Mid-term Review of Support to Institutional Capacity Building of the National Institute of Statistics (NIS)

The purpose of the assignment was to evaluate the progress of the project Support to Institutional Capacity Building of the National Institute of Statistics (NIS) in Cambodia 2012-2015, and to reach conclusions with regard to the eventual continuation of the project after the current project period.

An assessment was therefore made of the project performance with regard to each of the three main project components: statistical production, national accounts and consumer price index, and management and HRD within NIS. A key finding was the major issue in Cambodia with their low salary level of local staff. Staff at NIS has to hold multiple jobs in order to sustain their families, and this is tolerated by NIS management. The result is that staff is not at work on a regular basis, as a result of which capacity building becomes difficult.