Implementation of Legal and Judicial Reform in Cambodia

This evaluation report reviews the partnership programme between the Danish Institute for Human Rights and the Royal Government of Cambodia.

The DIHR has worked with the RGC since 2001, providing support to its legal and judicial reform (LJR) process. The effectiveness and sustainability of the technical support provided by DIHR has been evaluated and recommendations for the future have been made. The evaluation methodology is based on a theory based realist approach to evaluation with the purpose of both capturing the effects achieved during the process of implementation as well as the cumulative effects of the intervention in 2012.

The evaluation team found that the applied rationale of the DIHR intervention is valid. The partner based approach with dialogue, advice, counselling, but also the insistence on keeping the Cambodian partner solidly in the responsible driver’s seat, has proven to work well when the needs for support are closely monitored, and DIHR remains closely sensitive and responsive to the evolving situation. An important conclusion:

”The tools that have been transferred to the implementing bodies in terms of strategic planning, project management tools, fact based dialogue and participatory approaches have also worked well in Cambodia. The expertise provided by DIHR to support the LJR has also proven to be to the point and appreciated by the partners. In fact, the process has over a span of a decade proven that these advanced methodologies and approaches can be transferred and used also in a context as complex as that of Cambodia provided they are appropriately adapted”.