To begin on a light note, allow me to briefly mention some common American impressions of Africa.  Thinking about geography, the average American could probably locate the continent of Africa and maybe the country of South Africa, but the rest of this colossal land mass remains a mystery.  Many Americans also hold onto the belief that all Africans belong to tribes, live in huts, and wear little or no clothing.

            Through constant attention to negative news, the media continually shapes a vision of Africa as a uniform breeding ground of violence, famine, and disease.  Ask the average American how to solve the problems of Africa, the answer would likely focus on the distribution of condoms to slow population growth and control the spread of HIV.  Citing these few examples, I am convinced it is not the selfishness but rather the narrow and simple-mindedness of the American people that prevents the United States of America from cooperating with other countries to realize a better world.

            Attempting to erase a lifetime of misconceptions, I spent my first two weeks in Lusaka frantically reading and listening and learning about the present, past, and future situations of the Zambian people.  The many reports on debt, HIPC, the PRSP, PRPs, MDGs, SAPs, the IMF and WB, written by members of the JCTR, the Civil Society for Poverty Reduction   (CSPR), other civil society organisations, the government, and the UN painted a picture of a peaceful, generous people living in a land of ample resources yet facing unthinkable poverty, joblessness, hunger, disease, suffering, etc.

            Determined to make sense of this anomaly of glowing potential and grim reality, I wiped off the dusty chalkboard in our office at the end of my second week in Zambia and sketched myself a picture that unscrambled this entire alphabetic mess and showed a model of the existing framework for development within Zambia.  In this brief article, I offer reflections on this haunting chalkboard drawing as it relates to life on the ground in Zambia and also to my short stay thus far in Lusaka.

ON THE CHALKBOARD

            First, allow me to put into words the colourful sketch that looms above me on the blackboard.  Trained as an environmental engineer, I envision the allocation of resources by the Zambian government in terms of water flowing through a system of pipes and holding tanks.

            My flow diagram begins with a large “budget reservoir” filled with the capital that the government raises each year primarily through taxes, loans from local and international lenders and grants from foreign sources.  The pipe leading out of the budget passes through a series of “pitfall tanks” before reaching a tank with the name “Poverty Reduction Programmes (PRP).”

            This PRP tank has some holes and leaks, but it drains primarily into an immense cistern bearing the title “Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP),” which regulates the flow of funding towards “economic growth,” “social investment,” and “improved infrastructure.”  Each of these three development avenues theoretically increase economic activity and broaden the tax base, thus a portion of the resources that reach the PRSP cistern are recycled and pumped back into the initial budget reservoir.

            Under the assumption that the PRSP provides a wise, holistic vision for guiding development in Zambia, the flow diagram also includes a pipe at the very tip of the PRSP cistern leading to the “Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).”  In other words, the diagram assumes that if this PRSP cistern (and future PRSP cisterns) of vast, unknown size overflow with funding by the year 2015, it is possible for Zambia to realize the MDG targets.

            Yet, the current framework for resource allocation by government only allows the PRPs to be funded on a residual basis, for there remain two deep pitfalls that suck the majority of government resources.  The first pitfall is the servicing of internal and external debt, which consumes at least 25% of the annual total revenue, and the second pitfall is the exorbitant expenditure by government on operational costs, which lead to nearly annual budget overruns.  As illuminated in the 2004 CSPR analysis of PRP spending, the flow of capital to the PRSP tank has been quite minimal due to debt, poor prioritisation of government expenditures and a shortfall of projected grants from international donors.

ON THE GROUND

            If I brought a philosopher into my office, pointed frantically at the chalkboard, and told him excitedly that “the PRSP tank remains nearly empty!” he or she might be confused why I get worked up over some coloured dust resting on a slate board.  Yet, Zambians spread across all nine provinces, living and dying in this very moment, provide the value to these chalk scribbles.

            IMF, debt servicing, PRSP, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)…it is unfortunate that these words “on the chalkboard” hold such control over the quality of Zambian lives “on the ground.”

This interconnection between the macro-level development picture and the micro-level human drama is drawn out through analysis by the JCTR Social Conditions Research team.  Press releases on the monthly Basic Needs Basket explain how prices of essential food and non-food items have been affected by turns in the economy and decisions by the government.  Reports such as “Will the Poor go to School” analyse how the broad topics of poverty, gender equity, HIV/AIDS, cost of education, access to health care, and others impact the daily lives of Zambians.  The findings of the Social Conditions team amplify the reality encountered in villages and cities across Zambia and provide the scientific research for advocacy at the macro-level.

