Virtual System Makes the Connection Between Agriculture Buyers and Sellers

Feed the Future

Photo supplied

Shops are sparsely stocked with expensive, though basic, food products. Meanwhile, 50 miles away, farmers sit with crops and farm products that have gone to rot because they’re unable to find buyers for them.

In developing countries, situations like this are common and can lead to food shortages and even famine. Such circumstances exist where markets for agricultural products don’t function effectively.

In Uganda, a project funded by the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Assets and Market Access, led by the University of California, Davis, is underway to build sustainable, private sector mechanisms to get inefficient food markets in Africa to work better—so that smallholders get higher prices for their crops, consumers pay lower prices for their basic foods, and the movement of food from farm to table becomes more reliable.

Driving the project is a collaborative team of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) entrepreneurs, economists, computer scientists, and agri-business professionals. The centerpiece of the project is Kudu, a digital food trading platform developed by computer scientists at Uganda’s Makerere University. Using a distance- and price-based matching algorithm, Kudu acts as a virtual matchmaker, putting farmers with crops to sell into direct contact with major buyers so the two parties can then enter into contracts with each other.

Through Kudu, farmers and buyers can establish links with each other on the basis of crop types, price levels, distance, the asking prices sought by sellers, the bids offered by buyers, and other data.

The project has also launched a high-frequency survey of market prices. Every 2 weeks, this survey gathers price information for the three major food crops: maize, beans and rice. The detailed crop-price information from the survey results is then “blasted” back to both the farmers and commodity traders via SMS-based tools that have been developed specifically for this project. With this information, the famers can then seek out the best possible opportunities for selling their harvests.

The project is still ramping up, but already shows great promise. So far this season, only its second, 400 tons of food goods have been transacted. This early momentum includes a partnership with Uganda’s leading private sector agricultural broker, who is willing and able to bring products such as Kudu to scale.

In a short time, the project has demonstrated how information and communication technology can improve market efficiency and, more broadly, how partnering with local entrepreneurs and supporting them can lead to great innovation.

Transforming Development by Empowering the People

Feed the Future

President Obama meets Gifty, a smallholder farmer in Ethiopia empowered by Feed the Future. Photo by USAID Ethiopia.

Feed the Future, President Obama’s global hunger and food security initiative, invests in developing countries’ agro-food systems and works to improve nutrition for women and children, enabling people—many of them farmers—to grow, thrive, and build healthier lives for their families and neighbors.

By working with rural households worldwide, Feed the Future is dramatically improving the way the U.S. Government does business, facilitating effective, evidence-based, multi-stakeholder development and achieving lasting success in country after country.

How will we do it? By focusing on people.

It’s About the People

Nimna Diayte, an agripreneur, heads a thriving farmers’ cooperative for maize producers in Senegal.

Gifty Jemal Hussein, a rural farmer in Ethiopia, gathered women in her village to join together and build a business through which they grow maize, tend a dairy cow herd, and save for the future.

Although these two rural women live on the opposite sides of the African continent, Nimna and Gifty have a lot in common (aside from growing maize). Through Feed the Future, they both transformed their lives—from making ends meet to helping feed their communities and beyond.

And they both met the President of the United States!

Nimna and Gifty made quite the impression when meeting President Obama. As thriving entrepreneurial farmers, their success stories show that when we empower rural farmers, a little goes a long way.

Nimna met President Obama during his visit to Senegal in 2013. Her cooperative’s 2,023 members from seven communes made more than $2 million in revenue that year from selling maize under Nimna’s leadership.

“Meeting the President of the United States is a moment we are proud of. It reinforced our leadership and serves as one of the highlights in the life of our organization,” Nimna recounts.

Since then, the cooperative has grown to 2,401 members, spreading across 22 communes in three regions, and now has a larger storage space for harvested grain. The cooperative’s accomplishments also led it to play a key decision-making role in Senegal’s maize sector.

With her knowledge, passion and success, Nimna entered the political space as the municipal councilor in the local town to better defend the interests of the cooperative and her community.

Nimna was also nominated as one of Senegal’s most prominent rural women leaders for her determination to help improve the livelihoods of her family and those around her. And it all started with a loan she secured through Feed the Future.

Gifty grew Ethiopian banana, maize and a few coffee plants in her backyard. She still plants these crops today, but the difference is that with the skills and confidence she gained with help from Feed the Future, she’s doing agriculture differently by using improved seeds and fertilizer and better farming and post-harvest techniques. And the increased productivity is helping her diversify her crops, raise poultry and improve her income.

This success helped Gifty unleash her leadership skills. She showed the neighboring farmers how changing their lives for the better is possible.

In 2015, Gifty met President Obama during his trip to Ethiopia. “Meeting with him was delightful!” says Gifty. And she’s proud that her hard work and success gave her the opportunity to meet the President of the United States.

Energized by his recognition, Gifty has continued to support her family and community. It’s a challenge to bring everyone on board with a new approach, but Gifty has the courage to do things differently and show her neighbors what works.

With the support she gained from the Ethiopian government, a public-private partnership, and her community, Gifty is helping neighboring farmers adopt better agricultural practices to grow more, earn more, and live better lives.

It’s All About Attitude

Nimna and Gifty both have a can-do attitude and the ability to lead. With access to loans and resources, Gifty and Nimna are improving their livelihoods and empowering those around them.

Sustaining Progress

The recent passage of the Global Food Security Act of 2016 by the U.S. Congress helps solidify progress toward eliminating hunger and poverty. It reinforces Feed the Future’s successful approach to increasing food security and nutrition and brings the world one vital step closer to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

With strong momentum, we look to the future with optimism that, by working with the people around the world who inspire us to deliver results, we can end poverty, hunger and malnutrition by 2030.

$127 million for Humanitarian Aid to Southern Africa

USAID

Photo supplied

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Agency for International Development announced $127 million in additional humanitarian and recovery assistance to people affected by severe drought in Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Madagascar, Lesotho, and Swaziland. With this announcement, the United States has provided nearly $300 million in humanitarian assistance to the region. In addition, the United States has also provided development investments to mitigate the drought's impacts and build resilience in Southern Africa.

This new humanitarian funding will be provided through UN and NGO partners to help address the needs of those affected by the drought, consistent with the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC)'s regional appeal for $2.4 billion in assistance that President Khama is officially launching in Botswana on July 26.

In Southern Africa, emergency needs due to the drought continue to increase. Triggered by El Niño and consecutive poor rainy seasons, the drought is eroding people's ability to cope and threatening important development gains. Over 17 million people across Southern Africa are expected to face acute food insecurity. The drought's impacts on food security, nutrition, water access, and treatment for those living with HIV will last well into 2017.

Mobilizing humanitarian assistance will be critical to save lives and reduce suffering. Our additional contribution will help meet growing needs by providing emergency food assistance, nutrition and health support, access to safe drinking water, and seeds ahead of the upcoming planting season to promote agricultural recovery. The United States also remains committed to supporting country-led efforts to build resilience to climate shocks and stresses in the region.

Since March 2015, the United States has mobilized an integrated response to El Niño globally that includes: mobilizing close to $1 billion in emergency assistance; activating emergency resources in resilience programs to mitigate impacts; and adjusting development efforts to accelerate recovery.

The United States commends other donors who have contributed to the Southern Africa drought response, and encourages others to join this international effort. Mobilizing a robust and coordinated global response will be critical to protect the region's development gains and ensure early recovery.

Private Sector is Key Driver for Growth in the Middle East and North Africa

The World Bank

Photo supplied

CAIRO, 25 July 2016 – The private sector can be an important driver for growth and rising prosperity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) if effective policies are put in place to address key challenges across the region, according to a report from three leading international development and financial institutions.

The report from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the World Bank Group (WBG), asks “What’s holding back the private sector in MENA?” It draws lessons from the MENA Enterprise Survey (ES) of more than 6,000 firms in eight countries.*

Many of those firms cited political instability, corruption, unreliable electricity supply and inadequate access to finance as factors that were holding them back.They also said that innovation and growth were constrained by barriers to trade and a scarcity of appropriately trained workers. In many places, they saw a disconnect between firms and formal financing channels, with the result that firms were losing growth opportunities.

