Republic of Zambia
Ministry of Gender and Child DevelopmentProgramme for the Promotion and Protection of Women and Children’s rights in Zambia.
2013 - 2016
Programme Document
Ministry of Gender and Child Development
2nd Floor New Government Complex, Lusaka
Date of revision: 16th July 2012
Programme Medium Term outcome / Priority line Ministries and targeted non-state organisations have gender and child responsive Policy, legal and institutional frameworks.
Programme Outcomes / Outcome 1: Provisions of the CEDAW and CRC/ACRWC domesticated and provisions of the Anti-GBV Act implemented
Outcome 2: Policies and Programmes in four priority sectors (Lands, Agriculture, Health and Education) are reviewed and developed in conformity to gender audits, CEDAW and CRC recommendations, and Anti-GBV Act.
Outcome 3: MGCD and its state and non-state partners have increased participation of women in political and civic spheres of development.
Outcome 4: MGCD has coordinated a multi-sectoral and evidence based response to gender and child development issues.
Programme Duration / 48 months
Executing Agency / The Ministry of Gender and Child development.
National Partners
Cooperating Partners
Estimated Budget / GRZ Commitment / CP Commitment
KR 48,444,500.550 / KR20,736,957.550 / KR 27,707,543
USD 9,803,174 / USD 4,192,629 / USD 5,610,545
For the Government of the Republic of Zambia For the Cooperating Partners
List of acronyms
AIDS / Acquired immune deficiency SyndromeCDI / Child Development Index
CEDAW / Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women
CP / Cooperating Partners
CRC / Convention on the Rights of the Child
CSO / Central Statistical Office
CS / Civil Society
ECZ / Electoral Commission of Zambia
FNDP / Fifth National Development Plan
GBV / Gender – Based Violence
GEM / Gender Empowerment Measure
GIDD / Gender in Development Division
GII / Gender Inequality Index
GMS / General Management Support
GRZ / Government of the Republic of Zambia
G-SAG / Gender Sector Advisory Group
HIV / Human Immuno-deficiency Virus
JASZ / Joint Assistance Strategy for Zambia
JGSP / Joint Gender Support Programme
LCMS / Living Conditions and Monitoring Survey
MACO / Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives
MDG / Millennium development Goals
MGCD / Ministry of Gender and Child Development
MoE / Ministry of Education
MoJ / Ministry of Justice
MoL / Ministry of Lands
NAC / National AIDS Council
NASF / National AIDS Strategic Framework
PITC / Programme Implementation Technical Committee
SADC / Southern African Development Community
SAG / Sector Advisory Group
SNDP / Sixth National Development Plan
UNDP / United Nations Development Programme
ZDHS / Zambia Demographic Health Survey
Table of Contents
List of acronyms 3
1.0 Introduction 5
2.0 Situation Analysis on Gender and Child Development 5
3.0 The Institutional Framework 18
4.0 Contextual Analysis 21
5.0 Learning from Past Experience 22
6.0 Programme Links to the SNDP 24
7.0 Programme Overall Strategy and Priority Areas of Focus. 24
8.0 Programme Strategy Narrative (Impact, Outcomes, Outputs and Main Activities) 25
9.0 Programme Strategic and OperationalPartners 28
10.0 Management of Programme Risks and Assumptions 28
11.0 Programme Implementation 29
12.0 Financial Management and Funding Modality 29
13.0 Programme Monitoring and Evaluation 30
14.0 Programme Sustainability 33
15.0 The Programme Logical Framework 35
Appendix 1: Project Assumptions and risk management 55
Appendix 2: Programme elements and partners to collaborate with 58
Appendix 3: Terms of Reference for the Programme Steering Committee 60
Appendix 4.Terms of Reference for the National Gender Status Forum 61
1.0 Introduction
The Government of the Republic of Zambia recognizes that when women and children do not enjoy their full rights, their participation in political, social and economic life is impeded thereby making it impossible for the country to reduce poverty, achieve economic growth and ensure sustainable development. In view of the gender imbalances and children’s deprivations that still exist at various levels of development, it has become inevitable that a new program on gender and child development be established for the period 2012-2016, to consolidate and refocus efforts towards the promotion of gender equality and children’s rights.
