The National Employment Agency (NEA, Royal Government of Cambodia) and WAPES Executive Secretariat published the report of the Operational Improvement Study Visit that took place in Phnom Penh in February 2020, with the agreement of WAPES members (Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare in Japan, Korea Information Employment Service), Ingeus, and stakeholders in Cambodia (the Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Center, Creative Diamond Links Human Resources, the Japan International Cooperation Agency).

Executive summary

The National Employment Agency (NEA) and WAPES Executive Secretariat held a Study Visit workshop in Cambodia on 3rd-5th February 2020. The primary aim of the workshop was to bring together a range of national and international stakeholders to provide insights into developing Performance Management and Customer Satisfaction methodologies and to identify with participants from NEA some of the institutional and capacity barriers to developing these in Cambodia.

In addition, the participants got a chance to compare service delivery methodologies between public and private employability services in Cambodia by visiting the Phnom Penh Job Center and a private placement agency, Creative Diamond Links Human Resources (CDL-HR).

The workshop involved 33 officials from NEA, 5 experts from PES, 3 related special guests/observers, and a Project Coordinator. The 5 experts were drawn from WAPES members (Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare in Japan, Korea Employment Information Service,) Ingeus (UK), and the Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Center.

The expected outcome of this workshop was to provide a solid foundation for the introduction of a Performance Assessment Framework (PAF) in NEA through group exercises facilitated by the 3 experts (Dr. LEE Sang Hyon, Mr. ECKERSLEY Anton, and Ms. D’AUBIOUL Hilde) and 2 advisors from NEA (Mr. KUOCH Somean, and Ms. OUCH Cheachanmolika). Participants outlined the building blocks for PAFs including Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Target Goals and Activity Plans. Specific KPIs included: (1) increasing the number of services for users to receive direct and online services from NEA; (2) increasing numbers of staff and staff capacity building; and, (3) decreasing skill mismatches.

After the Study Visit, the Project Coordinator and NEA jointly determined future steps for the project including: (1) holding a Consultation Conference to engage stakeholders in preparing PAFs; and, (2) a second Study Visit to allow experts to comment on the PAF prototype before it is piloted in a selected Job Center.