Zambia

FY 2001 Program Description and Activity Data Sheets

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FY 2001 Program USAID's programs will increase participation in the economy, leading to improved living standards. Activities in the rural sector will have a direct impact on incomes. In the education and health sectors, USAID focuses on increasing earning capacity and improving the quality of life. In the democracy/governance area, USAID seeks to increase citizen involvement in the decision-making process, giving Zambian citizens more influence on the economic and political climate affecting their lives. USAID focuses on the highly important role that rural farm and non-farm enterprises and groups of agricultural producers play in increasing rural incomes. USAID supports activities such as helping rural groups identify new business opportunities; more effectively manage their natural resources, including promoting drought-resistant foods; improve access to rural finance to promote private initiatives; and providing training and entrepreneurial skill development for small- and medium-sized rural enterprises. As an integral element of these efforts, USAID seeks to lessen Zambia's internal and external barriers to private trade and investment. USAID's activities support the U.S. Embassy's MPP goal to continue Zambia's development of a free market economy. Dramatically shrinking domestic resources and increasing numbers of students have led to a serious deterioration of the quality of education in Zambia. USAID supports more equitable access to quality education and learning for Zambian children, especially girls. Improvements in basic education have broad benefits for the nation. Investments in girls' education, educational policy planning, management information systems, and student health and nutrition are being developed in close coordination with the GRZ and the donor community, under the Basic Education Sub-Sector Investment Program. The GRZ is searching for new solutions to the problem of how to provide high quality basic education at a reasonable cost. The slow but steady deterioration of Zambia's health care system over the past two decades has been particularly striking. The HIV/AIDS infection rate affects an estimated 20 percent of the adult population, with serious implications for the labor force and productivity. Due to the AIDS pandemic, life expectancy dropped from 50.1 years in 1980 to 45.5 years in 1996, and continues to drop further. In order to improve the health status of the population, USAID assists the GRZ's innovative health care decentralization process. Working within that system, USAID focuses on improving infant and child health (including AIDS orphans); reducing maternal and child mortality; helping with family planning for those who request it; and controlling the spread of AIDS. USAID health sector activities support the U.S. Embassy's MPP goal of improving the quality of life for Zambians. The multiparty elections in 1991 were a turning point for reform in Zambia, as a liberalized political environment became the stimulus for economic reform. Political developments in recent years have revealed some of the difficulties in effecting a sustained socio-political transition. USAID's strategy for democratic governance primarily is directed toward supporting more opportunities for broader popular participation in the political process, accountable governance, improved functioning of the rule of law and more effective operation of the judicial system. USAID activities support the U.S. Embassy's MPP goal of promoting democracy and good governance. [an error occurred while processing this directive] ACTIVITY DATA SHEET PROGRAM: Zambia TITLE AND NUMBER: Increased Rural Incomes of Selected Groups, 611-001 PLANNED FY 2000 OBLIGATION AND ACCOUNT: $8,386,000 (DA) PROPOSED FY 2001 OBLIGATION AND ACCOUNT: $8,018,000 (DFA) STATUS: Continuing INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1998 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2003 Summary: Most Zambians live in rural areas and are almost completely dependent on agriculture and related businesses for their incomes. The majority earn less than $1 per day. Prior to 1991, the Zambian government set most input and output prices, and government parastatals controlled all marketing and distribution channels. With USAID support, Zambia aggressively reformed its economic policies, removing all price controls, subsidies, and marketing and distribution monopolies. Zambia also has sold or closed most parastatals. As a result, Zambian market liberalization has become a model for other countries. Rural families now have expanded opportunities for increasing incomes and food security. Nevertheless, weak rural financial and agricultural marketing services, inadequate business skills, frequent droughts, low land and labor productivity, and increasingly degraded natural resources have prevented rural families from taking full advantage of the new economic system. Incomes remain low and families remain vulnerable to drought-induced food insecurity. Given the newness of the free enterprise system in Zambia, farmers and agribusinesses need assistance in working