CALENDAR:
MS Offices will be closed from December
22nd 2008 to
January 4th 2009
Annual Meeting 2009: March
11th and 12th
MS-Zambia
is part of the Danish Association for International Cooperation (MS) and an associate of Action Aid International.
Our vision is a world in peace where co-operation between people
promotes global equity and ensures improved conditions for poor
and marginalized people.
The main themes of MS-Zambia’s programme strategy are Building
Local Democracy and Land Rights.
MS-Zambia aims at defending and enhancing popular participation
under the assumption that strengthening democracy at local level
will help fight poverty.
CONTRIBUTIONS/COMMENTS:
For contributions to the newsletter, further information,
or to unsubscribe, please contact Lena Vind-Andersen at
lena.vind-andersen@ms.zm
cell: +260 (0) 976 645193
CONTACT DETAILS:
MS Zambia
5011 Los Angeles Boulevard
Longacres, Box 35788
Lusaka
Office cell: 0977 77 02 92/42/09
Office land: 0211 25 26 05/51/50
or 0211 25 56 43/30
Lusaka fax: (0211) 25 55 93
Guest House: (0211) 25 51 32 |
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MS
PARTNER NEWS
Land evictions debated in Chipata
 Chizilo
citizens in Chipata District are currently in a dilemma. They have been
living and farming their area for a long time, but are now at the centre
of an eviction notice. Through efforts of Chipata District Farmer's Association,
their case is now being revised.
In August, Chizilo citizens visited MS
partner Chipata District Farmers Association (CDFA) to seek advice on
the evictions. The residents complained that they have been farming on
the area for a long time but are now being evicted by the Forestry department
who claim that the area is a protected area which should not be cultivated
or have the trees cut. It appears that the residents have settled on customary
land where they have their houses but they cross over to the state land
where they do the farming activities.
While the issue has not yet been resolved, the case encouraged CDFA to
produce a series of radio programmes on Land Rights, which aired in Chipata
in September and October. As a result, CDFA has now been approached by
several other citizens with similar complaints. ”There are many
such cases out there,” explains Virgil Malambo, ”but many
did not know where to take their complaints before. It is essential for
the rights of people in rural areas to be able voice their complaints.
How else are they going to be able to influence the development in their
own areas!”
Click to read the full article
on our website
Materials on decentralisation now available
 A
manual for facilitators wishing to teach community members and civil society
about decentralisation is now available for download from the MS Zambia
website. Brochures and position papers will be printed shortly.
The decentralisation manual has been produced by Zambia Council
for Social Development and The MS Zambia Knowledge and Strategy Team on
Inclusion and Effective Voice. It outlines procedures for preparing a
workshop and imparting basic knowledge on decentralisation. It also deals
with how community members can participate in raising awareness on decentralisation,
using a mix of easy exercises and step-by-step instructions.
Furthermore, 4 brochures on decentralisation and a resource kit containing
3 position papers prepared by the same Knowledge and Strategy Team and
Saccord will be printed this month. They can be used by MS Partners to
aid them in their efforts to advocate for decentralisation. The brochures
and papers deal with how decentralisation can reduce poverty, why and
how decentralisation should be included in the new constitution and how
to evaluate different approaches to decentralisation. They can also be
downloaded from our website.
Download manual, papers and brochures
by clicking here
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Bio-fuels
could threaten small-scale farmers
 The
production of bio-fuels is not necessarily beneficial to small-scale farmers.
A new forum for Civil Society Organisations in Zambia has been established
to protect their rights.
Experiences from Brazil, Tanzania, Indonesia and Mozambique suggest that
bio-fuel production on a large commercial scale can jeopardise the livelihood
of small scale farmers. While the Zambian government seems supportive
of small-scale outgrower schemes, there is still a real risk that exploitative
practises can compromise household food security, unless measures are
taken to prevent this.
Civil society is now taking the opportunity to engage with government
and the industry during the early stages of development of this industry
in Zambia, so as to promote favourable and equitable changes and policies.
The main goal of the forum established on December 4th, is to ensure that
the bio-fuels industry in Zambia is pro poor and indeed a driver of rural
development. It was agreed that the forum will establish a web-site and
conduct research to be used in advocacy, among other things. The next
meeting will be in February 2009, when the forum will be officially launched.
