Cambodia’s rich cultural heritage is known worldwide. However, tourism has not brought prosperity to the 5 million Cambodians who live on less than half a dollar a day. This is especially true in Cambodia’s remote provinces where the majority of the population is from indigenous communities. In addressing this issue, the Cambodia Creative Industries Support Programme (CISP) aims to empower local communities to preserve and promote their cultural products by building entrepreneurial capacities and market development. Implemented within the framework of the ILO Decent Work Country Programme, CISP is a Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund (MDG-F) project financed by the Government of Spain.

The project is a concerted effort by UNESCO, ILO, FAO and UNDP to promote and preserve Cambodia’s indigenous cultural industries through the development of entrepreneurial capacities, with a special focus on indigenous women. At the end of the 3-year programme, the programme is expected to have built local capacities, designed and implemented policies and programmes to realize the economic and social potential of the cultural sector with a view to preserving traditions and encouraging creativity.

Each participating agency brings expertise in the areas of cultural preservation, trade, entrepreneurship, and marketing to the preservation and promotion of creative industries. Several Ministries actively collaborate with the project, including: the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Ministry of Commerce.

Addressing value-chain bottlenecks

The weaknesses in the institutional support and regulation mechanisms charged with preservation and development of Cambodian traditional art and cultural heritage assets bears adversely upon the effectiveness and competitiveness of the sector to play an active role in the country economic growth and development.

Another critical constraint to the development of the creative industries is the lack of human capital and weak implementation of existing legal frameworks. Producers have limited access to Business Development Services and technology while they also face considerable challenges in marketing their products. Furthermore the target provinces are difficult to access, have low levels of economic activity and very poor infrastructure, while the global economic downturn has led to reduced incomes for those dependent upon tourism. Special challenges relating to working with indigenous peoples in agriculturally dominated economies have also significantly guided project strategies.

Project strategies and output

In responding to above constraints and to increased local value added and in strengthening the enabling environment for creative industries to flourish, the programme aims for the following key outputs:

• National capacity to design, implement and monitor policies will be enhanced and programmes to realize the social and economic potential of the cultural sector will be developed (UNESCO);
• Mentorship programme established to support artists and producers in strategic locations to refine their products/ services (UNESCO);
• Fair and effective marketing networks established by groups and associations of artists and producers including ethnic/ indigenous minorities (ILO and FAO);
• Improved business development service delivery to cultural entrepreneurs by member-based organizations and business development service providers (ILO);
• Effective and streamlined implementation of trade legislation and export procedures for promising cultural products/services (UNDP);
• Integrated competitiveness strategies developed for promising cultural products and services (UNDP);
• Infrastructure created to promote cultural products and services through certification and quality control. (UNDP); and
• Linkages between national living heritages/ arts and their contribution to livelihood understood and used for product/ services promotion (UNDP).
  

Within the ILO there are synergies in the target area with the International Labour Organization and Indigenous and Tribal Peoples - Support to Indigenous Peoples Project in Cambodia and Promoting Women’s Entrepreneurship Development and Gender Equality, Phase III project, relating to training materials and a Local Development approach focusing on fostering social dialogue and livelihood diversification.

The CISP project also envisions the development of Cultural Hubs in the target provinces. These Cultural Hubs will bind together the various project activities and support the further realization of synergies between the 4 UN agencies working together.

For further information please contact:

Creative Industries Support Programme, a UNESCO/ILO/FAO/UNDP MDG-F initiative

Ms Sandra Yu

Local Strategies for Decent Work Specialist, INWORK

Email

Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts
227 Preah Norodom
Phnom Penh, Cambodia