Decentralisation and Local Economic Development in Zambia

Abstract

Local economic development is about the involvement of all key stakeholders from the local community in resolving the socio-economic challenges faced in the local areas in order to improve the livelihoods of the local community members. Decentralised government systems are more effective in tackling poverty levels in localities since local authorities are closer to the community members as such, they are more likely to conceive and implement pro-poor policies. However, implementation of decentralisation policies to facilitate local economic development has not been without challenges. This paper therefore, aims at assessing the status of the implementation of the national decentralisation programmes in Zambia and evaluating the extent to which decentralisation has served as a vehicle for local economic development. Resting on a constructivist research paradigm, this study employed a qualitative research approach with a sample size of 20 (n=20) key informants that were purposively selected from ten (20) local authorities in Zambia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the key informants. The primary data was complemented by the secondary data from various sources. Data collected was thematically analysed. The findings of this study revealed that although Zambia had made headways in implementing administrative decentralisation programmes, it still faced glaring challenges in implementing fiscal decentralisation as a result, development did not cascade to the local community levels. This study, recommends the imperative need for Zambia to accelerate the full implementation of its national decentralisation programmes with a special focus on fiscal decentralisation. It further recommends that the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) Act No. 11 of 2018 should be revised to reduce powers of the area members of parliament in deciding the fate of their electorates. Furthermore, the paper recommends that Zambia should adopt the Kenyan model of disbursing the CDF funds based on the poverty indexes of the constituencies as opposed of disbursing equal amounts of funds per constituency.