effectively within a capitalistic system. In 1998, USAID began helping rural families to organize in groups to collaboratively overcome these obstacles. USAID is helping these groups increase productivity, enhance marketing skills, and improve soil conservation techniques. USAID also supports activities to increase the number and profitability of agribusinesses that buy and market farm output. This objective directly supports U.S. objectives by supporting market-oriented economic reforms; increasing the productive participation of rural enterprises and communities in the national economy; and improving access to rural finance, agribusiness technical assistance, and business training and finance. The direct beneficiaries of these rural-based activities are small farmers and small enterprises, rural communities, and game management areas. The Zambian private sector at large also will benefit from a policy environment that supports growth and rewards initiative. Key Results: USAID activities have had good results. In USAID-assisted areas, maize production increased by 95%. The number of farmers participating in village-managed drought-resistant seed multiplication and distribution grew from 12,000 to 18,000, a 50% increase in rural family access to improved seed. As a result of greater seed availability and improved productivity, farmers receiving USAID assistance have increased food stocks in target areas by five months. USAID-supported farmer groups produced and marketed $316,290 worth of paprika, maize, sorghum, soybeans and sunflower, selling at a higher price due to quantity. Through USAID-sponsored training and technical assistance, 54 agribusiness, food processing, and tourism enterprises increased their incomes by more than 100%, from $12 million to $24.9 million. Performance and Prospects: USAID considers credit availability essential for both farmer groups and agribusinesses. Thus, USAID teaches groups of rural dwellers, primarily women, how to apply for loans, engage in productive activities, and use the profits for loan repayment. Examples of activities include sewing, shoe repair, baking and trading. USAID trains lending institutions how to lend profitably to rural dwellers. USAID also has worked to change finance regulations so that companies lending small amounts of money to small rural groups can do it more profitably and sustainably. In 1999, 6,170 farmers in 415 group businesses qualified for seed and fertilizer credit due to sharing the credit liability. This enabled them to produce higher value paprika, sunflower, soybean, maize and sorghum crops. This credit then was used to buy fertilizer and seed at a discount. USAID works with small farmer groups to help them increase productivity, use sustainable farming techniques, and improve marketing skills and techniques. Farmer groups are using small scale irrigation to produce and sell vegetables during the dry season; planting trees that improve the quality of soil and also yield leaves that can be used as insecticides; marketing leaves; and joining in groups to build dams. They also are using soil conservation techniques such as crop rotation and planting methods that retard moisture loss. Farmer groups also are learning to estimate crop prices and to use this information in determining what crops to plant. For the first time in Zambia's history, small business associations, representing 5,290 small businesses nationwide, have been created. Through these associations, small businesses have learned from each other how to conduct business more profitably. The associations also have identified local and national issues that reduce profitability, e.g., taxes, inefficient electric supply, poor telecommunications and postal services, and poor rural infrastructure. Training and technical assistance are important to increasing the number and productivity of small-scale agribusinesses. Depending on the business, training is provided in such areas as accounting; developing cash flow, income statement and balance sheets; marketing; cost control; personnel management; organizational development for owners and managers; sewing; and baking. As a result, rural incomes and employment are increasing. Tourism enterprises have improved customer service and game management. The resultant increase in tourism is expected to conserve wildlife and will bring much-needed foreign exchange. Through USAID assistance, a pharmaceutical company has increased the number of products provided. As a result, consumers have greater access to medicines and foreign exchange is conserved. Possible Adjustments to Plans: The community wildlife management activity with the Wildlife Conservation Society identified food insecurity and rural poverty as the two most important incentives for illegal hunting in protected areas. USAID will explore how activities to decrease food insecurity and alleviate rural poverty in wildlife protected areas can be combined with support to tourism development to increase rural incomes, more effectively support wildlife conservation, and spur national economic growth. Other Donor Programs: USAID is the lead donor to Zambia's privatization program. In line with the Zambian government's sectoral policies and investment priorities, the World Bank, various U.N. agencies, the African Development Bank, the European Union, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom support micro-finance, agriculture and natural resource management activities. Principal Contractors, Grantees or Agencies: U.S.