PARALYSIS

            For two days I brooded over the sketch on the blackboard and the living drama on the ground, focusing on the PRSP as the link between these two pictures.  How to ensure that the PRSP tank overflows with funding! I wrestled with ideas about repudiating loan repayments to international creditors, I drew alternative paths of resource allocation that facilitated direct, transparent investment from international donors to the PRPs, I mused with co-workers about the doomed development model that places Zambia in a position to receive mere trickle-down benefits from the growth of Northern economies, and in the third week of my stay in Zambia I succumbed to the paralysis that grips the nation.

            I sat amidst the growing darkness of the office and just stared at the picture on the blackboard, my heart screaming for justice, my stomach growing nauseous with guilt, my mind unfulfilled and spinning with questions: “Is it feasible for the Zambian economy to ever outgrow poverty?”  “If the PRSP is adequately funded, will the real Zambian begin to receive adequate food and nutrition, health care, education, and employment?”  “Is the world community serious about attaining the MDGs?” 

“How can a development framework grounded in the individualistic tenets of free market capitalism ever benefit a community-centred people such as Zambia?”  “Realizing that the earth is finite in its resources, should we be encouraging a model of development rooted in growth, industry, and  extraction?”  Defeated, I left the office and began to wander the streets in search of solace, looking to the faces of the poor for the source of their hopeful spirits.

HOPE

            Two experiences at the end of that third week broke my heart, rekindled my passion to fight for poverty eradication, and restored my hope in tomorrow.   First, as part of the opening ceremony of the 2004 Civil Society Day, a group of grade eight girls from the Lusaka Girls School performed a powerful sketch that brought shivers and tears.  The girls were singing in Chinyanja about the tragedy of poverty, one dressed as a prostitute, one dressed as a beggar, one homeless, all six of them ragged.  During pauses in the song, each of the girls spoke a few words about how poverty had demoralized their lives.

            As a complete shock to everyone in the conference centre, one of the girls turned around during her speech, looked and pointed at the honourable Member of Parliament seated high above on stage, and shouted “What are you doing to eradicate poverty!?”  Wow, if all of us only had the courage of a child to challenge those in power!  The whole skit broke my heart.  That afternoon I spent only twenty minutes talking and joking with these girls, but their smiles, laughs, and hopes for the future have pulled me out of paralysis.  My hope is not only for the children, my hope is the children.

Second, I attended a workshop titled “Localising the Millennium Development Goals” that was facilitated by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). As part of a multi-day conference, the Friday session focused specifically on the MDG target of halving extreme poverty and hunger in Zambia between the years 2000 and 2015.  The discussion included members of civil society (the JCTR and CSPR), governmental ministries, the academic community, and international lender organizations.

The purpose of the conference was to bring together people familiar with the area of each MDG target in order to localise internationally set targets to more realistic targets for Zambia.  To my surprise, “localise” in this case referred “lower” the 2015 development goals.  Though the UNDP facilitated a number of sessions during the week that drew up new targets, the proposal to change the goal of halving hunger and extreme poverty by 2015 did not sit well with the outspoken members of our workshop.

Though we were encouraged time and time again to simply guess about the likely conditions of Zambia ten years down the road, there was near consensus among   participants,  despite  our often polarized positions, that these goals for eradicating hunger and poverty should not be changed.  Yes, participants recognized that MDG targets cannot simply be erased and redrawn on a chalkboard without affecting the lives represented by the chalk.

Instead, it was agreed that we must estimate the volume of the “PRSP cistern” and implement every strategy necessary to ensure that it overflows into the MDGs by 2015.  We must continue to advocate for and implement these strategies that include the cancellation of Zambia’s external debt, the development of a holistic approach to fighting HIV/AIDs, the creation of a transparent “social fund” to bypass the resource pitfall of government operating costs, and the negotiation of more favourable trade conditions with neighbouring and Northern countries.

As the word “debt cancellation” finally graces the mouths of G8 politicians, I grow in hope that the political will to eradicate poverty is growing both here at home in Zambia and at home in the USA.  While Zambia waits in hope for the opening of financial floodgates, it is imperative that the legal framework for funding PRPs is redrawn to make poverty eradication the governmental priority.  And as Zambia celebrates 40 years of independence, it is time to break the chains of economic and social paralysis.

Christian Petrauskis
JCTR Staff
Lusaka