Social
Much of the rural population is still comparatively poor, although some well-established rural families with slightly more land and often with urban or external connections are prospering. Approximately 85 percent of the population is rural. About 39 percent of the population is under 14 years old, and there are significantly more adult women than men (CIPS, 2004). Traditional social support systems have been severely weakened and are only very slowly being re-established. In urban areas greater employment opportunities have enabled some people to improve their circumstances in recent years, but there are still many poorer people, particularly amongst recent migrants.
Women in Cambodia have always played strong economic and social roles in the household, although they often have limited formal education. Their importance as income-generators and household sustainers has increased with the death or loss to military activity of many men since the 1970s. In rural areas women play a major role in food production, food processing, food preparation and food distribution within the household. Accordingly, their attitudes to these activities and their capacities to operate in them can significantly influence household food security. They also play a significant role in other income-generating activities for the household, and in more recent years have also appeared to migrate more in search of employment and income, although their responsibilities for the care of children and disadvantaged members of the household often inhibit their mobility.
Though Cambodia has successfully emerged from conflict in recent years, human security and a fragile safety net continue to be threatened by low incomes, internal displacement of people, poor housing and hygiene, lack of services and employment opportunities, environmental degradation, HIV/AIDS, and other problems. With the disappearance of assistance from the former centrally planned countries, health and other services previously provided by the government have been reduced.
Access to free or low-cost health care and education can act as a major safety net for the poor. Cambodia, however, has a very limited safety net for health care and education. Although the Constitution states that people have the freedom to access public health and education services, poor people find it difficult to afford these services. Most public hospitals have been privatized or transferred to autonomous institutions, where health care services are paid without consideration of economic status.
The vulnerability of the poor in Cambodia is exacerbated by the inadequate provision of basic public services, as well as by policy and regulatory frameworks that govern land and housing supply and property rights. Most of the poor in Cambodia do not have tenure security.
The increasing disparity between urban and rural areas is even worse than before because public services, such as public schools, hospitals, water supply and electricity, are overwhelmingly concentrated in the cities, especially Phnom Penh. With little or no reserved stocks of food, savings or other assets the rural poor are particularly vulnerable. According to CIPS 2004 data, approximately 85 percent of Cambodians are living in the rural agricultural areas where they are in need of roads, drinking water, irrigation networks and other public facilities. Some of these rural farmers live in high rain-dependency, dry areas with unfertile soil and land mines. This situation further contributes to the growing rural-urban disparity in economic development.
Increased support to safety nets can increase options for the poor. Knowing that safety nets exist can allow households to take initiatives that incur some risks, but bring potentially higher returns, such as growing higher yield varieties of crops and using modern farming methods; concentrating household labour on the highest return activities rather than working in many separate informal activities; and holding assets in more productive, but less liquid ways, than cash under the mattress. When hard times do hit poor households, safety nets can reduce the possibility that they make hasty decisions that could diminish their chances of escaping poverty in the long run.
At the national level, away from household worries, effective safety nets can also contribute to society’s choice of effective policies in other areas. They can broaden support for sound fiscal and trade policy, as well as allow the design of other social sector policies and programs to concentrate on efficiency rather than equity goals. For example, if sound safety nets are in place, the pension program can focus on improving the efficiency of providing benefits to contributing workers rather than finding ways to provide cash transfers to those who have not made adequate contributions.
