Ensure government commitment on follow-up

If action planning for SPS capacity building is to be of practical value, there must be strong commitment at the outset, on the part of development partners and the government, to agree on how to implement the Action Plan, once produced. In this project, in spite of the initial interest shown by the government and donors at the start of the project to use the Action Plan to guide their future investments in SPS capacity building, the Plan has still to be formally implemented by the Royal Government of Cambodia and appears to have been only minimally used by donors. In the meantime, other SPS capacity building projects, including a major multi-year project financed by the Asian Development Bank, have been initiated. In future SPS action planning projects, it is recommended that a prior commitment is obtained from the host government, at a sufficiently senior level, on the procedures to be followed domestically to consider, evaluate and act upon the Action Plan, once it has been completed. Obtaining a firm national commitment on follow-up is likely to be particularly important in cases where SPS Action Plans address sensitive issues (e.g. related to institutional roles and responsibilities, etc.)

Build SPS action planning into donor’s agenda

Experiences under this project highlighted the importance of concerted and ongoing efforts to ensure donor coordination and collaboration in the planning and delivery of SPS technical cooperation. Despite the stated commitment and best intentions of donors to work together, in some cases it is difficult to achieve it in practice. Proactive efforts are needed to catalyse and sustain donor interest in the use of a coherent SPS Action Plan as the basis for capacity building at the country level. Engaging effectively with local development partners through technical working groups and directly linking SPS action planning to multi-donor trade sector-wide approaches is likely to be useful in this context. Consultations with donors before, during and after the development of the Action Plan should encourage donors to build the Plan into their forward budgeting for technical cooperation so that funds are available as soon as the Plan is ready.

Integrate SPS action planning, project design and funding

SPS Action Plans should be accompanied by detailed project proposals for specific investments to address the most immediate and highest priorities identified. If budgeted project proposals are not presented simultaneously with Action Plans, donor interest (as well as the relevance of the Plan itself) is likely to progressively fade over time. Terms of reference and budgets for action planning projects should therefore cover the analytical phase, Action Plan formulation, the design of priority follow-up projects and stakeholder consultation activities.