Despite more than a year’s attempt at implementing Zambia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), poverty levels in Zambia are yet to show significant signs of decline.  This is according to an assessment done by the Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) on the progress achieved so far in implementing the PRSP by government.

The assessment followed a comparative analysis of the baseline survey carried out in September 2002.  The baseline survey was conducted to assess the poverty situation in the selected nine districts of Zambia to lay ground for future monitoring of poverty reduction programmes.

The assessment was also meant to be a contribution of civil society to government’s annual PRSP progress report.

Both surveys were conducted by the CSPR through its Monitoring and Evaluation Programme.  The surveys were conducted in sites in Luapula, North Western, Western, Eastern and Southern Provinces, which are among the poorest provinces of Zambia.  As such these are the areas that should receive a good deal of poverty reduction interventions.  The assessment focused particularly on agriculture, education, health, water and sanitation, industry, tourism, mining and cross cutting issues such as gender and HIV/AIDS.

METHODOLOGY OF ASSESSMENT

The mode of assessment was through CSPR member organisations.  They included Programme Against Malnutrition (PAM), on agriculture, the Forum for African Women Educationalists, Zambian chapter (FAWEZA), on education, Steadfast Action Foundation (SAF) on health, Water Aid, on the provision of safe and clean water and sanitation facilities, and the Community Based Natural Resources Management and Sustainable Agriculture (CONASA) on mining and tourism.

AGRICULTURE

According to an assessment submitted by the Programme Against Malnutrition (PAM), most areas continue to report food insecurity as a major concern attributed to inadequate access to farm implements, farm power, inputs, credit and markets (for example, some parts of Kalomo district).

By and large, the survey revealed that the agriculture sector is still beset with high cost and untimely delivery of inputs, poor road infrastructure (both trunk and feeder roads), and inadequate extension services.

However, it was noted that in some other communities visited, food security has been attained largely due to early delivery of farm inputs and the improved rainfall.  Though this was attributable to factors other than PRSP implementation, it does show some levels of government commitment to addressing the hunger problem, especially in the face of the hunger crisis in the year 2002.

EDUCATION

In education, the Forum for African Women Educationists (FAWEZA), observed that the education sector continues to be constrained by factors such as poor infrastructure (including staff accommodation), inadequate staffing, inadequate teaching materials, HIV/AIDS, few female teachers, especially in rural schools, poor teacher morale, high costs, and early pregnancies, etc.

Teachers continue to live in poor, often temporary structures made of grass-thatched roofs that leak.  Classrooms and offices are being turned into teachers’ accommodation and some of these  classrooms  allow wind and rain during the cold and wet seasons respectively.  Most pupils sit on the ground with hardly any teaching or learning materials.

The analysis revealed that the government’s announcement of free primary education has not completely removed barriers of cost even at primary level, especially at Grade VII.

HEALTH

Another CSPR member, Steadfast Action Foundation (SAF) observed that the health sector recorded several positive developments in certain sites visited such as rehabilitation of health centres, decentralization and autonomy in the form of Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) and other Community Health Workers as well as a modest improvement in staffing levels.

However, even in light of these developments, the survey noted a number of impediments in the provision of quality health services.  These included the long distances patients have to travel to access health.  This problem is experienced in an environment of erratic, often expensive and unavailable transport, low staff levels, high cost of health services and inadequate bed spaces.

WATER, MINING AND TOURISM

Water Aid observed that there was no notable progress towards the provision of safe and clean water and sanitation facilities.

In mining, CONASA observed that although clearly stated in the PRSP, the issue of licensing gemstone miners had not been addressed.  This has resulted in a number of small-scale miners (mostly foreigners) operating illegally and evading tax in some of the areas in which mining is an economic activity.  The report further stated that no notable strategies identified in the PRSP were being implemented in industry and tourism.

OTHER FINDINGS OF THE ASSESSMENT

The survey found that other factors that militate against poverty reduction and wealth creation such as gender, HIV/AIDS, poor governance and environmental degradation, are still high and operative.  In all areas, HIV/AIDS is negatively affecting all the sectors, especially agriculture, health and education, by depriving the sectors of qualified staff and creating heavy burdens on the families which cannot support the growing number of orphans.

During the survey, CSPR noted some important non-sectoral issues that require urgent attention if effective PRSP implementation is to be realized.  For example, to date there are very low levels of understanding of the PRSP as the country’s strategy for economic development and fighting poverty among government officers at district level.  This was a striking revelation and raised the question of who was facilitating PRSP implementation at district level.  As a probable consequence, there was a glaring lack of linkage between the district development plans being formulated and the national PRSP.

Further, CSPR expressed concern about the low resources available for implementation of the PRSP and urged the government to be more proactive and show seriousness in mobilizing resources for poverty reduction programmes.  Given that a large portion of PRSP expenditures depend on external funding, PRSP programmes were likely to suffer from external factors such as non-fulfillment of donor pledges.

This is a current concern of civil society, especially in light of the meager 24.5 percent disbursement in 2002 of the total amount earmarked for Poverty Reduction Programmes (PRP) and the projected budget overrun in the current year.  It is important that government does not sacrifice the critical poverty reduction budget lines to offset the projected budget overrun.

CSPR also noted that it was difficult to assess the pace and progress of PRSP implementation as Government had not been providing adequate information on PRSP implementation to all stakeholders, including those who should benefit from poverty reduction programmes (PRP).  There is very little information on what, where and by whom poverty reduction programmes (PRP) are being undertaken. 

SOME OPTIMISM

CSPR acknowledged some positive changes, however, in some areas.  For example, in Senanga the actual disbursement and use of HIPC funds resulted in the set up of social infrastructure to serve the local communities.

In response to the concerns raised by CSPR, the Ministry of Finance and National Planning of the Government of the Republic of Zambia, acknowledged that it is important that stakeholders looked at specific interventions, the output and outcome of the PRSP, and if it is positively impacting the people it was meant for.  Further, the Ministry stated that government would try hard to ensure smooth information flow on PRSP activities with stakeholders.

The government also revealed that it was working on a policy to develop a framework to outline major guidelines on how different stakeholders would be involved in the PRSP interventions and other poverty reduction programmes.  Government would table this framework at a national conference so that stakeholders agree on the stipulated roles.

So far indications are that there is still need for more work to be done in the implementation of the PRSP to actually see poverty levels reducing.

CSPR Secretariat
Lusaka