· Poverty in Zambia is the most conspicuous phenomenon not only from a national perspective but also from a global perspective. Out of 74 countries for which data are available, Zambia has the second highest percentage of the population living below $1 a day (72.6%), slightly below Mali (72.8%). And the percentage of population living below $2 a day is the highest for Zambia (91.7%). (World Bank: World Development Report 2000/2001).
· The Report, however, recognizes that poverty is multi-dimensional in nature and does not imply deprivation in money-metric terms alone. The non-monetary dimensions of poverty are equally if not more serious. For instance, 60% of the population lack food security, 53% of the children are stunted by malnutrition, 65% of the rural population lack access to safe water, 20% of the adult population are stricken by HIV/AIDS and 53% of the population are not likely to survive to celebrate their 40th birthday.
· The Report, therefore, recognizes that while sustained economic growth is central to poverty reduction, it is in itself not sufficient. Even if economic growth reduces income deprivation, it will not automatically reduce the non-monetary facets of poverty unless one ensures through conscious policy that the growth is equitable, pro-poor and brings about improved access to facilities for education, health and other basic social and infrastructure amenities.
· One of the distinguishing features of this Report is that it adopts a thematic approach to the understanding of the causes of poverty and consequently to the formulation of a poverty reduction strategy. Poverty is viewed in this Report as the outcome of the vicious interaction of several cross-cutting themes:
1. Lack of sustainable livelihoods to the majority of the population;
2. Geographic and gender disparities in the distribution of resources and entitlements;
3. Various forms of insecurity, notably food insecurity;
4. Lack of ecological integrity and environmental degradation;
5. Stultification of human capital through widespread disease, notably HIV/AIDS, and through low levels of education, both quantitatively and qualitatively;
6. Lack of good governance leading to diversion of scarce resources away from development activities and to inadequate safeguarding of human rights especially of the weak and the vulnerable;
7. Failure to actualize the tremendous growth potential of key sectors such as agriculture, mining, industry and tourism; and, above all,
8. An inappropriately formulated and implemented macroeconomic framework.
· The Report, therefore, recommends an integral approach to poverty reduction because of the recognition that no one of the above themes can be satisfactorily addressed without simultaneously addressing the others.
· Another hallmark of this Report is that it provides provincial perspectives on poverty: views of the poor hailing from the poorest districts in the four poorest provinces of Zambia: Eastern, Luapula, North-Western and Western. The opinions expressed are astonishingly informed and candid for a section of the country’s population that would have had little benefit of formal education and that belong to the lowest rungs of the socioeconomic ladder. For example, the general observations include:
Leaders should not be selfish and self-centred by undermining the people that put them in power; leaders should consult the people. Corruption and nepotism should be fought at all costs if good governance and effective management of national resources are to prevail. This is the only way to restore donor confidence in the government of the day. National work plans and budgets must be drawn in consultation with the people. There should be appointment of appropriately qualified professionals to high office in order to instill a sense of objectivity.
As further illustrations of informed and candid suggestions, the provincial representatives recommended the creation of a mechanism that will facilitate the direct benefit of poor people from Zambia’s debt cancellation and the abolition of the presidential discretionary fund. The Civil Society too was advised to act as an early warning system to the Government to prevent any possible derailment of the PRSP process.
· The Report recognizes that poverty reduction in Zambia with very high levels of poverty already prevalent is a mammoth task requiring huge amounts of resources that may not be available at any one time. It would, therefore, not be possible to initiate all the needed activities from the very start. Hence priorities for action in all the major thematic areas have been identified by the CSPR for focus during the first phase of the PRSP implementation. An illustrative list of the major recommendations are the following:
1. Employment and Sustainable Livelihoods: Recommendations have been made with respect to employment, earnings and productivity, informal sector development, infrastructure development, HIV/AIDS, gender mainstreaming, human capital formation, community participation, improving technology, development of processing industries and improved resource management and conservation. Specific actions suggested include: the design and implementation of a national employment policy; resuscitation and implementation of the Minimum Wage Act on the basis of a poverty datum line; setting up of industrial estates similar to the Chinika complex in Lusaka and making districts the focus of development planning and programmes.
2. Environment: Recommendations have been made to address the issues of deforestation, widllife and fish depletion, soil degradation and water pollution and inadequate sanitation. Specific suggestions include: massive and affordable rural electrification; increased use of alternative energy sources such as solar and biogas; encouraging reduced consumption of fish and game meat through identification of alternative sources of protein; improving extension services; and development of policies and a legal framework that would force industries to adopt environment-friendly programmes.
