Cambodia Horizon Scan (2026)

Cambodia’s development context has fundamentally shifted in 2025. The convergence of humanitarian crisis, economic slowdown, household fragility, and climate intensification is testing hard-won development gains in human capital, economic stability, poverty reduction, social services, and governance, particularly for vulnerable households. 

These intersecting dynamics range from large-scale displacement and return migration to climate stress, uneven service delivery, and evolving economic and technological trends. Together, they demand a more integrated and agile UN response. 

The UN system in Cambodia will need to: integrate humanitarian and development responses for protracted displacement and return migration; strengthen household resilience and social protection; adapt economic programming to macroeconomic and remittance shocks; embed climate risk into planning and finance; and support governance, rights, and inclusion. Gender equality, disability inclusion, and human rights must remain central as cross-cutting priorities in all UNSDCF programming.