Action Aid Zambia: CSO Support

The "Strengthening Civil Society Effectiveness in Promoting Good Governance and Increasing Citizen Awareness and Demand for Human Rights in Zambia" project aimed to enhance citizens' awareness and demand for human rights in Zambia. Implemented by 65 CSOs across all 10 provinces, the project reached 59 137 direct beneficiaries (27 380 male and 31 692 female). Various interventions focused on building beneficiaries' capacity to claim their rights. Below are some examples of specific results that were achieved under each objective. Objective 1: Strengthen CSOs to enhance citizens' civic participation and state accountability for improved governance and public service delivery in Zambia. - The capacity of CSOs and citizens to champion their human rights and demand for state accountability was enhanced. This is evidenced by a noted increase in people demanding for their rights through various calls and campaigns against corruption and increased demands by CSOs for inclusive public management processes. A notable campaign was the yellow card campaign held at parliament in response to widespread corruption by government officials. - The project significantly influenced the repeal of the restrictive Public Order Act, the voting against the problematic Bill 10 by parliament and the repeal and replacement of the unprogressive NGO Act of 2009. - The project contributed to significant inclusion of citizens in decision making processes and monitoring of Government projects through the constituency development (CDF). This has greatly contributed to the improvement in service provision and redistribution of resources. - Increased youth voter turnout and the number of young people who participated in politics to vie for leadership positions. - Increase in participation of women and youths in decision making structures. Objective 2: Strengthen CSOs and citizens roles in promoting transparency and accountability in public finance management and institutional governance systems. - Training in accountability tools like Social Accountability tools and Score Cards enabled citizens and CSOs to monitor government spending, identify corruption and engage service providers for solutions. - AAZ influenced the amendment of the Public Procurement Act to include progressive provisions that promote value for money such as introduction of a Market Price Index. The Market Price Index provides the prices for commonly traded goods and services. This ensures that there is price reasonableness analysis to avoid price fixing which results in loss of Government revenue. Objective 3: Strengthen the capacity of CSOs and citizens in holding the Government accountable for enforcing policies and regulations for sustainable Natural Resource (NR) management and climate justice. - The Community Natural Resources Management Committees (CNRMs) that were established and trained have continued to play a critical role in raising awareness and protection of the environment. - AAZ influenced the inclusion of Agroecology in the National Agricultural Policy and expanding of Agricultural Extension Services. - CSOs, citizens and government are now taking actions to promote the protection of natural resources and adopting of climate smart resilient strategies aimed at improving food sovereignty. - Cancellation of proposed mining in the Lower Zambezi National Park. After over a decade of the legal battle against the controversial proposal to conduct large-scale mining activities in the Lower Zambezi National Park by Mwembeshi Resources Limited, the government of Zambia took action by cancelling the project. This was due to the various advocacy efforts and campaigns that were carried out by environmental activists. One of the prominent activists was Mr. Robert Chimambo, a partner that ActionAid Zambia through the Sida project supported through litigation fees between January and February 2022. Objective 4: Strengthen the capacity of CSOs and citizens to demand improved policies and programmes that promote inclusiveness and accessibility to health services. - Drop-in centers for young people were established, providing information and referrals for sexual and reproductive health services and reducing homophobic attacks by emphasizing human rights awareness. Access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services increased due to heightened awareness among young people. - Increased advocacy capacity for young people from excluded communities enabled them to engage with the government and health sector stakeholders. Objective 5: Increase CSOs' institutional capacity, compliance, and accountability among partner Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Zambia. - A successful sub-granting process which enabled AAZ to create a collective network of 60 local organizations that successfully implemented interventions which contributed to the achievement of the overall project results. - AAZ introduced strategic litigation support to partners through Chapter One Foundation (CoF) to among other issues be able to respond to the shrinking civic and political space.

This proposal is intended to contribute to strengthened democratic accountability and transparency, and increased awareness and demand for human rights in Zambia with a particular focus on civic and political participation, anti-corruption; environment and climate change governance and health rights and accountability. The following are the outcomes of the project: Outcome 1: Strengthened CSOs capacity to enhance citizens’ civic participation and state accountability for improved governance and public service delivery in Zambia.Outcome 2: Strengthened CSOs and citizen’s role in promoting transparency and accountability in public finance management and institutional governance systems. Outcome 3: CSOs and citizens have strengthened capacity in holding government accountable in the enforcement of policies and regulations for sustainable natural resource management and climate justice. Outcome 4: Access to better health is promoted through strengthened capacity of CSOs and citizens to demand for accountability in the provision of quality health care. Outcome 5: Increased CSOs institutional capacity, compliance and accountability among partner Civil Society Organization (CSOs) in Zambia.