The report concludes that “Strategies to support firms in enhancing their productivity, as well as the process of resource reallocation towards more productive firms, should be a high priority for public authorities in the region.”
It highlights four specific areas where policy responses are required: to improve the business environment, to improve access to finance, to achieve better education, employment and skills, and to promote trade, competition and innovation.

The report says that achieving political stability is critical to improving the business environment. “Across many of the economies, tackling corruption and an unreliable electricity supply are also likely to be important priorities.”

“Identifying the impediments and challenges that are affecting the private sector and economic growth in the MENA region will help our institutions support policy reforms that can create a favourable business environment. From the beginning of our engagement in the region we focused on fostering the development of the private sector through tailored programmes, and investment in infrastructure and services, in addition to strengthening competitiveness which is key to addressing unemployment, one of the region’s biggest challenges, particularly among women, the young and educated people,” said Sergei Guriev, the EBRD incoming Chief Economist.

The report shows that while banking sectors in the region are relatively large, a high percentage of firms are disconnected from formal financial channels — they do not apply for credit because they state that they have enough resources. Firms’ access to finance could be improved by developing the capacity of banks to strengthen their credit risk assessment. Credit guarantee schemes might be a way to alleviate collateral constraints, while strengthening secured transaction laws and making collateral registry more efficient would also help. This would support lending to small and medium-sized enterprises, without putting financial stability at risk.

“Finding a way to reconnect banks and firms is crucial to enhance growth opportunities in the region and international financial institutions have the expertise and willingness to complement domestic policies,” said Debora Revoltella, the EIB Chief Economist. “Support for the private sector in MENA forms a key part of the EIB’s new initiative to build economic resilience in the region as well as to support countries in MENA. This Crisis Response and Economic Resilience Initiative has now been endorsed by EU leaders and will see a substantial stepping-up of traditional activities, with action and investment for growth, jobs, vital infrastructure and social cohesion.”

The report sees considerable scope for improvements in policies for better education, employment and skills, particularly in relation to the employment of women and young people. Policies should remove distortions preventing entry into the labour market for women and provide more focused and targeted education for the young. They should also provide incentives to increase training intensity in firms. At the same time steps to support the emergence and growth of young innovative firms are likely to be particularly positive for the employment of young people.

“Fostering employment and entrepreneurial opportunities, particularly for young men and women, is vital to raise living standards and promote social and political stability. A reorientation of the region’s education system towards learning skills that are rooted in vocational training and relevant for today's world of leapfrogging technology is essential for boosting entrepreneurship and jobs,” said Kaushik Basu, World Bank Chief Economist and Senior Vice President.

In the areas of trade, competition, and innovation, the report notes that increased productivity by firms requires greater openness to international trade, which in turn would be supported by more effective customs and trade regulations — for both imports and exports. Greater competition could also be promoted by reducing restrictions on firm entry and exit, and on foreign investment.

*Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, the West Bank and Gaza, and Yemen (in other words, the MENA ES region).

Fuel subsidy cuts need not come at the poor's expense

Asian Development Bank
Shikha Jha

Photo supplied

Many Asian governments have subsidized coal, oil and gas as well as electricity for decades with the goal of making energy more affordable to the public and to domestic industry.

Oil has traditionally absorbed the largest share of subsidies. A few years ago, when crude oil shot past $100 per barrel, developing Asia accounted for as much as a third of total global subsidies for fuel consumption, most of which was spent on petroleum products. At about 2.5% of gross domestic product, these expenses held back governments from spending on other development priorities such as education, health and infrastructure. But do such subsidies at least reach the poor?

In a region where more than 425 million people have no access to electricity and 2 billion get by burning firewood, charcoal or crop waste for cooking and heating, the benefits of fossil fuel subsidies for the poor are surprisingly difficult to see.

In India and Indonesia, where the authorities have subsidized petroleum fuels for decades, biomass remains the cooking fuel of choice among the rural poor, ahead of even subsidized kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas. For lighting and heating, low-income families typically use kerosene or electricity. Their purchases of petroleum products are limited as most cannot afford to own vehicles. The indirect needs of the poor for diesel and electricity are small, mainly for transport services and as inputs for agriculture, fishing vehicles, freight and small-scale generators.

When energy is discounted for the entire population, it typically benefits well-off residents more than it does the poor. Cheap gasoline encourages the wealthy to drive inefficient sport utility vehicles. Underpriced electricity and diesel embolden well-off farmers to overrun irrigation pumps and waste water. In many low- and middle-income countries, the richest 20% of households capture, on average, fossil fuel consumer subsidies worth more than six times as much as those enjoyed by the poorest 20%.

It's no wonder that such widespread availability of underpriced fuels creates a sense of entitlement to cheap energy. Artificially low prices also encourage illegal resale in parallel markets and smuggling into neighboring countries where fuel is more expensive.

The current period of low oil prices offers a favorable moment for removing the subsidies and leaving energy prices to be determined by the market. Indeed, in part enabled by lower oil prices and in part reflecting political commitments, many countries in Asia have recently attempted to reform subsidies, including Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

But progress on reforms has been uneven and many other governments have been reluctant to move further for fear of paying a political price. History has shown that consumers protest against higher energy prices while powerful interest groups that benefit most from subsidies strongly oppose reform.

The present bottoming-out of oil prices means subsidies could be reformed with little risk of adverse economic consequences or political disruption. A fraction of the money freed up from subsidies could be used to fully offset poor people's additional household expenditures when energy prices rise.

Trade-off

The Asian Development Bank estimated in a recent study of India, Indonesia and Thailand that less than 10% of potential savings from the removal of subsidies would be enough to compensate for the direct and indirect impact of higher energy prices on the bottom 40% of the population. With just half of the savings from fuel subsidies, all households could be fully compensated. This shows that energy subsidy reform can release substantial funds for other development needs.

Rather than lowering market prices, governments frequently try to customize subsidies for the poor. In practice, it can be highly challenging to enforce different energy prices for different users. Instead, non-subsidy alternatives like cash transfers can be more cost-effective and can be expanded quickly to achieve better outcomes in relation to poverty and equity.

Cost is an important factor to be considered. For example, public works programs, while effective in targeting benefits, are a costly way to deliver assistance. The choice of specific programs will vary by country and should be made in consultation with stakeholders, particularly local governments with responsibility for social protection.

In Indonesia, for instance, a cash transfer program was developed in six months and subsequently used to assist households during energy subsidy reforms in 2008 and 2013. The transfer program, which accounted for about half of social assistance expenditures, fully neutralized the effects of energy price increases.

These examples show that with the right timing and the right alternatives, budget-busting subsidy programs can be reformed. The trick is not only striking while the iron is hot, but also for governments to adopt systems that allow domestic prices to adjust to market rates. If this is not done, the same costly subsidies will return the moment international prices swell to pre-trough levels.

Shikha Jha is principal economist in the Asian Development Bank's department of economic research and regional cooperation

JICA Projects Lauded in UN Report on Triangular, South-South Cooperation

JICA

South-South Cooperation symbol. Photo supplied.

Last September, the United Nations adopted “the 2030 Agenda forSustainable Development” as new international development goals. These new goals have different features from the previous “Millennium Development Goals” (MDGs) adopted in 2000. One of them is that they highlight the importance of further strengthening “global partnership” in participation with various stakeholders. Considering the scale and ambition of the agenda, it stresses reinvigorating “global partnership,” which was Goal 8 of the MDGs, and bringing together governments, the private sector, civil society, the U.N. system and other actors to mobilize all available resources. In other words, the resources required to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are so huge that mere traditional ODA coming from developed countries cannot meet them and it is essential to mobilize various resources from the private sector and developing countries.