This program builds on previous initiatives on gender and child development implemented by the Government of the Republic of Zambia in collaboration with Civil Society Organizations and Cooperation Partners. The Programme will focus on four themes, these being: (i) legislative reform; (ii) social empowerment; (iii) economic empowerment; and (iv) political representation.
This Programme will contribute to a strengthened oversight responsibility of the Ministry of Gender and Child Development to influence policy review, legislative reforms and implementation in conformity with national, regional and international commitments on gender and child development. Thus, the thrust of the Programme in contributing to the achievement of the four thematic areas of focus will be guided by the Ministry’s mandate of policy and legislative review and advocacy for gender mainstreaming and identification and inclusion of child development issues.
2.0 Situation Analysis on Gender and Child Development
Zambia’s population as captured by the 2010 Census of Population and Housing was recorded at 13,046,508 persons. The majority 61%, of citizens were found in the rural areas, while 39%are in urban areas. Further disaggregation revealed that of the total population 49% were male, while 51% persons were female. With regard to the child population, the 2010 Census of Population estimated that over 4.6 million of the Zambia’s population are persons aged below 18 years. A further analysis of the sex and age structure of the population indicates that 56.5 percent and 57.4 percent of boys and girls respectively are under the age of 19 (2010 Census of Population and Housing).
This section of the Programme document presents the status of women and children in Zambia detailing the general status and then provides specific analysis of women and children in the thematic areas listed above. The section also details some of the findings and recommendations from the gender audits conducted during the implementation of the Joint Gender Support Programme (JGSP) as this then form the Programmes entry points for intervention.
2.1 The General Status of Women and Children in Zambia
The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Progress Report (2011), reports that in 2006, extreme poverty stood at 57% in female headed households compared to 49% for male headed households. According to the Gender Audit of the Social Protection Sector of 2010, the feminization of poverty was due to poor access to employment, productive resources such as land, credit, extension services and technology. The Sixth National Development Plan notes that the economic growth experienced during the last decade has not translated into significant reductions in poverty and improved general living conditions of the majority of the Zambians.
To further understand the status of women, use has been made of two measures namely the Gender Inequality Index (GII) and the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM). The GII measures women’s disadvantages in three dimension namely, reproductive health; empowerment; and the labour market. It ranges from 0 which means that men and women are equally treated to 1 which means women fare poorly. Zambia has a GII of 0.627 and ranks number 131 out of 146 countries. The Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) on the other hand is broader and measures women’s status in relation to the levels of education and literacy; maternal mortality; HIV infection rates among women; vulnerability to poverty as well as sexual and gender based violence. Zambia’s Gender Empowerment Measure is 0.426.
The two indicators demonstrate the high levels of gender inequality in the social, economic and political spheres in Zambia and point to the fact that men are still at a more advantaged position compared to women. It is for this reason that the focus of the analysis below is focused on women and why this Programme will specifically aim at improving the status of women in Zambia.
In analyzing the status of children and to facilitate comparison among countries, the Child Development Index (CDI) is utilized to show how countries perform in three areas namely, education, health and nutrition. It is measured on a scale of 0 to 100. The higher the score, the worse children are faring. Zambia has a CDI of 30.11 (2006) and is ranked 112 out of 137 countries for which the CDI is available for the period 2000 to 2006. Child deprivation has far reaching consequences for national development and the score for Zambia implies that children continue to face deprivation in terms of education participation as well as poor health and nutritional status.
2.2 The Policy and Regulatory Framework
Zambia’s interventions on gender and child development are guided by the policy and regulatory frameworks. In terms of policy, Zambia’s development efforts are guided by the Vision 2030, the Sixth National Development Plan, the National Gender Policy and National Child Policy. The regulatory framework on the other hand is guided by the Republican Constitution and its subsidiary laws.
