Aa zambia strategy paper by kiss

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Zambia Country Strategy Paper 2013-2017.

Umodzi! People's Action to End Poverty in Zambia.

Table of Contents 1. Introduction....................................................4 2. Current and Future Context............................5 3. Actionaid in Zambia......................................13 4. Key Lessons Learnt......................................14 5. Organizational Identity...................................16 6. Programming Strategies...............................19 7. Programme Implementation Arrangements...21 8. Strategic Priorities.........................................22 9. Organizational Objectives..............................34 10. Communication and Technology..................43 11. Internal Governance....................................44 12. Growth Strategy..........................................45

Copyright @ 2014 Actionaid Zambia. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying , recording or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

1st Edition 2014 Published by: Actionaid Zambia. Web:http://www.actionaid.org, Email: info@actionaid.org.

ActionAid is a global movement of people working together to further human rights for all and defeat poverty. www.actionaid.org | www.twitter.com/actionaid | www.facebook.com/actionaid

1. Introduction.

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This Country Strategy Paper (CSP) for ActionAid Zambia is the first long term comprehensive framework since inception in 2006. The initial plan (2007-2009) for the programme focuses on setting up of the programme, undertaking various analyses to determine focus of the work in Zambia, and more importantly, to determine geographical location. Between 2010 and 2012, AA Zambia has been working on the basis of the Interim Country Strategy Paper. The development of the CSP was firmly predicated on evidence based planning approaches with a focus on planning for results. Thus, all strategies have been informed by a series of highly consultative processes at district (Local Rights Programme), national, provincial and international levels. These multi-level stakeholder consultations provided strategic insights for the development of a realistically achievable strategy for the period 2013 – 2017.

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he consultations for this strategy have been the most consultative for AA Zambia. The process started with a staff and partner conference where an initial strategic position paper was developed at the end of 2011.

the requirement for duty bearers to be accountable to citizens who are the rights holders. In Zambia, where development by appeasement has been a long standing policy of those who assume power, it will be critical to build understanding in every citizen that they have rights as human beings and that those in power have the responsibility to uphold and respect the rights of all citizens without discrimination, and that this should include social, economic, cultural and civil rights. This approach will thus ensure that citizens are empowered to demand and claim these rights thereby requiring a critical mobilization of citizens to take action.

In 2012, a small group of staff – the Strategy Reference Group was formed and tasked to spearhead the strategy development processes. The group undertook multi-layer consultations, supporting community consultations, providing guidelines for staff to develop propositions on various issues, undertaking consultations with partners, stakeholders at provincial and national levels, and organization consultations with various units in the International Secretariat of ActionAid International.

This approach will not preclude AA Zambia from addressing immediate basic needs of people living in poverty, but will do this only as a means to pilot and demonstrate alternatives while seeking long term alternatives to end poverty.

A staff strategy conference was held where all the information, propositions received were analyzed and priority areas agreed. A drafting team was then set up to put together the initial draft of the strategy, First drafts were reviewed and revised internally and consultations with external stakeholders undertaken, with a major national stakeholders workshop held to review the first draft.

Acknowledging that women and the majority of people living in poverty and bear the brunt of poverty, AA Zambia will, during the strategy period, emphasize the need to place women at the center of its work. AA Zambia will therefore ensure that in all its programmes, there is a clear and deliberate focus on women. Therefore, AA Zambia will ensure that the right kind of gender analyses are undertaken to inform its programming.

During the strategy period, the rights based approach shall underpin programme work. Underpinning this approach is

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2. Current and Future Contexts.

2.1. Global Context and Future Trends.

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2.1.1. Global economic outlook The global economic climate, which has been uncertain since 2008, has affected investments and growth in advanced economies. According to the World Bank (2009) and the International Monetary Fund (2009), the strength of the rebound from the economic crisis in many advanced countries has been modest to date and could be hampered by Europe's debt crisis, the natural disaster in Japan, and the strife in the Middle East.

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y 2011, the global economic outlook had shifted towards the threat of the European debt crisis, arising from the meltdown of the Greek economy. In 2012 large economies such as Italy and Spain are faced with similar threats. These events in Europe have had major implications for global economic prospects. This is because the EU is one of the world's key economic players, accounting for about 30% of global GDP and 20% of global trade flows, while the euro has emerged as a key international currency.[1] The effects of the global financial crisis on aid dependent countries like Zambia include a plummet in Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) and cuts in aid flow. Even though the Zambian economy has relatively remained stable, the threats for cuts in aid flows are still present therefore undermining efforts for job creation and social service delivery, respectively.

In terms of growth projections for emerging economies, there are indications that Brazil, Russia, India, China and to some extent South Africa (the BRICS) will collectively match the original G-7's share of global GDP by 2040-2050. In 2010 China became the world's second largest economy and is already increasingly playing an influential and important role on the global stage. China is thus poised to have more impact on the world over the next 20 years than any other country.[2] The influence of BRICS nations, especially China, on countries like Zambia has

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consequently continued to grow with increased pressure on natural resources.

2.1.2. Global social outlook According to the World Bank (2008), the number of people in developing countries living below the poverty line of $1 per day has reduced from 1.37 billion in 2005 to 1.2 billion in 2008. It must however be noted that while figures indicate a reduction in poverty levels, there are millions of people who are still living below the poverty datum line.

Extreme poverty has resulted in many people living in undignified lifestyles that include persistent hunger, children being left out of school, exposure to unnecessary health risks and diminishing of household resources. The most persistence poverty is found amongst very small farmers and landless laborers, tribal and indigenous people experiencing discrimination. These trends are evidently occurring in Zambia.

With regards to population, it is projected that in 20 years' years' time, over half the world's population will be young people under the age of 20, with Sub Sahara Africa accounting for a large proportion of young people.

2.1.3. Global Perspective on Agriculture and Environment Agriculture has been largely successful in meeting the world's effective demand for food. Yet more than 800

According to UNDP (2007/8), in the last few years, the global focus has largely been on the impact of climate change on human development. Impacts of climate change include; rising world temperatures (melting ice caps), changing patterns of local rainfall, rising sea levels and forced adaptation for some of the world's most vulnerable groups. Some developed countries have begun to take steps aimed at minimizing the worst effects through adaptation and mitigation measures aimed at reducing Green House Gas emissions. However, the response of developing countries like Zambia has been limited due to the high costs and low possibilities of energy alternatives.

million people remain food insecure, and agriculture has left a huge environmental footprint. The future world supply of food may be uncertain: increasing resource scarcity, heightened risks from climate change, higher energy prices, demand for bio-fuels, and doubts about the speed of technical progress all have implications for future agricultural performance. In addition, improved agricultural performance has not been uniform throughout the world. Improvements have yet to stimulate enough growth in agriculture-based countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, to allow them to achieve a sustained structural transformation (FAO, 2008).

Photo by Kiss Brian Abraham [1] [2]

European Union (http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/international/index_en.htm) Ibid.

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2.2. Southern and Eastern Africa Context and Future Trends.

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Zambia is a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). There are significant efforts to foster closer co-operation and stronger linkages between the two regional blocs. This is because both blocs have increasingly been adopting similar agendas in their operations. In this regard, notable similarities are being witnessed in areas such as trade, agriculture, governance concerns and human security, peace and conflict. It is worth noting that most of the SADC member states are part of COMESA and as such, the two regions are encountering common challenges that demand joint approaches.

2.2.1. Regional Integration and Economic Development.

COMESA has recorded major strides in specifically focusing on Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) development.

The most important initiative is the development of the Simplified Trade Regime (STR) that ensures that small traders are helped to enjoy the benefits of the Free Trade Area (FTA) that larger traders were able to get.[3] It is envisaged that with the introduction of STR, cross border trade will be promoted and this is crucial for the people living in poverty. The promotion of Cross Border Trade (CBT) is part of a bigger project dealing with Regional Food and Risk Management Programme (REFORM). The REFORM programme's overall objective is to contribute to sustainable reduction of vulnerability to food insecurity and poverty in Eastern and Southern Africa.[4]

2.2.2. Agriculture.

Agriculture accounts for more than 32% of the COMESA region's GDP and provides a livelihood to about 80% of the region's labour force. Furthermore, agriculture contributes more than 50% of the raw materials to the industrial sector in the COMESA region. Similarly, the same holds for the case of agriculture in the SADC region. It has been a source of subsistence, employment and incomes for about 61% (142million) of the people and accounts for close to 8% of the regions GDP (ReSAKKS, 2008).

