USAID / ZAMBIA STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE (SO4) CLOSE OUT REPORT SO Name: Expanded Opportunity for Effective Participation in Democratic Governance. SO Number: 6110004 Approval Date: August 31, 1999 Geographical Area: Zambia Total Cost: $5,948,608.00 Principal Implementing Partners World Bank Institute PACT V3 Consultants International Cities Management Association Chemonics PADCO Development Associates US Treasury Law Association of Zambia ZAMLII Zambia Center for Dispute Resolution Background This Strategic Objective was to achieve Expanded Opportunity for Effective Participation in Democratic Governance. To achieve this the Government of Zambia, with support for USAID, through the Ministry of Legal Affairs was to provide leadership in the creation of a supportive environment and pursue policies and practices which would increase the efficiency of the administration of justice, public debate and foster the development of effective and inclusive local government through appropriate legislation that provides for clearly defined delegated authorities with enhanced fiscal capacity. The SO4 SOAG was USAID’s principal instrument for obligating funds to support effective participation in Democratic governance in Zambia. Activities under SO4 were in the following areas: Rule of law, civil society strengthening and decentralization. Summary of overall impact at SO level and IR level IR4.1 Increased Efficiency of the Administration OF justice · Increased number of cases submitted for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). ADR in this context refers to court annexed mediation and commercial arbitration. · Increased numbers of legal professionals reporting better access to legal information IR4.2 Increased Public Debate · Increase in attempts by groups to contact elected and appointed officials · Increase in the average number of formal consultations between groups, leadership and its membership. · Increase in submissions by groups to selected parliamentary committees IR4.3 Effective and Inclusive Local Government Institutions · Increase in group interaction with selected local government institutions · Increase in the number of formal group submissions to selected local government institutions Significant changes in the Results Framework during the life of the SO Due to funding constraints activities under IR 4.3 had to be discontinued and thus results for this intermediate result were not reported in the out years Summary of activities used to achieve the SO and their major outputs World Bank Institute The purpose of the Grant was to conduct seminars and discussions on the role of parliamentarians in the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), implementation. NEPAD being the most prominent initiative to tackle Africa’ multiple crises of poverty, indebtedness, poor governance and conflict. The set of activities under this grant was to target national parliaments in the SADC region including committees and individual MPs focus on a variety of learning events to help parliamentarians in the region play a role in realizing the role of NEPAD, such as the Peer Review Process- a process whereby Africans review their performance on the basis of the guidelines for good economic and political governance outline in NEPAD. The objective of all the activities was to build the capacity to enable MPs and their national parliaments to help bring about heightened levels of public awareness on NEPAD in the SADC region and beyond. Activities included (i) seminar on parliamentary involvement in NEPAD implementation (ii) development of project website and production of newsletters (iii) video conference “linkages between parliaments, NEPAD, The African Union and the Pan African Parliament”. One of the most important results stemming from these activities has been the decision by participants to sustain this project by forming NEPAD committees and information desks in their national parliaments to raise awareness about the need for enshrining NEPAD in national legislations. Private Agencies Collaborating Together -PACT Aim was to support activities to promote public debate, with the longer-term objective of increased pluralistic dialogue and citizen influence on public policy. Targets were the Zambian Media, selected Zambian membership organizations, professional organizations and possibly two government departments to enhance their capacity to promote public debate. The main instrument to achieve the results was a small grants component to be managed by PACT to support civil society in spearheading debate in various public interest areas which should ultimately lead to new policy and reform in areas such as corruption, the conduct of elections, poverty alleviation, constitutional reform, parliamentary reform, the rights of women and HIV/AIDS. USAID will help develop public debate tools such as opinion surveys and media reporting capacity. In Public Debate, the target of assisting with 11 policy debates was achieved in FY 2004 in the policy themes of corruption, HIV, gender, electoral, constitutional and media reforms. Funding for the debates on policy was provided through sub-grants that were made to Civil Society Membership Organizations (MOs). The number of membership organizations participating in debates through FY 2004 was 375. This activity began in FY 2002. Based upon the exceptional success, the Mission had revised and over￾estimated the cumulative target number of policy debates through FY 2004. Seventy-five of the debates were conducted in FY2004, clearly indicating an acceptance of public debate by Parliament to inform national policy decisions. The number of issues debated in legislatures was less than expected because much of the legislative machinations are within Parliamentary political processes and not within direct control of USAID and its partner. Arbitration and mediation targets were again met or exceeded. Arbitration case targets were fully met, while mediation case targets were exceeded by over 100%. Success in mediation can be attributed to the courts taking full responsibility for the caseload resolution system introduced by USAID in 1999. Due to the success of mediation in resolving disputes in the High Court and the Industrial Relations Court, the Judiciary has taken steps to extend mediation to the Subordinate Court. PACT has been able to assist a variety of MOs influence policy and promote political and economic reform. One sub-grantee was invited to collaborate with the Ministry of Lands to develop a “Zambia Land Alliance” policy which will provide women with fair access to land. Another sub-grant was used to help an MO draft a bill to reform the electoral process. This same MO was a member of the GRZ Electoral Reform Technical Committee (ERTC). The draft electoral reform bill prepared by the MO substantially influenced recommendations made by the ERTC for electoral reform. A third MO submitted a position paper to the ERTC which contained specific recommendations to mitigate the negative effect of the Public Order Act which enables the police to serve as an instrument of the state to impose severe restrictions on public gatherings. Eleven MOs engaged in publishing, conducting research, coalition building, policy research, seminars, dialoguing with the public through the media, dialoguing with members of Parliament and with Parliamentary committees during FY 2004. According to an evaluation of the Public Debate program, five million Zambians were reached over three years, mostly through radio and TV debates. Zambia Legal Information Institute -ZAMLII The purpose of assisting ZAMLII was to help it establish itself as a self-financing entity which provides timely and accurate legal information to the Zambian Legal community and others, both within and outside Zambia, who have a need for, or interest in, Zambian law. Zambia Dispute Resolution Center As mentioned above the ADR activity was successful in meeting its targets. Initially the Arbitration activity Prospects for long-term sustainability of impact and principal threats to sustainability · The Zambia Center for Dispute Resolution (ZCDR), which is responsible for arbitration, has developed a plan for alternative funding that may lead to sustainability. USAID support for this activity ends in FY 05. The ZCDR publicizes its operations and participates at various business fora and trade shows. The last training program for arbitrators was over subscribed as a result of their successful promotion efforts. The center has continued to develop its library with the intention of making it the foremost resource for both legal and ADR material. The fees collected for the use of the library and other ZCDR services will contribute toward meeting the Center’s administrative expenses. Lessons Learned Effectiveness of the activities were to a great extent impacted by limited DG funding resources which limited the extent of the focus of activities. Evaluations and Special studies · Transparency International Zambia: “Mechanisms for Combating Petty Corruption through Investigative Reporting and Applied Research in Zambia” Workshop papers · Anti-Voter’s Apathy Project : ‘Voter’s Manifesto’ · Evaluations of activities are planned for 2006. Instrument Closeout Reports Closeout of PACT Cooperative Agreement 690-A-00-01-00197-00 in process Key Contacts Frank Hawes USAID / Zambia P.O Box 32481 Lusaka fhawes@usaid.gov Private Agencies Collaborating Together (PACT) 1200 18th Street, NW. Suite 350 Washington DC 20036 USA