It would be good to see some MS partners, especially from the grass-roots
such as the District Farmers Associations and District Land Alliances,
getting involved in this exiting Forum and making it relevant to their
needs! Anyone interested in the bio-fuels debate can go to Groove
for general information, or send an email to DW Carol Sorensen at
carol.sorensen3@gmail.com
Click here to read the
full article on our website
The future of the ADCs
 Should
Area Development Committees remain governmental structures under the District
Councils or should they become Civil Society Organisations in their own
right?
As six District Councils are finishing their contracts with MS
Zambia this year, many have worried what will become of the Area Development
Committees (ADCs) developed during the partnerships. The main problem
is the legal status of the ADCs: So long as the government is not amending
the Local Government Act to reflect the aspirations of the Decentralisation
Policy, the ADCs are not legally recognized entities of the Councils.
This means that the councils cannot support them with their own funds.
Kafue District Council has come up with a possible solution for the problem:
They intend to register their ADC board as a Civil Society Organisation
(CSO), which will be representing all the ADCs in Kafue. As a CSO, the
ADC board will be able to source for their own funds from other donors,
which would then be distributed to the individual ADCs.
Before taking this step, Kafue District Council has sought the advice
of the Decentralisation Secretariat to hear their opinion of this solution.
The Decentralisation Secretariat has responded that they encourage the
registering of the ADCs and have given several for options for registration,
among them to register as a CSO. However, once the local Government Act
is amended to reflect the Decentralisation Policy, it will be necessary
to de-register the ADCs again, in order for them to become part of the
council structure once more.
MS Zambia’s Policy Advisory Council has debated the matter at length,
and opinions are divided. While it is recognized that the registering
of ADCs will provide new funding opportunities, it is also feared that
the Councils will not feel the same obligation towards including the opinions
of the ADCs in their planning, if they are independent CSOs. However,
the matter now rests with the individual Councils to find their own way
forward.
For further information on the Kafue solution, District Planning Officer
Tresford Musonda can be contacted on 01 311 339. Regarding the registering
of ADCs, information can be obtained from the Assistant Director of Planning,
Mr. Chandavu, of the Decentralisation Secretariat, at 0977 862 418.
ZLA members visit Tanzania
 In
November, members of Zambia Land Alliance (ZLA) participated in an exchange
visit to Tanzania, to learn about how rural land is administered there.
The purpose of the visit was to gather ideas on how to strengthen
customary land administration in Zambia, and to identify ways to strengthen
the regional network. The trip was hosted by Tanzania Natural Resources
Forum (TNRF). Field visits took place in Arusha region and were hosted by
TNRF partners. The ZLA team also met up with civil society organisations
working with land rights issues.
”For the Tanzanian side it was a great opportunity to hear about
the Zambian land experience and I hope your group also picked up something
new,” the TNRF Information Officer said after the visits.
The Zambian participants expressed satisfaction with the learning generated
by the visit, and stated that they were inspired to try and see how they
could use these lessons to strengthen customary land administration in
their areas of work. In addition, once the strategies for continued engagement
have been finalised, ZLA and TNRF expect to continue to work together.
Decentralisation ... what?
 The
knowledge of decentralisation and its benefits is hard to get by in rural
areas.
At a workshop carried out in Kafue by the Catholic Commission for Justice
and Peace and Zambia Council for Social Development, 90% of the people
who attended said that they had not heard of the Decentralization Policy
before. The 10% who had heard about the Decentralization Policy expressed
ignorance on how the policy will be of benefit to them.
A series of workshops have been carried out in the area over the past
months, and it has been an eye opener to Caritas in Kafue, who facilitated
the meetings, to discover how great the need for information is. The purpose
of the community meetings was to train people on what decentralization
is all about and for them to influence change in the community. A lot
of constructive suggestions emerged as a result, among them ideas for
organizing concerts, sketches, drama performances and debates. Caritas
Kafue intend to continue their sensitisation efforts and consider that
the workshops have been a great success so far.
Focus on poverty reduction in rural areas needed
 Civil
Society for Poverty Reduction is concerned about the huge disparity between
rural areas and urban areas in the social sector.