Agricultural development initiatives in these two regional groupings are guided by the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) which was

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adopted by the AU in 2003. Overall, the CAADP aims at increasing agriculture growth rates to 6% per year premised on the commitment of the member states to commit 10% of the national budgets to agriculture development as agreed under the Maputo Declaration. By 2010, 18 out of the 19 member states of COMESA had initialed the CAADP process and were advancing towards the stages of stock taking, compact signing and the actual implementation of the compact.

2.2.3. Environment, Resource Management and Climate Change.

Climate variability and change are two major challenges that overwhelm the Southern and East Africa region. Additional challenges include conflicts, environmental degradation, unsustainable use and management of land and water, resources, disaster preparedness, prevention and mitigation.

In response, the two RECs mainly focus on adaption to adverse effects of climate change such as droughts, deforestation, floods and cyclones.

In terms of remedies, the two regional blocs' specific interventions have targeted reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, tackling illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, bush fires and human-wild life conflicts. The two blocs adopted an inter-regional approach in implementing interventions in these areas.

However, the outcomes of these ambitious intentions remained highly unattained largely because both the SADC and COMESA regions do not have sufficient adaptive capacities required to effectively tackle the effects of climate change and other associated challenges.

2.3. Zambia Context and Future Trends.

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2.3.1. Political Zambia has relatively enjoyed political stability since independence in 1964. The country is one of the few countries in Africa that has had peaceful transitions and has so far had five Presidents who have ascended to power through democratic means. Significant changes occurred in 1991, when the United National Independence Party (UNIP) under the leadership of the country's founding father, Dr. Kenneth Kaunda came to an end after 27 years of authoritarian rule. The dawn of the multi-party era ushered in the Movement of Multiparty Democracy, a party that ruled the country for 20 years until the land mark elections of 2011 that saw the Patriotic Front party ascend to power. entailed unshackling the economy from the fetters of state control and promoting an economic regime which would be private-sector driven and in which state-owned enterprises were transferred to private ownership. Among the key policies introduced at this time were the implementation of the privatization programme, the promotion of foreign and domestic investment, the review of various laws and regulations, and amendments where necessary to encourage investment, and the development of infrastructure.

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lthough progress has been made over the years with respect to civil and political rights, some areas such as freedom of information have not been addressed, with the country failing to enact the freedom of information legislation by 2012. There is also a shrinking civil society space and the introduction of the NGO Act of 2009 threatens to shrink this even further.

High levels of corruption, nepotism, low citizen participation in governance processes are endemic and political structures are male dominated. In 2009, the number of female members of parliament was 14% which has gone down to 11% after the 2011 elections, falling way below the SADC 30% requirement and is the lowest in the region.

In 2005 Zambia qualified for debt relief under the Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative, consisting of approximately United States Dollars Six billion in debt relief.

However, the debt is rising again due to the recent unfettered debt contraction by the government. Unless pragmatic policy measures are introduced to increase tax revenues including the introduction of progressive mining taxation, Zambia will continue to borrow in many years to come.

2.3.2. Economic.

At independence in 1964, Zambia was economically a prosperous country although the economy was almost exclusively dependent on earnings from copper exports.

The per capita income was higher than most of the Asian countries like Singapore. The downward trend in the economic performance of Zambia in the 1970s was precipitated by many factors including the world economic recession and the promulgation of misguided socialistoriented economic policies.

Copper mining, which accounts for over 70 percent of the country's export earnings, is still the main driver of economic growth in Zambia. However, the majority of the population (65 percent) lives in rural areas and is dependent on subsistence agriculture for its livelihood.[5]

The return of multi-party democracy to Zambia in 1991, ushered in accelerated economic liberalization, which

Zambia has now been classified as a low middle income

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country with great economic growth potential. The real GDP growth in 2005 – 2011 periods averaged 6% per year, which is below the 7% MDG target. In 2009, the Zambian economy was resilient to the global economic crisis as evidenced by a 6.4% growth that was recorded. The bumper harvest and the exponential increase in copper production between 2009 and 2011 played a significant role in the stability of the economy.

2.3.3. Social.

Like many African societies, cultural beliefs and traditional practices as well as the patriarchal nature of the Zambian society have been responsible for women's low status. In many rural areas, some traditional practices such as sidelining of women in decision making processes; violence against women and abuse perpetuate male dominance that continues to prevent women from accessing and enjoying their basic social, political and economic rights.

communities. In rural communities, violence is exacerbated by lack of awareness of existing procedures and mechanisms for reporting it. In addition, women do not have control over their bodies due to; inter alia, their low economic status and cultural norms that restrict their assertiveness and demand subservience.

Although Zambia has signed and ratified various human rights instruments; including amending some pieces of legislation that relate to women's rights to education, health and the enactment of the Anti-Gender Based Violence (GBV) Act of 2011; the setting up of the Victim Support Unit, the Human Rights Commission and the police and judicial complaints units by the government, these institutions are still characterized by weak state and community support mechanisms for enforcing human rights protection.

2.3.4. Poverty Trends.

In rural areas very few girls are able to attain basic education. The overall completion rates for girls at all levels of education remain low and the gender gap worsens at the higher levels of education such as tertiary education. Child marriages are high and are perpetuated by poverty and specifically the low regard for a girl child's education. With regards to gender parity in education, the ratio of girls to boys in primary education improved from 0.90 in 1990 (Progress Report 2011) to 0.96 in 2009. In secondary school this rate decreased from 0.92 in 1990 to 0.88 in 2009.[6] It must also be noted that there are also differences in access and levels of education between children in rural areas and those in urban areas. Boys and girls in rural areas often enter the education system later than their urban counterparts and are more unlikely to complete education than their male counterparts. Thus literacy, which is the foundation of all types of empowerment, remains low particularly among women and girls. About 42% of women are illiterate, against 23% of men in the same situation. Low literacy levels expose women to further vulnerability as it limits their ability to obtain information and make decisions that can protect or enhance their economic wellbeing such as control over land and resources, property ownership and engagement in viable business enterprises.

In the face of high unemployment rate at 89 percent (CSO, 2011), women stand little chance of being employed and continue to suffer the consequences of unstable sources of livelihoods. Even worse, the general lack of incomes and economic instability in families further exposes women and girls to abuse.

Zambia has in the last decade or so, experienced a sharp increase in gender violence, and the scourge has often time manifested itself as violence against women. Statistics and research show that 99 percent of violators are men while 96 percent of the victims are women, including the girl-child especially where sexual violence is concerned. Violence against women in marriage, rape, intimidation and sexual assault of girls within the school system is high in some 9

The poverty situation is characterized by the inequality in access to and distribution of specific resources such as financial services, information, land; insufficient public investment in rural areas etc. 7.6 million Zambians are dependent on subsistence agriculture.

The data suggests that the number of agricultural households rose from 1,552,000 to 1,631,000 while the proportion of total households which are agricultural remained at a similar level over time; 68% in 2006 compared to 66% in 2010. The proportion of rural households engaged in agriculture dropped slightly from 94% in 2006 to 91%t in 2010 while the proportion of urban households engaged in agriculture remained at 21%.[8] With regard to poverty levels, extreme poverty declined from 58% in 1991 to 51% in 2006. This is a positive trend, but the rate of change at current levels would be too slow to meet the target of 29% by 2015, which would halve extreme poverty. Extreme poverty is also much higher in rural areas at 67% compared to 20% in urban areas. However, the poverty gap ratio declined from 62.2% in 1991 to 34% in 2006, indicating that the severity of poverty declined sharply, and providing evidence that with the right policies and investments the incidence of poverty can fall fairly quickly (UNDP, HDR, 2011).

Unemployment rates have decreased compared to 2006, from 14 to 13%. However, unemployment rates are still higher than they were in 2004. The decrease in unemployment rates is highest for females residing in urban areas and is significantly high for youths in both rural and urban areas. It is also noteworthy that it is exactly these groups that suffered most when unemployment levels started rising after 2004.

Unemployment rates across the sexes are equal in rural areas, at 5 percent, but much higher for women in urban areas, 36 percent as compared to 24 percent for males.

(CSO, LCMS, 2010).

In terms of income levels, male-headed households continue to enjoy higher levels of mean monthly income as compared to female-headed households. A male headed household has a mean monthly income of K1, 188, 000, whilst a female-headed household has a mean monthly income of K861,000, only 77% of the Zambia national average. (CSO, 2010).

These mean monthly incomes are far below the average food basket for a family of six which was estimated to be at K3, 395,660 in July 2012 by the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection.

legislation (NFP, 2009).

