It is with a great deal of pleasure to present the 2018 Annual Report for the Local Government Association of Zambia. 2018 was a successful year as regards the implementation of Association’s planned activities in line with key outcome areas of the five year strategic plan (2016-2020).
Like in past years, the Association continued to engage government and related institutions to influence policies that would result into ensuring a well-resourced and responsive local government system. These efforts led to the realization of the following major achievements:
- Successful lobbying for the enactment of the Rating Act No. 20 of 2018;
- Successful lobbying for the adoption of the Intergovernmental Fiscal Architecture;
- Accessing €2,120,000 from the European (EU) Union co-funded by the UK Department for International
Development (DFID) to support the Enhancing of Local Government Capacity for Development Project.
We continued to hold discussions with Government on the outstanding issue of conditions of service for elected and appointed officials which had reached an advance stage by the close of year with promising results. These and other achievements, as will be seen from the report, would not have been possible without the collaborative effort of all my colleagues in the presidency and the entire membership of the Association.
At international level, the Association continued to maintain presence at the United Cities and Local Governments –Africa (UCLG-Africa) as an active member. During this period, I was privileged to be elected to the position of Vice President of the Southern African Region and by virtue thereof, I secured a seat on the Pan-African Council which is the main forum for monitoring the implementation of UCLG-Africa’s policies. Through this membership, a number of colleagues from local authorities in Zambia attended various programmes supported by UCLG-Africa.
Similarly, the Association continued to maintain active membership at the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) with whom we successfully collaborated to access funding from the EU and DFID to implement the “Enhancing of Local Government Capacity for Development Project” whose main objective is to enhance the participation of local government in public policies and programmes in Zambia for a more equitable and democratic society. The project which is being implemented by the Ministry of Local Government, the Association and the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) was officially launched in July 2018 and ten local authorities are beneficiaries. Through the same collaborative effort, the Association and CLGF responded to yet another EU call for funding to support a project on the theme, “Local Authorities: Partnerships for Sustainable Cities.” A concept note was developed and subsequently submitted. In December, we received notification that the concept note was evaluated and pre-selected pending the submission of a full application. If the full application succeeds, we hope to access another €2,000,000 to implement a project on “Building Effective Partnerships for Inclusive and Sustainable Urban Governance” in 2019.
During the year under review, we continued to exert our efforts towards the implementation of programmes aimed at preventing the HIV epidemic through AMICAALL. In this regard we received support from UNAIDS and National AIDS Council both technical and in monetary terms which enabled us to mount a response aimed at reducing the prevalence rate especially in our cities. To fortify these efforts, the Local Government Service Commission continued with the recruitment process of District AIDS Coordination Advisors (DACAs) to be deployed in all the districts.
In conclusion I would like to express sincere gratitude to the LGAZ secretariat for continued support, commitment and devotion to the ideals of the Association. To my colleagues in the presidency and the entire membership of LGAZ, you deserve my thanks for comments and actions which have guided me in leading our Association thus far.
Thanks also go to our cooperating partners for supporting various activities of the Association, in particular, the EU, DFID, GIZ, and UNAIDS. I wish to extend special thanks to Government through the Ministry of Local Government for creating an enabling environment for LGAZ to operate.
I trust that you will find the report informative to give you an appreciation of the work we were able to accomplish during the year under review. It is my belief too, that we had a great year as we look forward to the future with enthusiasm.