poor settlements, the most reliable method for selecting the most vulnerable and excluded households to visit was through triangulation of data obtained from (i) focus groups with poor families in settlements, (ii) personal observation based on the criteria presented in this study, and (iii) input from key informants (from within and outside the settlement).

(ii) Actually reaching the most excluded § The community development process does not seem to reach out the poorest (except in case of

deliberate willingness of a community leader), and the differences in needs expressed by stable community members and by the poorest members of settlements suggest that different mechanisms be used to provide adapted services to distinct part of the poor population. It is most likely that intervention directed at the most vulnerable will not reach the them if it goes through development processes from which they are excluded.

§ Development actors should thus provide help directly to the poorest, without going through intermediaries (such as community leaders). Capacity building of settlement dwellers (e.g., in



intermediaries (such as community leaders). Capacity building of settlement dwellers (e.g., in education or vocational training) should be conducted as much as possible within settlements, to insure that more people can participate in the programs.

§ Constructive discussions must be started between all social and economic development actors working in Phnom Penh to understand how the most vulnerable and excluded groups of the urban populations can actually be reached by their actions.

(iii) Building a sense of community ownership of programs § The ownership of works of common use is an important issue to address to insure that the

community feels responsible for their maintenance. It should start at the conception stage, when all stakeholders should be consulted for their needs. When needs are agreed upon and a project has been thought of, it should be funded to insure that all settlement dweller can have access to the public works, independently of their financial capacity to contribute to it (e.g., the poorest often do not have the financial means, or the labor to contribute to laying the sewerage systems, and cannot pay for a connection of their indoor toilet). Then, using local labor should ensure that works are realized at the lowest costs for the community, and that people feel the project belong to them. All infrastructure development must also come with proper education and organization on how to use and maintain the installation (e.g., education on water use and waterworks maintenance is an integral part of a water supply project), along with the appropriate financing mechanisms to pay for recurrent costs.

§ In terms of building the capacity of community leaders to manage their local development process, there could also be exchanges between urban settlements, where leaders spend some times with each other to learn from the most successful projects, and achievements.

(iv) Strengthening the capacity of local institutions § Local NGOs and CBOs' needs to be strengthenED in their capacity to act in the best interest of

the constituencies they serve, while respecting all ethical and financial guidelines of good governance associated with operating non-profit organizations:

− Strengthening the approach methodology of SUPF or USG, or of potential Community Development Committees at the Kahn level involves training staff of these institutions on how to insure that all groups of dwellers are represented in decision processes, rather than only the most vocal ones (through training in PRA, and participatory planning processes). It also implies that they be trained to monitor the impact of their actions in terms of physically measurable results and of inclusiveness of the under-represented and excluded.

− On the institutional side, as CBOs and NGOs grow in size and outreach, transparency in projects and costs allocations should be insured through (i) training (in management, accounting and reporting), (ii) stricter internal regulations and transparency (involving external periodic monitoring), and (iii) the use of proper legal entities for certain operations, especially these involving monetary contributions from the poor (e.g., the Urban Poor Fund Initiative could aim at becoming a registered Micro-Financial Institution by the end of the year, when the proper legal framework is put in place).

− To limit potentials for corruption or misuse of funding, NGOs and CBOs could work together on identifying a set of internal rules to follow, simple reporting procedures to fill and to share with other organizations. If a chart of “proper management and transparency” was agreed upon, and awards were granted by an external “watchdog agency” to the better managed local organizations, the improper use of funds which results from a lack of institutional capacity, and sometimes from deliberate mismanagement, could be drastically diminished.



Conclusion

Highlights of the poverty analysis and directions This study has highlighted the main situation s of deprivation experienced by the most vulnerable and excluded dwellers of Phnom Penh. It has shown that roughly ten percent of people living in each large squatter and urban poor communities are excluded from the participatory development processes put in place in the city through actions of NGOs, CBOs, and IOs.