As the adverse effects of climate change[10] increase in the next decade, there will be need to increase adaptive capacities of rural agriculture communities in Zambia. It is from this perspective that interventions must seek to build resilience [11] in rural agriculture communities with a special focus on women in agriculture.

2.3.5. Demographic Trends.

The above view for an integrated approach in terms of interventions on agriculture and environment is supported by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The 2010 Census report shows that the population stands at 13, 881, 336. The population growth rate is 3.062% and it is the eleventh highest in the world.

2.3.7. Legal and Government Administrative Context.

In terms of age structure, 47% (of which 3, 253, 125 are males and 3, 228, 844 are females) are in the age range 0 – 14 years, 50.8% (of which 3, 544, 640 are males and 3, 508, 344 are females) are in the age range of 15 – 64 years, and 2.5% (of which 148, 531 are males and 197, 552 are females) are 65 years and above.

The above demographics show that Zambia has a young population. Given the high unemployment rates, it is the youth that are most affected. Furthermore, the youth face exclusion from decision making at all levels and in all sectors. As a result, the non-participation of the youth in influencing critical policy decisions has led to non-equitable development.

2.3.6. Environment.

Zambia has approximately 50 million hectares of forest, with an estimated deforestation rate of between 250,000 to 300,000 hectares per year (ILUA, 2008). According to UNDP (MDG status report for Zambia, 2011), the percentage of land covered by forests in Zambia decreased from 66% in 1990 to 55.9% in 2007, and this has been a serious cause of concern. High priority efforts to curb deforestation and to regenerate forest cover is a critical factor to protect and enable the more sustainable use of the country's rich natural resource base and be more resilient to climate change shocks.

Furthermore, the legal aspects of forest resources management in Zambia are still under the 1973 Act despite having formulated the 1999 Forestry Act. The autocratic nature of both the policy and legal frameworks compounded by decaying national economic gains has seen unprecedented loss in forest cover throughout Zambia. Deforestation has been experiencing an upward trend since the 1990s (FAO 2005, ILUA 2010).

At the local level, issues relating to participatory forest management systems; benefit sharing mechanisms; matters of land tenure and land use; allocation of commercial logging licenses, etc. may lead to conflicts as they have not been clearly stipulated in Zambian policy and

Zambia has a dual legal system, i.e. customary law and Statutory Law. The low status of women and society's lack of respect for their rights has been reinforced by the existence of a dual legal system in Zambia which allows the application of both the customary and statutory laws in civil and personal cases. The Zambian constitution allows customary law to run side by side with statutory law in matters that deal with personal status, marriage, divorce and inheritance rights. Further Zambia is not a monism, but a dualism. This means that all international conventions to which the country is signatory have no force of law unless they are domesticated. For many people living in poverty, customary law is more accessible than statutory law, however, customary law is often applied to the detriment of the interests of women and children particularly that the custodians of customary law are primarily men.

Most of the challenges that the country faces in an attempt to create strong institutions of governance that will guarantee service delivery and accountability are rooted in the country's inability to develop a good constitution.

The country's constitution has seen piecemeal amendments and has undergone various reviews at different periods, starting from 1968 (referendum to remove a clause that required a referendum to make constitutional amendments), 1972 (one party state rule), 1991 (to revert to multi-party democracy), 1996 (Government produced a white paper in which progressive recommendations were thrown out and the constitution basically remained unchanged), and in 2005, the Mungomba Constitution Commission produced a draft constitution that was widely seen to be responsive to the needs of the general citizenry and addressed many of the constitutional challenges. This was subjected to a National Constitution Conference against the will of the majority of citizens who preferred a constituent assembly. On this account the constitution failed to sail through in parliament.

By the end of 2011, the new government had initiated another process to revise the constitution through the establishment of a committee of experts who have been working on the basis of previous draft constitutions.

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There are other challenges surrounding the current constitution making process, including the question of Parliamentary sovereignty, unfettered presidential powers that would make it difficult to pass a constitution that guarantees rights and freedoms of citizens, reduces executive powers and provides for clear separation of powers between the executive, legislature and judiciary, which is currently not the case.

Although Zambian citizens have the opportunity to participate in the democratic process through the regular election of national and local leaders, there are few institutionalized mechanisms for citizen's participation in public affairs in between elections, the formulation and implementation of public policies is hardly directly influenced by citizens. Consequently, most public policies such as those that guide the implementation of education, land, and investment and trade programs rarely reflect priority needs and capacities of citizens, particularly those living in poverty.

Information on policy processes and decisions that determine how resources for funding public services are prioritized and distributed barely reach citizens.

While the decentralization policy and implementation plan has been developed to support citizens' greater participation in local governance and development, full decentralization has not yet taken effect. This means that citizens are still being excluded from development and participating in decision making processes that directly affect their lives. The slow pace at which decentralization is taking effect further limits citizen's access to information on new policies, public budgets and empowerment programs, rural community's abilities to claim opportunities provided to ameliorate their disadvantaged situation. This undermines the capacity and confidence of citizens to hold their leaders and public institutions accountable for the provision of quality services. Corruption and nepotism add to the many challenges that the country is facing.

Further although sub-district development structures have been put in place to prepare for decentralized and participatory governance, these efforts at decentralization lack legal backing and consistent implementation.

Moreover, local government and these structures are poorly linked, administered and under resourced.

[3] [4]

Ibid.

UNDP, MDG Status Report for Zambia, 2009 (www.undp.org.zm) UNDP, MDG Status Report (www.undp.org.zm) [8] Central Statistical Office, 2010 Living Conditions Monitoring Survey, p. 139 [10] The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that during the next decades, billions of people, particularly those in developing countries, will face changes in rainfall patterns that will contribute to severe water shortages or flooding, and rising temperatures that will cause shifts in crop growing seasons. This will increase food shortages and distribution of disease vectors, putting populations at greater health and life risks. The predicted temperature rise of 1 to 2.5o C by 2030 will have serious effects, including reduced crop yield in tropical areas. (For further reading see Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in the Food and Agriculture Sector, FAO, 2008 at page 2) [11] The ability of a social or ecological system to absorb disturbances while retaining the same basic structure and ways of functioning, the capacity for self-organisation, and the capacity to adapt to stress and change. (Ibid. p. 14) [5]

[6]

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2.4. Obstacles and Opportunities in the External Environment.

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Some of the obstacles that AA Zambia will face in its programming will include the following, but not necessarily limited to:

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The Euro Zone crisis will see lesser in flows of funds to developing countries, including Zambia. AA Zambia will therefore need to strengthen its ability to raise funds from other sources locally, e.g. from relevant private sector, but will also need to significantly scale up its tax justice work to enhance resource generation by the country for development initiatives.

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The emergence of the BRICS nations as key players on global politics is likely to see a shift in priorities from the promotion of democracy and development to natural resource exploitation in weaker nations. AA Zambia faces a challenge in its work because these nations will not be committed to financing development work.

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The shrinking space for CSOs will create a situation where it becomes difficult to implement programmes that focus on community mobilization. The NGO Act if fully enforced by the government will threaten the operations of AA Zambia.

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While the ongoing constitution making process provides opportunities, there is likelihood that many progressive clauses may be removed by the government as seen during the previous regimes. If this happens, AAZ will have challenges in its rights based work thereby requiring extra effort and resources to intensify community solidarity building.

focus on the wider concerns for the poor, marginalized groups, women and children.

Opportunities.

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The current non-domestication of a number of international and regional conventions, and protocols and the on-going constitution making process provides an opportunity for AA Zambia to engage in advocacy for domestication and implementation of conventions that focus on women and children.

2

The current low representation of women in key decision making processes and the commitments that the country has made to address this implies enactment of polices that are responsive to women and children. This will provide an opportunity for AA Zambia to intensify efforts of mobilizing women and building their capacities to participate in decision making process.

Moreover, it will give impetus to the drive to challenge and demolish patriarchy and patriarchal structures respectively.

3

With the current policy pronouncements to accelerate the implementation of the National Decentralization Policy, there are immense opportunities for AA Zambia to provide evidenced based models for decentralization.

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The global poverty challenge is linked to other development concerns such as governance, the environment, climate change, conflict & disasters.

These conditions will reinforce ActionAid Zambia's HRBA approach within the human development frameworks with a 12

3. ActionAid in Zambia.

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ActionAid Zambia was established as a country programme in 1996 following the dissolution of the Southern Africa Partnership Programme (SAPP), an initiative of ActionAid International that supported activities in selected countries in Southern Africa, The activities then were implemented by local partners.

