Cambodia has made significant progress in its economic development and poverty reduction. Between 1998 and 2018, the country’s average economic growth rate was 8% which enabled Cambodia to obtain its status as a lower-middle income country in 2015. This status and the continuous economic growth generate more space for the country to provide an improved social protection to its citizens. Acknowledging that social protection is core to the country’s equitable and inclusive economic growth, the Royal Government of Cambodia adopted in 2017 an ambitious National Social Protection Policy Framework (NSSPF) (2016-2025) aligning two main pillars of the social protection: social assistance and social security. This framework is the road map for the development of the country’s social protection system with the objectives to harmonize and strengthen existing schemes for the effectiveness, transparency and consistency of the whole social protection system. It also aims to expand the coverage of the social safety network to all citizens at a phase appropriate for its social and economic development. Its goal is to serve as strategic plan of the government to ensure income security and reduce economic and financial vulnerability of its citizens.

To achieve the objectives set out in the framework, the government must address the key challenges highlighted in the framework. Some of the challenges include the inconsistency in management and implementation of existing schemes or programs and the lack of coordination of policies that guide them. Existing legal instruments include the Law on Social Security and a number of sub-decrees, Joint Prakas, and Prakas guiding the establishment and implementation of schemes under social security and social assistance. Although schemes under social assistance such as cash transfer for pregnant women and children under 2 years old and for poor and vulnerable households during Covid-19 are operational, the legal basis of the schemes remained to be studied and potentially improved.