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| Zambia's PRSP implementation and its priorities |
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2. Participation of Civil Society in the PRSP Process
The formulation of the PRSP in Zambia has largely been consultative and civil society has indeed participated in the development of the document. In particular, civil society ensured that broader views from the rural stakeholders were collected. However, we still express our disappointment regarding the reluctance of government to include civil society at all levels of decision making on the PRSP such as the PRSP Technical Committee. This indeed dilutes our confidence in the partnership with government. It is obvious that the task of poverty reduction is larger than what can be handled by any single organization or institution, and success lies in united action. Reducing the poverty of the suffering poor is not an undertaking of individual heroes or saviours, it is a call for us all, for service to humanity.
With respect to civil society’s participation in the PRSP process, we wish to put on record our further disappointment with Government for not seeking consensus on the final PRSP before submission to the World Bank and IMF as earlier agreed. While we appreciate and understand Government’s eagerness to address the problems of poverty, it is our considered view that this should not be to the detriment of long lasting partnerships that have been forged in the recent past. The poverty suffered by the Zambians today is not along the lines of political or partisan boundaries and it is important that we all speak with one voice in our efforts to ultimately eradicate poverty in the country.
Another process which definitely requires civil society’s participation includes the national budgeting process. While the PRSP document was developed with considerable participation by a wide variety of stakeholders, the 2002 National budget, which in fact allocated resources for implementation of the PRSP, was a closed affair, involving civil servants only. We call on government to immediately implement its proposed proceedings under the Governance chapter of the PRSP. This is to decentralize the national budget process and to ensure broad based participation even on such committees as the Tax Taskforce. Government should institutionalize the culture of consultation. This should not start and end with the PRSP. Civil society urges government to extend this culture of consultation to other processes, which include among others - Zambia’s participation in NEPAD, Financing for Development, Transitional National Development Plan (TNDP).
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