3. Agriculture: Recommendations have been made in respect of crop diversification, livelihood fund, market fund, conservation farming, community seed banks modeled after Zamseed’s Multiplication and Distribution of Seed Project (MDSP) and PAM’s Small Holder Access to Processing Extension and Seeds Project (SHAPES) and the setting up of a data base for a seed supply system.
4. Mining: The recommendations are to develop a legal basis for distribution of mining revenues to local people, licensing and regulation of artisanal miners, entrepreneurial training courses for small-scale miners, programmes to encourage participation of women as miners and owners, implementation of socieconomic impact studies and monitoring and capacity building of miners associations in Ndola Rural, Kalomo and Lundazi.
5. Tourism: Here it has been suggested that the aim should be to enhance the number of tourists from 400,000 to 700,000 per annum and increase the amount spent per tourist from $212 to $500. Recommendations include: organization of communities within a 30 kilometre radius of any tourism resort or game management area into Community Development Groups and fund them using an allotment of up to 10% of the tourism income generated in their respective areas; ensuring that Zambia is included in the Regional Tourism Organization of Southern Africa (RETOSA), the SADC Tourism Circuit and other such initiatives; clearing by the Government of arrears due to domestic hospitality providers and the development of a comprehensive marketing plan for Zambia.
6. Education: Major recommendations include: ensuring at least 30-40% of the HIPC relief is allotted to education; providing free universal primary education; improving conditions of service for teachers including incentives for teachers in the rural areas; establishing grant-in-aid facility for community schools; harmonizing and coordinating the ministries responsible for education, youth and child.
7. Health: Here, a recognition is made of the need to improve physical, financial and functional access to basic health services, to adopt a multi-sector approach to HIV/AIDS, to rely on local resources rather than on external funding for health budgetary allocation, to enforce the statutory health functions and obligations of local authorities, to reduce child morbidity and mortality and to encourage safe motherhood. Specific recommendations are to increase the number of health centres by establishing health posts in respective neighbourhoods, to scrap user fees for the disadvantaged and instead broaden taxation to raise resources for running health services and to improve the supply of drugs and other consumables.
8. Gender: The recommendations in this area are: to transform and strengthen women’s organizations and their initiatives into a strong women’s movement; to promote women’s participation in decision-making at political, social and community levels; provide economic empowerment and investment opportunities to women in poverty; and to undertake research and advocacy activities that will heighten awareness of gender concerns.
9. Governance: The chapter on governance recognizes the need to ensure separation of powers in government, to ensure autonomy of all constitutional offices, to ensure respect for rights and freedoms, to strengthen local government, and to enforce fiscal discipline. Specific recommendations include: reducing the powers of the President; election of members of Parliament from within members of the community; appointment of ministers from outside Parliament; domestication of ratified international instruments on women, children and torture; abolition of the District Administrator’s Office; functional and financial decentralization; empowerment of local people in decision-making of development and economic policies; and decentralization of the budgeting system.
10. Macroeconomic framework: Here the Report sets down what may appear to be a heroic but nevertheless an achievable goal of attaining 8% growth over the next 10 years with the attendant creation of 200,000 formal jobs and the progressive reduction of various forms of access poverty and inequality. A large number of recommendations have been made in the areas of fiscal policy, monetary policy, external sector and public sector management. An illustrative sample includes the following: reducing the size of the government to a maximum of 16 ministries; setting up of an expenditure task force that would clinically excise government wastage; restricting budget deficit to no more than 2.5% of GDP; widening tax bands and allowing K250,000 income to be tax-free; limiting the banking sector’s claims on government to 2% of GDP; imposing a limit on the spread between deposit and lending rates; reducing government dependence on Treasury Bills and bonds; making missions abroad concentrate more on economic issues than on politics; initiating advocacy to urge the IMF to provide a Stabilization Fund to smooth demand for foreign currency and to urge the international community to consider a one-off write-off of Zambia’s debts. The macroeconomic chapter also contains recommendations for various sectors and for institutional strengthening.
· Finally, the Report also provides a logical framework for poverty reduction strategy showing the objectives, targets, strategies, interventions, agents of implementation, time frame and where possible costs.
Prepared
by Prof. V. Seshamani,
Lead facilitator for the Report
July 18, 2001
Table of Contents | Bulletin 49 Articles
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