It is in this context that the 2030 Agenda recognizes the role of South-South and Triangular Cooperation as one of the important “means of implementation” for achieving the SDGs, which was not the case at the time of the MDGs. This reflects the fact that developing countries, especially emerging countries, have become significant providers of development cooperation. In fact, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) estimates that gross development co-operation by countries that are not members of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) in 2014 was US$32.7 billion, which accounts for 17.8% of total global ODA-like development co-operation flows in the same year.(*1) It is now a common understanding that the “Southern” resources, knowledge, and technology of developing countries play important roles in international development, which those of the developed countries could not replace.

Against this background, the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) issued a publication titled “Good Practices in South-South and Triangular Cooperation for Sustainable Development” this May.

Good Practices in South-South and Triangular Cooperation for Sustainable Development(UNDP website, External Link)

It showcases Southern good practices that are relevant to the implementation of the SDGs, selected either by recommendation from U.N. agencies or from among the good practices that had been nominated during the past Global South-South Development Expos, U.N.-led international conferences in this field. UNOSSC explains the reasons why they published this report as follows:

“Good practices to accelerate sustainable human development are increasingly available in the global South. They can be found in the policies, institutions and programmes that have enabled a number of developing countries to acquire a skilled labour force, create decent jobs, raise productivity and lift millions of their citizens out of grinding poverty. Beyond the countries acting individually, there is a notable surge in international collective actions known as South-South and triangular cooperation. The development community recognizes these approaches as viable pathways to progress in the developing world. In such initiatives, developing countries turn to one another and their Northern partners to address challenges through cooperative alliances and peer-to-peer learning, leading to the widespread application of policies, strategies or practical programmes that have worked to raise living standards in the South.”

What is encouraging to JICA is that, among about 60 examples showcased in this publication, five of them are related to JICA projects.

Boosting Competition in African Markets Can Lift Half a Million People out of Poverty

The World Bank

An African man working in a corn field. Photo supplied

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2016— Boosting competition in consumer markets and key input sectors can help African countries grow faster and alleviate poverty, according to a report launched today by the World Bank Group and the African Competition Forum (ACF).

The report, Breaking Down Barriers, finds that reducing the prices of basic food staples by just 10%, as a result of tackling cartels and improving regulations that limit competition in food markets, could lift nearly half a million people in Kenya, South Africa and Zambia alone out of poverty and save households in these countries over US$700 million a year.

At the same time, fundamental market reforms to increase competition in key sectors is critical for competitiveness and economic growth. For example, if countries like Ethiopia, Ghana, Zambia and others were to reform their professional services markets, this could generate nearly half a percentage point in GDP growth from industries which use these services intensively. For a country like Zambia, which had 1.7% GDP growth in 2015, this can be significant. The report also suggests that the impact would be even larger if fundamental reforms were implemented in other services such as electricity, telecommunications, and transport which have higher spillover potential across economies.

“Strengthened competition policy in Africa not only encourages sustainable economic growth and competitiveness across the continent by creating firms and industries that are more productive, it directly impacts poverty by encouraging firms to deliver the best deals to consumers – particularly the poor -- protecting them from paying higher prices for essential goods and services,” said Anabel Gonzalez, Senior Director of the World Bank Group’s Trade & Competitiveness Global Practice.

Sub-Saharan and North African countries have relatively low levels of competition. More than 70% of African countries rank in the bottom half of countries globally on the perceived intensity of local competition and on the existence of fundamentals for market-based competition.

The lack of competition hurts consumer welfare in the region—especially for the poorest. In many African cities the prices of staple foods including white rice, white sugar, frozen chicken, bread, butter, flour, milk, potatoes and eggs are at least 24 percent higher than in the rest of the world, even after taking into account demand and transport costs.

Input markets in Africa also face barriers to competition, according to the report, curbing Africa’s competitiveness. In the telecommunications sector for instance, in the 27 African countries studied in Breaking Down Barriers, more than 50% of the mobile market is held by a single firm. Research from Africa has shown that entry of an additional telecom operator leads to a 57% increase in mobile subscriptions, which can have knock-on effects on the economy’s productivity.

The report provides a special focus on competition enforcement and effective market regulatory environments in cement, fertilizer and telecommunications– sectors that are key to construction and agriculture competitiveness, and to the welfare of less well-off households. For example, in the cement sector, it finds that competition law enforcement, removal of non-tariff barriers, and pro-competition rules to enable entry in limestone and clinker production could save African consumers around $2.5 billion each year.

“There have been a notable number of countries adopting competition laws in Africa, and this bodes well for growth and development. However, while the benefits of competition are already clearly observable in Africa, there is still considerable effort required to ensure effective implementation of competition laws and policies across the continent. Collaboration among competition authorities in Africa, bilaterally and through the Africa Competition Forum, and with development partners is key to facilitate capacity building of younger authorities, systematize information on competition challenges and opportunities, and address cross-border competition issues that affect the region,” noted Tembinkosi Bonakele, Chairperson of the African Competition Forum and Commissioner of the South Africa Competition Commission.

As well as showcasing the benefits of competition in particular sectors, the report highlights Africa’s important progress by creating more effective competition authorities and regulators, and outlines areas of focus to encourage vigorous competition in key markets in the region. The number of African countries or regional blocs with competition laws has jumped from 13 to 32 in the last 15 years. Competition authorities operate in 25 of those jurisdictions. However, the report suggests that there is room to prioritize resources and use the powers and tools available more effectively to continue raising the relevance of competition policy within the broader development agenda in Africa.

Remarks by Charge d’Affaires Julie Chung at the Reception with GMAC

US Embassy



His Excellency Pan Sorasak, Minister of Commerce; Mr. Van Sou Ieng, Chairman of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen.

I am very pleased to be here this evening, and I thank GMAC for hosting this beautiful reception on behalf of our guest, Deputy Assistant United States Trade Representative Erland Herfindahl.

Deputy Assistant Herfindahl has come to Cambodia to celebrate a major expansion of the Generalized System of Preferences program to include travel goods and accessories. This extension of the GSP program will help diversify the country’s economic base and alleviate poverty. It is a rare opportunity for Cambodia to build a world-class export industry from the ground up. Furthermore, the increased export of travel goods to the United States could create up to 100,000 new jobs for Cambodian workers and develop Cambodia’s reputation as a supplier of travel goods.

GSP is a 40-year-old program, and as you know, its benefits depend on maintaining high-quality labor standards. It requires beneficiary countries such as Cambodia to continue taking steps to protect internationally-recognized labor rights. Higher labor standards attract higher-quality and more stable investment, so we hope to see Cambodia continue down this path.

I am pleased to see the turnout here tonight, which reflects the growing economic relationship between the United States and Cambodia. The United States remains Cambodia’s largest trading partner and export market. In 2014, U.S. foreign direct investment in Cambodia was $77.0 million, up 20% from the previous year. As I expect this expansion of the GSP to prove, our relationship still has room to grow, and it will.

Thank you all very much once again. And now, I would like to introduce to you Erland Herfindahl, Deputy Assistant United States Trade Representative.

U.S. Army War College Students See International Development in Action to Rebuild Haiti

USAID

An international development class at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince. (Mark White / USAID)

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”

Those were my exact sentiments when I escorted 16 graduate students from the U.S. Army War College to Port-au-Prince, Haiti , earlier this year. These students had signed up for an international development class under the Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute (PKSOI) at the War College, a course I lead as USAID’s assigned faculty to the college. This trip allowed these students an opportunity to witness on-the-ground, whole-of-government coordination to rebuild the lives of Haitian families affected by the 2010 earthquake.

Why Haiti? The United States has supported the strengthening of democracy in Haiti for several decades. Even prior to the earthquake, Haiti faced a variety of challenges, including being the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

The country is a priority for the U.S. Government and other donor nations following the 2010 earthquake that shattered economic stability in the country. To aid those affected by the quake, the United States committed $4.2 billion in assistance to help Haiti transition from disaster relief to a long-term development plan. Key advancements have been made in such areas as health services, economic growth, and investments in the agriculture sector.