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n Zambia, ActionAid International supported an organization called Hodi which worked in areas such as Luano Valley and Mumbwa districts in Central Province, Masaiti in the Copperbelt Province.

The new country programme took up the projects initiated under the SAPP and continued to work with Hodi and its partners to implement activities in the 3 districts. By 2008, it was clear that ActionAid needed to change its approach and so the partnership with Hodi was terminated and ActionAid engaged local partners to continue the work. In 2009, ActionAid Zambia phased out its activities in Mumbwa and Masaiti, but continued working in Luano Valley. Since then, ActionAid Zambia has expanded its work in 7 districts in Muchinga, Northern and Western Provinces.

In 2010, ActionAid, which hitherto had been registered in Zambia as a branch of ActionAid UK, embarked on an ambitious journey to become an associate member of the ActionAid International Federation. This process saw ActionAid in Zambia changing its registration status to become a national organization with a board of directors that oversees the operations of the entity in Zambia. This status implies that ActionAid in Zambia has some level of autonomy and also plays a role in the governance of the

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federation through its participation in the ActionAid International General Assembly. The ambition for ActionAid Zambia during this strategic period is to become an Affiliate member of ActionAid International, Federation, with more autonomy, but also more influence within the federation.

Another significant milestone in the life of ActionAid in Zambia was the merger with the Danish organization MS Zambia that brought together the two organizations as one entity. For ActionAid Zambia, the merger contributed significantly to enhancing its governance work and the opportunity to work with a diverse range of both national and local level partners from which ActionAid has drawn a lot of lessons, some of which have influenced the direction of this strategy.

AA Zambia has been going through various processes to establish a clear direction for the work in Zambia, and in 2010, AA Zambia adopted the Interim Country Strategy Paper (ICSP) as a key document to guide its work for the period 2010 – 2012. A lot of the lessons learnt during implementation of the ICSP that have been gathered through the various reviews have also informed the development of this strategy.

4. Key Lessons Learnt.

AAZ has learned the following lessons in each of the thematic areas that the interim country strategy paper focused on:

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5. Organizational Identity.

5.1. Our Core Values.

1 2 3

Equity and equality: in our work, we endeavor to ensure that all women, children and men, have equal and equitable access to basic needs irrespective of their race, age, gender, color, disability, religion and geographical location. We fully endorse the principle that human rights are for everyone;

Our Vision

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A just and poverty free Zambia in which every person enjoys the right to a life of dignity.

Our Mission

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Mutual respect: we do recognize and respect the worth and diversity of every individual and community that we work with;

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To work with poor and excluded people to end Poverty and injustice.

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Transparency and accountability:we believe that we should be transparent in the manner we run our organization, and that we should be able to account for all our actions and resources to the individuals, communities, supporters and other actors that we work with locally and internationally;

4 5 6 7

Solidarity with the poor:in our interventions to overcome poverty and injustice, we will always show and work in solidarity with the poor and excluded;

Courage of conviction:even in times of adversity and challenges, we will continue to be strengthened by our conviction that we need to adequately address the poverty and injustice that poor and excluded communities face;

Independence:we shall remain independent and neutral from all party politics, ethnic and religious affiliations;

Humility:in our conduct and behavior, we will always recognize that we are part of a wider alliance working to address issues of poverty and exclusion.

5.2. Our Mission Priorities ActionAid Zambia's strategic approach is to work at four levels as follows:

1 2 3 4

Work with the excluded women and youth groups to develop their skills, knowledge and competencies to demand, secure and sustain their rights to live a life of dignity and free from poverty.

Work through partnerships with national and community organizations and movements to build their collective capacities to influence development, revision and development of policies, plans, programmes and practices that respond to their rights and needs.

Work within a rights based approach to underpin all our work with excluded people, particularly women and children, to respond to and sustain the realization of their immediate and basic needs in situations where their survival and development is threatened.

Work with like-minded organisations to link our work at national level to global initiatives and to mobilize global voices to influence and shape regional and international policies and practices that perpetuate poverty

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5.3. Our Theory of Change.

ActionAid Zambia believes that ending poverty in Zambia is possible and can be achieved, but this is only possible when people living in poverty take a leading role in bringing about changes that can potentially end poverty. This also requires that those charged with the responsibility of providing services to citizens are responsive and make a clear commitment to meet the needs and uphold the rights of people living in poverty.

T

here are many causes of poverty in Zambia, but the leading ones are failing governance systems, unfulfilled obligations by duty bearers to provide services to rights holders, social exclusion and gender inequity. These and other context specific causes of poverty must strategically be addressed through local level actions that are predicated on contextual analyses of power structures and relations at all levels.

To achieve this, AA Zambia works towards raising rights consciousness among people living in poverty and among influential Zambians, particularly the elite and emerging middle class to support citizens actions to claim their rights.. This is the most effective approach for mobilization of rights holders who must find the space and harness opportunities to engage and influence development decisions in their favor. In this connection, AA Zambia believes that people living in poverty must be empowered by way of building their capacities to meaningfully engage decision makers, to work in solidarity with other influential people particularly the elite and emerging middle class in and outside the country and other stakeholders to undertake systematic and consistent campaigns, particularly on issues of redistribution of national resources. AA Zambia also recognizes that the challenges that the country faces cannot be resolved locally, hence will work with others in and outside the country to address regional and international challenges that perpetuate poverty.

Thus, AA Zambia believes that change can only occur by challenging structures and institutions that exclude participation of citizens, especially women and the youth. More importantly, AA Zambia believes that every human being has the inherent potential to excel and so those living in poverty must be supported to unleash this potential and gain economic, social and political freedom and become resilient to shocks and stresses that often impact on the socially excluded much more than any other group.

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Photo by Kiss Brian Abraham

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6. Programming Strategies.

6.1. The Human Rights Based Approach.

AA Zambia will use the human rights based approach in all its programming. The starting point will be raising rights consciousness among rights holders, and that our actions will be people centered and will recognize the need to shift power from government to its citizens. The key components of this approach of empowerment,

solidarity and campaigning will be at the core of our work.

6.2. The Centrality of Women.

Acknowledging that women are the majority of people living in poverty and bear the brunt of poverty, AA Zambia recognizes the need to place women at the center of its work. AA Zambia will therefore ensure that in all it programmes, there is a clear focus on women and girls not as beneficiaries, but as key drivers and facilitators of change. AA Zambia will further ensure that the right kind of gender analysis is undertaken to inform its programming.

6.3. Effective Participation of Citizens.

Building on its experience of mobilization of communities, particularly mobilizing women in 'Family Circles', AA Zambia will build on and adapt this concept as a model for ensuring meaningful and active participation of communities. AA Zambia will also continue to push for the legal recognition of community based structures as platforms for citizen's engagement in governance and development discourses.

6.4. Campaigning.

AA Zambia will undertake campaigns as a key strategy to achieve its objectives. AA Zambia recognizes the power that lies in campaigning, and particularly when these campaigns are driven by and supported by citizens themselves. Over the strategy period, AA Zambia intends to undertake 3 major campaigns on tax justice, land rights and child marriages. AA Zambia will use campaigns as a means to consistently draw attention to specific issues for others to support and increase the number of voices raising the issues, and will ensure that the campaigns are effective and compel duty bearers to respond.

AA Zambia will also work with and use the youth movement, Activists, as a platform to involve youths in the AA Zambia campaigns.

6.5. Strategic Partnerships.

AA Zambia will build strategic partnerships nationally, regionally and internationally. At national level, AA Zambia will identify likeminded organizations with the core values of AAI. These partnerships will be built on strong principles of holding each other accountable to our values, mission, vision and on mutual trust and respect to achieve our objectives. In this regard, AA Zambia will over the strategic period continue to review and improve its partnership policy and will establish mechanisms for effective feedback and review of partnerships, .AA Zambia will work with partners that have national reach, with capacities and commitment to meaningfully link their work to the local level and are able to effectively mobilize citizens to participate in initiatives, and will nurture community based organizations and support them to evolve into vibrant organizations working with and supporting people living in poverty AA Zambia will work with partners with their networks, coalitions and constituencies on its policy advocacy work and its campaigns, and will also ensure that some of the partners take a lead on these campaigns.

AA Zambia will collaborate with other local, national and international organizations and enter to partnership agreements for the specific purposes even when no funding relationships exist with such institutions. This includes think tanks, research institutions, media bodies, etc.

6.6. Federated Approach.

Over the strategy period, AAZ will explore ways of bringing women and their movements together and work with them to ensure that there is effective mobilization in the districts where AA Zambia works. This is based on the understanding that rights based work requires mobilization of a critical mass of citizens who are then able to effectively 19

engage and pressure duty bearers to be responsive.

