Zambia has had a robust economic growth for twelve years. In 2011 the country became a so-called ”lower middle income country” according to the World Bank’s criteria.

The growth is largely attributed to increased production and good price of copper, Zambia being the largest exporter of copper in Africa. However, solid agricultural harvests, tourism and growth in other industries has also contributed.

Despite this, 60.5 per cent of the population lives under the poverty line. Poverty is particularly wide-spread in rural areas.

Zambia is still a peaceful country in an unstable region. In the elections of September 2011 the opposition party Patriotic Front gained victory and Zambia managed to go through a peaceful change of regime for the second time in the country’s history since independence.

Norway’s contribution amounts to between four and five per cent of the total aid received by the country.

Budget Aid

Budget aid is the form of aid Zambia prefers. It is an important contribution to the national budget. Norway and other major contributors like the Great Britain, the World Bank, EU and African Development Bank follow up the transfers actively through management and audit.

One of the findings of evaluation of the budget aid for the period 2005 – 2010 was that it gives Zambia greater flexibility for action for special efforts in sectors such as health and education, which is in line with the development plan of the country.

Climate-Adapted Agriculture

Through support to Conservation Farming Unit (CFU), the organisation COMACO and the Agriculture Department, around 300 000 farmers have received guidance and support to change their farming practices to a more climate-adapted agriculture. This approach limits erosion and increases the content of organic material in the soil. The soil can then keep in the moisture following rainfall and does not dry out so quickly. Rotating crops is also important, in addition to the fact that use of nitrogen-fixing plants reduces the need for using artificial fertilizer. It is estimated that at least 200 000 farmers so far have gone over to climate-adapted agriculture in Zambia.

In 2011 CFU trained around 1000 employees in different organisations, industries and traditional leaders in climate-adapted agriculture. Zambia is now a leading country in Africa in regard to climate-adapted agriculture. Inspired by the development in Zambia, COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa), with other regional organisations, has established a vast programme for upscaling climate-adapted agriculture. There is plenty of evidence that climate-adapted agriculture results in greater harvests and less work. Greater harvests reduce deforestation as the need for farming new land reduces.

Together with the increased organic material in the soil, a shift towards climate-adapted agriculture is also contributing to reduced emissions of climate gases in Zambia and in the region.

National Parks

Norway has been supporting South Luangwa National Park for 28 years and Kafue National Park for 10 years. This support is provided through Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA). South Luangwa now stands out as the country’s leading and best-managed national park, owing to a great degree to Norway’s support over time.

Norway supports building sustainable local communities in vulnerable areas like East Zambia through the organisation COMACO. This programme has contributed to reduced poaching and conservation of the natural environment in protected areas around the national parks. Counting of wild animals shows that most of the stocks in the area have increased. For instance, the number of elephants in South Luangwa has increased substantially and the negative development for many species in Kafue has been turned around or is on the way to do so.

The programme has also resulted in greater food security and less poverty in the area. One of the ways to achieve this has been that foods produced by the local community are sold in countrywide grocery chains as well as in the neighbouring countries. The products are marketed under the label ”It’s wild!”.

Many women have also gained work because of increased tourism and a growing travel industry. Support to the national parks and COMACO has contributed to development, conservation of biodiversity, poverty alleviation, food security and gender equality.

Good Governance and Economic Management

The Auditor General: Norway has been supporting the establishment of the Office of Auditor General in Zambia for a long time, in part through institutional cooperation with the Norwegian Auditor General. Priority work areas have been to develop knowledge of how to complete issue-based audits and to show what is gained by use of public funds. For instance, an audit of storage and storage capacity for maize has been completed. This is an important issue in Zambia, which spends a lot of money on purchasing excess produce of maize. A lot of this produce is however wasted because of limited storage capacity and maize that rots. Therefore, audits have had significance for the necessary and called-for reforms in the agricultural policies.

Collaboration between the tax authorities in Zambia and Norway takes place through the programme Tax for Development which was launched in 2011. This is a collaboration between tax authorities in Norway, Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania which includes more research on tax and development as well as support for international cooperation. In 2011 representatives of the Norwegian Tax Administration paid three visits to Zambia. The Norwegian aid goes to a special unit for taxing the mining companies. This can result in significantly higher revenues for the state. The collaboration with Zambia Revenue Authority has already resulted in enhanced capacity for collecting tax from the largest mining operators.

The Central Bank: A program for managing inflation, payment systems, monetary systems, financial stability and administration of the central bank started towards the end of 2011. It is a collaboration between Bank of Zambia, Norges Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The project is particularly important because of the major pressure on the role of the central bank in inflation management. The Norwegian efforts have contributed to a strengthened official management of finance, better control of the national resources and it has given Zambia a greater opportunity to ensure development through its own resources.

Battle against Corruption

Corruption is still a major social problem in Zambia. President Sata, who came into power after the presidential election in September 2011, has set battle against corruption as the main task for the government. Several former leaders have been investigated for illegal acquisition of wealth from public assets.

Norway has contributed in the formal establishment of Zambia’s anti-money-laundering unit Financial Intelligence Centre on 1st April 2011. The purpose of the Unit is to monitor illegal movements of capital in order to stop that money acquired through corruption or other criminal activity is taken out of the country.

In 2011 an agreement was entered with the Zambian Courts Administration in order to finance training for administering criminal cases of serious economic crime and corruption.

Women and Gender Equality

Zambia has its own coordinating body for volunteer (non-governmental) women’s organisations, Non-Governmental Organisation’s Coordinating Council. The Norwegian aid is a means of support to 110 women’s organisations in the entire country. The key concepts are increasing capacity, work with HIV and AIDS and activities that can ensure an income for women. In addition, assistance was given to female candidates in the parliamentary elections.

On the national basis the Coordinating Council is an important voice in the battle for women’s rights. Important issues in 2011 included abuse of women, follow-up of the law against gender-based violence and constitutional reform.

Church communities are important for putting women’s rights on the agenda. Educational books and brochures have been prepared which deal with the subject of gender-based violence. These are used by the churches in training the priests and the common people. Norwegian Church Aid has been at the forefront of the efforts to engage church communities in the work for gender equality. After a change of government a separate department for gender equality was founded in March 2012. This will boost the work for women’s rights.
 
Norfund (Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries) is an investment company intended to develop and establish profitable and sustainable enterprises in poor countries. The objective is to contribute to economic growth and poverty alleviation. Norfund has several projects in Zambia.

Aid to Zambia

In 2011 a new joint strategy was designed for donor countries called Joint Assistance Strategy Zambia II. The strategy continues the objective of local ownership and use of the partner country’s management systems. Norway has had good experience with using Zambian institutions for management of aid. In addition, building institutions with the aim of good governance, mobilisation of national resources – and in the long run – independence from development aid is a main objective for Norway’s collaboration with Zambia.