Gender at a glace - Zambia

By Brenda Zulu

Millenium Development Goal (MDG) number 3 ensures the promotion of gender equality and empowerment women. In March 2000, the Government of the Republic of Zambia adopted the National Gender Policy which serves as the blue print for gender and development activities. The Policy has put in place measures to address the critical areas of concern as outlined in the Dakar and Beijing Platforms for Action.
The 2007 Civil Society MDG report shows that Zambian Government is currently pursuing means of ensuring that the Performance Appraisal System takes into account gender to ensure that all officers in the public service are accountable in gender and development activities. To this effect, Government has embarked on the process of reviewing the job descriptions of Gender Focal Points.
The Director, Head of Planning Department in the Ministry or Government Department has been the designated Gender Focal Point with the job description reflecting key result areas and principle accountabilities on gender mainstreaming. This is to ensure that gender mainstreaming functions are performed effectively on a continuous basis without creating additional posts in the public services.
The Government has embarked on the process of engendering the national budget by training all gender focal points in line ministries and other government departments. The training focused on the incorporation of activities in the Strategic Plan of Action (SPA) in their respective annual budgets. Government, in collaboration with National Institute Public Administration, has developed a capacity build programme for gender focal points and their respective sub-committees in order to develop their gender analytical skills. It is hoped that this training will eventually lead to improved gender analysis of government policies and programmes.
There are, however, some challenges in implementing the SPA. Though Government adopted the National Gender Policy, it was silent on the affirmative action and implementation of women empowerment principles which could have developed benchmarks against which to measure the country’s progress in terms of gender mainstreaming. To this effect, Government has directed all ministries and parastatals to ensure that their annual national and sector budgets should take into account the activities outlined in the SPA.
Gender disaggregated data is essential but currently absent or very limited in Zambia. In this regard, Government has embarked on the process of mobilising resources for collection of gender disaggregated data in sector ministries for easy monitoring and evaluation of gender equality programmes. The collection of gender disaggregated data will facilitate the formulation of appropriate policy interventions in line ministries.
There is weak institutional mechanism for implementation of the National Gender Policy as result of lack of appropriate legislation. To this effect, there is need for appropriate legislation which will give clear guidelines for institutional arrangements for implementation of the National Gender Policy. The appropriate legislation will enhance the co-ordination and accountability mechanisms currently in place.
The Government has embarked on the process of developing capacity building programmes which will develop technical capacities for mainstreaming gender in all government policies, programmes and plans. The capacity building programme should also attempt to address institutional weaknesses in gender mainstreaming.
There is a high turn-over of Gender Focal Points in line ministries and government departments due to promotion, transfers, replacements and other reasons. This has affected continuity in terms of implementing the gender and development programmes. In order to redress this problem, Government has embarked on the process establishing Gender Sub-Committees in all line ministries, provincial and district administration in order to address the observed gaps in gender mainstreaming which has been a result of the non-institutionalisation of Gender Focal Points. In regard, the Gender Sub-committee will act as the link between the Gender in Development Division (GIDD) and the various institutions in order to enhance gender mainstreaming in various institutions.
Strategic Plan of Action for the National Gender Policy
Subsequent to the adoption of the National Gender Policy, Government approved and adopted the Strategic Plan of Action (SPA) for the implementation of the National Gender Policy in January 2004. The Strategic Plan of Action which covers the period from 2004 to 2008 is aimed at operationalising government’s vision on gender. The SPA is a tool for operationalising the National Gender Policy and is aimed at achieving full and equal participation and benefit of both females and males in the socio-economic and political development of Zambia.
The SPA intends to achieve government vision on gender by mainstreaming gender into macro and sectoral policies and programmes such as the Public Service Reform Programme (PSRP), Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), the Transitional National Development Plan (TNDP) and the new FNDP including economic policy instruments like the Medium Term Economic Framework (MTEF) and the national budget.
The SPA takes into account global and regional instruments and development programmes such as the Beijing Platform for Action (BPA), Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The Southern African Development Community (SADC), Gender Declaration and the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) Gender Policy. The SPA further takes into account the opportunities and challenges brought about by among others the New Economic Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), and African Union (AU).
Implementation Mechanisms for the SPA
Government has, through the adoption of the National Gender Policy (NGP) and it’s implementation plan, the Strategic Plan of Action (SPA), committed itself to addressing gender issues and concerns at all levels of national development. The National Gender Machinery for Zambia; GIDD at Cabinet Office is responsible for co-ordinating, monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the National Gender Policy and the SPA. The role of GIDD in the implementation of the SPA is therefore to provide leadership in the co-ordination of gender and development programmes and activities of all stakeholders in Zambia

All line ministries, provincial and district administration, other organs of government, the private sector, religious groupings and NGOs will implement specific and relevant policy measures and interventions of the SPA.
The consistent adverse experience felt disproportionately by females in the education, employment and health sectors culminates in a situation in parliament where despite some improvements in 1991, only 6 % of the members of parliament were female.According to a report by Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflections (JCTR) on the cost of meeting MDGs in Zambia (2005) the total cost for gender interventions is estimated at US$22.9 million in 2005 rising marginally to US$ 30.1 million in 2015.

Constraints
Africa Social Forum (ASF) Gender Focal Point Sara Longwe observes that despite the many efforts for improvements it has been found that most of the gender programmes lack in depth analysis and adequate resources. Measures to alleviate and reduce poverty have not fully addressed differential impact of poverty on men and women. Gender differentials have persisted at all levels of these programmes, suggesting that social and cultural factors, which play a stronger role, are not taken into account during the design and implementation of the programmes.

The lacks of gender specific targeting programs influence women and men’s life and opportunities. They may not be male biased designs, but could well be male biased by omission of a gender disaggregated data required for such assessment and the lack of recognition of women’s role and skills in poverty reduction programmes. At the same time, there has been lack of effective co-ordination among various institutions involved in poverty alleviation, leading to reduced impact on the intended target group.

Conclusion
Zambian government is committed to promoting women’s participation in decision-making at all levels to promote sustainable development. Zambia recognises that full participation of women and men in development is cardinal to achieving sustainable development. This recognition is founded in the empirical realisation that restricted participation of women in socio-economic activities has had a negative impact.
Government is therefore committed to making deliberate efforts to facilitate the removal of existing gender imbalances.