Save the Children Support 2020

The end of project evaluation commissioned by the Embassy concluded that the DCSSR project was an overall success as it had brought real change to childrens' and and communities' ability to influence duty bearers and had contributed to improved service delivery for rights holders. Some specific results are presented below according to the specific objectives. 1. CSO, children and communities influence budgeting processes for improved spending on children - Children and community members demonstrated increased capacity to engage policymakers to lobby for improved services for children in their communities. - Beyond participation and advocacy for increased budgetary allocations, children and CSOs enhanced the monitoring and evaluation of public spending for children. - In Katete district in Eastern Province, children (boys and girls) presented a Child-Focused budget tracking and service delivery monitoring report during an interface meeting with key stakeholders from various government departments which they used to hold the leaders accountable. - Children trained by Zambia Civic Education Association (ZCEA) in budget tracking, later tracked their school budgets; and shared their findings with partner organizations for continued advocacy and social accountability interventions. 2. Children in the targeted districts benefit from improved quality service delivery in education, health, nutrition, child protection and social protection. - The Constituency Development Fund (CDF) was a signficant platform for engagement by children and communities. This resulted in the improvement in services especially within the context of education as highlighted in some quotes below. The participation of children and having their consistent voice during community interface meetings gave the real perspectives of how our children were suffering and urgency of the issues (such as) limited teachers, children learning under trees and sitting on the floors. -Local Council Among the many issues we have raised was low numbers of teachers at our schools, because we live in a rural area, most teachers dont like living in the village, most teachers shun rural areas like Fifungo but we are happy that (after) the interface meetings, the District Education Board Secretary (DEBS) listened to our cries and gave us five (5) teachers. 17-year-old girl - In Fifungo community between 2021 and 2023, there has been a noticeable increase in awareness and participation among children and their communities, empowering them to engage in advocacy for quality education service delivery. This led to some improvements including the construction of a new 1X3 classroom block, the allocation of five new multi-subject teachers, the procurement of 40 desks and allocation of 90 additional desks to address seating shortages in the school. - Efforts to raise awareness about violence against children have led to increased support from parents and caregivers, particularly towards girls who have been retrieved from early marriages or pregnancies, resulting in six adolescent girls returning to school in 2023. 3. Children benefit from improved legal and policy frameworks that align with and meet regional and international children's rights instruments and mechanisms - The enactment of the Child Code Act No.12 of 2022 stands out as one of the key achievements that the programme directly contributed to. This enactment addressed a long-standing need, given Zambia's ratification of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Children (ACRWC) in 1992 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1991. The program played a direct role in supporting the enactment process by providing technical assistance, submitting memoranda to parliament, and engaging in lobbying efforts. The President of Zambia signed the Childrens Code Act into law in August of 2022, which meant that Zambia finally got a comprehensive legal framework governing childrens matters for the first time in the country's history. The Act, comprising 19 parts and 198 provisions, replaced key laws previously governing different aspects of children's issues. Among other key milestones that the law brought about included aligning child-related legislation with international and regional standards, banning corporal punishment and child marriages, enhancing juvenile justice, and promoting equal treatment for all children. - The National Child Safeguarding Framework was launched in April 2023. It is an operational framework instructing state and non-state actors working with children to ensure that children do not come to harm or and are not exposed to risks that cause violence, abuse or/and exploitation. It also establishes that organizations working with children have a responsibility to report risks or concerns about childrens safety. - The National Child Participation Framework was established in December 2022. It provides procedures to encourage and support child participation at all levels of society, with the idea that childrens views and opinions are to be sought during policy formulation, planning, programming, implementation, monitoring and evaluation thereby leading to improved program design.

The intended outcome of the intervention is that children in Zambia benefit from child-focused legal and policy frameworks, plans, budgets and services for the realisation of their rights.  The main intervention has one strategic objective and three specific objectives as follows: Strategic Objective: Zambia has adequate space for girls and boys, women and men to participate and influence national planning and implementation processes through community-based social accountability, public investment in children's rights and holding government accountable to children's rights. Specific Objectives:1. CSO, children and communities influence budgeting processes for improved spending on children2. Children in the targeted districts benefit from improved quality service delivery in education, health, nutrition, child protection and social protection.3. Children benefit from improved legal and policy frameworks that align with and meet regional and international children's rights instruments and mechanisms Covid-19 Response Plan Overall goal To protect the most vulnerable children and communities from infection, to slow down the transmission, alongside the secondary impacts on non-COVID-19 related health, education and protection.  Specific Objectives  1. To reinforce and support local capacity to prevent and contain wider spread of the COVID-19, as well as mitigate associated risks.  2. Mitigate the social and other associated impacts of the outbreak on communities and children 3. Integrated activities to support the contain and mitigate the impacts of the outbreak on communities and children