Cambodia MSME 2/BEE Project Quarterly Report Number 9 (October to December, 2010)

The project aims to improve the business environment and increase the competitiveness of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Cambodia. The project is sponsored by the USAID/Cambodia office and is implemented by DAI under contract number EEM-I-00-07-00009-00/04. The project focuses on four main components: strengthening value chains, strengthening private sector voice, public sector strengthening to improve the business environment, and operations and administration. The value chain component targets four key sectors: aquaculture, swine, brick and tile, and honey. The project aims to improve the productivity and competitiveness of these sectors by strengthening the public sector's capacity to license and regulate the industries, diversifying products to meet current demand, and improving market transparency and facilitating the flow of market information. In the aquaculture sector, the project has focused on strengthening the public sector's capacity to license and regulate the industry, diversifying aquaculture products to meet current demand, and improving market transparency and facilitating the flow of market information. The project has also worked to strengthen consumer and retail market demand for aquaculture products and increase the capacity of small fingerling and aquaculture producers to scale up the size of their operations. In the swine sector, the project has focused on strengthening swine industry technical and business skills, lowering inputs costs by expanding and diversifying local production of swine feed, and improving market transparency and facilitating the flow of market information in selected swine markets. The project has also worked to strengthen swine industry bio-security and improve the business environment for swine producers. The project has also made significant progress in the honey sector, with a focus on increasing honey production and improving post-harvesting practices, facilitating stronger market linkages in the honey value chain, and strengthening private sector voice to enhance the honey industry's capacity to improve the business environment. In addition to the value chain component, the project has also focused on strengthening private sector voice, public sector strengthening to improve the business environment, and operations and administration. The private sector voice component aims to create and strengthen community working groups as vehicles of industry strengthening, improve the business enabling environment for target industries, and facilitate the development of and public private sector support for a national swine strategy. The public sector strengthening component aims to provide systemic policy and regulatory advice to the Royal Government of Cambodia, provide value chain driven policy and regulatory advice, and provide training services to RGC counterparts. The operations and administration component includes general operations, procurement, staffing, communications and media outreach, and monitoring and evaluation. Overall, the USAID Cambodia MSME2/BEE Project has made significant progress in strengthening micro, small and medium enterprises in Cambodia, improving the business environment, and increasing the competitiveness of MSMEs in the country.