-based agencies supporting private sector, trade policy and micro-finance development include the International Executive Service Corps; the University of Maryland; and The Services Group. The Zambia Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry is the key Zambian grantee. U.S. institutions involved in agricultural, agribusiness and natural resource activities include the Cooperative League of the USA; CARE; World Vision; the Wildlife Conservation Society of New York; Development Alternatives, Inc.; and Michigan State University. Key local agencies include the Zambian Ministries of Tourism; Agriculture, Food and Fisheries; Environment and Natural Resources; Commerce, Trade and Industry; and Finance and Economic Development. Selected Performance Measures: Baseline (1997) Actual (1998) Target (1999) Target (2000) Target (2001) Incomes of rural target groups ($000) $240 $1,179 $1,532 $2,298 $3,448 Number of farmers of target groups adopting improved technologies 15,000 18,434 27,000 36,000 40,000 Improved non-farm enterprise access to finance ($000) $210 $399 $559 $894 $1,609 Value of non-traditional agricultural and natural resource exports ($ millions) $213 $229 $263 $303 $348 U.S. Finance Table (Microsoft Excel file) ACTIVITY DATA SHEET PROGRAM: Zambia TITLE AND NUMBER: More Equitable Access to Quality Basic Education and Learning, Especially for Girls, 611-002 PLANNED FY 2000 OBLIGATION AND ACCOUNT: $728,000 (CSD) PROPOSED FY 2001 OBLIGATION AND ACCOUNT: $4,976,000 (CSD) STATUS: Continuing INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1998 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2003 Summary: Zambia is trying to overcome the legacy of more than two decades of socialism, during which the education system seriously deteriorated. Funding levels are inadequate; information required for sound policy and management decisions is rarely available when needed; the Zambian Ministry of Education lacks the capacity to make sound decisions when information is available; school infrastructure has deteriorated; and furniture, textbooks and learning materials in most schools are chronically low or non-existent. Zambia's HIV/AIDS crisis is further undermining the educational system, increasing teacher attrition and absences. Girls, who traditionally have been disadvantaged in education, are falling further behind their male counterparts in terms of enrollment. USAID is working with the Zambian government and other donors under the umbrella of Zambia's Basic Education Sub-Sector Investment Program, a national program designed to develop a high quality, equitable basic education system at reasonable cost, with a special emphasis on providing increased access for girls. USAID supports activities to increase the quality of and access to education for girls in 40 schools in the Southern Province; designing and implementing a school health and nutrition program, targeting areas with a high incidence of stunting, illness, and malnutrition among school-going children; and developing an education management information system to provide policy and decision-makers with good, timely information. The direct beneficiaries of this program are children who attend primary schools, particularly girls who were not previously enrolled. The Zambian Ministry of Education is gaining an enhanced policy and planning capacity. This objective directly supports two objectives of the U.S. Embassy's Mission Performance Plan: improve quality of life for Zambians and continue Zambia's development of a free-market economy. Key Results: This activity began in 1999. Planned results include improving the capacity of 150 education officers and teachers at the provincial, district, and school levels to plan and implement activities that promote girls' education; raising the awareness of 2,200 parents and community members regarding girls' education; mobilizing communities to participate in the building and maintenance of latrines for good sanitation; building 40 water wells for safe water; and identifying children who are not attending school. Performance and Prospects: USAID activities will improve the Ministry of Education's capacity to collect and use data required to make reliable decisions and to facilitate the Ministry's process of decentralization to the district levels. Progress has been made in developing strategies to increase student attendance; training staff to implement this new program; and developing a five-year strategic plan with the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders. USAID is working with the Ministry of Education to establish and implement a plan, through low-cost, school-based interventions, to improve school children's health, nutrition and knowledge of health issues, with a view to ultimately improving learning capacity, performance and attendance. This is a new activity within the Ministry, which recognizes