CSPR call on the government to place more emphasis on Poverty Reduction
Programmes in rural areas through increased allocations in the 2009 National
Budget. During the 2008 Budget Tracking and Expenditure Monitoring Exercise
it was noted that Zambians, particularly those living in rural areas,
have continued to experience a worsening of income distribution. CSPR
therefore among other things recommends increased allocations to the agricultural
sector and calls for improved conditions in the education sector for recruitments
and for developing retention schemes and housing for teachers as well
as infrastructure development.
For a more people centered budget, CSPR Board Chairperson Mr. Mweemba
implores Members of Parliament to effectively represent the needs of the
constituencies by debating the National Budget more thoroughly in 2009
as opposed to merely being rubber stamps.
Help Zimbabwe
 Zambia
Social Forum have urgently launched a campaign to alleviate the suffering
caused by the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe. Read their appeal for help,
distributed on December 12th, below.
Zambia Social Forum, under the Get Up Stand Up campaign, has decided to
respond to the cholera situation in Zimbabwe by mobilising resources,
in the form of materials, to help save Zimbabwean lives. We are aware
that most of you will be closing for the festive season but we feel that
if the formal ways of making contributions to this cause would be compromised
by the closures, we could still contribute as individuals and as citizens
of the region. We are trying to mobilise water, food and chlorine (for
water treatment) for whatever number of people we can reach. We are currently
talking with colleagues in the Zimbabwe Social
Movement and we hope that they will be able to guide us in terms of distribution.
Our appeal is that any contribution, of any kind, will save a life in
Zimbabwe. We will communicate on how contributions will be mobilised and
organised on the Zambian side. Our South African comrades are also joining
and we hope that other comrades from other SADC countries will come in
asap.
In solidarity, Zindikilani, Zambia Social Forum. Contact zindikilani@gmail.com
for further details
MS
GLOBAL NEWS
MS
Denmark: Fund raising for women’s access and rights to land in 2009
 On
Sunday, 3 May 2009, MS Denmark fund raises nationally in Denmark in favour
of poor women's access and rights to land in Tanzania, Zambia and Nepal.
Raised funds are going to support MS' work within the land rights theme
in the three respective country programmes - a more specific division
of funds are to be agreed upon after 3 May.
Click here to read more
on MS Denmark's website
If you are in Denmark around that time, click
here to join the campaign
MS Sudan: Southern Sudan’s first public service radio
on air
 With
the support of MS Sudan, the people in greater Yei area in Southern Sudan
can now listen to public service radio.
Local news is broadcast daily from one of the area’s commercial
radios but the dream is for them to have their own radio station. For
six weeks, 19 men and women from the greater Yei area have attended an
intensive course in journalism. Now, the reporters have returned to their
own areas and every afternoon, they report today’s stories through
a cell phone to the presenter in Yei.
Click here to read full
story on MS Sudan's website
MS-ZAMBIA NEWS
The offices of MS Zambia will be closed for two weeks during
the festive season, starting Monday the 22nd of December. We will reopen
in the new year on Monday the 5th of January. All Development workers
will be on leave during this time; some are extending their leaves til
mid or end January.
Calls for projects on democracy and governance in 2009
 There
are new funding opportunities coming up early in 2009
In
the beginning of 2009 two new calls for projects within democracy and
governance are expected to be published. So it might be a good idea to
start thinking on project ideas within that field already now. The two
calls are:
Zambian Governance Fond (ZGF) - a joint grant making
and capacity building mechanism in support of civil society advocacy and
networking for improved governance and accountability.
The Cotonou Agreement and EU Aid to Zambia NSAs (Non-State Actors)
Approximately 5 million Euros have been set aside for this as part of
the 9th European Development Fund (EDF) for Zambia to support Non-State-Actors
through capacity-building initiatives.
Click here for further details
and links on our website
Annual meeting 2009
 The
2009 annual meeting will take place on the 11th - 12th of March 2009.
The first day will be devoted
to discussing the merger between Action Aid International and MS Zambia,
while the second day will focus on discussing the best practices and experiences
within the two themes of Building Local Democracy and Land Rights. Another
theme will be the main streaming of Gender. The venue has yet to be decided
upon, but invitations to all partners will be going out by the end of
this year.
