ABSTRACT This paper aimed at discussing state civil society relationship in Zambia. How does civil society relate with the state in Zambia? Do the two entities see each other as partners in furthering good governance and development? These were the central questions that the paper endeavoured to explore. Information collected shows that state civil society relationship in Zambia is laden with high degrees of mistrust and suspicion, making it fragile and confrontational especially with those civil society organizations specialized in issues of governance, rule of law, human rights and participation. On the other hand, the relationship seems to be good with civil society organizations that are specialized in issues of public social service delivery such as poverty reduction. Weighing the two sides of the relationship, the paper concluded that the relationship seems to be more on the negative, confrontational side mainly because civil society is perceived as a threat to state or political power, which has been turned into a lifeline or source of amassing wealth by those that hold it. . Original Source URL : https://airccse.com/ijhas/papers/3418ijhas02.pdf For more details : https://airccse.com/ijhas/current.html
Easy access to financial services is at the core of poverty alleviation for individual, household, community development. One of the major challenges poor communities have been facing in Zambia is lack of access to financial services due to failure to meet the conditionality's set by the formal financial sector such as collateral on borrowing and high transaction costs. The objective of this research is to assess the feasibility of village banking as a tool to accelerate financial inclusion and subsequently propose it as a strategy to reach "the hard to reach" poor communities in Zambia. The research utilised the literature on village banks as well as the interviews conducted from the key informant and participants in village banks. The literature is based on a wide range of academic literature that documents village or community banks and access to financial services by the poor. The research reveal that with a proper legal and regulatory framework village banks are capable of reaching the "hard to reach" by creating access to basic financial services to the poor communities on a sustainable basis anchoring on mutual trust, relationships, accountability, customs, values and participation. Based on these findings, it is highly recommended that more village banking groups be established and supported by the government and the regulators and used as a financial tool to accelerate financial inclusion to reach the ":hard to reach poor" communities.
This paper discusses the importance and limitations of participation of local people in development projects and programmes while making suggestions on how to enhance such participation. The paper reveals that participation resulted from the paradigm shift that emerged from the failure of 'top-down approaches' or growth models of development. It also arose due to development actors' realization that approaches to development needed to be adapted to local conditions that are shaped by different sociocultural, economical and political realities. The paper adopts a desk review, conceptual analysis of the importance and limitations of participation of local people in development projects and programmes, placing particular focus on two 1994 publications by Robert Chambers, as key sources of literature on the origins of participation. Using Sherry Arnstein's understanding of participation where she equates it with the concept of power, participation can enhance empowerment of the locals and can provide local people with the opportunity to think and develop solutions for themselves. Participation can also allow the incorporation of local knowledge, skills and resources in the design of interventions, it can ensure project/programme responsiveness to people's needs, it can enhance the goal of sustainability and assist breaking the mentality of dependency. Critics assert that participation does not lead to locals'empowerment, because participatory methodologies fail to change and challenge the bureaucratic, centralized and administrative structures that control decision-making and resource allocation. Also, through participation, what could be considered to be local knowledge might just be a construction of the planning context that cover a complex micropolitics of knowledge production and use in local communities. Domination also limit participation since participatory activities take place in groups. Particiaptory techniques conceal traditional local relationships of power and fail to deal with situations where local culture hinders participation by being oppressive to certain people. Therefore, participation is affected by spatial, temporal, political, social and cultural contexts. Thus, to ensure successful participation, there is need to contextualize it within the existing local environment. It is important to situate efforts whose aim is to engage communities in context if they are to be successful. This is because contexts in which different development organizations and agencies operate are complex and diverse. Participation must be informed by carefully done political and social analyses. By so doing, an examination of the practices and social relationships that determine local knowledge production and use can be made. Participation should be considered as political as it is conditioned by the institutional framework and political backgrounds of the participants.