Therefore, mobilizing small groups of community members may limit their ability to influence beyond their communities.

This approach will therefore strive to bring groups across districts and programmes where we work into federal structures that will also enable them earn the right to be recognized and included in district, provincial and national level decision making and development platforms.

AA Zambia will also ensure clear links with other members of the ActionAid International Federation and the federal structure, and in particular, AA Zambia will contribute to sharing knowledge and lessons learnt in implementing activities in this strategy with the rest of the AAI federation, will contribute to and participate actively in activities of the federation and will support links beyond the federation to other regional and global entities. In this way, AA Zambia will enhance its voice and reach on matters that have regional and international reach and impact.

6.7. Working with Children and Youths.

AA Zambia recognizes children as rights holders in their own right and not as appendages of their parents or guardians. AA Zambia also recognizes the evolving capacities of children and that children have the ability to contribute and participate in shaping decisions that affect them. AAZ will scale up the children's rights clubs and the children's councils that have been initiated as a model for child participation, and will ensure that these are genuinely child led.

Further, AA Zambia recognizes the youth as primary change agents. In all its work, AA Zambia will aim to have a clear method of including the youth in campaigns. In this context, AA Zambia will encourage and motivate 'self organized' youth groups, and will ensure that in all engagements with young people, clear road maps are developed with key milestones set so that youths are consistently engaged. AA Zambia will also endeavor to integrate youths in all areas where their voice and participation is key. The Activists movement supported by AA Zambia will be used as a key platform to bring together youths from various spheres and as a tool for youths in other organizations to work together on key national issues or campaigns.

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7. Programme Implementation Arrangements.

Regional/global networks/coalitions/links

National Level Partners/ National Policy Work

Local Partner Organizations managing Local Rights Programmes (AA Zambia operational districts)

Local Rights Programmes (AA Zambia operational districts)

Provincial/District units, partners, networks and coalitions, rights holders

Movements and groups, rights holders District level and community based partners, movements and groups, rights holders

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8. Strategic Priorities.

The detailed contextual analyses, various consultations and review processes have helped inform the strategic priorities outlined below. The main goal for ActionAid International, and indeed for ActionAid Zambia is to end poverty and injustice, and so the priorities that are set forth in this strategy respond to this goal, but are also born out of a realization that many development actors, including government, have tried various models that would help the country address the problem of poverty, but success has been largely elusive. AA Zambia priorities have therefore taken into consideration these development paradigms and also the socio-cultural realities that continue to be pose a challenge in the development of the country.

A

ctionaid Zambia's basic approach of working within a rights based framework, our theory of change that places critical mobilization and empowerment of communities, coupled with a strong focus on campaigning will drive implementation of the priorities.

AA Zambia will work on four key priorities as follows:

1 2

. Advancing Women's Rights.

. Promoting Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources Management.

3 4

. Education and Youth Engagement.

. Inclusive and Participatory Governance.

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8.1. Advancing Women's Rights.

Portrait of a Typical Zambian Woman AA Zambia's decision to focus on advancing women's rights is informed by the typical status of a Zambian woman as an individual, a family member and as a citizen.

Strategic Objective: To empower women to understand and claim their rights and to enhance their ability to engage in decision making processes in matters that concern them.

AA Zambia will work to promote the rights of women in Zambia. In particular, AA Zambia will focus on advancing women's safety and control over their bodies to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls.

The typical Zambian woman has no voice, faces various forms of discrimination, violence and is often a victim of negative customary practices that dictates the role of women. She has little or no control over her body, land, natural resources and means of production. She also has no control over her time and is unable to participate in major decision making processes in and out of the home.

The typical Zambian woman also faces the responsibility of caring and providing for her children and her family, and provides much of the labour for agriculture and other activities within the home.

AA Zambia “The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it.� -Roseanne Barr

AA Zambia will work to support women have a voice both in and outside of their homes and enhance their ability to participate in decision making processes by bringing women together and creating safe spaces and platforms through which women will interact, organize and act.

AA Zambia will explore ways and opportunities to inspire and motivate women to participate in public life, and more importantly to demand fulfillment of their rights, including the right to own land, property and other resources.

To do this work will require effective mobilization and participation of women, and so AA Zambia will mobilize women from the smallest unit utilizing the 'family circles' approach which brings women who are as closely as possible, homogenous, are in close proximity, face similar challenges. This makes it possible to consistently and regularly engage and build capacity of the women.

AA Zambia also recognizes and acknowledges the existence of other organizations, particularly civil society organizations, networks and coalitions working with women, and so will work with and through such entities.

This work will also require to work closely with and influence traditional and religious leaders, and most importantly, it requires deliberate and vigorous engagement with policy makers.

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Key Change Promises

1 2 3

. By 2017, AA Zambia will have ensured that 2 million women have and utilize information, to stop violence and harmful traditional practices that perpetuate violence against women and they will have accessed and received relevant support and services.

. By 2017, AA Zambia will have ensured that 500 000 women have access to, own and control land and other means of production in their own right and undertake alternative livelihood activities to enhance economic capacities and have increased incomes.

. By 2017, AA Zambia will have ensured that 2 million women have gained knowledge and skills and effectively participate in decision making processes from local to national level structures.

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8.2. Promoting Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources Management.

Photo by Kiss Brian Abraham

Portrait of a Typical Zambian Smallholder Farmer The typical Zambian smallholder farmer is dependent on rain-fed agriculture, producing mainly maize both for consumption and for sale but never enough to sustain the household or raise the needed income. The typcal farmer is also dependent on input and fertiliser support provided by government on credit, but a good proportion of these farmers are unable to access this facility due to lack of information, and often unable to pay fees demanded by cooperatives or farmers associations through which this support is channeled.

The typical smallholder farmer is often unable to access extension support to improve farming methods.

The typical smallholder farmer also lives far from main roads and markets, and with limited infrastructure and is therefore unable to produce large quantities of perishable crops for sale, The typical farmer also utilise food preservation methods that often destroy nutritional contents.

The smallholder farmer also uses

Strategic Objective: To promote climate smart agricultural practices and enhance natural resource management for food security and sustainable livelihoods among rural smallholder farmers, particularly women.

AA Zambia will work to advance climate smart agricultural practices for smallholder farmers with a core focus on women. Low cost and sustainable agriculture farming methods will therefore be supported and piloted, particularly on the aspect of reducing labour and drudgery where such methods have been a challenge in the past, especially for women.

AA Zambia will also work to support crop diversification, specifically production of other high nutritional value food crops both for consumption and for sale. AA Zambia will use lessons learnt from implementing the EU funded Project for Reduction of Nutritional Vulnerability (PRUVEN) which saw a significant increase and self-sufficiency in a diverse range of vegetables in one district that was previously dependent on seasonal vegetables, with only a few managing to buy vegetables brought in from other districts at high cost. AA Zambia will also focus on value addition and supporting better food preservation methods.

Additionally, AA Zambia will work with the government Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) to ensure adaptive extension support services are provided not just in operational areas, but nationally, through engagement of government at national level and through the sector advisory group on agriculture.

AA Zambia will also support off season farming activities, and will therefore work with others to support small scale irrigation schemes. There will also be a focus on small livestock restocking, and work around supporting public financing for agriculture, which will include strengthening of the civil society platform on CAADP. 25

methods and undertakes other livelihood initiatives that are harmful to the environment, but is dependent on the environment for survial.

The smallholder farmers is also significantly affected by adverse weather conditions.

The typical Zambian farmer is also often female!

“The first farmer was the first man. All historic nobility rests on possession and use of land.�

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

AA Zambia will contribute to the AA global campaign on land grabs by providing case studies, sharing lessons, experiences and knowledge on work around land rights, particularly women's land rights. AA Zambia policy work will focus on agriculture financing and pro poor agriculture programmes such as farmer input support programme and fertilizer support programme.

AA Zambia will also focus on supporting community based natural resource management, including enhancing adaptive capacities of smallholder farmers, and supporting initiatives to leverage funding for climate adaptation and opportunities emerging in climate smart livelihood initiatives. In order to ensure proper accountability and good governance in the use of natural resources, AA will engage local communities, stakeholders and partners in advocating for people-centered natural resource based initiatives (such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation-REDD as they impact on land rights and livelihoods AA Zambia will work to advance climate smart agricultural practices for smallholder farmers, particularly women.