Yet much of Haiti remains fragile and gains in some areas have been difficult to sustain. Obstacles to Haiti’s progress include lack of government capacity and vulnerability to natural disasters as well as challenges related to Haitians’ access to many basic services.

Haiti is one of the most illustrative examples of the possibilities and challenges of development assistance. I took my students to Haiti because I wanted them to see where and how international assistance makes positive impacts. The trip also encouraged dialogue among the students and with the people of Haiti so we could together discuss areas where assistance efforts could be improved.

“The trip brought international development to life. It took the learning from the classroom into a multidimensional opportunity to see defense, diplomacy and development in action,” said Rebecca VanNess, a student in my class.

USAID partners with Department of Defense (DOD) academic institutions, such as PKSOI, to educate DOD staff on USAID’s mission and to encourage open dialogue on how best we can work together to build a more secure and peaceful world. The international development course at PKSOI is part of USAID’s long-term training program that sends USAID staff to DOD academic institutions to foster mutual learning between the two agencies.

“For the first time, I understood why the Army spends its time and money to send its best senior leaders to the War College. Haiti provides a microcosm of all the facets of the [international development course] curriculum,” said Kim Colton of USAID.

I am a firm believer that learning through immersion is one of the greatest tools we can use when educating students about a place with a different culture and language than our own. My goal for organizing the trip was to allow students to get out of their comfort zones, to take what they have learned in an academic setting and see the realities in Haiti, and to come up with plausible solutions that incorporate a development perspective.

During the visit, the students had a chance to meet with representatives of local NGOs and members of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). The students also participated in discussions at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince with U.S. Ambassador Peter F. Mulrean, who offered frank discussions on the complexities of working in Haiti.

I was honored to have Professor Grace Stettenbauer, a senior Foreign Service Officer from the Department of State, accompany the class to Haiti. Stettenbauer shared her perspectives on applications of the U.S. national security policy and strategy to the real-world situations students encountered in Haiti.

My students departed Haiti feeling optimistic about its future, agreeing with the commonly repeated expression that “Haiti is too rich (in resources) to be considered poor.”

Cambodia Cash Transfers Help Improve Health and Future of Mothers and Children

The World Bank

© Saroeun Bou/World Bank

Tim Sokhoeun, 27, is seven and a half months pregnant and lives in Kvek village of Mourng commune, Siem Reap province. She is regularly monitoring her baby’s growth, and making sure that she and her son are getting enough nutrients.

“For my first baby, I didn’t get any pregnancy check-ups,” she says. “But for my second baby, since I took the training, I’ve been to the health center more than five times as I want to make sure that my baby and I are healthy.”

Child malnutrition in Cambodia is severe: 40% of children under 5 years old were stunted in 2013, and 21% of the poorest women did not receive antenatal care compared to 1.5% of women from the wealthiest quintile.

Through the Cambodia Cash Transfer pilot project, poor women and children are given cash transfers or cash bonuses when they attend health and nutrition community learning workshops or get antenatal and postnatal checkups at local health centers.

The project was administered by AMK, a local microfinance institution, while trainings were implemented by RACHA, a local NGO. It aims to increase the use of essential health services by pregnant women and children (0-5 years old).

Another training participant, Lorn Sa-Em, 29, lives in Kok Cha village of Phnom Srok district, Banteay Meanchey province. She built a very simple and low cost toilet after trainers encouraged them to keep their homes clean and food safe.

Sa-Em realized that her poor living conditions were causing her children—a four-year-old daughter and one-year-old son—to get sick very often.

“Now my kids get less sick, and my mom and I stopped going to the field to defecate,” she says with a smile while standing next to her new toilet. In the long run, Sa-Em plans to have a concrete toilet when she has enough money.

After attending the workshops, 19-year-old Sem Chantha, a widow, changed the way she cares for her three-year-old son by giving him proper baths, cleaning her nails, washing their hands before eating, and taking him to the health center regularly to monitor his weight.

“I’m happy because my son is growing and is in good health,” she says while sitting next to her son in Kamping Poy village of Phnom Srok district,f Banteay Meanchey province. “Seeing a doctor is very important because we now know whether our kids are healthy or not. If his health is bad, we need to make more nutritious meals for him.”

Sa-Em, Sokhoeun, and Chantha are among the 1,500 households that benefited from the Cash Transfer project implemented by the National Committee for Sub-national Democratic Development Secretariat (NCDDS). It has benefited 1,945 children and 381 pregnant women in Srei Snam district of Siem Reap province and Phnom Srok district of Banteay Meanchey province in northwestern Cambodia between May 2015 and May 2016.

The head of the Phnom Srok Referral Hospital, Thom Sarim, noted that poor people’s visits to the hospital increased significantly since the Cash Transfer pilot project started. With support and encouragement from the project coordinators, women are seeking out services such as antenatal care, baby delivery, post-natal care, vaccination, and growth monitoring for babies.

In Sarim’s view, the project also benefited the health center, because when the hospital provides more services to the poor, it makes additional income, and this income is provided as an incentive package to his staff.

”For the poor, their health has improved. They can also use the cash from this project to improve their living conditions and to provide better meals for their kids,” he said.

A Kok Cha villager from Banteay Meanchey province, San Chandoeun, 33, confirms Sarim’s claim. “Since I have been receiving payments under the project, our family has had three meals per day. Before we had only one or two,” she said.

GMS Officials to Reinvigorate Trade, Climate Friendly Agriculture Products

ADB
News from Country Offices | 29 July 2016

Improving food safety and trade were discussed at the 13th Annual Meeting of the Working Group on Agriculture of the Greater Mekong Subregion

Da Nang, Viet Nam – At the 13th Annual Meeting of the Working Group on Agriculture (WGA AM-13) of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), agriculture officials discussed ways to improve food safety and trade, climate friendly agriculture and bioenergy and biomass management. The GMS includes Cambodia, Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam.

The WGA AM-13 focused on improving the market access of GMS-produced safe and climate-friendly agriculture products regionally and globally. Officials reviewed the implementation of the GMS Core Agriculture Support Program Phase II (CASP2), which aims to make the GMS an internationally-recognized producer of safe and environment-friendly agriculture products that are integrated globally. The CASP2 is managed through ADB-administered technical assistance.

“This 13th Annual Meeting takes place at a time when all our GMS countries are working together to finalize their respective first letter of agreement (LOA),” said Vu Van Minh, Deputy Director General, International Cooperation Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Viet Nam. “The LOA mechanism enables country direct involvement in program activities, thus fostering country ownership. Such is the core of cooperation in the CASP2 framework in each country, together with a number of parallel regional cooperation initiatives and activities.”

The WGA AM-13 also presented a blueprint on the supply of safe and environment-friendly agri-food for endorsement by the next GMS Ministerial Conference in December 2016. The blueprint for 2018-2022 has a four-pronged agenda of increasing productivity in agro-based value chains, promoting favorable business environment, developing market linkages and branding “made in GMS agro products”, and strengthening institutions for market development.

ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, ADB in December 2016 will mark 50 years of development partnership in Asia. It is owned by 67 members—48 from the region. In 2015, ADB assistance totaled $27.2 billion, including cofinancing of $10.7 billion.

Washington’s All at Sea

DAVID BRUNNSTROM AND MATT SPETALNICK

Chinese dredging vessels in the waters around Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea in this image from a video taken by a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft provided by the United States Navy last year. Reuters

In the lead-up to an international court ruling on China’s claims in the South China Sea this month, United States officials talked about rallying a coalition to impose “terrible” costs to Beijing’s international reputation if it flouted the court’s decision.

But only two weeks after the July 12 announcement by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague – which at least on paper, appeared to be a humiliating defeat for China – the US strategy appears to be unraveling and the court’s ruling is in danger of becoming irrelevant.

Earlier this year, US officials spoke repeatedly of the need for countries in the Asia-Pacific region and elsewhere, including the European Union, to make it clear that the decision of the court should be binding.

