PROJECTS

1. Budget Tracking and Service Delivery Monitoring

CSPR has developed a framework of the budget tracking and service delivery Barometer. The barometer will be used to rate government on service delivery and budget execution from community and CSOs’ perspective, with the purpose of using those results to challenge government to improve service delivery and expend sufficient resources to address social concerns coming from the citizens. The Barometer includes a total of six key themes which form the bedrock of indicators which will be used to rate Government’s efforts towards public service delivery and budget execution. The six key themes include:

1. Quality of basic service delivery and management
2. Transparency and Accountability
3. Citizens participation
4. Pro-Poor Resource Management and Execution
5. Equity
6. Human Development

The barometer is expected to be published every quarter.

2. Study on the Impact of Public Expenditure Irregularities on PRPS

This study aims to translate and interpret the non attainment of the Poverty Reduction Programmes (PRPs) outputs in the implementation of the FNDP arising from the Report of the Auditor General on the Accounts for the Financial Year Ending 31st December 2008. The study identified 60 irregularities in the implementation of PRPs in the education sector involving close to K200 billion. The study made a number of recommendations, some of which include; the OAG must be given the mandate to audit all funds released for the PRPs including those directly provided by the donors; establish a monitoring system which will prevent wastage of; review and strengthen the procurement system management right from time of tender advertisement for service supply to final execution of the service; and, tighten the financial regulations on PRPs expenditure.

3. Capacity Building among Civil Society on Fiscal Analysis

The primary purpose of the project is:
To increase the capacities of civil society organisations to drive and co-ordinate the budget monitoring, notably through the development of a fiscal analysis framework and budget tracking mechanisms for Non-State actors, in order to influence government institutions in formulating and implementing good fiscal programmes which significantly accelerate social economic development

Based on a desk study that was undertaken by CSPR on “Budget Review 2006 – 2009: A Policy and Sectoral Analysis of the Zambia Fiscal Trends”, CSPR embarked in March 2010 on a training program aimed at capacity building of CSOs in Budget Analysis. Prior to the training programme, CSPR in its quest to enhance the capacity of network members and other CSOs to engage in pro-poor research and policy analysis undertook a number of dissemination and sensitisation workshops in the nine provinces of Zambia. In addition to this, a Fiscal Database of relevant government, CSO and other official documents was developed to assist in the quality of research and advocacy of CSOs.

4. Sixth National Development Plan – Civil Society Perspective

During the period under review Civil Society Organisations through the coordination of CSPR completed and submitted input into the government’s Sixth national Development Plan (SNDP). The process begun in September 2009, when CSOs started meeting in civil society thematic group which were tasked to give specific civil society input into the country’s SNDP. These thematic groups included Health, Nutrition, Agriculture and Food Security, Disability, Education Youth and Child Development, Social Protection and Employment, Environment, Governance, Gender, HIV/AIDS, Macroeconomics, Water and Sanitation and Trade and Industry and Mining. At provincial level, CSPR coordinated ‘provincial groups’, these included Eastern Province, Luapula, Southern, Western and North Western Province. Through these thematic groups, NGOs in the period under review continued to participate and engage around issues to include in the National SNDP. Civil society position papers were finalised and compiled into one document called the SNDP Civil Society Perspective with a theme "Economic Growth with Equity Investing in the Dignity of the people".