Key Change Promises

1 2

. By 2017, AA Zambia will have enhanced capacity of 100 000 smallholder farmers to practice better and sustainable agriculture methods and will influence agriculture policies in their favor and will have increased food production and food security. . By 2017, AA Zambia will have built the capacity of 100 0000 smallholder farmers and communities to adapt and adjust to environmental change and climate variability and will have sustainably used and benefited from available natural resources.

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8.3. Education and Youth Engagement.

Potrait of a Typical Zambian Child The reality of childhood today is characterized by abuse, hunger and poverty. The typical Zambian child will have limited access to education, and will spend only a few years in school, The typical Zambian child will attend public schoos or community schools with poor infrastructure, little or no teaching and learning aids and materials and is unable to say anything to school authorities or other decision makers to improve conditions. In addition, the typical Zambian child often lacks adequate support from the family to meet school requirements and there is little or no support from government for the child to continue education, particularly after basic education.

The typical Zambian child is not aware of her/his rights and is often subjected to corporal punishment both at school and in the home. Outside the school, the typical Zambian child will also contribute to the functioning and survival of the household through provision of labor for agriculture, vending of food stuffs and other commodities, and collecting of seasonal fruits and foods for consumption and income generation for the household and to meet school

Strategic Objective: To influence government policies, plans and actions to increase access and enhance quality of education, particularly for girls and to enhance the advancement and participation of youths as drivers of change Using the ActionAid International Promoting Rights in Schools (PRS) framework and will have a strong focus on girls education. AA Zambia will focus on 4 key areas:

1 2 3 4

Promoting a safe and non-violent environment for children in schools and in communities;

Promote non-discrimination;

Support children's participation and;

Promote transparent and accountable schools.

AA Zambia will pilot innovations and models that will be the basis for influencing government and stakeholders to develop and implement relevant polices, revise plans and initiate actions to take on board these models.

AA Zambia will not as of necessity, support infrastructure development, but will 28

requirements.

The typical Zambian youth is often out of school, with no or limited opportunities for further education or skills training, is unemployed with little prospects of employment and is also highly disaffected and has no opportunities to meaningfully engage decision makers who are perceived to be unresponsive to the rights of youths.

The typical youth is also unable to access any form of credit, and for survival, depends mainly on petty trading, wage labor on commercial farms and other industries. The typical youth will also enter marriage early, particularly for the female youth, will have children early and quickly transition into adulthood, providing both for immediate and extended family. “Education, then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equaliser of conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery�.

- Horace Mann

do so only as a means to realize rights, to influence resource allocation for infrastructure and to leverage government action on infrastructure development. AA Zambia recognizes the need to work with various stakeholders and so will work with government education and school authorities, parents/guardians and children, teachers and their unions, traditional and religious leaders.

For youth engagement, AA Zambia will focus on building the Activists network and will utilize this platform to build solidarity among youths and to enhance their ability to lead and participate in tax justice and relevant key campaigns initiatives. Policy and advocacy work will focus on quality education, provision of free basic education, budget allocation to the sector Additionally, AA Zambia will support the strengthening of youth networks in Zambia, particularly their governance and financial management systems, to make them viable and vibrant and support them to identify and step into spaces for engagement with decision makers to advance issues affecting them. AA Zambia will support youth skills development, apprenticeships and internship programmes in order to create livelihood opportunities for youths and enhance work experience to support youth employment.

Key Change Promises.

1

By 2017, AA Zambia will have influenced the development/revision of education policies and programs to support access, retention and progression of 100 000 children, half of whom will be girls and communities will have actively engaged in monitoring educational outcomes and support children's learning.

2 3

.By 2017, AA Zambia will have ensured that 350 school and community zones have established school and community based child protection systems that result in reduction of violence against children, especially girls, in schools, homes and the community. .By 2017, AA Zambia will have ensured that a vibrant movement of 25 000 youths engages in critical dialogue, pioneers innovation and is providing effective leadership in shaping the development agenda and promoting good governance increasing livelihood and employment opportunities for youths.

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8.4 Inclusive and Participatory Governance.

Photo by Kiss Brian Abraham

Portrait of a Typical Zambian Citizen The typical Zambian citizen is politically passive, and often afraid to engage or challenge those in authority, and will participate in governance of the country mainly through elections. The Zambian citizenioften disappointed that those elected renegade on their campaign promises, and are powerless to hold them to account. Worse still, the typical citizenhas limited information and access to structures or platforms for engagement and is usually unaware of such opportunities. The basic response for AAZ is to build active citizens and strengthen the responsiveness of those in decision making positions.

‘If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost.'

- Aristotle

Strategic Objective: To enhance the ability of women and men to participate in and influence decision making processes around development policies and programmes in favor people who are excluded and those living in poverty AA Zambia actions will emphasize transferring power and authority from a few elites and centralized structures to the broader citizenry and to local and inclusive structures.

The AA Zambia governance programme has two pillars – one on participatory democracy, in particular, deepening democracy starting at the local level is at the core of the AA Zambia's governance work, and the other on economic justice with particular emphasis on tax justice.

AA Zambia will work to support and influence the creation of systems and platforms, through which citizens can effectively engage government, can demand and achieve accountability. AA Zambia will work with partners to empower citizens to come together and mobilize around issues that affect their daily lives. AA Zambia will stand together with CSOs demanding progressive changes in Zambia.

To do this, AA Zambia will also pay attention to working in partnership with other CSOs, oversight, human rights and other institutions of good governance in order to uphold the rule of law and to provide effective safeguards for citizens in the course of their engagement, as fear of reprisals is a major obstacle in citizens engagement.

The economic justice pillar will be geared towards addressing problems of resource generation by government particularly through cooperate taxes and effective management and harnessing of natural resources. AA Zambia will work with partners to take up local and national advocacy work to ensure

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equitable taxation policies for individuals, small businesses and large national and multi-national corporations. This area of work is important for any engagement on redistribution in the face of resource constraints. Better tax regimes and administration will increase national and local revenue.

AA Zambia will work with key partners and communities to strengthen their ability to analyze policies engage in budget tracking and planning processes and policy development. In particular, the Auditor General and the Public Accounts Committees will be the focus of advocacy work to ensure that wrong-doings are addressed and corrective measures are adopted.

ActionAid Zambia will implement a Tax Justice campaign at national level, but will also contribute significantly to the ActionAid International tax justice campaign by contributing knowledge, case studies, influencing regional and international groupings and sharing best practices in campaigning.

Key Change Promises

1 2

. By 2017, AA Zambia will have ensured 2 million people, led by women and youth, will have participated in and influenced decision making processes through inclusive, legal and effective local and national level structures and will have benefited from enhanced and increased basic social services delivery

. By 2017, AA Zambia will have ensured that 2 million people living in poverty, particularly women have improved access to basic social services as a result of enhanced Government revenue through effective tax policies, transparency and accountability in resource distribution and utilization.

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9.Organisational Objectives.

AA Zambia recognises that to fulfil the change promises made in this strategy, there needs also to be a clear focus on the organisation's systems, processes and capacities, and even more importantly, that adequate resources are mobilised to deliver on this strategy. This will require AA Zambia to enhance its downward and upward accountability, and its ability to demonstrate changes that take place as a result of its interventions.

For this strategic period, AA Zambia has set out in this strategy 8 organisational priorities that will enhance the delivery of this strategy as follows:

1. Human Resource and Organisational Capacity Development.

2. Programme Quality and Impact Assessment.

3. Financial Management.

4. Fundraising.

5. Communication and Technology.

6. Internal Governance.

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9.1. Human Resource and Organisational Capacity Development.

Rationale.

The country programme is cognizant of the competition to attract and retain the best talent on the labour market, which is offered by other players within the sector as well as limitations which are imposed by the legislative framework and financial constraints. Given this outlook, AAIZ will be open to change through a complete process of organizational re-engineering and cultural re-modeling. This process will be characterized by continuous competence assessment of current and future leadership and staff capacities in light of programming aspirations. Thus the

main focus will be on moving the human resource function from operational to strategic management.

Strategic Objective.

To attract, develop, motivate and retain a diverse pool of staff and volunteers within a supportive, safe and secure work environment; based on systems which connect individual performance to mission objectives through continuous improvement, organizational effectiveness and harnessing the potential of women to take up leadership positions.

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9.1.1. People for Change.

Rationale AA Zambia will use this programme to enhance capacities of staff, partners and rights holders to work on the priorities set forth in this document. Therefore over the strategy period, the focus will be on placing Advisors and Inspires for both long term and short term strategic skills and knowledge transfer, which will in turn help partners and communities to translate skills acquired into programmatic actions to end poverty.

that staff and partners fully understand and are able to work with human rights based approach in practice. Other areas will be strengthening capacities around women's rights work and building power and voice of communities, strengthening work around accountability and budgets, especially at the local level and also skills in research and effective campaigning.

