During this period, we have had several cooperating partners that have supported our work of strengthening civil society in Zambia, and the Swedish embassy, through the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), have been one of our most consistent partners. Sida has been with ZGF since inception, pumping in a total of SEK110m (equivalent of around US$13m or ZMW130m) to enable us support civil society in Zambia through both grants and a range of capacity development interventions. The Sida support has seen ZGF sign 173 grant contracts with 95 civil society organisations in all 10 provinces of Zambia, with some impressive results achieved at the different levels where these organisations have been working. For instance, there has been a significant change not only in the type of policy engagement activities CSOs engage in, but also the extent to which many of these activities are initiated by CSOs themselves. For us, CSOs initiating policy engagement activities points to their ability to directly interact with duty bearers, and speaks volumes about how they are accepted as credible actors and stakeholders within Zambia’s policy landscape. To date, there have been more than 1,119 policy engagement activities initiated by CSOs, and this has resulted into more than 440 specific issues being acted upon by duty bearers.
More specifically, the following are some examples of how CSOs supported by Sida through ZGF have successfully influenced duty bearers at different levels to act on specific issues:
• JCTR successfully influenced the upward revision of the tax-free threshold, which was effected in the 2014 budget. JCTR also successfully influenced the revision of the minimum wage, which was based largely on JCTR’s Basic Needs Basket.
• Petauke District Land Alliance worked with communities to successfully enforce the Village Act on formation of development committees. The alliance was also able to influence the recognition of traditional land certificates by chiefs and the local council.
• Jubilee Centre in Ndola influenced the Examinations Council of Zambia through the local education authorities to grant examination centre status to several community schools in the district.
• Retirees Welfare Bureau of Zambia influenced cabinet to put in place the National Policy on Ageing in 2014.
• Luapula Foundation influenced Mwense District Council to introduce a bye-law prohibiting early marriages. Girls in Mwense district were able to claim their rights to education as they were taken back to school through the re-entry policy. A total of 290 girls who had dropped out of school returned to primary school and 64 to secondary school in the period April to June 2013.
ZGF has been in existence since 2009 and a lot has happened in the Zambian civil society landscape since then. Back then, we started out as a funding mechanism intent on just providing finances to civil society organisations, but very quickly realised that enabling civil society organisations to become effective in the work that they do requires more than just throwing money at them. Driven by this realisation, capacity development became an integral part of ZGF’s support to CSOs, benefitting a total of 95 organisations over the last 8 years.
ZGF and SIDA - Celebrating a fruitful partnership by Maurice Nyambe
Tigwepo - October 2017 4
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