The Cambodian government and United Nations Development Program unveiled a new measurement tool yesterday aimed at helping the Kingdom achieve its Millennium Development Goals and track development disparities across the country.

The Ministry of Planning and the UNDP have developed and tested a scorecard designed to help policy makers in all provinces identify and address short-falls in nine target areas “The Commune Database shows regional disparities ... at all levels – province, district, commune,” said Elena Tischenko, country director of UNDP Cambodia, at a press conference yesterday.

As an example, she said that commune data from 2010 showed poverty levels in northeastern Cambodia (Preah Vihear, Ratanakkiri, Mondulkiri, Kratie, Stung Treng) at 37 percent, while in the coastal areas (Sihanoukville, Kampot, Kep, Koh Kong) the rate was 25 percent or lower.

“I believe [the scorecards] will prove crucial to ensuring we meet the goals Cambodia has set for itself in the five years we have left until the MDG target date of 2015,” said Elena Tischenko.

Sherif Rushdy, a CMDG advisor, said via email that the lowest average scores for millennium goals came in ensuring environmental sustainability, eradicating poverty and hunger, and achieving universal nine-year primary education, adding that the highest average score came in the reduction of child mortality.