1. 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

2. Project site
Siem Reap
Phnom Penh

3. 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 : 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. Project description

7. 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

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

9. 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

10. 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)

11. 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
...

12. 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)

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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

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