Social Protection in Zambia - Whose Politics?

Abstract

Consideration of the socioeconomic ripple effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the impact of the 'triple F' (food, fuel and finance) crisis, the failure of economic growth to impact broadly on poverty reduction and the increasing pressure to show progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), would seem to make social protection the policy instrument of choice in low-income countries. Yet, in some of the countries with the worst chronic poverty, scepticism regarding social protection appears to prevail, despite exposure visits to Latin America, tailor-made training courses, much generation and communication of evidence regarding the positive impacts of social protection initiatives and increasing donor commitments. Zambia, in particular, has been criticised for a lack of government commitment to social protection generally, but especially to social cash transfers (SCT). SCT started in Zambia in Kalomo district as a donor-funded initiative in 2003, and was later extended to five districts. This pilot project aimed to generate evidence and offer government and the Ministry responsible-Community Development and Social Services (MCDSS)-the necessary information and skills to demonstrate the value of social protection for citizens who have limited or no productive capacity. The SCT was proposed alongside other social protection interventions, as illustrated by the first national Social Protection Strategy in 2005.

The Prospects and Politics of Social Protection Reform in Zambia

“…The MMD government was often accused of a lack of commitment towards rights-based social protection (Schüring and Lawson-McDowall 2011). Initiatives fostering the social protection agenda were often heavily driven by cooperating partners (ibid), namely the World Bank, the International Labour Organization (ILO), the German Development Cooperation (GTZ)…”

“…impact of the programme (Schüring and Lawson-McDowall 2011). As noted earlier, donors also contributed towards the funding of civil society organisations in order to foster the social protection agenda.…”

“…These organisations focus on providing services (e.g. home-based care) instead of lobbying for their clients and influencing improved services provided by the government (Schüring and Lawson-McDowall 2011). The establishment of such stateindependent delivery structures for social protection however further undermines the demand for social protection by the population towards the state as it deflects the attention of the recipients of public services (Hickey 2007;De Haan et al 2002).…”

“…Further, Schüring and Lawson-McDowall (2011) and Petrauskis (2007) note that prevalent organisations in the sector of social protection in rural areas are merely non-government organisations. These organisations focus on providing services (e.g.…”

“…They employed different strategies to push the MMD government to foster the social protection agenda. According to Schüring and Lawson-McDowall (2011), cooperating partners demanded social protection in invited spaces of policy-making such as the sector advisory and technical working groups. They organised visits for members of parliament, ministers, and public servants to see the social protection programme in practice 'with own eyes' (Jackson et al 2011).…”