Strategic Objective

Further, AA Zambia will fully exploit opportunities for capacity building offered by the Training Center for Development Cooperation (TCDC) so that the emphasis of the organization's work with partners and rights holders can be placed on long term development interventions to break the cycle of poverty. AA Zambia will also invest in ensuring

To promote and facilitate knowledge and skills transfer, collective learning and actions to end poverty by global citizens and south-south linkages.

Some Organizational Actions

Key Organizational Results

Develop effective linkages between the People for Change unit and Programmes unit to ensure that Inspirators and Advisors are recruited and placed with partners and LRPs in a timely manner.

People for Change unit aligned with Programmes unit, and placement of Inspirators done in time.

Exchange information, share experiences and build local and international alliances.

Cross-cultural alliances and networks engaged in campaign and lobby activities addressing local, national and global issues related to poverty and inequality are promoted

Create greater awareness on the People for Change concept among partners, LRPs and other stakeholders.

Inspirator placements scaled up to cover more partners and LRPs. Partners and LRPs access required skills readily and costeffectively

Develop and implement the plan for receiving, placing, monitoring and evaluating participants in the People for Change programme to further strengthen the existing processes.

Document processes and lessons learnt by operationalizing the connectivity/linkages to ensure that every opportunity is taken to make the connections across different placements.

Hub for lessons learnt created, and knowledge useful to other partners and LRPs available and utilized.

Build the capacity of the programme unit, partners and LRPs in the development of Terms of Reference for the speedy placement of personnel (Advisors and Inspirators).

Lead time for placement of personnel reduced and placements done timely.

Identify training needs and support training for staff, partners and relevant stakeholders.

Capacity of staff and other stakeholders to implement the programme enhanced.

Support the Mid Term Volunteers programme.

Global citizenship promoted.

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9.2. Programme Quality and Impact Assessment.

Rationale.

AA Zambia recognizes that to deliver an effective programme requires a commitment to ensure programme quality. So far, it has been difficult to monitor the impact of our work due to the absence of a monitoring and evaluation system. AA Zambia will therefore invest in putting in place a clear monitoring and evaluation framework that will take into consideration the global framework being developed by the ActionAid International Federation to enable AA Zambia report on and access its own contribution to the global programme. The framework will be guided by the federations Accountability, Learning and Planning System (ALPS). AA Zambia also recognizes that its main approach, the Human Rights Based Approach requires a robust monitoring framework that will provide clear indication of positive changes that take place, any undesired impacts of the rights based work, and therefore will require a commitment to quickly respond and address any challenges encountered.

Strategic Objective.

To enhance efficiency, effectiveness, costconsciousness in programme delivery and build the evaluative capacity of staff and partners AAIZ and promote sharing of results for evidence based administrative and programmatic decision making and actions..

Key Organizational Actions

1 2 3

Dedicate a focal point person for programme quality and move towards establishing a fully-fledged unit by the third year of the strategy.

Develop a results-based M & E framework (integrate ALPS principles, HRBA standards, REFLECT and other key programming principles in the M & E system) Build capacity of staff, partners and volunteers to understand the framework (partners will be at liberty to adapt framework but will need to understand what will be required of them in relation to work supported

by AA Zambia) and provide ongoing technical guidance in the use of a results-based framework.

4

Conduct quarterly assessments on compliance with the global monitoring framework

5 6 7 8 9 10

Systematize and integrate the writing of stories of change in reporting by staff and partners.

Conduct quarterly assessments and review of AAIZ monitoring framework and its compliance with the global monitoring framework Conduct bi annual participatory review and reflection processes as part of the implement of the M&E framework.

Conduct baselines at both country and LRP level to ascertain starting points of our key indicators and establish realistic and attainable targets/benchmarks for the CSP and LRP strategies.

Conduct midterm external review of the strategy, as well as the peer reviews.

. Undertake all other ALPS processes as required.

Key Organizational Results

1 2 3 4 5

A complete results-based M & E framework, with indicators and baselines is in place and utilized by the second quarter of 2013.

Staff and volunteers are trained in the new HRBA and M & E system.

Quarterly assessments on compliance with the global monitoring framework are conducted.

Thematic based research works are carried out and information is shared for evidence based policy advocacy and action.

AA Zambia reports and documentation clearly show changes, have both qualitative and quantitative data.

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6 7 8

Programme implementation reviewed bi-annually as a result of lessons learnt.

AA Zambia produces at least 3 key learning documents on an annual basis.

AA Zambia is compliant to ALPS requirements.

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9.3. Financial Management.

Rationale.

Zambia is a developing country, as such the economic environment is dynamic, and the changes in the economic landscape will affect the financial reporting framework.

Therefore effective financial management is important not just for accountability, but from the perspective of AA Zambia it is an important measure of how well the programme will deliver on this strategy. A key focus will therefore be on expenditure performance, taking into account cost consciousness; value for money, reporting challenges as a result of rebasing of the local currency, fluctuations in the levels of inflation and indeed results achieved with available resources. AA Zambia is committed to improving and enhancing financial management over this strategic period and beyond. This will require a strict adherence to AAI global policies and local policies and procedures on financial management such as maintaining the support-cost ratio at less than 15%; and optimally managing staff costs among others. AA Zambia will also ensure a strong focus in contracts management, ensuring strict compliance and adherence to grant and contracts guidelines as provided in the agreements.

AA Zambia's status as an associate member of the AAI federation also provides for checks and balances through the presence of a board that has a financial oversight function.

AA Zambia will additionally focus on supporting partners to enhance the financial management and accountability systems and revise and institute adequate measures to monitor and assess partner expenditures and reporting.

Strategic Objective To improve financial and risk management, strengthen internal controls and compliance and effective reserve management.

Key Organizational Actions

1 2

Ensure effective participation of staff partners and rights holders in planning and budgeting processes and monitoring.

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Strengthen grants management with a clear framework for grants management in place.

Build capacity of budget holders to interpret budgets and reports.

Build capacity and support partners develop effective financial management systems.

Build and support a strong control environment to ensure value for money.

Review and update financial systems, policies and practices through regular risk assessment and mitigation.

Undertake regular and systematic risk assessment and management.

Strengthen board capacity to review financial information, approve reports and plans.

Key Organizational Results

1 2 3 4

Accountability and transparency enhanced.

Budgets and programmes effectively implemented.

Financial leakages, fraud and misapplication eliminated.

Undertake timely audits and timely review and mplementation of audit recommendations.

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Timely financial reporting.

9.4. Fundraising (Financing the CSP) Rationale.

The other important factor to consider is the state of national economies in major donor countries. The Euro zone crisis has seen a corresponding decline in inflows from developed countries. Therefore, AA Zambia will strategically reposition itself by way of seeking pragmatic alternatives for the financing of the CSP. In this context, fundraising will move from a mere operational level to a strategic level, and will also focus on mobilizing resources nationally, and also leveraging funding in support of AA Zambia priority areas.

AA Zambia will also focus on raising more flexible funding that will support and be consistent with its rights based work. The plan is to increase partnership and high value income to 50% as percentage of overall income to bring in a good balance with regular giving income to sustain the percentage from 2013 onwards.

9.4.1. Institutional Partnership.

Strategic Objective To attract and retain funding and maintain the balance of restricted and unrestricted funding for AAZ's work.

Key Organizational Actions

1 2 3 4

Build the capacity of staff to develop strong funding proposals at national and LRP levels.

Action Aid Zambia will ensure that the terms and conditions of funding agreements, procedures and timetable for reporting are mutually acceptable as well as ensuring that staff will receive appropriate training in contract management.

Undertake donor scoping, intelligence, & enhance donor relations.

Develop and regularly update funding strategy

5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 I

Improve documentation and dissemination of AA Zambia's work particularly demonstrating the results of programme work for the purpose of attracting cooperating partners.

The financial health status of AA Zambia will determine the extent to which this CSP will be executed. As a non-profit organization that relies on external support, AA Zambia is fully aware of the underlying vulnerabilities that ensue when donors give less or in instances where donors change their priorities.

Explore and build joint partner funding initiatives with other organizations, both local and international and relevant private sector actors Participate in cooperating partners meetings to identify new funding opportunities

Key Organizational Results Non-regular funding increased by more than 50% of the total inflows over the CSP period.

