Zambia; Development through mindset change (original) (raw)
Related papers
Since the mid-1980s, Zambia has been identified as an emblematic case of a country dominated by its donors. Massive debt and aid dependency have weakened the government’s ability to negotiate with external actors, to set its own policies and to act on the wishes of its citizens. Abrahamsen (2000) described a ‘disciplined democracy’, in which conditionality had been used by the Bretton Woods Institutions to enforce their prescriptions, with the result that no matter who was elected economic liberalization would follow. Yet, in the past two years, the possibility has been mooted that Zambia is reclaiming the initiative in its aid relationships. This paper argues that the opportunity to go ‘back to the future’ may arise if the country is able to take advantage of economic conditions somewhat reminiscent of the first two decades of independence from 1964 to 1984. However, the chapter concludes that the country is still being effectively disciplined, albeit through means more subtle than just conditionality. In order to achieve donor acceptance of this kind of Zambian leadership, the government would need to secure the high moral and political ground by presenting itself as the legitimate representative of a popular sentiment in favour of an ideologically-coherent national strategy. However, with legitimacy and ideological coherence in very short supply it is unsurprising that the aid strategy is predicated on dependence as a fact of life and that the Fifth National Development Plan is little more than a shopping list. The Zambian case suggests that, although ownership now forms a key element of donor rhetoric, both the ideological coherence and the political equality between donor and recipient that would be needed to breathe life into the principle of ownership have been eroded over the past twenty years.
2011
The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.
Gateway to Social and Economic Development of the Country?
2017
This study looks at the uses and abuses of the National Youth Service (NYS) as a vehicle to attain national economic and social development for the youth in Zimbabwe. started in 2001, the NYS has in its short life span attracted both admirers and enemies both locally and externally. Whilst proponents of the NYS argue that it is the best way to integrate the youth fully in all aspects of the economy, in line with the dictates of the African Youth Charter, enemies have argued that the NYS has been nothing but an attempt to sacrifice developmental aspirations on the altar of political expediency. This study looks at the politics surrounding the implementation of the African Youth Charter, particularly article 15, which states that member states should institute NYS programmes to engender community participation and skills development for entry into the labour market.
African problems, Western Solutions; Zambia's undoing?
There is a current buzzword in most African countries dubbed "African solutions to African problems". The question is whether present policies and activities in most of African countries sit in tandem with this buzzword. Much as we already prima facie predict that the slogan seems to currently be mere rhetoric, failure to find African solutions to Africa problems reinforces notions of contemporary colonialism of the African mind. Sub-Saharan Africa like many other developing and least developed countries faces many challenges inter alia poor infrastructure, little or absence of technical knowhow and poor quality of life for most of the citizens. A general and panoramic view of this situation indicates that there are more problems and challenges than there are solutions to the current this Africa status quo. The reason for the foregoing may be twofold; either there is lack of will power by most African countries to find solutions to their own problems or western countries with the capacity to help find solutions to African problems, do not do so adequately and timely. The most easily accepted view for most Africans is more the latter than the former. There is a general but often untenable and misguided view by most African citizens that developed countries owe Africa all desired support and development. This belief has been perpetuated reinforced by the lack of political and technical will or otherwise to find home grown solutions to African challenges. In wake of many challenges that Africa faces, the need to boost home grown capacity to tackle those challenges need not be overemphasized failure to which the perpetual cycle of need and underdevelopment would remain with the continent longer than desired and politically predicted.
Critical Transformations: Rethinking Zambian Development
This Paper seeks to retheorise the trajectory of Zambian development since the country’s independence. It emerges from a larger project designed to break with current discourses and rethink development more generally on the basis of ‘transformation’, with particular attention paid to the circumstances under which periods of ‘critical transformation’ are likely to occur in particular national and subnational contexts. Beginning with an account of the conceptual and epistemological issues associated with this approach, the paper then explores the utility of ‘transformation analysis’ categories via a re-interpretation of Zambian development. It maps in detail the ways in which key enduring vectors of transformation have combined over time, along with a variety of other intervening dynamics and contingencies, to drive the sequences and trajectories of transformation observed in Zambia since independence.