IN THIS NEWSLETTER


By Lena Vind-Andersen, Information Officer

This newsletter is the first to extensively present stories from a range of the newest MS Zambia partners, who joined us this year. We hope it will provide our readers with some insights into how our new partners will be contributing to our two main themes of Building Local Democracy and Land Rights.

Land disputes abound in Petauke, where new MS Partner Petauke District Land Alliance are resolved to improve conditions and are working hard to keep up with the complaints. Meanwhile Titukuke, another new MS partner, have engaged with councillors in the same area and revealed a great need among them for further information about land issues.

Encouraged by new partner Caritas Kafue, communities in Kafue are calling for government to enshrine decentralisation in the constitution, while in Lusaka, new partner Young Women's Christian Association are fighting for women's rights and caring for battered woman at their shelter.

According to Sara Longwe, MS PAC member, Zambian president Rupiah Banda seems to be backtracking on gender equality, but civil society is fighting back with a strategy to improve women's inclusion in governance issues.

Zambia Council for Social Development is engaged in a Civil Society Index project, which will commence a mapping of the strengths and weaknesses of Zambian Civil Society Organisations.

The merger between Action Aid and MS Zambia is under way and while discussion here in Zambia are presently focused on the practical aspects of moving together and aligning our strategies, the international cooperation between our two organisations has made a good start in the adoption of a new global partnership policy.

Read about all this and more in the February newsletter. Please do not hesitate to send in contributions and ideas for the next edition, which is due early April 2009. Deadline for contributions will be March 27th.

CALENDAR:

Annual Meeting 2009: March 11th & 12th

PAC meeting: February 25th

Change Management Committee meeting: March 10th

MS PARTNER NEWS

Land titles are hard to come by
It generally takes 2-4 years to acquire a titled land plot in Petauke. But this is not even the worst problem, as MS Partner Petauke District Land Alliance can attest. Misinformation and mismanagement of legal procedures are common.
”Even though I informed him of the fact that I had title to the land, he just kept building his house. At he time he was just laying the foundations. Now, there's a mansion on my land,” tells Grace Mwale Zulu. She inherited a titled land plot from her father, but at the time, did not have enough money to develop the land or start building. Working as a nurse, she was then transferred to Chadiza, some 200 km away, and upon her return some years later, found that somebody else had started building on her plot. ”This is the sort of thing which shouldn't even be possible”, comments the vice secretary of Petauke District Land Alliance (PDLA), Mr. Zulu. ”The council should be quite able to see in their files that the title belongs to her, and normally you can't even start building unless you show your title deed and obtain a permission from the council.”
In another case, a woman applying for land was misinformed by the Council on the correct procedures to follow, and has consequently spent 4 years of savings on a plot, on which she is now not allowed to build. Unfortunately, these cases are not uncommon in Petauke and they form a significant part of the complaints dealt with by PDLA. Click here to read the full article on our website

Zambian president backtracks on gender equality
In the area of gender policy, Rupiah Banda is clearly not following Mwanawasa’s legacy, as he had promised. Instead, it has become obvious from his words and deeds that he is deliberately backtracking.
Thus writes Sara Longwe, MS Zambia PAC member and Women's Rights Activist, in a letter published recently in The Post Newspaper. She argues that while Zambia has ratified several national policies and international agreements, committing the country to work for women's inclusion in the political life through affirmative action, the president seems to have forgotten about these promises. In his opening speech to parliament in January, the president thus said that he would ”appoint women on merit, not because of quotas”, and he has furthermore decreased the proportion of women in his cabinet from 19% to 12%.
Click here to read the full letter on our website

New strategy to include women in local governance
On the workshop on “Gender and local governance” held in Lusaka February 2009, an important step towards reaching gender equality in local governance was taken.
Gender Links (GL) and Woman and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA) have done a broad and impressive study with the objective to better understand the female participation or lack thereof in local government in Zambia. In fact the study included all of the SADC-countries and places Zambia second to last with only 6.7% representation of women in local government. This percentage is of course alarmingly low and far from the 50% representation of women in decision-making positions that is to be reached by 2015 according to the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development.
According to Susan Tolmay, representing Gender Links and facilitator of the workshop, time has therefore come to be more strategic. As she says: “For 10 years we have said, that we want 30% representation of women in decision making, but where has that gotten us? Without concrete strategies there won't be any progress". The objective of the workshop was therefore to create an overall strategy for mainstreaming gender at local government level.
This workshop was only the beginning of GL's and WLSA's attempt to implement gender based changes at local government level. They plan to host workshops in all regions of Zambia starting April/May, where the objective is to make specific plans for each province on how to facilitate gender equality in local government.
The workshop was hosted by Gender links, LGAZ and WLSA. Among the attendants were representatives of local government and members of various NGOs in Zambia.
Click here to download the strategy adopted at the workshop

