The Covid 19 pandemic which has caused unprecedented human and economic devastation in the world, impacted the operations of local authorities country-wide during the year 2020. In the initial stages, the epicenter of the disease was the capital city, Lusaka but this eventually spread to all parts of the country causing panic and disruption in public service delivery. The Local Government Association of Zambia’s activities were equally affected by the consequences of the pandemic.
Given the gravity of the crisis city, municipal and town council areas became vulnerable as fertile grounds for infection and for the spread of the disease due to population density. For this reason, local authorities were recognised as key players in the fight against the pandemic. The ability of local authorities to effectively respond to the COVID-19 pandemic was, however, limited due to, among other things, inadequate resources including human, financial and material at their disposal; absence of crisis management mechanisms; lack of internal structures for crisis management; and limited knowledge and understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic by local communities.
In an effort to strengthen the capacity of local authorities to play a catalytic role in providing effective local response to the pandemic, the Association deemed it necessary to put in place some form of coordinated local response through which knowledge, experience and advice could be shared among member local authorities. Consequently, the Association established and started running a COVID-19 Advisory Centre for Local Authorities with support from GIZ and USAID in August 2020. The Centre provided non-pharmaceutical assistance to enable local authorities react to emergencies occasioned by the pandemic and to ensure that their operations were conducted in a safe manner and that service provision was not completely disrupted. The Centre further provided support in the formulation of district-based emergency plans and protocols to ensure preparedness of local authorities in responding to emergencies due to COVID-19 and other disasters.
Similarly, most of the planned activities for the Association were either postponed or completely shelved as a result of partial lockdowns and the need to conform to health regulations introduced by government to stem the spread of the disease. The Joint 64th Annual Conference of LGAZ and 17th AMICAALL General Assembly which was scheduled to take place during the month of April could only meet in November 2020. The Executive Committee which, under the LGAZ constitution is supposed to convene at least twice annually, did not meet.
Despite the Covid challenge, the Association was, nevertheless, able to develop a new Strategic Plan covering the period 2021 – 2025 since the year 2020 marked the end of the earlier planning period. The Plan was developed in a consultative process with member local authorities and key stakeholders providing valuable input.
Another significant activity undertaken during the year under review was the establishment of the Local Government Gender Equality Committee as one of the governing organs of the Association. This milestone decision was made by the 64th LGAZ Annual Conference as a demonstration of the Association’s commitment to enhance women participation in local government.
Details of the work and achievements of the Association made during the year under review will be found in the paragraphs that follow.
Let me take the opportunity to sincerely thank the local government fraternity for the support they continued to render in furtherance of the objectives of the Association. The same goes to our cooperating partners who supported our projects and activities aimed at enhancing the capacity of our member local authorities in the execution of assigned functions and these include, EU, Foreign Commonwealth Development Office, GIZ and UN system in Zambia.