PEARL project moves ahead on setting activities during its first steering committee meeting
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Cambodia, in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment (MoE) and the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) organized the first project steering committee (PSC) meeting for the project Public-Social-Private Partnerships for Ecologically Sound Agriculture and Resilient Livelihoods in the Northern Tonle Sap Basin (PEARL), which is being funded by Green Climate Fund.
Rolled out in April 2023, the PEARL project aims to enhance the resilience of communities in the Northern Tonle Sap Basin to the impacts of climate change by increasing their access to climate advisory services, climate-resilient technologies and practices, financing options and prospective premium markets.
“PEARL has been under implementation for about one year. Project has been delivering successfully during the inception phase, but it will need to streamline efficiency of business processes to enhance performance in the next five years left for implementation,” said the FAO Representative in Cambodia, Rebekah Bell.
The meeting was held on Tuesday 19 March 2024 at MAFF in Phnom Penh. Overall, the PSC meeting aimed to provide strategic guidance, support multistakeholder coordination, and to prepare for the first year of implementation on the ground of the project operations.
Three activities took place at this inaugural PSC meeting:
- review and revision of the project annual work plan and budget activities for 2024 and to seek approval of the committee,
- discussion and validation the eligibility criteria for the selection of project beneficiaries.
- proposals on the selection of farmer organizations that will be supported by PEARL.
Forty-five participants, including ten online, attended the meeting. They included the nominated PSC members from MAFF, MoE, the Ministry of Commerce, the Agricultural and Rural Development Bank, the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology and private sector representatives from the Cashew nut Association of Cambodia, Cambodia Rice Federation and Cambodia Agricultural Cooperative Alliance, and the FAO PEARL Project Management Unit.
The PSC meeting concluded with successful approval of the annual work plan and budget for 2024, and proposed eligibility criteria for target beneficiaries. It was agreed that meetings will be held on a quarterly basis, with the next one to be scheduled tentatively in June 2024, when there can be reporting on project progress.
PEARL is being implemented over six years from 2023 to 2029 with execution by MAFF, MoE, and FAO. It targets 450 000 farmers directly and 1 000 000 other value chain actors in the Northern Tonle Sap Basin indirectly, covering 24 districts in the four provinces of Oddar Meanchey, Kampong Thom, Preah Vihear, and Siem Reap.