In Cambodia, the EA will be represented by the Department of Planning and Health Information (DPHI), headed by the Secretary of State, who reports to the health sector steering committee for the Health Strategic Plan (HSP) chaired by the Minister of Health.

Project management and implementation Central departments, national institutions and targeted provincial health departments or equivalent will serve as implementing agencies (IAs). Coordinating IAs provide day-to-day project management in each country; regional cooperation; cooperation with provinces and concerned departments and institutions; and liaison with ADB and other partners.

The Communicable Diseases Control Department (CDCD) in MOH is the coordinating IA. The Director of CDCD is the Project Manager. The existing CDC2 PMU in the coordinating IA will be continued for day-to-day project implementation. The 13 provincial health departments will also serve as IAs. At Provincial level, the Provincial Health Department (PHD) will be the designated project implementation units (PIUs). There are up to 3 positions in each PIU to be financially supported by the Project in each province, depending on the workload. This includes a provincial project coordinator, a technical officer and an account assistant. National institutions will be assigned to work as national IAs to provide technical support to the project via contracting arrangements. Relevant training courses in project management, procurement and financial management will be conducted to build capacity for the whole project management system, from central to provincial level. In CLMV, all project activities will be fully incorporated into the government planning cycle of each country and province. Based on the project design and actual needs, each PHD will prepare an annual project workplan and budget as part of the annual operational plan (AOP) and budget for review and approval by appropriate authorities at provincial and central level. Similarly, PMUs will prepare the national workplan and budget based on consultation with the provinces and incorporation of provincial workplans, obtain relevant approvals from the EA and incorporate these into the national AOPs. These annual workplans and budgets will be submitted to MOHs, core ministries, and ADB for approval and/or concurrence. In Cambodia and Viet Nam, the annual work plans and budgets should be approved before 15 December, if not sooner, while in Myanmar, these approvals should be done before 15 March, if not sooner.


Most of the project specific activities at both PMU and PIU levels should be planned through participatory methods, except those that are fixed during project design and loan and grant negotiations. Consultation should be conducted with relevant agencies, not only in MOHs or PHDs but also other ministries and partners engaged in similar activities, as required. As GMS Health Security Project has a regional focus, PMUs and PIUs are encouraged to share project specific workplans. Annual planning workshops at provincial and national levels for these activities are provided in the project design. Directors PMU and PIU can adjust the budget for activities in case the planned amount does not exceed 10% of the planned budget for activities under their authority.

Under output 2, strengthened national disease surveillance and outbreak response, the project will support an emergency fund at both national and provincial levels, managed by PMUs and PIUs. Key activities financed by this budget line include “immediate response to investigate an outbreak and confirm a plan of action if the investigation is confirmed and to allow staff to take immediate action to prevent or minimize the spread of the outbreak”. Because these kinds of activities cannot be planned in advance, it requires a more flexible spending mechanism. In addition, the national level will also be able to respond to outbreak investigation and response in other provinces that are not included in the GMS Health Security Project.

The GMS Health Security Regional Steering Committee (RSC) is advisory in nature and will give guidance in project implementation, policy dialogue, and the building of regional capacity and cooperation for CDC, and information exchanges on communicable diseases between countries. The RSC will meet every year or more often as needed, with the hosting rotated among the four countries. It will be chaired by the minister or vice-minister of the host country and will consist of representative of MOH of the CLMV countries, ADB and WHO. Representatives from other GMS countries and partners are invited as "observers".