Although no Human Development Index can be developed from this study, the qualitative findings have shown that the poorest live in precarious health and housing conditions, with very difficult access to education for children and a functionally illiterate population of working age, and with standards of living rarely even reaching the fulfillment of survival needs. If calculated, the HDI for this population would certainly lag much beyond the level calculated for Cambodia16.

The poorest do represent the typically excluded types of populations: they are single woman -headed households, isolated elders, persons with disabilities, or families with a high number of children and very low levels of professional skills (ethnic minorities fare much better than what could be expected, for they rely on social mechanisms of mutual help absent amongst the poorest urban fringe of the Khmer population).

They all share the characteristic of being considered as unstable members of the settlements in which they live (for they are renters, or have to relocate during the floods). They are thus excluded from the local communities and from their participatory development processes.

This means that the community development process currently put in place does not reach the poorest, and that methodologies of external intervention must be adapted to different groups living within single settlements: while the community development process should be further strengthened, with a focus on integrating more the voiceless minorities, actions should be undertaken as well to reach directly these minorities who live under survival conditions.

Directions for projects and macro policy directions have been enunciated as logical conclusions of the findings and results of current efforts. They must yet be considered as basis for discussion, rather than as prescriptive directions, and this work should been seen as one element of a dialog to launch on reaching the poorest in Phnom Penh and giving them tools for insuring their long term human development.

How could the results of this study be used UNCHS could use the current report to partially evaluate the impacts of its current support to the community development process, as a benchmark to evaluate the results of its future action, as a source of information for action and method of intervention among the poorest, as a supporting documents for strengthened government support, and potentially as a basis for comparison and exchange with other UNCHS efforts elsewhere in Cambodia or internationally.

Locally, this work can inform local and international organizations, and governmental agencies of actual needs of the poorest in Phnom Penh, and of what works and does not work in reaching them. The indicators developed for this work could benefit major stakeholders in the city’s development process, as expressed in UNCHS Urban Indicator Program:

“ There are major groups of stakeholders who may benefit from the use of indicators. All are involved directly or indirectly in developing policies, programs and projects for urban development and can use indicators to help measure progress within their interest areas and to compare such programs with other cities or countries. Theses groups are:

Residents, who need simple and easily understood indicators relevant to their daily lives. They use them as a guide in deciding which organizations or activities to support, in moving to other places, or in making investment, education, health or other major life decisions.

16 In 1997, the Human Development Index for Cambodia was 0.348 . This value places Cambodia 153 out of 175 countries for which HDIs are reported by the UNDP (UNDP, 1998).



City officials: Major investment decisions can be monitored through indicators to ensure that desirable outcomes are being achieved, that target groups are being reached, and that there are not undesirable or unanticipated side-effects of development.

National government agencies: The regular collection of indicators gives governments at central and local level a tool to monitor if and by how much particular urban sector problems are being overcome and how changes in policy influence outcomes over time.

NGOs or CBOs: through indicators they can monitor the performance of governments, in their watchdog role of ensuring that governments are honest and that policies for their constituencies are working. NGOs and CBOs can use indicators in funding applications.

External support agencies: indicators can be a major tool in determining the success of programs, the diligence of executing agencies, and the most valuable new initiatives. Indicators may be used to determine the most needy areas and population sectors for assistance, or to determine which areas are making the most successful use of aid funding.” (Source: UNCHS, 1997)

The research work also served to train a team of local researchers to understanding poverty from a multi-disciplinary perspective. They all have already found direct applications to their newly acquired skills and work with NGOs reaching the poorest.

Internationally, it will contribute to disseminating research work on development status and potentials in Cambodia and raise discussion issues for development work in reaching the poorest.

Results and the methodology used can also be integrated in a larger framework to analyze the overall needs and policy directions for participatory urban planning in Phnom Penh, such as UNCHS’ Urban Indicator Program, not focusing solely upon the poorest and the most excluded.

Lastly, related research on urban poverty and development could also be conducted in other cities of Cambodia, to try and articulate potential directions to limit the rural drain to Phnom Penh.

fallavier, p. (1999). poverty analysis in phnom penh (pp. 57). phnom penh: action nord sud, united...

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