CAMBODIA NATIONAL
LEVEL 1 SURVEY

3.4 Liaison with Authorities

Liaison with provincial authorities was an integral part of the Cambodia National Level One Survey. Prior to deployment of the field unit and the commencement of survey activities in a province or administrative district, permission was obtained from the provincial governor and/or the district leader. This involved setting up a meeting with the relevant authority or appointed representative to outline the nature and purpose of the Cambodia National Level One Survey and to request permission to conduct village surveys in the relevant jurisdiction.

Field Manager, Tony Schori meeting with Provincial Governor

Provincial Governors

Provincial Governors were visited by the Field Manager, Assistant Manager and/or the Field Coordinator by appointment in advance of the survey teams moving into a new province. A letter of permission to undertake the survey in all areas of the Province was obtained from the Governor's office.

After completion of survey activities in the province, a letter was sent to the governor informing him of the cessation of activities. Subsequent to data verification and incorporation into the main database, an A0 sized map of the province or administrative district showing the location of known/suspected contaminated areas identified during the survey was delivered to the governor's office. The same procedure of notification was followed prior to any village revisit or resurvey activities in a province after completion of the initial survey.

Field Manager Marcel Durocher presents map to Provincial Governor

District and Commune Leaders

In advance of survey activities within a particular district or commune, Team Leaders would consult with local authorities to explain the nature and purpose of the Survey, to present the letter of permission acquired at the provincial level and to inform them of the scheduled start and finish dates of survey work in their area of jurisdiction.

These visits also served to provide additional planning information for the teams including the location of new villages, road and access conditions, flooded areas and washed out bridges for example. This information was incorporated into operational plans as relevant. Information was also gathered on local events and issues such as elections, criminal activity and security problems that might impact on survey activities.

Problems with the Police (Translated by Chau Touch San)

On January 11, 2002 Team 4 arrived to survey in a district of Sihounouke Province. The head of one of the local police posts called me by radio and asked me to meet him because he wants to see for himself what the team is doing and to understand the survey activities. I met with him and told him that I have a letter of permission from the provincial governor and the district leader. But this policeman was not interested and clearly did not want us working in his commune. Neither he nor the deputy head of police wanted to read the letters of permission. The only thing they wanted was to speak to the boss. In the end they spoke to Mr Mao Vanna the Assistant Field Manager, who said, “that’s OK with me, all you have to do is sign this declaration that you refuse to cooperate with the survey and prohibit the surveyors from visiting this list of villages I have prepared. I will show this signed declaration to my bosses in Phnom Penh and then I will not have a problem.” Faced with this possibility the police reluctantly allowed us to visit all the villages on the islands.

(By: Chhun Bora, Field Survey Coordinator and Norm Sinath, TL 4)

Once a deployment was complete in a district or commune, the Team Leaders again visited the relevant local officials to inform them that the survey work in their area of jurisdiction was now complete.

Drunk Village Chiefs

Although village chiefs with drinking problems can be found throughout Cambodia, in one part of our country this is a much more serious problem than elsewhere, almost to the point where this situation is considered normal. In general the three Eastern Provinces of Prey Veng, Svay Rieng, Takeav are the very worst for encountering drunk village leaders. Most of these village chiefs are drunk before 9:00am. Sometimes, our surveyors were invited to have drinks with chiefs as well. If we refused, as all our surveyors always did then the chief would impose a fine on us. The amount of this fine was always exactly the same as it cost for them to buy a litre of Khmer white rice wine. Sometimes other people in these villages would ask us to buy them a bottle of wine before they would tell us the location of the village chief's house. These drunken village leaders were totally unreliable sources of information for the survey while they were drunk. We would then try and find something else to do that was useful or make an appointment for another time and hope that they would be sober the next time. We wasted a lot of time we these drunk village chiefs.

(By: Mao Vanna, AFSM)

Next Section - 3.5 Village Survey Procedures
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