Cambodia Msme 2/Bee Project
| MSME 2/BEE Cambodia | Capital development through Micro, Small, & Medium Enterprises | || March 7, 2013 |
|
Introduction
The last thirty years of Cambodia’s bloody history have turned the country into one of the poorest nations in the world. French colonization in the 19th century had set Cambodia on a similar course of development like their neighboring country Thailand. All of that quickly changed with the rise of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Four years of this brutal dictatorship set Cambodia’s development back decades. The years following have seen a number of efforts from dozens of organizations (both public and private) to rebuild the nation, but even today Cambodia lags in development. 2011 estimates from the UN place Cambodia’s Human Development Index (HDI) at .523, ranking them at 139 out of the 187 reported countries (UN Development Programme, 2011). The World Bank estimates that more than 30% of Cambodia’s population is living below the US$1.25 poverty line (World Bank, 2007). These numbers are growing with each year, due in large part to the assistance provided by NGOs and other international organizations.
The 2011HDI estimate shows growth of .005 HDI compared to 2010, one of the highest reported (UN Development Programme, 2011). This growth can be seen in one of Cambodia’s most important economic sectors, the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME, see table 1). The Cambodian MSME sector accounts for almost 96% of total firms, employing 40-50% of the Cambodian labor force (ABD, 2003). This is likely the reason USAID chose the sector as the focus of the Cambodia Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises II/ Business Enabling Environment Project, a four year project that centered on strengthening a few key value chains in Cambodia’s economy. The project boasts impressive results, but even with these advancements, Cambodia faces critical challenges in its future that will determine the course of development for the country. The
|
Introduction
The last thirty years of Cambodia’s bloody history have turned the country into one of the poorest nations in the world. French colonization in the 19th century had set Cambodia on a similar course of development like their neighboring country Thailand. All of that quickly changed with the rise of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Four years of this brutal dictatorship set Cambodia’s development back decades. The years following have seen a number of efforts from dozens of organizations (both public and private) to rebuild the nation, but even today Cambodia lags in development. 2011 estimates from the UN place Cambodia’s Human Development Index (HDI) at .523, ranking them at 139 out of the 187 reported countries (UN Development Programme, 2011). The World Bank estimates that more than 30% of Cambodia’s population is living below the US$1.25 poverty line (World Bank, 2007). These numbers are growing with each year, due in large part to the assistance provided by NGOs and other international organizations.
The 2011HDI estimate shows growth of .005 HDI compared to 2010, one of the highest reported (UN Development Programme, 2011). This growth can be seen in one of Cambodia’s most important economic sectors, the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME, see table 1). The Cambodian MSME sector accounts for almost 96% of total firms, employing 40-50% of the Cambodian labor force (ABD, 2003). This is likely the reason USAID chose the sector as the focus of the Cambodia Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises II/ Business Enabling Environment Project, a four year project that centered on strengthening a few key value chains in Cambodia’s economy. The project boasts impressive results, but even with these advancements, Cambodia faces critical challenges in its future that will determine the course of development for the country. The
Bibliography: United Nations Development Programme. (2011). United Nations. Retrieved from United Nations Development Programme website: http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2011_EN_Tables.pdf Cambodia data ADB. 2003. Technical Assistance to The Kingdom of Cambodia: Preparing the Small and Medium Sized Enterprise Sector Development Program. Cambodia. http://www.adb.org/Documents/TARs/CAM/tar_cam_36383.pdf USAID, (2012) Corruption by Country: Cambodia. (2012). Transparency International. Retrieved from http://www.transparency.org/country#KHM Overview of corruption in cambodia CIA. 2010. The World FactBook. East and Southeast Asia: Cambodia. Retrieved on 20/11/2010.