Assessing the strength of civil society in Zambia
In 2009 the Civil Society Index (CSI) project, which will assess the state and strength of civil society in countries around the world, will be implemented in Zambia.
The CSI seeks to provide information about civil society in Zambia and assess its contribution and impact towards social change. Specifically, the project will assess the level of civic engagement, strengths and weaknesses of civil society, the sectoral and geographic distribution, transparency and accountability of CSOs, civil society’s overall impact in public policy and its relationship with the state and the private sector.
The two primary goals of the CSI are to enhance the strength and sustainability of civil society in Zambia, and to strengthen civil society’s contribution to positive social change. An analytical Country Report on the state of CSOs in Zambia will be produced. An Action Brief highlighting the plan of action and policy recommendations will also be produced to be used as a policy advocacy tool. Finally the results of the Zambian assessment will be compared to reports from other countries. The project will be implemented by Zambia Council for Social Development (ZCSD) in partnership with the international civil society network CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Titukuke engages Petauke Councillors
Councillors in Petauke are in need of knowledge about land issues, a meeting reveals.
Titukuke RCDA, a new MS Zambia partner in Petauke, Eastern Province, had a very progressive one day meeting with 30 councillors and council staff in December 2008 on land issues . A swipe was taken at the local policy makers who expressed ignorance about the land sections in the draft constitution and the fifth national development plan. Apart from a few officers, all councillors had not seen the draft land policy nor the draft constitution or the fifth national development plan.
The meeting raised a lot of concerns and the councillors requested for a workshop to be organized to sensitize them on the draft land policy.

Abused woman re-unites with children
MS Partner Young Women's Christian Association (YMCA) has helped a woman reunite with her children in their shelter for battered women.
Delphine Mutuyimana was referred to the YWCA Women’s shelter for safety from her abusive husband. The woman came to the YWCA shelter while her case was being investigated by the police under the Victim Support Unit where she had reported the matter. When Delphine came to the YWCA shelter she was seven months pregnant and had a one year three months old baby while her other three children were with her husband. She was denied access to the children. Through the help she received at the shelter, Delphine has now been reunited with her children. ”Gender based violence comes with many effects on the victim other than physical; the psychological effects of one separating with her children is traumatic”, states YWCA, who established the shelter to care for abused women. Confidential and non judgmental counselling as well as the provision of food and basic personal needs are among some of the services offered at the shelter.
Click here to read the full article on our website

Community took leaders to task at debate meeting in Kafue
At the close of last year Caritas Lusaka held a public forum in Kafue, where the community was encouraged to speak their minds to their leaders.
During the discussion the community was challenged to take up an interest in Decentralization issues and to take their leaders to task if they are not performing to their expectations. Among the issues raised by the community was a request to the Government to domesticate the Decentralization Policy by enshrining it in the Zambian Constitution, Soloboni community identified water as a problem they are facing, while Fawesa community found the policy on education for 2008 dictatorial because it was exclusively concentrated on infrastructure development, leaving other areas. This, they said, was all because the budgeting and planning process did not include people at the grassroots. On the panel there was a representative from the Decentralization Secretariat, the Council and Civil Society.
This year Caritas Lusaka will continue with the Decentralization project in Kafue. Among other activities they will do a baseline survey, hold school debates on Decentralization as a way of bringing the youths on board as well as Budget tracking and expenditure monitoring in the Local Council. Furthermore, they will provide mobile Paralegal clinics, meant to reach out to clients in places where they cannot come to the office in Kafue or Lusaka. This exercise will mainly address land issues with a deliberate bias towards women.

Action Aid adopts new global partnership policy
With inspiration from MS, Action Aid International has developed a new partnership policy.
Action Aid International (AAI) has not previously worked as extensively with partnerships as has MS, since most of their partners have been either smaller grass root organisations at community level or national strategic partners, which were only engaged for short term periods for advocacy purposes. However, a new Global Partnerhip Policy has just been developed, which among other things opens up for longer term partnerships. The policy provides a framework which each individual AAI office can suit to their purposes, and MS played a significant role in its formulation. ”It was good to work with MS on the Global Partnership Policy, because they had a lot to offer in terms of experiences with partnerships,” says Chris Kinyanjui, AAI's international Director for the East and Southern Africa region.

MS GLOBAL NEWS

MS Nepal: Build your village with hoe and spade
You don't have to be literate or member of a women's group for years to take part in local democracy. In Banke, Nepal, one new women's group got money for a new road from local authorities.
The Muslim women of Banke's Udharapur ward no. 3 Rajnawa village, who were once involved in daily household business, have begun a "make your village by yourself" initiative. They have cleaned up the 2 km long gutter in their village and with Rs. 40,000 from the VDC they gravelled the village road. The women, who formed their group only 6 months ago, were inspired by an interactive seminar about 'women's access to local authorities'.
Click here to read full article on MS Nepal's website

MS Zimbabwe: MS Zimbabwe's annual meeting was held in a spirit of careful optimism and determination.
While Morgan Tsvangirai finally took his oath as prime minister in the new government of unity in Zimbabwe, MS Zimbabwe held their annual meeting (AM) in the beautiful Vumba mountains.
The main theme of the AM was ”Peace building and National Healing”, and the political developments contributed to the sense of optimism and determination, which pervaded the discussions on the subject. ”The National Healing process should start now and it can be a long process. But while some are asking for heads to roll and some are asking for ”sorry”, I believe in forgiveness. If you keep holding on to the pain, it will burn you,” said one of the participants, Caroline Mubaira. Many participants were determined to concentrate even greater efforts to building up confidence in local authority structures to make their democracy workable once more. As one of the facilitors of the national healing theme, Blessing Makwara, put it: ”Democracy can be unbearably inefficient, but efficiency without democracy can be simply unbearable”.

