Second joint Summer School in Cambodia: dialogue between practice and university

From September 28th to October 9th the second Summer School in Cambodia occurred. Jointly designed and hosted by the Royal University of Agriculture (Phnom Penh) and the Technische Universität München, this event had the key note “Land Policy and Good Land Governance”.

from left to right: Vun Setha (Dean), Dr. Fabian Thiel (CIM-Expert, Faculty Advisor), O. Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Holger Magel (TUM), H.E. Dr. Chan Nareth (Rector Royal University of Agriculture), Dr. habil Franz-Volker Müller (GTZ Teamleader), Sar Sovann (General Director), Dr.-Ing. Michael Klaus (TUM)

The speakers came from both universities as well as from Cambodian government and institutions of international development cooperation. The goal of the Summer School was to identify opportunities and possibilities for strengthening of the principles of the rural and urban development with the instruments village renewal, land reallocation and valuation in Cambodia.

The Summer School was composed of highranked members of various ministries like the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, land management students, as well as collaborators of international projects of development cooperation. According to this mix of participants, the aim was to communicate in particular the implementing and lecturing of Good Land Governance in the administration and universities.

The course content ranged from the current state of “Good Governance” in the Cambodian land sector (urban and rural), international aspects of “Good Land Governance”, the enabling of equal living conditions in Cambodian rural places through village renewal and land reallocation, climate change and water with effects on land and settlements, gender issues to the sustainable use of natural resources.

Beside important professional aspects and the necessary interdisciplinary approaches, the fundamental result of all discussions was that an improvement in the importance of “Good Governance” in daily use cannot succeed sufficiently without embedding it in the values in the society.

This applies especially to the land sector of course, which forms the basis of the stabilization of the country and therefore has to enjoy a special confidence in the use of property. Schools and mainly universities were addressed and  requested to include: Professional contents, ethical issues and standards as well as social values in their daily discussion and education. In this way it may succeed to enable the necessary awareness on sustainable and equitable use of property on land and buildings.

Prof. Holger Magel and Dr. Michael Klaus from the Centre of Land, Water and Environmental Risk Management held different lectures as well as a final workshop. This gave the participants the possibility to identify the requirements on rural development and related instruments for Cambodia. The results should serve as a basis for the future of administration and education: a professional, cross-generational dialogue as well as the deepening of the contents of teaching at the Faculty of Land Management. In close coordination with the German CIM-expert Dr. Fabian Thiel (Faculty Advisor at the Royal University of Agriculture) the goal was to start an assessment of this curriculum.

The dialogue with the faculty was largely designed by Dr.-Ing. Klaus, while Prof. Magel simultaneously held a workshop on “Declaration on Spatial Planning Policy” with the representatives of almost all ministries. This holistic framework is expected to integrate all individual land policy instruments and also local planning instruments like land use planning. As Prof. Magel gave already manifold inputs for this surpose, the commissioner for Land Management, Mr. Chin Kai Learng appreciated him as “Land Management Advisor” of the Ministry. The high number of participants up to 160 spoke of the success of the Summer School and appreciated the outstanding position of the subject, Land Management in Cambodia.

The event was made possible by the renewed financial support from the Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) under the “Land Administration Sub-Sector Program (LASSP)”.

The newly appointed General Director of the Department of Surveying and Cadastre and Project Director for the LASSP program in the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, Sar Sovann, spoke in favor of continuing the dialogue in the coming years. To enable a broad approach in their daily dealings with the land and people the employee of the Ministry voted for extending the university education measure on the middle management.

In retrospect, the summer school offered a very good and appropriate forum for the exchange of foreign experts and local professionals and set impulses for the further dialogue in the direction of  "Law Enforcement" and "good governance" in the land sector.