BACKGROUND

To scale-up the Jubilee-Zambia Debt campaign so that it included the widest audience possible, the Debt Project initiated meetings in four provinces of Zambia, which led to the formation of provincial Jubilee-Zambia Committees in the year 2000. These teams were formed at the district level in five districts of Kasama, Livingstone, Mongu, Monze and Ndola in the four provinces selected as pilot. The committees were designed to have a composition of 10 to 15 members whose main role is to coordinate the Jubilee campaign in their respective provinces. The provincial jubilee committees, referred herein as Working Groups, currently work as a loose network of various stakeholders operating on a voluntary basis for specific Jubilee campaign activities.

OBJECTIVES

The Provincial Jubilee – Zambia teams shall operate with the following objectives,

• Increase Outreach of the number of people and organisations participating in lobbying for debt cancellation
• Increase Awareness on a variety of issues related to the debt problem through different modes of communication such as meetings, rallies, popular drama, radio and television programmes and newsletter/newspaper articles
• Participate in area-specific issues such as Provincial/District Development Committees’ planning, monitoring and evaluation meetings
• Increased networking with district councils, government departments, NGOs and churches for the purposes of not only building capacities of different civil society organisations but also to discuss and advocate for debt cancellation, related poverty and social-economic issues from an informed point of view
• Provide a good platform for discussion on socio-economic development issues with local districts, provincial and constituency leaders
• Influence policy on matters that promote sustainable government behaviour as it relates to future acquisition of loans as well as the overall management of public funds

STRATEGIES FOR ACHIEVING OBJECTIVES

COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION

The key strategy employed by the Provincial Outreach Programme is Communication for Social Change. This concept emphasises the use of communication to accelerate local ownership, shared leadership and sustained impact. CSC is a process of public and private dialogue through which people themselves define who they are, what they want and how they can act collectively to get what they want and need in order to improve their lives.

• Popular theatre – to relate everyday situations about the effects of Zambia’s external debt to communities
• Public Discussions, rallies – for informed debates about the debt situation
• Media – both print and electronic for increased outreach and raising awareness about the negative effects of external debt. Apart from articles, press releases and briefings, the programme emphasises the use of Community Radio station for various programmes as key strategic partners considering their close proximity with the local communities

CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRAINING

In order to strengthen the teams and build their capacities in different areas for effective mobilisation of local communities and ultimately influence policy decision-making at the local level, the Jubilee-Zambia Secretariat has put in place a deliberate capacity building and training programme. The programme seeks to help teams acquire ‘simple’ technical skills in research methodologies and analysis, monitoring and evaluation, Communication for Social Change, media relations, advocacy and networking and economic literacy.