“We need to be ready to be very loud and vocal, in harmony together...to say that this is international law, this is incredibly important, it is binding on all parties,” Amy Searight, the then-US deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia, said in February.

Then in April, US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said China risked “terrible” damage to its reputation if it ignored The Hague’s ruling.

The top lawyer from the Philippines, which brought the case against China, even said Beijing risked “outlaw” status.

The United States had backed Manila’s case on the grounds that China’s claims to 85 percent of the South China Sea, one of the world’s busiest trade routes, were a threat to freedom of navigation and international law.

Yet after the international court rejected Beijing’s position, the US calls for a united front appear to have made little headway, with only six countries joining Washington in insisting that the decision should be binding.

They include the Philippines, but not several other countries with their own claims to parts of the South China Sea that might benefit if Beijing observed the decision.

China also scored a major diplomatic victory earlier this week, when Asean dropped any reference to the ruling from a joint statement at the end of a meeting of the 10-country group’s foreign ministers in Laos. This followed objections from Cambodia, Beijing’s closest Asean ally.

On July 15, the European Union, distracted after Britain’s vote to leave the bloc, issued a statement taking note of the ruling, but avoiding direct reference to Beijing or any assertion that the decision was binding.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed satisfaction that Asean had issued a communique that championed the rule of law and said the omission of any reference to the arbitration case did not detract from its importance.

He also said it was “impossible” for the ruling to become irrelevant because it is legally binding.

But analysts said it now risks exactly that, not least because Washington has failed to press the issue effectively with its friends and allies.

“We should all be worried that this case is going to go down as nothing more than a footnote because its impact was only as strong as the international community was going to make it,” said Greg Poling, a South China Sea expert at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.

“And the international community has voted by not saying anything. The consensus seems to be ‘We don’t care. We don’t want to hold China to these standards.’”

Dean Cheng, an expert on China with the Heritage Foundation think tank, said Washington appeared reluctant to push a tougher line with Beijing – a vital economic partner as well as a strategic rival – with only a few months to go in President Barack Obama’s tenure and a presidential election in November.

“What we have is China pushing very hard into the South China Sea, physically, politically, illegally and diplomatically, and the United States refraining from doing very much at all,” said Mr. Cheng.

One reason for the administration’s relative passivity may be its desire to prevent any major escalation of the dispute after the ruling, including further land reclamation by China or the declaration of a new air defense identification zone.

China has so far responded only with sharpened rhetoric, but analysts and officials worry that Beijing might take bolder action after it hosts the Group of 20 meeting of the world’s biggest economies in September. Reuters

EU Asked to Increase Imports

Khmer Times
Taing Vida

Members of both the CPP and CNRP attend a discussion on EU funding and a review of the government’s budget. National Assembly

The National Assembly’s (NA) Second Commission on Economics, Finance, Banking and Auditing yesterday asked the European Union (EU) to increase rice and clothing import quotas from Cambodia, after a discussion on EU subsidies to the Kingdom.

After a two-hour meeting with EU representative Javier Castillo and his technical working group, Yeam Yeab, chairman of the second commission, told reporters that the EU had questions related to the commission’s structure, the draft budget from each year, the audit report and management.

Refusing to say what the answers to those questions were, Mr. Yeab said he asked Mr. Castillo to boost rice import quotas to the EU from Cambodia. Some varieties of rice from Cambodia recently won awards at events at Shanghai and Hong Kong.

He also asked the EU to increase clothing and shoe imports from Cambodia.

“We also asked the EU to offer additional aid in the technical and financial sector. Cambodia will openly welcome visitors from the EU. We also urge the EU to help promote favorable investment in Cambodia,” he said.

Mr. Yeab added that the EU technical group had promised to consider his requests. He said the EU group did not mention any cuts in aid which opposition leader Sam Rainsy had recently asked for.

During an EU parliamentary meeting on July 13, Mr. Rainsy, the president of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, urged the EU to cut clothing imports from Cambodia in an effort to put economic pressure on the government into respecting human rights and freedom of speech, and only restart the industry after certain conditions had been met.

Mr. Rainsy’s plan was condemned by most garment workers, unions, the Labor Ministry and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia as irresponsible and something that would affect the economy and tens of thousands of workers across the country.

As criticism of his plan spiraled out of control, Mr. Rainsy tried to explain himself by saying the call to the EU was to pressure the government to provide better jobs and higher wages.

The EU has significantly scaled up its support to the Kingdom with up to €410 million ($455 million) under the Multi-Annual Indicative Program 2014-2020. Meanwhile, bilateral trade and investment relations have considerably increased, with exports to the EU reaching a record figure of more than €4 billion in 2015.

The EU is now the primary destination for Cambodian exports.

Last month the EU urged the Cambodian government to create and maintain an environment in which all political parties and civil society can operate freely and without fear and called for the release of recently arrested civil society representatives.

Teachers to Be Punished for Corruption

Khmer Times
Tin Sokhavuth

The ACU is looking into teachers found illegally collecting money from their students. KT/Mai Vireak

Teachers who steal money from their students will face legal action if the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) finds they are guilty of doing so.

Om Yentieng, president of the ACU, told reporters yesterday in the midst of a three-day training course for teachers from different provinces that teachers were only permitted to collect money from students for legitimate reasons.

The ACU will cooperate with school administrators to address reports by students that teachers have been violating this rule, he added.

Khat Dara Rachana, the principal at the capital’s Wat Koh middle school, told Khmer Times that not all teachers were involved in the practice of illegitimately collecting fees from their students.

“I acknowledge that a small number of teachers do that, but not all teachers. However, this problem will be solved if teachers’ salaries are raised to a level permitting them to afford to buy enough food and clothes for their children,” said Mr. Dara Rachana.

An 11-year-old student at a school in Phnom Penh who asked to remain anonymous told Khmer Times that when she was short of money, she did not like to go to school because her teacher collected 1,000 riel per day from her in addition to charging her for copies of various lessons.

Anti-corruption lessons are being integrated into the school curriculum by the ACU to curb corruption.

Preap Kol, the executive director of Transparency International Cambodia (TI), who has cooperated with the ACU to create the lessons, was optimistic about the new curriculum.

“First of all, the curriculum should help the young generation understand the strict legal measures that are taken against corrupt people. As a result, it should prevent them from doing corrupt practices, because they will think about the law enforcement. It could also educate young people to be aware about the dangers of corruption,” Mr. Kol said.

However, Mr. Kol said he did not ignore existing corruption in many governmental institutions, adding that it was the duty of politicians to fight corruption in the interest of Cambodia’s development.

In a press release issued earlier this year, TI stated that despite many reforms, Cambodia was just as corrupt in 2015 as it was in 2014.

Cambodia’s Wake-up Call

KHMER TIMES
ALAN PARKHOUSE

Huge crowds turned out for the funeral prosession of political analyst and researcher Kem Ley. KT/Mai Vireak

The assassination of political analyst and researcher Kem Ley may be a watershed moment in Cambodian politics, not because of the fear the cruel killing may have generated in others who want to speak their minds like Mr. Ley, but because of the public reaction.

And this must be taken as a wake-up call for the government.

When Mr. Ley was gunned down in a cafe at a gas station in Phnom Penh on July 10, a huge crowd of people gathered as news of the killing quickly spread. When authorities tried to take Mr. Ley’s body away, members of the public stopped them.

Members of the public and Mr. Ley’s family and friends quickly organized a procession and Mr. Ley’s body was placed in his own car and driven slowly through the streets of Phnom Penh to his eventual destination at Wat Chas. What happened along the way stunned many seasoned followers of the chaos known as Cambodian politics.


Thousands of people from all walks of life came out on the streets to walk with the body of a man they regarded as well-educated and honest, a man who explained things in simple terms and was not afraid to say what he thought and was often critical of the government and other political parties.

The procession was spontaneous and more and more people joined as it made its way to Wat Chas. Thousands joined in and it was an outpouring of grief and a show of respect, but was it also a sign of things to come?