2.2.1 The Policy Framework
2.2.1.1 The Vision 2030
The Zambian people’s vision is to become “A Prosperous Middle Income Nation by 2030”.This vision is underpinned by the principles of: (i) gender responsive sustainable development; (ii) democracy; (iii) respect for human rights; (iv) good traditional and family values; (v) positive attitude towards work; (vi) peaceful coexistence and; (vii) private-public
partnerships.
2.2.1.2 The Sixth National Development Plan
In order to translate Government’s regional and international commitments on gender and child development, the Sixth National Development Plan (SNDP) 2011 to 2015 outlines interventions on policy and legislative reform; socio-economic empowerment of women and children. The SNDP also has a section under the macro policies chapter to provide policy direction on gender mainstreaming in all sector chapters of the Plan. Furthermore, attempts have been made to mainstream gender into all sector chapters of the plan. The SNDP has three objectives related to gender: to develop gender responsive policies and legal framework, to enhance the capacity of women to participate in national development and to strengthen institutional capacities for gender mainstreaming. Specifically it commits to:
a. Mainstreaming gender into policies and legislation and support to the socio-economic empowerment of women;
b. Comprehensively integrate, into national policies and Programmes, important international and regional conventions and treaties on gender to which Zambia is party namely the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs);
c. The collection and generation of sex disaggregated data in Ministries Provinces and other Spending Agencies MPSAs;
d. The development of a gender sector monitoring and evaluation system will be a priority.
The priority sectors of the SNDP for gender mainstreaming and empowerment of women are: agriculture, land, energy, commerce, trade and Industry, access to finance, training, governance, social protection and HIV and AIDS. On child development, the SNDP outlines review of legislation in child affairs taking into account the provisions of international conventions on children.
2.2.1.3 The National Gender Policy
The National Gender Policy was adopted in March 2000 and outlines Governments commitment to attaining gender equality. The Policy document provides guidelines for addressing barriers that prevent equal and effective participation of men and women in national development. In order to facilitate the operationalisation of the Policy Document, Government Developed the Strategic Plan of Action for the National Gender Policy which was adopted in 2004. However, various studies indicate that many sectors have not effectively utilised the Strategic Plan of Action as a vehicle for implementing the National Gender Policy (NGP).
Bearing in mind the unsystematic implementation of the Strategic Plan of Action for the NGP and emergence of new issues, the Government has engaged in the revision of the NGP of 2000. Consequently, the implementation of the Programme on Gender and Child Development will provide an opportunity to finalise the development and adoption of the revised Policy on Gender which commenced during the implementation of the Joint Gender Support Programme.
2.2.1.4 The National Child Policy
The welfare and development of children is guaranteed in the constitution and through the National Child Policy, other related policies and legislation. Government policy is to promote equal opportunities and enjoyment by both girls and boys of rights, resources and rewards. The gender disparities which are manifested in different ways, have left many females lagging behind in education attainment and in participation in different processes and interventions related to the development of the country. It is, therefore, important that Government continues to promote gender and programmes related to child development and welfare.
2.2.1.5 The Regulatory Framework
Zambia administers justice to her citizens using two legal systems namely Customary and Statutory Laws. The Constitution of Zambia as the national law forbids discrimination on the basis of race, tribe, sex, place of origin, marital status, political opinion, colour or creed. While this is the case, it has been identified that Article 23(4) of the Zambian Constitution allows application of customary law, which is not written and varies according to the 73 ethnic groups, in matters of marriage, divorce, and disposal of property. They also vary from one point in time to another. Further, Article 23 (4) permits discrimination in the area of personal and customary laws namely early marriage dowry payment and inheritance. Specific examples of contradictions include issues such as: the minimum age at which a girl should marry; the practice of polygamy and the recognition of women’s rights to inheritance. It has been recognised that the duality of the legal system creates contradictions in the application of laws much to the disadvantage of women and girls.
The Constitution of the Republic of Zambia also provides for the protection of young persons from exploitation and states that no young person shall be employed and shall in no case be caused or permitted to engage in any occupation or employment which would prejudice his/her health or education or interfere with his/her physical, mental or moral development. Statutory laws also prohibit exploitation of young persons in line with the provisions of the CRC. The Constitution also provides from children’s protection from being subject of traffic in any form.