Cambodia Australia Partnership for Resilient Economic Development (CAP-RED)

$87 million, 2022 – 27

The Cambodia Australia Partnership for Resilient Economic Development (CAPRED) is helping Cambodia to achieve resilient, inclusive and sustainable economic growth and development.

CAPRED is working with both private sector and government institutions in three 'domains' in pursuit of these objectives: agricultural transformation; trade, investment and enterprise development; and infrastructure services.

CAPRED's objectives are:

1. By 2031, targeted RGC agencies develop and implement policies that contribute to more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive growth in CAPRED domains.
2. By 2031, targeted private sector stakeholders undertake more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive trade and investment initiatives in CAPRED domains.

Gender equality, disability, and social inclusion (GEDSI), climate resilience and policy support are key cross-cutting themes. This approach ensures that the program contributes to long-term sustainable economic development, directly addressing the core barriers to Cambodia’s economic prosperity.

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Cambodia Australia Partnership for Resilient Economic Development

Australia-UNDP Resilience Fund for Cambodia

$13.5 million, 2020-24

The objective of the Resilience Fund is to strengthen Cambodia's resilience in the context of a fast-changing domestic and regional context. The Fund features three core components: (1) Mine Action: Clearing for Results Phase-IV; (2) a flexible funding mechanism focused on COVID-19 response; and (3) recovery from humanitarian crisis (if required).

Component One of the Fund is financing demining activities which will clear approximately 56km2 of contaminated land from landmines and release it for productive use, supporting employment during the pandemic, and expanding the agricultural sector. Component Two is supporting the Cambodian Government to respond to COVID-19 through economic impact modelling, support for cash transfer systems, trade facilitation, consumer protection and e-commerce acceleration. Component Three is a flexible fund designed to respond to crisis needs.

Cambodia's extensive landmine and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) contamination is the result of protracted internal and regional conflicts from the mid-1960s through to the late-1990s. A baseline survey completed in 2013 found that over 1,900 square kilometres remained contaminated with landmines and other ERW.

Australia has been a long-standing partner of Cambodia in reducing the impacts of landmines and ERW. We have provided over $100 million to mine action and victim assistance activities since 1994. Starting in 2006, Australia's contribution to the mine action sector has been through funding the Clearing for Results, a multi-donor program managed by UNDP in partnership with Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA).

CFR-IV will run from 2020 to 2024 and builds on the success of the three previous phases by:

- Continuing to clear and release contaminated land in Battambang, Banteay Meanchey and Pailin provinces; and

- Improving the CMAA's capacity to better manage, monitor, regulate and lead the sector.

The project is contributing to Cambodia's goal of becoming mine free by 2025, through funding clearance activities, strengthening community mine-risk education and supporting the Cambodian government to provide effective sectoral leadership coordination and to manage residual risk. The project also supports Cambodia's implementation of its obligations under the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, including Article 5: Destruction of Anti-Personnel Mines in Mined Areas.

Landmines and explosive remnants of war have killed or injured nearly 65,000 people in Cambodia since 1979. The thousands of survivors require ongoing rehabilitation. Cambodia has integrated victim assistance into broader national disability policies and is in the process of integrating disability across all ministries and sectors. Accordingly, Australia previously supported Cambodia to meet its responsibilities under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities through a separate program–the Disability Rights Initiative Cambodia (DRIC) – and is now implementing the Australia-Cambodia Cooperation on Equitable Sustainable Services (ACCESS) program, which has a focus on disability-related services.

Related documents *

* The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is committed to high standards of transparency and accountability in the management of the Australian aid program through publishing information on our website, including policies, plans, results, evaluations and research. Our practice is to publish documents after the partner government and any other partners directly involved in the delivery of the initiative have been consulted. Not all material published on this site is created by the Australian aid program and therefore not all documents reflect our views. In limited circumstances some information may be withheld for reasons including privacy and commercial sensitivity.