Huge crowds attended the funeral rites at Wat Chas and more than a week later one of the biggest gatherings in Phnom Penh since the King Father’s funeral turned out to accompany Mr. Ley’s body on its final journey to his home town, where he was buried on Monday.

People along the way offered everything from free gasoline – authorities had ordered gas stations along the route to close because of fears of terrorism – to water and food in a show of solidarity and goodwill.

That the state-affiliated television stations could deliberately choose to ignore such a paroxysmal display of human emotion is tantamount to burying one’s head in the sand and being oblivious to the growing public cries to bring to justice the true masterminds of this heinous murder.

Many of the people who joined the procession and many who paid their respects at Wat Chas said they admired Mr. Ley because he spoke the truth, had a vision for Cambodia and was not afraid to criticize the government or other politicians. The majority also said they did not trust the government.

Many said they were fed up and wanted change, adding that they liked Mr. Ley because he was not part of the main opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). He had started his own party and he had his own agenda, they said.

When opposition leader Sam Rainsy claimed Mr. Ley had worked with and helped the CNRP with its policies, no one believed him. At times Mr. Ley had been just as critical of the CNRP as he had of the government.

Some of Mr. Rainsy’s statements about Mr. Ley and his killing lacked credibility and for many it appeared to be a simple case of trying to score political points against the government. More credible opposition figures like Mu Sochua simply paid their respects to Mr. Ley and did not use the occasion to score political points.

It’s fair to say that people want change – that was obvious not only from the results at the last election in 2013, but from the massive crowds of people who turned out to pay their respects to Mr. Ley.

But there is a problem. The main opposition party is in disarray with its leader, Mr. Rainsy, in self-imposed exile for the fourth time now, and the acting leader, Kem Sokha, laying low in the party’s headquarters to avoid arrest, even though as a politician he should have immunity from the charges leveled against him.

The huge crowds on the streets on Sunday paying their respects to Mr. Ley should be a wake-up call to the government, whose response was to shut down television coverage of the funeral and close gas stations along the funeral route.

The ruling party has achieved a lot in its 30-plus years in power, helping the country and the people recover from the horrors of the Khmer Rouge, civil war and rebuilding the country from scratch. They didn’t have much to work with when they came to power, but now Cambodia’s economy has one of the highest growth rates in the world, tourism is booming, the property sector is rapidly expanding and poverty rates are declining.

But the ruling party’s popularity is declining and next year’s commune elections will be a good indication of which way people will vote in the following year’s national elections. Will they vote for the party led by a former investment banker living in exile in France who makes questionable statements and has called for Cambodia’s exports to the European Union to be slashed, or will they vote for the party that has ruled the country for a generation?

Only time will tell, but the government has a big job ahead if it is to regain people’s confidence and win their votes.

The investigation into Mr. Ley’s killing is ongoing, but the majority of people appear to have already made up their minds about who was behind it. A transparent and credible investigation, and the arrests of the masterminds behind Mr. Ley’s killing, would go some way to restoring confidence in the people who have been in charge of Cambodia for so many years.

Anything less than a transparent and credible investigation will be reflected at the polling booths in the next two years.

Terrorism and Human Trafficking are the Main Issues

Tin Sokhavuth

Top high ranking police chiefs from the ASEAN countries paying their respect to the ASEAN flag during the opening ceremony of the 36th ASEANAPOL conference in Malaysia. Photo supplied.

Neth Savoeun, General Secretary of the National Police, led a delegation of Cambodian police to participate in the 36th ASEANAPOL Conference in Putrajaya, Malaysia, from July 24 to July 29, to discuss security issues affecting the region.

According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), a Singaporean English language Asian cable television news agency, the themes of the conference are about “Terrorism” and “Trafficking in Persons”.

There were 160 high ranking police chiefs from the 10 countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) who have participated in the conference.

CNA added that the conference happened after a bomb exploded last week in Puchong, a major town in the Petaling District, Selangor, Malaysia. The explosion injured eight people.

It was an incident that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak considered as a danger from the terrorist network in the region.

“Daesh and its cruel, twisted ideology have no place in our peaceful, diverse, tolerant country, and not in our region too. So as never before, now is the time for us to unite and play an even greater part alongside the world community in the global fight against terrorism,” said Mr. Razak.

In the inauguration of the 8th plenary session of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly in the capital in December last year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen called for more action to be taken to fight terrorism and the Islamic State (IS).

Mr. Hun Sen also said that countries, member of the ASEAN, should push their legislative branch to set policies in order to fight terrorism.

“Even though somebody said that there are no ISIS members in Cambodia, Cambodia must not neglect the problem. They can fight in other countries or regions, but they can take our country for a place of safety,” said Mr. Hun Sen.

In April, The wife of Meach Sovannara, a member of the opposition party who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for leading riots, sued Mr. Hun Manet, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s eldest son, and the Cambodian government for international terrorism, illegal detention, and persecution of opposition party members, with the court in the US.

In response, Mr. Manet said that the complaint was baseless and politicized.

“They should have accused me of something else. Millions of Cambodian people know me and see what I have done. I think they may be speechless too. I think the complaint has no reasonable grounds and it was just to draw political interest,” said Mr. Manet.

Last year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) organized a workshop on “Financial Investigation Techniques and Implementation of the Counter Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Measures” for Cambodian judges and prosecutors at the Ministry of Justice.

According to UNODC, the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism was more convenient regarding counter-terrorism and cooperation among UN member states.

“Tracing the financing of terrorism…is the most powerful anti-terrorist weapon available to magistrates all over the world,” stated Mr. Vandersmissen, political counselor to the delegation of the EU to Cambodia.

As for Mr. Herman Longo, UNODC’s regional coordinator for counter terrorism for South East Asia and the Pacific, he said that no country in the world was immune from the danger of terrorism, because the world was increasingly more and more globalized and interconnected.

Mr. Longo added that as a result, countries in the world should address such threats before they evolve, by using normative and institutional means. Doing so, human rights and the rule of law are respected.

“Preventive efforts are maximized when there is more effective regional and international cooperation, including information exchange, mutual legal assistance and extradition,” added Mr. Longo.

Concerning the issue of trafficking in persons, the US Department of State issued a report last month stating that Cambodia was a place subjected for the transit and destination of trafficking in persons and forced labor.

“…significant numbers of women from rural areas are recruited under false pretenses to travel to China to enter into marriages with Chinese men; some are subjected to forced factory labor or forced prostitution,” read the report.

However the report added that the Cambodian government was making efforts to reach the minimum standards in term of tackling the problem of trafficking in persons.

“The Government of Cambodia does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so,” added the report.

Besides sex trafficking, the report mentioned also about men trafficking that very often finished by force labor on Thai fishing boats.

“Significant numbers of male Cambodians continued to be recruited in Thailand for work on fishing boats and subjected to forced labor on Thai-owned vessels in international waters…Cambodian men reported severe abuses by Thai captains, deceptive recruitment, underpaid wages, and being forced to remain aboard vessels for years,” added the report.

However, Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, did not agree with all statements in the report. He said that the report was a kind of personal opinion.

"I don't agree with all the report said. In contrast, our government is doing its best to tackle this issue. The human trafficking issue is better day by day in our country," said the spokesman.

Moscow’s New Acrobatics

NINA L. KHRUSHCHEVA

Russia’s President Putin has a quiet chat with some of his country’s leading sports officials. AFP

Next Friday, Russians will be among the athletes gathering behind their national flags at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro’s Maracanã Stadium.

That was almost not the case. In the wake of revelations by the World Anti-Doping Agency about large-scale state-sponsored doping in Russia, the country avoided an outright ban by the skin of its teeth.

The International Olympic Committee’s decision not to ban all Russian participation, instead leaving it up to individual sports’ governing federations to review each athlete’s record and decide who can compete, has been met with dismay from some and relief from others. For Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has proved highly adept at turning even the worst international humiliation into a propaganda victory for the Kremlin, neither outcome would have been particularly devastating.