that healthy children learn better in school and that, because of poverty and the general economic decline of Zambia over the past years, a significant proportion of school children are not healthy. Progress has been made in establishing a school health and nutrition office in the Ministry of Education. USAID has taken the lead in working with potential new partners, including UNICEF and the Government of Japan, to support school health and nutrition. Plans for pilot testing of deworming and micronutrient interventions have been developed, along with a cognitive assessment for teacher use in measuring student progress; these activities are being implemented in FY 2000. USAID is supporting the Ministry of Education's efforts to incorporate a focus on HIV/AIDS in all education efforts. Possible Adjustments to Plans: The needs in this sector are immense. The current environment for investment is very promising. Early in FY 2000, the Ministry of Education formulated its first policy statement on HIV/AIDS and education. By FY 2001, as strategic plans for implementing that policy are developed, USAID will work with the Ministry and other partners to identify initiatives that strengthen the Ministry's resolve to address HIV/AIDS in the basic education system. USAID will conduct studies to determine other requirements in the areas of girls' education, school health and nutrition, community participation, and educational management information systems. The findings will form the basis for future implementation plans. Other Donor Programs: USAID is the only donor working with the Ministry of Education to develop the school health and nutrition initiative. Several other donors are involved in the education sector. UNICEF, Norway, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada and the Netherlands are developing and implementing school and community activities. USAID is working with the United Kingdom, the European Union, and the World Bank in the development of management information systems. USAID collaborates with the Ministry of Education and other donor partners informally and through formal monthly donor coordination meetings. Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: Grantees include the Government of Zambia; the U.S. firm Successful Intelligence, Inc. (for school health activities); and UNICEF (for basic education activities). Selected Performance Measures: Baseline (1997) Actual (1998) Target (1999) Target (2000) Target (2001) Net admissions rate to Grade 1 in selected Southern Province districts * 38.2% 40% 42% 44% Number of communities in Southern Province with action plans for education * 0 10 40 80 Southern Province Grade 5 mean National Assessment scores in Mathematics * 26.6% 28% 32% 36% Number of district and provincial education management information systems units producing reports * 0 1 3 7 * Baseline data for these indicators were established in 1998. U.S. Finance Table (Microsoft Excel file) ACTIVITY DATA SHEET PROGRAM: Zambia TITLE AND NUMBER: Increased Use of Integrated Child and Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS Interventions, 611-003 PLANNED FY 2000 OBLIGATION AND ACCOUNT: $3,200,000 (DA), $14,500,000 (CSD) PROPOSED FY 2001 OBLIGATION AND ACCOUNT: $16,400,000 (CSD), $4,000,000 (DFA) STATUS: Continuing INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1995 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2002 Summary: Zambia's health needs are enormous. Approximately 20% of adults are HIV-infected, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic is having a devastating impact on the people, institutions, and country's ability to achieve sustainable development. As AIDS death rates accelerate, a secondary epidemic of orphaned and vulnerable children has arisen. By the end of the year 2000, one million children--10% of the entire population--will be orphaned. Zambia has some of the world's highest infant and under-five mortality rates. The maternal mortality ratio of 640 per 100,000 live births is one of the worst in Africa. Largely because of the AIDS crisis, life expectancy at birth is declining. Vitamin A deficiency, which increases the risk of blindness, severe illness and death in children, affects an estimated 66% of Zambian children. With the advent of multi-party government in 1991, the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) began restructuring the health sector to improve the health status of its citizens by providing equitable access to decentralized, integrated, low-cost basic health services. USAID supports GRZ health reforms by expanding access to critical public health interventions in four integrated areas: family planning/reproductive health; child survival; infectious diseases; and HIV/AIDS. USAID focuses its health sector activities on 12 districts, covering approximately 45% of the total Zambian population. While overall progress in the sector has been positive, the adverse macroeconomic climate over the past two years and the ongoing toll of the AIDS pandemic have negatively affected the health sector and threatened the reform program's sustainability over the long term. USAID's program will use Child Survival and Diseases funding to further