Zambia VNR Report
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Republic of Zambia ZAMBIA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS VOLUNTARY NATIONAL REVIEW 2020 12 June 2020 © 2020 Ministry of National Development Planning P.O. Box 30147 Lusaka, ZAMBIA Tel: +260-211-250712 FOREWORD Honourable Alexander Chiteme, M. P. MINISTER OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING Zambia’s first Voluntary National Review on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) comes at an opportune time. This is a time when the national level review of development progress is being finalised and when the decade of action and delivery on SDGs serves as a springboard for renewed commitment and impetus for the attainment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As a nation, Zambia is appreciative of the opportunity to share, with the rest of the world, on where we are and the good practices that we can enhance as well as the challenges we continue to face. It is also an opportune time to reiterate the commitment of the Zambian Government to this very relevant global development agenda. Zambia considers the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as a national agenda, given that the development challenges that we seek to address resonate with the goals agreed in this global Agenda. Sustainable Development is a constitutional issue that has been enshrined among the national values and principles in the 2016 Amended Constitution aimed at guiding decision-making on the development process for Zambia. Further, the SDGs have been mainstreamed into Zambia’s current development plan, the 7th National Development Plan to the extent of 75 percent of the SDGs of applicable targets being fully aligned to the national plan and 11 percent being partially aligned. Sustainable Development also takes centre stage in the development of policies and strategies across all economic and social policies that the country has developed since the adoption of the SDGs. All of this is a demonstration of Zambia’s resolve, from the highest level, to embrace and pursue this transformative global development Agenda. To facilitate realisation of the gains made since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, the country has continued to allocate human, financial, and institutional resources. Substantial public investment has gone into the social sectors to address extreme poverty and vulnerability as well as promote human capital development. To facilitate productive capacity development, the country has maintained momentum on its infrastructure development programmes across both economic and social sectors. Strides have been made in the area of governance, particularly in public financial management and institutional reform. As a result, the country has seen improvements in the human development indicators, among others. While the results of these and other interventions are yet to fully materialise, Zambia’s commitment remains relentless. i Implementation of interventions towards the 2030 Agenda has not been in an environment without challenges. The country has yet to further enhance its climate resilience and adaptive capacity so as not to remain vulnerable to its effects as has been the case over the last five years. Zambia needs to enhance revenue mobilisation capacity in an environment of increasing debt obligations. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to diverting of resources from other programmes to safeguard the health of the citizens. These are among many challenges along the way. However, Zambia does not intend to lose momentum in the decade of action. To further accelerate implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Zambia intends to further strengthen the existing coordination frameworks, enhance efficiency, improve targeting, and allocate resources to deliver better results. This is on the premise of the lessons learnt with the implementation of the 7th National Development Plan. Zambia will continue to rely on the partnership, support, and cooperation of all partners at national and international level in the realisation of this Agenda in the face of the challenges and limitations that the country faces. I trust that this report will help all partners get informed on developments and development issues in Zambia and assure all of the country’s unwavering commitment to this relevant development Agenda. Honourable Alexander Chiteme, M.P. MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING ii TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD......................................................................................................................................... I TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................. III LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................... V LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................................... VII LIST OF BOXES ............................................................................................................................ VIII ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ...........................................................................................IX EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................XI 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 STRUCTURE OF THE DOCUMENT ............................................................................................ 1 1.3 COUNTRY PROFILE AND CONTEXT ........................................................................................ 2 1.3.1 Location and Demographic Profile ................................................................................... 2 1.3.2 Economic Development Context ....................................................................................... 2 1.3.3 National Development Planning Context .......................................................................... 3 2 METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................................... 1 2.1 PREPARATIONS FOR VOLUNTARY NATIONAL REVIEW ......................................................... 1 2.2 LEAVING NO ONE BEHIND .................................................................................................... 1 2.3 COVERAGE OF SDG S AND TARGETS ..................................................................................... 1 2.4 DATA COLLECTION ................................................................................................................ 2 2.5 STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT ............................................................................................... 2 3 POLICY AND ENABLING ENVIRONMENT ......................................................................... 1 3.1 NATIONAL OWNERSHIP OF THE SDG S ................................................................................... 1 3.2 MAINSTREAMING OF SDG S IN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORKS ........................... 2 3.2.1 Planning and Budgeting Reforms ..................................................................................... 2 3.2.2 Rapid Integrated Assessment ............................................................................................ 3 3.3 NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 2030 AGENDA .................................. 4 3.3.1 National Statistical Framework ........................................................................................ 4 3.4 INTEGRATION OF THE ECONOMIC , SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DIMENSIONS ................. 6 3.4.1 Economic Dimension ........................................................................................................ 6 3.4.2 Social Dimension .............................................................................................................. 7 3.4.3 Environmental Dimension ................................................................................................. 8 3.5 INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS ............................................................................................... 9 4 ASSESSING SDG PERFORMANCE AND OVERVIEW OF KEY OVERARCHING CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES ....................................................................................... 12 4.1 ASSESSING SDG PERFORMANCE ......................................................................................... 12 4.2 THE TRIPLE THREAT TO SDG S: COVID-19, LOW GROWTH AND DEBT , AND CLIMATE CHANGE ............................................................................................................................................ 16 5 PROGRESS ON GOALS AND TARGETS ............................................................................. 19 5.1 OVERVIEW OF SDG 1 AND SDG 2 ....................................................................................... 19 5.1.1 Poverty headcount by province ....................................................................................... 19 5.1.2 Household level deprivation per indicator ...................................................................... 20 5.1.3 Social Cash Transfer ....................................................................................................... 22 5.1.4 Farmer Input Support Programme ................................................................................