To be sure, Mr. Putin considers the Olympics – and, specifically, medals – to be very important. Like his old Soviet masters, he conflates athletic glory with military glory. That is why he personally lobbied for Russia to host the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi; the unprecedented $50 billion price tag was well worth it, considering that Russia won the most medals. (It was Russia’s actions during the Sochi Olympics that form the core of the doping scandal.)

This is not to say that athletic glory substitutes for military glory. During the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing (at which it finished third in medals, after China and the United States), Russia grabbed the world’s attention with its brief war with Georgia. After Sochi, Mr. Putin, incensed by the ouster of pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, went for the geostrategic gold, annexing Crimea and installing separatist proxies in eastern Ukraine.

What about after Rio? Moldova, which has been making strides to align with the West, is rumored to be next on Mr. Putin’s hit list. Taking over Transnistria, a pro-Russia Moldovan enclave adjacent to Ukraine, would be economically challenging for a Russia that is still reeling from the Western sanctions imposed over Crimea. But it would also make a grand statement, and Mr. Putin thrives on grand statements.

Belarus is another potential victim of Mr. Putin’s revanchist campaign. Run by the autocrat Alexander Lukashenko, who has held the presidency since 1994, the country is supposedly already in the Kremlin’s back pocket. But Mr. Lukashenko has long tried to play Russia against the West, to extract the best deals for his country.

Since the annexation of Crimea, he has moved more purposely toward the West, though Russia’s recent move to curb oil supplies may be enough to force Mr. Lukashenko to rethink that policy.

For Moldova or Belarus, the revelations about Russia’s doping program and the country’s near-ban from the Olympics could amount to very bad news, as Mr. Putin spins them to fit his narrative of persistent Western plotting against Russia. Indeed, the Kremlin and the Russian sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, have accused Grigory Rodchenkov, the former Russian anti-doping official turned whistle-blower, of being a Western stooge.

Add to that NATO’s recent decision to send small military units eastward, in order to reassure Poland and the Baltic states, and Russia may well decide that now is the time to create a larger buffer between itself and the West.

Clearly Mr. Putin, a former KGB agent, will not apologize for the doping scandal. As any spy will tell you, lying and cheating in the service of your country are not just acceptable; they are the entire point of the clandestine services. Fittingly, the state-sanctioned doping regime was overseen by the FSB (the KGB’s successor).

Like spies, strongmen have little affection for fair play – and Mr. Putin is both. No propaganda machine can function in a country where politics are free, fair, honest and transparent. And propaganda is critical to enable a leader to consolidate power to the degree that Mr. Putin has.

But, in Mr. Putin’s view, he is no different from any other leader, democratic or otherwise. The recently leaked Panama Papers exposed the use of offshore bank accounts and shell companies to conceal wealth and avoid taxes by everyone from the prime minister of Iceland to the father of former British Prime Minister David Cameron. Mr. Putin’s close associates were just a few names on a long and varied list. The lesson, according to Mr. Putin, is that everybody lies, yet somehow only Russians become villains.

So, for Mr. Putin, getting caught cheating is a mistake, but nothing to be ashamed of. And being punished for cheating simply exposes the hypocrisy of those doing the punishing. In this sense, an outright ban on Russian Olympians could have been even better for Mr. Putin’s domestic standing – and even worse for the countries on which he has his eye.

Now that Russia’s athletic dreams have been revived, to some extent, Mr. Putin may be prepared to suspend his quest for military glory temporarily – not least out of fear that the 2018 FIFA World Cup, awarded to Russia, could be moved elsewhere. And, indeed, Mr. Putin has been pretending to take the doping allegations seriously, even asking the Russian Olympic Committee to create an independent anti-doping agency.

But even that move is aimed at bolstering Mr. Putin’s standing, not kowtowing to outsiders, as it sends the message that, even in the face of injustice, Russia, great country that it is, is showing grace and munificence. Meanwhile, the fact that Russian athletes will “unfairly” face extra scrutiny at the Rio Games provides the perfect cover for a potentially poor showing.

There is no question that Mr. Putin is a master manipulator. But his spin on the extra scrutiny of Russia probably carries fewer risks than would his interpretation of an outright ban.

The question is whether Russia, fearing harsher repercussions, will actually think twice before breaking international laws again. Copyright: Project Syndicate

Nina L. Khrushcheva, the author of “Imagining Nabokov: Russia Between Art and Politics” and “The Lost Khrushchev: A Journey into the Gulag of the Russian Mind,” is Professor of International Affairs and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at The New School and a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute.

Bogus Firms Prey on Rural Poor

Khmer Times
May Kunmakara

Over 80 percent of Cambodia’s population is rural-based with most households not having access to a broad range of financial services. KT/Chor Sokunthea

The government yesterday named three bogus companies that have taken deposits from ordinary Cambodians and later absconded, after promising them monthly returns in the form of high interest rate payments.

A joint statement released by the Securities Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC) and the Ministry of Interior named the three bogus companies as Empire Big Capital Limited (EBC), AEAN Instrument Foundation (AIF) and Investment Consultant Association (ICA).

The statement added that the three bogus companies also at various times purported to be financial institutions or local NGOs.

“The three bogus companies have taken deposits from ordinary Cambodians, especially in the provinces, and promised them at least a minimum of 10 percent monthly interest payment. After taking the deposits and paying the high interest rates for a few months, they closed shop and absconded,” added the statement.

The SECC and the Ministry of Interior advised people who had been cheated by the three bogus companies to immediately lodge police complaints so that further action can be taken by the Ministry of Justice.

An SECC source who did not want to be identified said the names of the three were not registered as companies and neither were they authorized as deposit-taking financial institutions.

Khiev Sopheak, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior told Khmer Times that this was not the first time that such an incident had happened in the country.

“It’s the poor people in the provinces that are gullible in such fraudulent schemes and it’s an ongoing headache for the ministry,” said Mr. Sopheak.

“I think these three bogus companies are run by individuals who are wanted by the authorities in other countries,” he added.

Mr. Sopheak advised the public, especially in the provinces, to be on the lookout for such tricksters.

“If anyone knows of any so-called NGOs or associations that take deposits for investments and promise high interest rate payments in return, please do inform us immediately. We will take the necessary action,” he added.

But Mr. Sopheak pointed out that taking fast action was not always easy and when police did intervene, it was often too late.

“The trouble is people often keep quiet and do things on the sly, hoping to get rich quick. It’s when they get into trouble that they come running to the authorities. By then, it’s often too late because the culprits have run away,” he said.

Over 80 percent of Cambodia’s population is rural-based with most households not having access to a broad range of financial services.

The Asian Development Bank noted in a recent review that the development of deposit services in the country has significantly lagged behind credit services. In the absence of appropriate formal savings services, Cambodia’s rural households rely on informal mechanisms for saving.

Protesters Demand Their Money Back

Khmer Times
Tin Sokhavuth

The logo of the illegitimate microfinance institution Empire Big Capital Ltd. Supplied

Twenty-two representatives of 71 households in Svay Rieng City gathered on Monday to demand the governor intervene to get back $380,500 they deposited with the illegitimate microfinance institution Empire Big Capital (EBC).

According to Bou Chinnarith, Licadho’s coordinator in Svay Rieng, the microfinance institution (MFI) had encouraged the city’s residents to deposit as much money as possible. In exchange, EBC promised to give them 10 percent interest.

EBC also said that after 18 months, it would pay back depositors their money in addition to the 10 percent interest.

“When they [residents] heard about the 10 percent interest, they all rushed to deposit as much money as they could in EBC. Many households who did not have enough money went to get loans from another bank to deposit in EBC to get 10 percent interest,” said Mr. Channarith.

He added that all 71 households trusted EBC because the employees who convinced them to deposit their money were also their neighbors living in the same district.

Those employees told residents that EBC’s business license had been signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen and Minister of Interior Sar Kheng and their contract was also signed by their village chief as a witness.

