Concept note for LEAP Livelihood Enhancement & Association of the Poor in Siem Reap (CAMBODIA) Hay Younell, Top Neth, Mean Sambath, Nuon Sokhom, Lim Piseth DIME: Radu Ban, Matthias Rieger

Project site Siem Reap Phnom Penh

Siem Reap background Provincial Profile Provincial Economy Land area: 12,000 sq. km Consists of: 12 districts, 100 communes, 875 villages Total population: 900,000 (more than 80% living in rural) Total households: 136,185 (avg. HH size 6 persons) Provincial Economy Int’l tourists from 2005-2008: 0.7-1.1 million Provincial GDP (2004): USD 285 million (5.4% of the national GDP) Tourism industry as the main source of GDP growth But, Siem Reap remains 1 of the 3 poorest provinces

Common causes of poverty Lack of assets, low investment and productivity Majority of ID Poor 1 & 2 owns less than 0.5 ha of land Majority of these land has a low productivity Lack of access to finance A study indicates only 58% of HHs (n=80) is able to borrow About 67% of them use informal source of money lender, with high IR (4-10% per month) Lack of access to market Inability to compete with Thai and Vietnamese Products due to inconsistent quality, low volume, time to market... Lack of market information makes the production and delivery of the right products difficult

Project description Project Development Objective is to improve livelihoods of the rural poor in select communes in Siem Reap Component 1: creating and strengthening self-managed institutions of the poor Component 2: providing access to finance to the poor Component 3: linking the poor to key markets and value chains Component 4: project management, coordination, monitoring and evaluation

Project description

Project phasing Pilot phase: 12 communes (half of villages are treated) 1st phase: 8 communes (PLUS half of the rest villages from the pilot phase) 2nd phase: 30 communes 12 8

Research questions Are incomes and livelihood of the poor in the target areas improved?

Indicators Indicator 1. At least 50% of HH take up new livelihood technologies Indicator 2. At least 50% of poor HHs are investing in productive assets generating sustained income with project funds Indicator 3. At least 50% of HH receiving project funds increase their income by at least 30% of the baseline

Key HH survey questions Income Percentage of poor/non-poor/women in SHGs Sources of income (micro-investment, chicken raising, other activities for which training is provided by the program...) Credit, sources of credit (Banks/MFIs), how much? Assets Trust (in SHG, neighboring HHs,...) Social capital (reducing violence, increase cooperation, more care to one another, ...) Employment (job training, ability to get job, ...) Benefit from Village Association (VA) or Commune Level Federation (CLF)

Key SHG survey questions SHG performance (frequency of meetings, attendance, saving, application for credit, ...) Characteristics of SHG members (men/women, poor/non-poor, occupations, ...) Satisfaction of being SHG member ...

Identification strategy Sam. 9 Sam. 7 Sam. 3 Sam. 10 Sam. 4 Sam. 1 Sam. 5 Sam. 11 Sam. 8 Sam. 2 Sam. 6 Sam. 12 12 out of 50 target communes randomly selected as sample In each commune, half of villages randomly chosen as treatment & the rest half as control groups (about 100 villages totally)

Identification strategy In each village, about 10 poor and 10 non-poor HHs randomly selected for survey Treatment villages - Control villages

Sample The total sample HHs are about 2,000 HHs (1,000 poor and 1,000 non-poor) In each village, 2 SHGs randomly selected for baseline survey, and 2 additional SHGs for the follow up survey

Timeline 1 Oct: start the baseline survey and evaluation now - 15 Jul: design of questionnaires, question coding, format of data input, sample selection 15 Jul - 15 Sep: recruitment of M&E and MIS specialists 15 Sep – 30 Sep: training of enumerators and key relevant staffs, plus testing the baseline survey (questionnaires testing) 1 Oct: start the baseline survey and evaluation 1 Oct 2011: follow up survey

Impact evaluation team Gov’t team: Hay Younell, Top Neth, Mean Sambath, Nuon Sokhom, Lim Piseth Consulting teams: M&E and MIS Specialists (to be recruited) DIME: Radu Ban, Matthias Rieger

Estimated budget Budget for baseline survey (about 2,000 HHs): Total : Surveyors: 4 teams of 5 people = 20 people, working 30 days @ USD25/day = USD 15,000 (LEAP) Piloting and training 40 people, working 10 days @ USD25/day = 10,000 4 cars * 30 days @ USD100/day (including gas) = USD 12,000 (LEAP) Data treatment: 5 people, working 30 days @ USD 35/day = USD 5,250 (LEAP) Field coordinator: 60 days @ USD 200/day = USD 12,000 (DIME) Economist(s): 30 days @ USD 250/day = USD 7,500 (DIME) Overheads and unexpected costs USD 10,000 (LEAP) Total : USD 52,250 (LEAP) USD 19,500 (DIME) USD 71,750