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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 10, No. 11
Publication Date: November 25, 2023
DOI:10.14738/assrj.1011.15905
Kanyamuna, V., Siamabele, B., Phiri, M., Mubita, A., & Kalonje, V. (2023). Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Arrangements in
Zambia’s Public Sector: Shifting Sands or a Solid Rock? Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(11). 382-413.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Arrangements in Zambia’s
Public Sector: Shifting Sands or a Solid Rock?
Vincent Kanyamuna
School of Humanities and Social Sciences,
Department of Development Studies,
University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia
Brivery Siamabele
School of Humanities and Social Sciences,
Department of Development Studies,
University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia
Million Phiri
School of Humanities and Social Sciences,
Department of Population Science, Monitoring &
Evaluation, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia
Aurick Mubita
School of Humanities and Social Sciences,
Department of Social Work and Sociology,
University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia
Valentine Kalonje
School of Humanities and Social Sciences,
Department of Development Studies,
University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia
ABSTRACT
The paper asks a prime question: Are Zambia’s Planning, Monitoring and
Evaluation arrangements Shifting Sands or a Solid Rock? The country, through its
policy and legislative instruments has in the recent years articulated and adopted
clear frameworks for national planning, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation of
public interventions. However, despite these efforts, there still remain a lot of
critical questions unanswered. Do the current planning, budgeting, monitoring and
evaluation arrangements address Zambia’s development agenda? Are different
development plans at national, line ministry, provincial and district level aligned
towards a streamlined effort to alleviate the country out of abject poverty? Is there
evidence that national annual budgets are directly derived from programmes and
activities from various development plans at line ministry, provincial and district
levels? Can we track programmes in national development plans (NDPs) within
annual budgets? In the literature reviewed, answers to these questions are mixed.
While other questions are in the affirmative, many of them have weak evidence.
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383
Kanyamuna, V., Siamabele, B., Phiri, M., Mubita, A., & Kalonje, V. (2023). Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Arrangements in Zambia’s Public
Sector: Shifting Sands or a Solid Rock? Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(11). 382-413.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.1011.15905
There are strong indications that Zambia’s frameworks for planning, budgeting,
monitoring and evaluation would require restructuring to remove redundancies,
repetitions and unnecessary bureaucracies. Even when the policies and legislation
are clear on what plan needed to be developed and implemented at various levels,
in many cases, these remain in draft forever or worse off non-existent. These
challenges are more prominent at decentralised levels where plans and M&E
practices are weak and fragmented a great deal. Many plans have been prescribed
at provincial and district level, yet they are not actualised. They cause staff fatigue
on one hand while crowding-out development evidence on the other hand.
Therefore, it is recommended that a detailed study is undertaken, one that take the
form of a readiness assessment to map out what plans, M&E arrangements and
budget frameworks are working well, not working well and reasons why. Such a
report will be a good starting point to reform the planning, budgeting, monitoring
and evaluation architecture for Zambia. A focused approach will be sound and will
lead to a predictable and sustainable development agenda for the country.
Keywords: planning, budgeting, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, M&E, national
development plans, Zambia
INTRODUCTION
Zambia is a land-locked or in other views land-linked country, centrally situated in the southern
Africa region. Eight countries share borders with Zambia. These include Malawi to the east,
Tanzania to the north-east, Angola to the west, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, and
Mozambique to the south, and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the north. In terms of
location, it is situated between latitudes 8° and 18° south and longitudes 22° and 34° east and
has a total surface area of 752,612 square kilometres.
Zambia is a member of the SADC region and shares common development prospects with
neigbouring countries. In that regard, the country enjoys social, economic, political and cultural
relationships with these countries and a stronger M&E culture and practice in Zambia would
increase Zambia’s development engagements with them. Figure 1 below is the locational map
depicting Zambia at the centre of the southern African region.
On 24 October 1964, Zambia gained independence from Britain through its first republican
president Dr Kenneth David Kaunda. Upon gaining political independence, the new government
embarked on a structured approach to national growth and development through the Interim
National Strategic Plan in 1964, which was succeeded by the First National Development Plan
(FNDP 1966 – 1970). Other successive NDPs were implemented, but the first NDP yielded
positive results and to date is regarded as having presented a successful development story
that led to Zambia being classified as a middle-income country in 1969. During that period, the
gross domestic product (GDP) per capita for Zambia became one of the highest in Africa, and
exceeding those of South Korea, Malaysia, Brazil, and Turkey. This came at a time that Zambia
was the third largest world producer of copper (after the Soviet Union and the United States)
and largest producer among the developing nations by producing 12.2 per cent of total world
copper (1,3,5). Despite these gains in the early years of Zambia’s political emancipation,
economic growth and development prospects continued to dwindle. The living standards of the
majority of Zambians leave much to be desired and this is happening in the advent of
democratic tenets and more budgetary allocation to public projects and programmes. As at the
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 10, Issue 11, November-2023
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
close of 2017, national socio-economicstatistics for Zambia looked gloomy (see Human
Development Index (HDI), Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Corruption Index, per capita income,
national poverty, rural/urban poverty, etc). Since independence, Zambia has implemented
seven NDPs, including the current Seventh National Development Plan (7NDP 2017 – 2021).
This period, covering the NDPs implemented from 1964 to the current 7NDP (2017-2021)
forms the basis for this study’s analysis about the arrangements and functionality of Zambia’s
public sector WoGM&ES.
Figure 1: Map showing location of Zambia within the SADC region
Source: https://www.victoriafalls-guide.net/zambia-geography.html
METHODOLOGY
This study was a desk-based review of relevant literature. It was understood that to ascertain
what was going well, what was not going well, and reasons why would be both insightful and
useful to making remedial measures towards a better environment for Zambia’s public sector
planning, monitoring and evaluation arrangements vis-à-vis results focused national
development.
A wide range of sources were employed to gather information on planning, monitoring and
evaluation arrangements for the public sector in Zambia. Among others, key literature and
reports reviewed include the following:
• National Monitoring and Evaluation Policy (2019)
• National Planning and Budgeting Policy (2014)
• National Planning and Budgeting Act (2020)
• Vision 2030
• National Development Plans (first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, revised sixth,
seventh & eighth)
• Annual Progress Reports (government reports on NDP progress)