consolidate immunization services and polio eradication efforts; prevent and treat diarrheal diseases and malaria; expand access to HIV prevention services and treatment strategies; and establish sustainable community-response mechanisms, such as community schools and income-generating activities for orphan care-providers. USAID will use Development Assistance/Development Fund for Africa funds to expand access to family planning and integrated reproductive health activities. Specifically, USAID will work toward creating an improved policy environment for addressing reproductive health priorities; improving the quality of reproductive health services; and expanding access to high quality nurse-midwife education and training. The direct beneficiaries of this program are the Zambian Ministry of Health and district- and community-level health facilities and workers. The ultimate beneficiaries are Zambian citizens, who will receive better health care. Key Results: Vitamin A supplementation programs reached approximately 80% of children nationally. In partnership with the Government of Japan, USAID is providing insecticide-treated mosquito nets and improving malaria case management to the entire population of five high-risk districts (those with high levels of both malaria transmission and drug resistance). Over 10,000 insecticide-treated mosquito nets were distributed. In addition, the number of new family planning acceptors increased from 66,000 in 1996 to 152,000 in 1999. Performance and Prospects: Activities in child health are designed to increase coverage and quality of preventive and curative interventions. USAID-supported field trials have established that Vitamin A supplementation can reduce overall child mortality within vulnerable populations by 23-34%. Vitamin A supplementation has been especially successful. Children are given Vitamin A drops on semiannual vaccination days that provide six-months coverage, and they receive the vitamin on a continuing basis through commercial fortification of sugar. USAID will consolidate efforts to reduce Vitamin A deficiency by continuing support to the fortification of all domestically consumed sugar with Vitamin A and to expand access to Vitamin A. USAID will continue distributing insecticide-treated mosquito nets in high-risk areas of Eastern Province, where the malaria parasites are highly resistant to commonly available chloroquine treatment. In conjunction with Japan, an additional 100,000 mosquito nets will be sold, and coverage extended to two other districts. USAID will expand access to the socially marketed "Clorin," which is a home-use, low-level chlorination solution used to treat domestic water supply. Clorin has been shown to reduce diarrheal diseases by up to 30%, and it significantly reduced the incidence of cholera during the 1999 rainy season. USAID will expand its program to address the concerns of orphaned and vulnerable children by establishing sustainable community-response mechanisms such as community schools and income generating activities for orphan care-providers. USAID's HIV/AIDS activities are directed toward expanding access to HIV prevention and treatment. Activities include AIDS-awareness campaigns; social marketing of condoms; policy development at the national and district levels on prevention strategies; and state-of-the-art monitoring and evaluation of the epidemic to help inform policy makers. USAID is working to reduce HIV transmission in high-risk groups (truckers and commercial sex workers) along major trucking routes and border sites. These high-risk individuals will have expanded access to treatment services and HIV prevention methods. USAID will continue the mass-media HIV/AIDS programs aimed at young adults. To further reduce HIV transmission, USAID plans to expand access to voluntary counseling and testing services, as more Zambians are becoming interested in knowing their HIV status. Finally, USAID will expand its support to prevent parent-to-child transmission, with special emphasis on community-based counseling and referral. During 1998-1999, the GRZ conducted HIV surveillance activities throughout Zambia. One important observation when comparing the 1994 and 1998-1999 data was an apparent downward trend in the prevalence rates of the 15-to-19 age group, most notably in urban areas. In Lusaka, HIV prevalence among 15 to 19 year olds dropped from 29% in 1993 to 15% in 1998-99. This trend also was found in other urban centers and to a lesser extent in some rural areas. These data suggest that many young Zambians are changing their sexual behavior, by abstinence and the use of condoms, to reduce HIV transmission. This trend emphasizes the need for even stronger programmatic efforts to limit the further spread of HIV. In family planning, USAID is supporting GRZ activities to expand access to other reproductive health services, such as employer-based distribution of commodities and emergency obstetrical care. A new maternal health initiative will focus on the community level to increase awareness as well as proper referral. In conjunction with Japan, a new effort will be implemented for the period 2000-2002 to provide drugs and essential reproductive health