A Research On The Good Governance And Poverty Reduction In Cambodia

Cambodia is one of the developing countries in ASEAN. The country is rich in natural resources and has enjoyed steady economic growth during2004-2014by applying Rectangular Strategy Phase Ⅰ (2004), Phase Ⅱ (2008), and Phase Ⅲ (2013) with Good Governance (GG) as a core of the strategy. Addressing the National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NPRS) for Poverty Reduction (PR) in Cambodia has begun since2002. The poverty rate in Cambodia steadily decreased from53%in2004to17.7%in2012.The research appraised a study on Good Governance and Poverty Reduction in Cambodia by overviews of its Governance and Poverty Situations as the key concepts for discussion to find out the factors impeding GG, causes and characteristics of poverty, governance reforms, and how GG influenced PR in Cambodia by considering the OWSO through conducting a field survey research on a case study of demanding GG for local government for reducing poverty by providing close-set public administration service delivery to Cambodian people. On the one hand, the research employed deductive and exploratory approaches along with interviews with some key informants to be precise. On the other hand for the case study, the components of "SERVQUAL" and in-depth interviews were used to measure service quality, and such interviews are also used as links to PR. The findings indicate that GG really has a positive influence on PR in Cambodia, still some challenges should be considered to enhance the governance and PR strategy in Cambodia.Actually, the NPRS in2002is proved to be unsystematic and ineffective. However, the main reason of the poverty retaining in Cambodia is seen in poor governance in terms of widespread corruption, limited transparency, limited accountability of public policy-making, limited control, and limited participation to public. Here GG is considered and demanded to make a significant change in the condition of the poor and near-poor.Obviously, the result of the investigation showed that Cambodia is now on the new ways of governance and PR strategy after a big change shown in the result of the general election in2013. The research study includes the Cambodia’s governance and PR strategy challenges with some recommendations according to the findings.