MS-ZAMBIA NEWS

Action Aid / MS merger news
The Change management committee (CMC) has begun its work.
Following the initiation of the merger process in January 2009, the CMC has held its first monthly meeting to discuss the merger process. At the meeting the committee discussed the need for a local change management facilitator and decided that such a person will be employed as soon as possible, to deal with the daily issues arising from the merger process. The committee also decided to give high priority to developing a clear strategy for letting staff know, when changes affecting their jobs will occur. Another highly prioritised issue will be to look into the sharing of offices. This work has already progressed to the point where it has been decided that Action Aid employees will be moving into the MS offices sometime this year, following a refurbishment and restructuring of the present MS guest house. Finally, a common communication strategy has been devised by an appointed communication group, consisting of the two country directors, Finn Petersen and Lucy Muyoyeta, as well as Lena Vind-Andersen (Info DW, MS) and Masuka Mutenda (PO, Action Aid). As part of the communication strategy, you will from now on find brief updates on the merger process – such as the one you are presently reading - in each MS Newsletter and minutes of the CMC meetings will be circulated to all partners. An information sheet on frequently asked questions and giving a background for the merger will also be shared with partners, staff and external stakeholders shortly.

New funding opportunities
New possibilities for funding are coming up.
Calls for project proposals are out now for various funding opportunities, among them the SEED awards for 2009 and funds for capacity building of private sector development. Check our fundraising page regularly to keep up with new developments. Here you will also find a continously updated fundraisor directory, listing donors who provide funding for thematic areas such as local democracy, land rights, women's and youth rights and much more.
Go to the fundraiser page by clicking here


Bye bye to Development Workers: changing personnel categories
New MS personnel categories will take effect from 15th of March.
The new personnel strategy ”People4change”, which has been discussed extensively for the past ½ year, is nearing it's final approval. The strategy outlines the new personnel categories which will take effect in March 2009 and substitutes the present category of Development workers with more specialised positions. The final version will be approved at the beginning of March and in Zambia partner discussions will take place shortly to determine the needs of the partners and which categories they will prefer for receiveing technical assistance. More information on the new categories will be forthcoming in the next newsletter.

MS Zambia annual meeting
The annual meeting of MS Zambia takes place on the 11th - 12th of March.
This years annual meeting will take place at Fringilla Lodge, approximately 1 hours drive north of Lusaka. Two main themes are on the agenda, one being the upcoming merger with Action Aid and the second dealing with innovative ways of integrating and mainstreaming Gender and Youth empowerment strategies in Building Local Democracy and Land Rights activities. As in previous years, the Danish ambassador to Zambia, Thomas Schjerbeck, will talk about the status of Danish Development Aid. Departures from Guesthouses and the Country Office will be on Wednesday 11th March at 07.30 and expected arrival back in Lusaka on Friday, 13th March 2009 at approx. 10.30. We are looking forward to seeing representatives from all of our partnes there.

Young visitors from Denmark
8 young Danish volunteers are arriving in February.
Under the medium term volunteer (MTV) programme, MS Zambia will be welcoming 8 young Danes on the 28th of February. The 7 girls and 1 boy are between 19-21 years old and they will be living with local Zambian families and working with Civil society organisations in Mansa. One is MS partner Mansa District Farmers Association and another will be the Mansa Youth Development and Job Creation Center. The young Danes are paying out of their own pockets for the 3 months stay, which will hopefully prove to be of benefit to both them and our partners and result in mutual learning and cultural exchange experiences.

PEOPLE

New faces:

Maurice Kalaluka Nyambe will be joining MS Zambia as the new Programme Officer on March 1st 2009. Mr. Nyambe holds a Master of Science in Applied Development Studies and comes from a position as programme officer with World Vision.




Ditte Egelund Jensen is visiting the Country Office from February to July this year. She is a Danish university student of psychology with particular interest in work concerning gender and women's rights and also interested in information issues.

Leaving MS Zambia:
Carol Sørensen, Development worker with Zambia Land Alliance, has left MS Zambia to join her husband Jonas in Tanzania. Carols contract officially terminates on 31.3.2009, but she will be on leave until then and is effectivly already in Tanzania. Carol arrived in Zambia in December 2005 and took up the position as DW in February 2006.


Dorte Tietze, Development worker with Petauke District Council, has left MS Zambia at the termination of her contract end January this year. She has been with MS Zambia since August 2005 and now moves on to another position as development worker for MS Mozambique.


Emmanuel Kamangira, Development worker with Chadiza District Farmer's Association, has left MS Zambia at the termination of his contract end January this year. He has been with MS-Zambia since April 2006.

Out of office:
Lena Vind-Andersen, Information DW, will be in Mansa from February 21st to March 1st.
Søren Winther Johansen, Development Worker, will be on leave from February 21st to March 6th.

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