supplies to all health centers in 12 districts. During 1999, USAID launched an innovative sector-wide assistance program that provides resources, based on GRZ performance in expanding both community level health services and choice, while demonstrating people-level impact. Through this program, USAID is providing direct financial support to the district health system. The resulting policy and technical changes focus directly on strengthening financial management systems and the health management information system. Possible Adjustments to Plans: The specter of HIV/AIDS threatens all USAID investments in Zambia. USAID has worked to redouble its efforts. Fortunately, resources to address the issue have been increased. New initiatives to achieve more impact are under development. For example, USAID will expand access to voluntary counseling and testing services; efforts to reduce maternal-to-child-transmission; and activities to reach high risk groups, such as truckers and commercial sex workers. While the Government of Zambia remains committed to health reforms, the country's economic and financial difficulties continue to threaten these reforms. USAID and its donor partners are working closely with the Ministry of Health to resolve issues and concerns that are affecting the implementation of health reform. Other Donor Programs: Support is provided to Zambia's health reform program through a multi-donor, sector-wide health program. USAID remains the third-ranking donor in support of child survival activities, behind UNICEF and Denmark. The United Kingdom, Japan, the Netherlands and Sweden are close partners in overall funding. USAID is the primary donor in support of HIV/AIDS prevention and family planning service activities, although the United Kingdom provides nearly all family planning and HIV commodities that are socially marketed through the USAID program. USAID also works closely with United Nations agencies on jointly programmed activities. Principal Contractors, Grantees or Agencies: USAID implements integrated child health, reproductive health/family planning and HIV/AIDS activities through four U.S. institutions: the John Hopkins University; John Snow, Inc.; Abt Associates, Inc.; and Population Services International. These principal contractors/grantees work with a number of U.S. sub-contractors, including CARE and Africare. Other nongovernmental partners include the Zambian organizations Churches Medical Association of Zambia and Development AID People-to-People; the U.S. organizations Adventist Development and Relief Agency, Christian Children's Fund, and World Vision; and a number of private sector organizations. Selected Ministry of Health organizational units also are grantees. Selected Performance Measures: Baseline (1996) Actual (1998) Target (1999) Target (2000) Target (2001) Number of new family planning acceptors in target areas ('000s) 66 138 152 175 200 Condom use (percent of urban residents who used condoms during their last sexual act with a non-regular sex partner; M=Male, F=Female) 2.6% F 2.8% M 19.1% F 0.2% M 21% F 32% M 23% F 34% M 25% F 36% M Children who have been fully vaccinated by 12 months of age 67% 77.7% 80% 83% 85% U.S. Finance Table (Microsoft Excel file) ACTIVITY DATA SHEET PROGRAM: Zambia TITLE AND NUMBER: Expanded Opportunity for Effective Participation in Democratic Governance, 611-004 PLANNED FY 2000 OBLIGATION AND ACCOUNT: $1,014,000 (DA) PROPOSED FY 2001 OBLIGATION AND ACCOUNT: $1,646,000 (DFA) STATUS: Continuing INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1995 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2002 Summary: In 1991, Zambia began the transition to a multiparty democracy, with multiparty elections. Despite some notable reforms in the beginning of the decade, Zambia's political situation has remained fragile. The process of political transition from a socialist system of one-party rule toward an open, participatory, and pluralistic democracy has been slow. The purpose of this strategic objective is to increase citizens' participation in more transparent and accountable government institutions. The ultimate beneficiaries are the citizens of Zambia. The immediate beneficiaries are selected organizations such as the judiciary; civil society, including the law association; Parliament; and local government councils. USAID focuses on improving administration of justice; increasing effective public debate to create and maintain a demand for democratic governance; increasing Zambian citizens' and civic organizations' awareness of and participation in the political process, and deepening their appreciation of the relationship between personal freedoms, civic responsibilities and the role of government; and strengthening local governance. This objective directly supports the U.S. Embassy's Mission Performance Plan goal to promote democracy and good governance. Key Results: Legislation was passed permitting judges to refer cases to mediation. This has had a significant impact on reducing court congestion. Assistance provided to the Law Association of Zambia has resulted in the training of arbitrators; drafting and submitting proposed legislative changes to the government; development of a publicity and outreach program; and preparations for the establishment of a dispute resolution center. Performance and Prospects: Performance in democracy and governance over the past year has been good, but not without difficulties. There is limited capacity in the public sector to implement proposed reforms, such as revising the civil-service system, decentralizing functions and reforming the judicial system. The political will to reform is sometimes weak. