The Siem Reap Provincial Administration has been awarded top prize in the national social service competition, with the Kandal Provincial Hall taking second place.

Several other town and district halls in the capital and provinces also won awards for providing people with excellent service in 2020-2021.

The award ceremony was held in Phnom Penh on September 22 and presided over by Minister of Interior Sar Kheng, with senior officials and several capital and provincial governors as well as representatives from development partners and civil society organisations in attendance.

Prak Sam Oeun, head of the interior ministry’s General Department of Administration, noted that the programme covered two categories: social service star award and social service championship award.

In the social service championship category for town and district administrations, Takhmao town of Kandal province received top prize, with Phnom Penh's Meanchey and Kamboul districts taking second and third places respectively.

For commune halls, Phnom Penh's Boeung Keng Kang I commune won first prize. Siem Reap's Bakong commune was runner-up, with Battambang province's Bonsai Treng commune and Phnom Penh's Boeung Keng Kang II commune ranking third and fourth respectively.

UNICEF representative to Cambodia Foroogh Foyouzat was pleased with the results of the social services awards.

She commended all sub-national administration officials for carrying out their roles and duties professionally.

She believed that the sub-national administrations will continue to further improve public service provision.

Sar Kheng lauded the efforts made by the sub-national authorities.

“The provision of sub-national administrative services received a lot of support from the people, so we must continue our efforts to further expand this service,” he said.

He added that the provision of public services was designed to meet the needs of the people and to respond quickly to their prioritised requirements. The decentralisation management system many good qualities because it encouraged responsibility and self-reliance by the sub-national administrations to make decisions to more effectively provide the public with necessary public services.