Welcome to new partners and goodbye to old partners
 The
revision of MS Zambia's partner portfolio in 2008 is now complete.
The revision of MS Zambia's partners was done in order to align ourselves
to our two main themes of Building Local Democracy and Land Rights. This
means that while some partners are leaving us, others will be joining
the MS Zambia family. We would like to thank the partners leaving us very
much for the good years of cooperation and we wish them all the best in
the future. We are hopeful that we will still have many areas of cooperation
in common. We are also welcoming our new partners and looking forward
to working with them. Please see below how the new partner portfolio is
composed:
MS Zambia Gender Policy out now
 A
new gender policy for MS Zambia has been produced and is available from
our website.
The gender policy is a result of the work
of the MS Zambia Knowledge and Strategy team on Gender.
Although it is mainly meant to guide the MS Country office, it will also
be distributed in print to MS' partners in the hope that it will serve
as an inspiration and guideline for how to tackle issues of gender on
a daily basis. Printed versions will be available at the end of this month
from the country office.
Click here to download
the MS Zambia Gender Policy.
Land Rights theme meeting in Tanzania
 All
MS countries working with Land Rights were represented at the recent theme
meeting in Tanzania. Position papers and a draft policy are now underway.
In the last week of October, Carol Sorensen and Nsama Nsemiwe from ZLA,
travelled to TCDC in Tanzania to join with others in developing an MS
Global Land Rights Policy. Countries that have chosen to work with land
rights in their CPS are Nepal, Tanzania, and of course Zambia, and each
country was well represented by partners and DW's. The meeting was organised
and chaired by Kristian Sloth, the Land Rights coordinator from MS Copenhagen,
and Dr John Musyoka from MS-TCDC. During the intensive and productive
week an outline of the draft policy, as well as outlines of position papers
on customary land, commercialisation of land, and bio-fuels, were produced.
These outlines have been taken back to Denmark, to be further developed,
and will hopefully be finalised at the beginning of 2009. Once finalised
and adopted, the papers will guide the work of MS in the country programs
working with the Land Rights theme. Importantly, the papers will also
be used to guide advocacy within Denmark aimed at strengthening the land
rights of poor men and women in developing countries.
Action
Aid Merger in the making
 The
process of merging MS Zambia with Action Aid will begin mid January when
the change management committee meets for the first time.
The committee is made up of three representatives from each organisation.
Representing MS Zambia will be Country Director Finn Petersen, Administrator
Pia Owusu and Programme Officer Nachilala Nkombo.
The committee will look at issues such as adjusting development approaches,
HR and remuneration packages, information policy, different fund raising
methods, office location, communications with our respective donor organisations,
how to develop a joint country programme strategy and how to honour present
partnership agreements, among other things. The newly appointed overall
responsible change manager for the merger process, Peter Marinus Jensen,
who is based in Nairobi, Kenya, will be visiting Zambia in January to
contribute to the meeting.
Celebrating 40 years in Zambia
 On
November 28th MS Zambia celebrated its 40th anniversary in style.
The rain gods had mercy and the cake arrived on time at the 40th anniversary
celebrations taking place in a big tent erected on MS Zambia's premises
on Friday 28th of November. While Country Director Finn Petersen mused
over the strange meaning of the letters MS, suggesting that some people
seemed to believe it meant “Muzungo Service”, PAC Chairman
Goodwell Lungo likened MS Zambia to en elephant – strong and moving
with momentum. Almost 150 people attended the afternoon reception, while
close to 80 partner representatives, staff members and development workers
partied in the evening. We would like to thank everybody who participated
in the celebrations and contributed to making the occasion memorable.
For partners interested in viewing pictures from the anniversary, they
can be accessed on the computers in our guest house. Go to My Pictures/MS
40th Anniversary.
PEOPLE
Leaving MS Zambia:
Programme Officer James Kasongo will leave MS Zambia
at the end of December. He moves on to a position at Heifer International
as Zambian Country Director, commencing in January 2009. The Country Office
congratulates James warmly with his achievement, although we are very
sad to see him leave.
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