Rolea Pha Ear commune, in the district of the same name, lies within Kampong Chhnang province, located around 13km from the provincial center. The commune holds a total of 7,884 residents, equal to 1,759 households; there are 4,223 residents between 18 and 60 years old (Commune Profile 2006). Part of the land in Rolea Pha Ear is low-lying, including five villages; this land has an irrigation system but is not very fertile. One village is on a plateau. Most of the people in the commune work in farming (1,708 households); generally, they are not poor. Besides farming, people carry out other small business activities, such as basket weaving and sugar palm tree-made products. The houses in the commune are often roofed in zinc or cement, or are tiled. People often have electricity and possess televisions, motorbikes, bicycles or remorques (a three-wheeled passenger-carrying vehicle). …

As such, major priorities of the commune chief and the district facilitator lie with infrastructure. However, NGO officers tend to focus more on services related to the livelihoods of local people. The director of PNKA said that, during CIP discussions, the CC suggested few projects related directly to the livelihoods of community people, for instance anything dealing with shortages of agricultural land, agricultural techniques, lack of water sources for usages, etc. On the contrary, the CC was more interested in projects related to road and school construction. He felt that this was a result of lack of capacity of the facilitator group, which thought only about infrastructure, and lack of knowledge in terms of collecting data and analyzing priorities and responses. Related to data collection, he said that the commune lacked information to use for planning, and capacity (among councilors and other relevant stakeholders) to analyze data thoroughly and clearly. Participation at village level is also limited, because villagers lack trust in the commune council. This is generally the case in many villages in Kampong Chhnang province. …

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