To counter the historically centralized nature of Zambian political power and institutions being confined to a narrow elite of Zambian society, Government has made decentralization by devolution a key piece of its governance strategy. Several policy and institutional initiatives were taken in the past. However, their ability to achieve development impact especially in the rural districts has been limited due to implementation failures, low institutional capacities, and weak incentives for key actors. Government is determined to address these binding constraints through a focused plan that will empower Local Authorities through resources and capacity building. Building upon the existing legal and institutional framework for decentralization such as the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), the Government has adopted a new, comprehensive DIP for 2022-2026. The new plan intends to strengthen the capacities of the local authorities and provide them with adequate financial resources through a strengthened intergovernmental fiscal system. It will also strengthen local accountability as well as citizen engagement.
ZAMBIA DEVOLUTION SUPPORT PROGRAMME TO STRENGTHEN DEVOLUTION IN LOCAL AUTHORITIES.
Government through the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development conducted a sensitization meeting on the eligibility of acquiring the Annual Basic Capital Grant amounting to $200.000 and the subsequent Performance-based Capital Grant valued at $500.000 under the Zambia Devolution Support Program (ZDSP).
The ZDSP is a USD 210 million funded hybrid Programme that seeks to support the Governments Decentralisation agenda by strengthening the financial and institutional capacities of local authorities in Zambia.
The required minimum conditions for councils to access funds are:
1. Submission of the Annual Financial Statement for the previous year for audit by March 31st of the current year.
2. No adverse audit opinion/disclaimer of audit opinion from previous audit;
3. The Council should have the following essential staff in place; Council Secretary, Finance Officer, Procurement Officer, and Planning Officer/ Engineer.
4. The Council’s Procurement Committee must have reviewed the contracts awarded (prior to their award) in the previous Financial year
The development goal is to strengthen the financing, institutional performance and accountability of Councils in Zambia.
The project further seeks to address limitations encountered by Local Authorities in the actualization of the decentralization policy due to the low institutional capacity, weak policy coordination, limited transparency and Accountability and poor service delivery.
With the introduction of capital grants, eligible Councils will be provided with resources to meet their capital investments.
The increased flow of resources to Local Authorities is expected to strengthen governance aspects of decentralization.
The transfer of some government functions and human resource to the Council is aimed at improving service delivery to the people, and improving citizen participation in local governance and developmental issues.
The Zambia Devolution Support Programme (ZDSP) is currently being implemented in local authorities nation-wide with the focus of strengthening devolution.
Project Development Goal is to strengthen the financing, institutional performance and accountability of Town Councils (TCs) in Zambia.
The goal will be achieved through providing of support to eligible Town Councils through capital grants and provision of support to strengthen the institutional performance of Town Councils in their core functional areas of; Public Financial Management, Inter-Governmental Fiscal relations, Performance Management, Accountability of local service delivery and Oversight and monitoring
Financing Type Two types of financing used for the project; (i) Program for Results (P4R)- Covers key result areas and disbursements are directly linked to achievement of tangible verifiable results. (ii) Investment Project Financing – will provide input-based capacity building support and project management activities Key Partners: Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Ministry of Finance, Decentralization Secretariat, Zambia Public Procurement Authority, Office of the Auditor General, Office of the Accountant General and Chalimbana Local Government Training Institute. Timeline: The project will run from 2022 – 2027 Focus Area: Decentralization to strengthen governance and service delivery across the country
Key Result Areas
Result Area 1: Capital Grants to Town Councils
The program will introduce a capital grant window to the inter-governmental fiscal framework, that will provide dedicated resources to Town Councils to meet their capital investments, incentivize institutional performance and enhance accountability of TCs.
Result Area 2: Strengthened Public Financial Management (PFM), Transparency and Accountability of Local Authorities (Las).
The increased flow of resources to LAs necessitate good governance through democratic effective and coherent governance systems and institutions while respecting autonomy of the sub-structures. This will require TCs to carry out their core PFM and procurement functions in an efficient, accountable and transparent manner. This result area is about strengthening governance aspects of decentralization.
Result Area 3: Strengthened Fiscal Framework for Devolution.
The DIP has identified many gaps in the fiscal landscape at the local level including high indebtedness, unsustainable management of debt, dwindling local own resource revenue etc. Keeping in line with the priorities of the Government, the result area three will contribute towards the review and reform of the existing fiscal framework for decentralization such as the review of the intergovernmental resource allocation, and a review of the gaps in the existing policy and practice frameworks for local revenue collection and local debt management.
Result Area 4: Capacity Building of Town Councils.
The Government is reforming the human resource management system and has embarked on a comprehensive capacity development program for LAs to enhance, efficient and quality of service delivery. There exist wide variances in the capacity of TCs across the country. Considering the program design of having TCs to qualify for accessing grants, the TCs are required to be supported with capacity building upfront. The capacity building support will be provided through the IPF