EBC paid 10 percent interest for two months, but in October last year, filed for bankruptcy and said another MFI named GMC would be taking over the business.

In December 2015, GMC also declared bankruptcy and as a result, could not afford to pay the interest to its clients.

In January 24, residents complained to local authorities who offered no solution. Residents then took up the matter with provincial police, who called company officials and signed an agreement to pay 30 percent of the total deposited money back to the residents each year. The deal was to start on July 13.

When that day arrived, the company officials did not show up and instead, a police officer came to tell residents that GMC wanted to postpone the deadline. Because of this, residents decided to protest in the city.

Mr. Channarith told Khmer Times that Licadho has been helping residents file separate complaints to the provincial court and is helping them file a collective complaint to the provincial city hall asking for the governor’s intervention.

“They signed contracts with EBC with different dates, so the court asked each of them to file a separate complaint to the court. I already gave them a sample of the complaint yesterday, and we will get the answer from the court soon,” said Mr. Channarith.

The Security Exchange Commission of Cambodia announced in May that EBC had been operating illegally and collecting deposits in the Kingdom.

In March, at a summit on microfinance, Mr. Hun Sen said that stricter rules needed to be applied to NGOs and MFIs as many people were being cheated by illegitimate lenders.

“They have used certain methods to calculate interest rates in a way to cheat and embezzle from borrowers. This way of providing loans is less strict and made in a short-time process,” said the prime minister.

For this reason, Mr. Hun Sen called on the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) to take legal action against NGOs and MFIs who were offering loans in the country illegally.

However, the premier recognized the importance of MFIs in improving people’s living standards over the past decade. He also said about 51 percent of the adult population had used these financial institutions, which have helped reduce poverty and gaps between the rich and the poor in both urban and rural areas.

In February last year, the NBC and the Ministry of Economy and Finance made a joint declaration, telling people who used MFIs to be aware of the rising number of unofficial lenders, many of which claimed to be NGOs or MFIs.

According to a report from the Cambodia Microfinance Association, about $3 billion in loans were disbursed last year, up from $425,921 in 2010, an annual growth rate of 42-53 percent.

Is Trump Crazy? Perhaps Not

Josh Cohen

Donald Trump is not playing by the rules, but may make progress on some issues. Reuters

At a recent campaign rally, Donald Trump defended former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s record on terrorism, noting that Mr. Hussein was a “bad guy” who was nevertheless very efficient at “killing terrorists.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan immediately distanced himself from Mr. Trump’s remarks, and leading Republican donors jumped in with criticism as well.

Throughout his campaign, Mr. Trump has repeatedly angered Washington’s Republican foreign policy establishment with his views on America’s role in the world. Although Mr. Trump did not repeat these views during his nomination speech on Thursday, in an interview on Wednesday he suggested he might revisit the United States’ willingness to defend its NATO allies – drawing an immediate rebuke from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.

Some of Mr. Trump’s foreign policy ideas are downright dangerous. Two of his ideas, for instance – forcing Mexico to pay for a new border wall and banning Muslims from entering the United States – alienate much of the world and neither reflect American values nor promote American interests. His apparent enthusiasm for increasing the United States’ use of torture is downright chilling.

Nevertheless, amid Mr. Trump’s showboating and frequently stream of consciousness thoughts, he raises some critical questions that challenge the long-time Washington foreign policy consensus, but deserve to be taken seriously.

First, Mr. Trump frequently asserts the United States cannot continue to be the “world’s policeman,” thus challenging the belief held by both Democrats and Republicans that the United States remains the world’s “indispensable nation.”

US interventions in Iraq and Libya support Mr. Trump’s case. Washington’s Iraq adventure produced 40,000 American military casualties, more than 150,000 dead Iraqi civilians and the rise of al-Qaeda in Iraq and ultimately Islamic State. Meanwhile, American military support for the overthrow of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi left the country with an ongoing civil war and the emergence of a powerful Islamic State franchise on the Mediterranean.

Mr. Trump also rightly emphasizes the financial costs of American military interventions, pointing out during a Republican primary debate that “we’ve spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people” and “if we spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges...we would’ve been a lot better off.”

He’s right on both counts. A Harvard study actually pegged the combined costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars at between $4 trillion and $6 trillion – almost the same amount of money required over the next 10 years just to keep America’s already crumbling infrastructure from deteriorating further.

In these contexts, Mr. Trump’s assertion that if the United States had done nothing in the Middle East since 2001 “we would have been much better” has a degree of truth.

Mr. Trump also asks some hard questions regarding the United States’ network of global alliances. At various points during his campaign Mr. Trump has suggested he would renegotiate Washington’s alliance with Japan and halt purchases of oil from Saudi Arabia.

He called NATO “obsolete” – even suggesting “maybe NATO will dissolve, and that’s okay.” While these positions make many in the mainstream foreign policy establishment apoplectic, Mr. Trump raises some legitimate points.

For example, when it comes to NATO, only five countries in the alliance meet the NATO guidelines that each member spend a minimum of two percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense, but only five countries – including the United States – meet this requirement.

The alliance with Japan is even more unequal. Tokyo spends only one percent of GDP on defense, and as Mr. Trump points out, Washington remains required to protect Japan in the event of a conflict, while Japan does not possess any reciprocal requirements.

This means it’s not beyond the realm of possibility, for example, that the United States could find itself dragged into a war with China if Beijing and Tokyo clash over the uninhabited Senkaku islands – a pile of rocks possessing no strategic interest to the United States.

Lastly, Mr. Trump’s willingness to meet with the leaders of American adversaries such as North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin should not be dismissed out of hand. As odious as the North Korean regime may be, the reality is that Pyongyang possesses a growing nuclear arsenal, and even the Pentagon admits “North Korea is committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile that is capable of posing a direct threat to the United States.”

While Mr. Kim appears unwilling to eliminate Pyongyang’s nuclear program, it’s arguably in the American national interest to at least sit down with Mr. Kim to determine if a deal between Washington and Pyongyang could even be possible. Given that no other policy that Washington has pursued towards North Korea in the last 15 years has worked, no harm can come of trying something different.

The argument for engaging with Russia is even stronger. While demonizing Mr. Putin makes for good rhetoric, US and Russian interests overlap in some places. Cooperation to reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism and proliferation represents one fruitful area for further cooperation. Containing the violence in Syria is another example where coordinating with Moscow might be useful.

Indeed, since Washington first began working with Syrian rebels in 2012, its proxies have at various times allied with al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch; fought each other; turned American-supplied weapons over to al-Qaeda; and according to a recently released Amnesty International report committed war crimes, targeted ethnic and religious minorities and imposed Sharia law in cities they control.

In this context, Mr. Trump’s belief that Mr. Putin’s move into Syria and desire to fight Islamic State is a “wonderful thing” makes some sense.

What Mr. Trump ultimately offers is an American foreign policy more focused on narrow American national interests than previously pursued by the United States. This does not mean Mr. Trump’s views necessarily reflect the best course for the United States – strong arguments in favor of American alliances and the importance of Washington’s continuing role as the world’s “indispensable nation” exist – but at a minimum it’s worth debating the pluses and minuses of the traditional “Washington Playbook” approach to foreign policy.

Unfortunately however, while some of Mr. Trump’s viewpoints help promote needed debate, many of his other foreign policy ideas are incoherent or even alarming. Moreover, while Mr. Trump sometimes espouses a narrower world role for the United States, at other times he completely contradicts this realpolitik approach.

For example, Mr. Trump promises if elected his “number one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran” while also deploying 30,000 American troops to Syria to fight Islamic State. These policies make Mr. Trump sound more like a traditional neo-conservative Republican than an original thinker.

When all is said and done, though, Mr. Trump does bring some refreshing new foreign policy ideas to the fore – and whatever Mr. Trump’s merits as a candidate, these proposals deserve our serious consideration. Reuters

Josh Cohen is a former USAID project officer involved in managing economic reform projects in the former Soviet Union. The opinions expressed are his own.