Donor retention increased - considered as important stakeholders in ActionAid Zambia's work and are regularly consulted and kept informed of developments and trends in the organization.

Increase in the number of quality winning proposals submitted to various donors locally and internationally.

Reserves increased and the AAZ is compliant to the reserves policy of AAI (the reserve policy requires 2 – 4 months)

Increase in partnership and high value incomes resulting in growth in programmes from the current to at least 50% of the total annual income over the strategy period.

A robust monitoring and evaluation process in place that regularly assess fundraising progress against set targets and goals.

mprovement in the quality of contract management and reports which effectively highlights results, impact and change brought by AAZ contributions.

9.4.2. Regular Giving Rationale As a small country programme, Zambia is yet to maximize

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realization of incomes from child sponsorship. The focus of AA Zambia over this strategic period will be to improve sponsorship activities, to ensure that all communications are timely and are of the right quality. Retention of sponsors is therefore paramount, but also delivering results that will see a quick migration of sponsors from regular giving to more flexible funding to support broader policy goals.

staff.

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Close collaboration with the Programme and policy to ensure joint planning on child focused activities in the LRPs. Programme implementation reflects active engagement and participation of children in the decision making and governance processes that affect them. Using CS processes such as CMs, photo updates as opportunities for engaging communities and raising awareness to support programme.

AA Zambia will also endeavor to make child sponsorship more meaningful and engaging for children and their families, rather than extractive. AA Zambia will also continue raising awareness among communities on its sponsorship model that does have direct benefits for children and their families, and does not focus on service delivery.

AA Zambia will work to enhance its own capacity and that of partners and volunteers involved in sponsorship work.

Strategic Objective To increase efficiency and quality of sponsorship management, retain supporters and ensure meaningful participation of children and families in sponsorship processes.

Key Organizational Actions

1 2 3 4 5

Provide ongoing training for staff, partners and volunteers in sponsorship processes

Conduct awareness campaigns among children and communities on how sponsorship works and fully implement the principles of the re-invigorating child sponsorship. Ensure that gift fund is utilized on activities that help achieve this.

Ongoing communication and support to LRP sponsorship work for consolidation of current links (maintaining 1, 500 child links per LRP).

Capacity building for LRPs staff and volunteers to deepen understanding on the sponsorship policy (what is involved), child messages (how to capture moving messages), child profile collection (what is involved), photography, etc.

7 8

Integrate child sponsorship with programme and policy work

Conduct monthly, quarterly review sponsorship performance and timely implement recommendations of such reviews.

Key Organizational Results

1 2 3 4 5

Children and communities understand how child sponsorship works, participate effectively and benefit from child sponsorship activities.

Zambia maintains zero backlogs on all sponsorship communications and deliverables.

Capacities of staff, partners and volunteers enhanced to effectively undertake child sponsorship activities.

Quality of sponsorship communications significantly improves leading to high sponsor retention

Sponsorship aligned to all programme and policy work.

Develop the sponsorship performance criteria with clearly laid down sanctions for poor performance and integrating this in job descriptions and performance objectives of relevant programme/LRP

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10. Communication and Technology 10.1. Information Technology As detailed in the communication strategy, AA Zambia has seen the need to scale up use of effective communication for advocacy, campaigns and lobbying to enhance its effectiveness in ending poverty together.

Photo by Kiss Brian Abraham

The digital convergence and proliferation of VVOIP [video, voice over IP] capable devices in both mobile and desktop platforms alongside ongoing improvements in connectivity nationally, will help AA Zambia reach out better.

AA Zambia will therefore invest in modern information Technology infrastructure to enhance its collaborative capacity for district, provincial, national and international level.

This will include but not limited to the following;

Rationale AA Zambia has hitherto implemented a lot of progressive programmes both at national level and in the local rights programme, but documentation and dissemination of these initiatives has been weak.

Over the strategy period, AA Zambia will invest in developing a communication strategy and system that will help to raise the profile of the organization both locally and globally. Enhancing communications is also imperative if AA Zambia is to be an effective member of the ActionAid International federation. AA Zambia will therefore focus on enhancing both internal and external communications.

AA Zambia will also invest in the use of relevant, up to date and cost effective technologies, and ensure effective and safe storage of key documents. AA Zambia will also use this as a way of becoming greener.

AA Zambia will also explore the use of social networking and other tools to disseminate information and mobilization participation in campaign activities.

Key Actions

1 2 3 4 5 6

Purchase new hardware for core applications used for Finance, HR, and other new systems to be implemented.

Upgrade application servers in tune with AAI Global I.T to improve systems integration, information sharing, security and data security.

Upgrade Bandwidth for office connectivity and to the cloud setup for better system performance.

Invest in staff ICT skills enhancement through training, technical presentations on new communication trends and technologies. This we believe will help bring communication costs, improve the skills of all staff, especially the communications team.

Build I.T in LRPs and improve their current hardware and software to match AAI global I.T recommended standard. This will improve information flow from district, provincial, national and international locations.

Explore new ways of running campaigns with a global touch using web based applications to scale campaigns like the tax justice to international levels.

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11. Internal Governance Rationale AAZ is fully alive to its dual-citizenship firstly as a national local organization and secondly as a member of the international federation and also what it must ultimately do to add value to the cause to end poverty and injustice.

AA Zambia will therefore work to ensure that its internal accountabilities within the federation are fully met, and as a local organization, will ensure that all its statutory, legal and other obligations are fully and timely met.

The fulfillment of internal accountabilities will stem from having a national Board, which will provide oversight and guidance to management. The roles of the board and management will be clearly defined. Therefore, the board will provide leadership by continuously and consciously building its capacity.

Strategic Objective To enhance AAZ's corporate governance for effective oversight and support in the implementation of the country strategy.

Key Organizational Actions

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Establish a general assembly and clear plan for recruitment of both board and members of the general assembly, as well as starting the process for to transition from being an Associate to becoming an Affiliate.

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Board and management interface for feedback and guidance.

Provide supportive environment for board to perform all key roles – fiduciary, etc.

Establish protocols for effective board external engagement and representation.

Key Organizational Results Board functions defined and implemented and management/board conflicts managed.

General Assembly established

Good governance practices in AA Zambia

1 2 3 4 5

Build staff and internal capacities to support internal governance activities.

Continuous appraisal of the board's and its committee's functionality.

Develop and implement the governance development plan for the board and management.

Conduct continuous appraisal on senior management.

Induction and conducting corporate governance training programmes for the board.

AA Zambia active member of AAI Federation

AA Zambia compliant and fulfills all statutory obligations.

The board is thoroughly inducted, has developed a board manual and board development plan

AA Zambia governance structures and processes are clear, functional and provide effective oversight and support to the CSP.

Affiliate status achieved by 2015, thereby contributing significantly to shaping the direction of the federation.

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12. Growth Strategy Rationale

AA Zambia, however, hopes to extend influence to provincial levels by linking with relevant structures in the Provinces where LRPs are located and where pilots will be implemented.

AA Zambia will also ensure that work within the LRPs is district wide in character and that there is clear linkage, support and strengthening, engagement of relevant district level structures.

While AAZ will not open new LRPs, there will be an exponential increase in the number of citizens, particularly women and girls, who will be reached through expanded district and national level programmes that will predominantly be implemented through strategic partnership building with likeminded local organizations.

Strategic Objective To Strengthen and consolidate work at district, provincial and national level in order to deepen impact of programmes.

Key Organizational Actions

1 2 3

Hold LRP strategic planning processes and ultimately develop LRP level strategic plans.

Promote inter-LRP collaborative meetings.

Hold LRP and programme level consultative meetings for organizational synergy.

Photo by Kiss Brian Abraham

For this strategy, AA Zambia will focus on consolidating work in current local rights programmes (LRPs) which are the operational districts. AA Zambia will therefore continue working in Mbala, Mpulungu (Northern Province), Mpika, Nakonde (Muchinga Province) and Lukulu, Sesheke and Senanga (Western Province). AA Zambia will work on small scale pilots in other areas such as the Copperbelt, North Western and Southern Provinces largely due to work around extractive industries and land grabs, but in such cases, will work to enhance capacities of local organizations in these areas to take this work forward.

4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5

Plan and implement expansion strategies within groups and linkages with district, provincial and national level structures/initiatives.

Support movement building of for community

Identify various CSO platforms and build strategic alliances for effective engagement with duty bearers.

Key Organizational Results LRP level strategic plans developed.

Inter-LRP collaborative meetings held.

Programme and LRP level synergies built.

Programmes of LRPs expanded alliances built.

CSO platforms identified and strategic LRPs.

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2014