INFLUENCING POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGIES AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS

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INFLUENCING POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGIES AND
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS A ZAMBIAN CIVIL
SOCIETY EXPERIENCE By Miss. Ivy Mutwale, CSPR

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WHAT IS CSPR?

• Network of CSOs working together for poverty
  eradication
• Network came together in 2000 when Zambia was
  required to prepare PRSP
• Membership organization comprising over a hundred
  CSOs in six provinces Lusaka, Luapula, Western,
  N/Western, Southern and Eastern

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CSPR Cont.

• Main programmes Research and Policy Analysis,
  Information Management Networking (IMN), Civic
  Engagement and Advocacy (CEA) and Governance and
  Institutional Development (GID)
• Members have independent activities aside of
  Network activities strength in joint voice on
  poverty issues
• One core activity of the CSPR is to monitor the
  implementation of the Pro-Poor National
  Development and advocacy around this

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Our Mission To actively and effectively
contribute to poverty eradication and pro-poor
development in Zambia through advocacy for
responsive policy formulation and implementation,
promotion of civic engagement in development
processes, production of poverty related evidence
and data and provision of a platform for
information and knowledge sharing at local,
district, national and international levels.

• Our Vision for CSPR A leading Civil Society
  Network contributing to pro-poor development at
  all levels in Zambia
• Our Vision for Zambia A Zambia in which all
  Zambians enjoy all basic needs

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CSPR AT WORK
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A Governments Invitation to the Table A Civil
Society Engagement Strategy

• PRSP IMPLEMENTATION
• Notable Achievements include
• relevant guiding document for poverty reduction
• attempt to match resources for development
• participatory process
• Notable problems include
• Debt repayments HIPC insufficient
• Donors non fulfillment of pledges
• Competing demands on domestic revenue. Etc
• Inadequate political will
• 2004 was to be final year of 1st PRSP extended
  to 2005. PRSP incorporated in the TNDP i.e.
  PRSP/TNDP
• 2005 PRSP review and new PRSP linked to NDP

• PRSP FORMULATION
• Government consultations through sector working
  groups
• Civil society consultations through thematic
  groups
• CSPR report - A PRSP for Zambia A civil
  society perspective
• Final PRSP (launched in 2002) reflects a fairly
  good amount of civil society concerns for
  fighting poverty a good starting point

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Monitoring Evaluating the PRSP

• Q Is the PRSP achieving what it set out to
  achieve?
• Very Important part of the process
• Why
• Past experiences in programme implementation
  not good
• Lack of effective monitoring can result in low
  levels of implementation, wrong beneficiaries,
  undesired impacts, misallocation and misdirection
  of resources etc
• How -
• Expenditure tracking Monitoring the PRSP monies
• Poverty Monitoring Monitoring the results of
  PRSP Implementation (output and impact).
• Participatory approaches bringing on board the
  poor!! (civil society has a key role to play in
  Monitoring and advocacy around results of
  monitoring)

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Critiques of PRSPs

• Rushed during formulation and slow in
  implementation.
• Capacities of implementers and SAGs need to be
  improved
• Unpredictable resource environment
• Same Macro framework underpinned by
  neo-liberalism (market prices, privatisation
  etc)
• Still top-down rather than bottom up
• Participation of non state actors is often
  limited
• Participation of the poor (intended
  beneficiaries) tends to be through
  representatives.

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Light at the end of the tunnel?

• Generally PRSPs were received with some hope that
  they could actually reduce poverty.
• Do Governments have the political will to use the
  PRSPs to actually benefit the poor or are PRSPs
  being used only for HIPC and donor support?
• There is hope if donors fulfill their pledges,
  and on time
• End of the tunnel will be dark if the IFI
  financing tools remain unchecked PRGF of IMF
  and PRSC of World Bank (a reformulation of
  discredited SAP policies?)
• CSPRs advocacy is targeted at these issues

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Towards a New Plan and a Civil Society
Process Civil society engagement
in the NDP process

• April, 2005, govt roadmap for formulating FNDP
  presented to Civil Society.
• July 2005, a national inception workshop
• Thematic and provincial groups
• August, 2005, Consensus Building Workshop
• A Fifth National Development Plan for Zambia
  2006-2010 A Civil Society Perspective
  launched and presented to Government through the
  Ministry of Finance and the SAGs.
• July, 2006, Government draft FNDP document
• Civil Society Indaba held on 12th July, 2006
• CS response to draft presented at the Government
  National Stakeholders Workshop held on 24th July

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KEY OBSERVATIONS, ACHIEVEMENTS AREAS OF
IMPROVEMENT

• Observations
• need to show linkages with some key previous and
  on-going plans
• Link the FNDP targets to those of the Millennium
  Development Goals (MDGs)
• Specify further some broadly reflected strategies
  
• draft plan did not incorporate the provincial
  recommendations
• Monitoring and Evaluation institutional framework
  in the document does not explicitly show clear
  linkages from the sub-district structures
• government must exhibit the highest show of
  political will

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Areas of Improvement (i) should clearly state
the priority PRPs(ii) M and E institutional
framework should explicitly show clear linkages
from the sub-district (iv) align all existing
policies to the NDP

• Achievements
• process was consultative
• concrete document to guide national development
• monitoring framework outlined in the document
• Inclusion of some relevant chapters e.g
  disabilities

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ALIGNING NATIONAL PLANS TO MDGs

• set of goals that can be achieved if a government
  invests in ensuring the fulfillment of the basic
  needs of its people
• if realised, could put Zambia on the right path
  to the MDGs.
• There is focus, agreement and endorsement
• PRSP, TNDP and FNDP in Zambias case
  (short/medium term plans) are the operational
  framework for achieving the MDGs.
• MDGs long term goals (2000-2015)
• PRSPs strategies for countries to use as means
  to attaining the MDGs.

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Link between MDGs and FNDP?

• even though government alludes to the fact that
  they hope to move closer to achieving the MDGs by
  implementing the NDP, they do not show how they
  intend to do so
• budget of the NDP falls far short of FNDP
• FNDP budget to the social sector is estimated at
  800million dollars per year, while the MDGs
  costing study estimates that Zambia will need to
  spend 1.5 billion dollars per year on social
  sectors alone
• deficit of about 700million dollars!
• Need to ensure the estimate is based on MDG
  attainment

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For Zambia to attain the MDGs

• MDGising the National Policies
• Increased Investments in infrastructure
• Prudent Financial Management
• Scaling of external assistance and fulfillment of
  the important international development compact
• Donor Alignment and Conditionalities
• need to triple up efforts if we are to attain
  the Goals by 2015

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Conclusion
So we urgently need you to do what you do best
Political will shifts only if there is national
and local mobilization by the public, and only
when leaders are held accountable. What would
really make a difference is if, at the local
level, the Goals achieve a critical mass of
support and even become vote-getters. You can
and must help make that happen. If we do not,
millions of people will die, prematurely and
unnecessarily. Thatshould be a call to action.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan

• People driven Planning and Budgeting Key to
  Pro-poor National Development!!