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has made progress on the political front more difficult as highly trained, valuable partners have been lost. Also, economic difficulties have caused the public to focus less on political objectives. The Zambian court system, one area of USAID focus, has shown good progress. With USAID and Department of State assistance, Zambia initiated a mediation process that has reduced court congestion. With support from USAID, the Zambian Law Association established a system for the arbitration of commercial disputes, in close cooperation with Zambia's business community and the judiciary. This system will keep disputes from reaching the courts. Commercial arbitration will enhance private sector-led economic growth by providing a mechanism for the speedy resolution of commercial disputes, reducing the overall cost. USAID funded an assessment of court information technology needs, which determined the nature and level of future USAID support required to update the courts' information technology and communications systems. Through this, Zambia's legal profession will gain better access to legal information under proposed activities by making all judicial precedents available on a web site. To encourage more effective public debate, a Parliamentary reform liaison committee is working with USAID and other donors to develop ways to facilitate public access to parliamentary committees. Three key results are necessary to achieve this objective. To strengthen local governance, USAID supported a strategic planning workshop, involving the Lusaka City Council and civic organizations, such as the Lusaka Rate-Payers Association. The strategic plan developed by the group was adopted by the Council and is currently used as a guide for decision making. This was a pilot activity that, if successful, will be replicated in other cities. At the request of the Council, a study was conducted to examine the Council's financing gap and develop effective ways to generate revenue. As the year ended, plans were being formulated to assist with tendering, financing, and supervising work on revising real estate assessments. Included in this assistance will be procedures to improve the appeals, administration and billing systems. This will help to increase tax revenues to finance the objectives called for in the Council's strategic plan, such as better solid-waste collection. Possible Adjustments to Plans: The Zambian Government presented its own good governance policy document to a donor meeting in May 1999. The document reviews governance in Zambia and makes recommendations on those areas needing redress. Public debate on the document is on-going. The policy document may result in government initiatives to implement some of the recommendations. The USAID program may need to be realigned to support the strengthening of an autonomous and effective human rights commission and anticorruption commission. Other Donor Programs: The United Nations Development Program and the World Bank are the major donors supporting the public service and judiciary reform programs. The United Kingdom has provided support for governmental decentralization and fiscal responsibility as well as for training of senior civil servants. Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland have joined USAID in a focus on civic education, election monitoring, electoral reform, and constitutional reform. Donors meet monthly for coordination purposes. Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: At present one U.S. grantee, PACT, is involved in implementation of the program. Chemonics, a U.S. firm, provides assistance in the area of court-annexed mediation. The State University of New York has been providing Parliament with technical assistance in the design of its reform initiatives. Selected Performance Measures: Baseline (1996) Actual (1998) Target (1999) Target (2000) Target (2001) Increase in NGO-initiated contacts with selected government institutions * * Contacts few and unwelcome Contacts reported, evaluated Contacts regularized, expected Increased number of cases submitted for alternative dispute resolution    -- Mediation    -- Arbitration * * * * No cases reported 100 10 400 50 Increase in number of legal professionals reporting better access to legal information * * Access poor, costly Access possible, costly Access possible, less costly Increase in attempts by local groups to contact elected and appointed officials in councils * * Access difficult, no results Access simplified Access routine, with results * This program is new. Baseline and target data were developed in April 1999. U.S. Finance Table (Microsoft Excel file)

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