The Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) wishes to inform the Zambian public, government, co-operating partners and other stakeholders that there are several issues of concern to civil society regarding the formulation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) for Zambia. We hope that these concerns can be adequately and urgently addressed in order to create genuine ownership of the PRSP, so that this entire exercise will truly result in poverty reduction.

On the PRSP, civil society is concerned about:

1.         No representation on Technical Committee

We are not represented at the technical level of the final preparation of the PRSP. We believe that this will be the committee that will have final authority over the wording of the PRSP document, its formulation of priorities, its time-line for implementation and its indicators for evaluation.  Obviously,  civil society needs to be closely involved at this level. Therefore we urge government to address forthrightly this request for representation.  Otherwise we may find it very difficult to accept the final document as really representing the meaningful input from civil society that is demanded by Zambian citizens and the international community.

2.  Lack of willingness to share vital information

Our participation would have been enhanced had government made available most of the necessary documents and information. We acknowledge that some documents were in fact made available.

But certain key documents still remained classified, thereby denying us access to information very important and necessary to formulating effective proposals.

  For example, we know that Zambia qualified for HIPC Debt Relief starting this year of 2001, but we do not know how much are the "savings" from this process, how it will be spent according to the Budget, and what processes have been put in place to uphold transparency, accountability and broad participation.  This is information that must be made readily available.

3.  Incorporation of Civil Society Views

We in civil society have concern that our views gathered broadly from the Zambian public may not be fully and accurately incorporated into the final PRSP document. We have actively participated in the government Working Groups, and have prepared a major document representing the serious study of themes relating to poverty reduction.  We have this concern because up to now, only a few months from the deadline for the final draft, we still do not know who will look at and include civil society views, what the calendar for this is, and what the general commitments of the PRSP will actually be.

4.         PRSP is only a disguised Structural Adjustment Programme

Our fear is that PRSP may simply be another disguised form of SAP at the end of the consultation process. Again and again, civil society has emphasised that macro-economics should not be the over-riding focus of poverty reduction efforts.  Indeed, we know that over the past decade SAP reforms have thrown the majority of Zambians into sub-human living conditions - a point just this week acknowledged publicly by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development.  Will the final PRSP really address the structural issues of poverty reduction outside the rigid framework of IMF and World Bank orthodox economic approaches?

5. Effective Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation

A PRPS is only a "paper" until it is effectively implemented.  And hence civil society must be directly involved in monitoring and evaluating the implementation of PRSP.  But planning for this important step has not yet started. We urge government to include civil society from the start in monitoring and evaluating the implementation. Moreover, we want to know clearly and in timely fashion what institutional arrangement will be set up in order to sustain these consultations.

In conclusion, these concerns of civil society are real and need urgent redress in order to create genuine ownership of the process.  Civil society is ready to continue our cooperation as equal partners in this very important effort, so that an effective PRSP can finally be implemented in order to reduce the dehumanising poverty of 80 % of the Zambian people