International Development CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by World Vision UK
1.1 World Vision is a child focused Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation dedicated to working with children, their families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. World Vision is the world’s largest local charity working in 100 countries to improve the lives of 100 million people worldwide.
1.2 No child should live in poverty and the best way to change the life of a child is to change the world in which they live. We see children and their communities as active participants in shaping a better future, empowering them to find sustainable solutions to poverty.
1.3 World Vision has been working in Zambia since 1981, and now assists more than three million people in all nine provinces of the country through community-based programmes and targeted emergency relief projects. World Vision works in partnership with the government and other NGOs. Our work benefits a quarter of the total population of Zambia. Our programming includes work on HIV, healthcare, education and food sustainability as well as helping communities reduce vulnerabilities and build resilience to natural disasters.
1.4 World Vision welcomes this opportunity to provide written evidence to the International Development Select Committee into DFID’s work in Zambia and hope that our experience of working in the country for over three decades along with our work as a partner of DFID through our PPA funding in Zambia and other countries will give the Committee a better understanding of our perspective on DFID’s work in Zambia.
2. Sustainable Development through Empowerment
2.1 World Vision welcomes DFID’s approach in Zambia. We believe that the priorities that it has around human and social development; governance; aid effectiveness and wealth creation are the right ones. Wealth creation, particularly in rural areas is essential if we are to move communities away from dependence on welfare activities which, whilst life saving in the short term, do not move people out of poverty sustainably in the long term. If communities are not engaged, there is the danger that wealth creation concentrates that wealth with a few people or even international organisations rather than wealth which benefits the whole community.
2.2 DFID and World Vision share a similar strategy in Zambia. Our strategy was developed to most effectively meet the needs of children affected by poverty in the country. We are pleased that DFID have reached a similar conclusion about the need and the priorities for the country.
2.3 Whilst we support the overall direction which DFID is taking in Zambia, we also believe that DFID can do more to better ensure that communities are empowered and that their development is sustainable. DFID should ensure that its initiatives build the required capacity and empower communities to stand on their own which may sometimes be at odds with short term needs, but which we believe is essential to make a lasting change which delivers value for money and results to the communities DFID works with.
2.4 World Vision has implemented projects with funding from DFID including “Citizen Voice and Action” which aimed to increase Government responsiveness and accountability in the delivery of primary health care and education services. As well as improved accountability from the administrative and political sections of government (both at national and local level) in order to improve the delivery of services to the citizens. Empowering individuals and communities to influence the quality, efficiency and accountability of public services leads to better services, greater community benefits and more of the investment getting to where it is most needed.
2.5 This was an example of where DFID supported work to increase citizens’ ability and tools to monitor government services, and facilitate a process to improve services delivery, with the aim of influencing quality, efficiency and accountability with which social services are provided at the local level. World Vision believes that DFID should increase their support for programmes which build the capacity of communities to hold their government to account for the quality and efficiency of services.
2.6 Children are the best advocates for their need, if given the power to do so. World Vision welcomes the work which DFID has done which recognises this. Building capacity of children to enable them to engage local civil and traditional leaders has led to children advocating for themselves in areas where World Vision works. We have seen positive results such as where the involvement of children in getting rid of the injurious traditional practice of sexual cleansing has had positive results for children including, at a local level, the introduction of a by-law which banned the use of children in sexual cleansing. World Vision recommends that DFID should ensure that children are empowered to advocate for themselves and become active participants in their community’s future.
3. Funding and the Role of DFID as an Advocate
3.1 DFID has a role in Zambia as a major international funder. In this role it can make decisions about the method of funding, but it also carries significant influence with the Government of Zambia which it should also use to promote a pro-poor agenda.
3.2 World Vision is concerned that often projects have short term span of around 1–2 years. Sustainable change usually requires behavioural or attitudinal change and there is a limit to what can be achieved in this sense in a short time span. As well as seeing change in communities, people working in development need time within communities to understand the challenges and adapt to the local context and specific problems of a community. Our concern is a prevalence of short term funding means that proper context analysis and adapting programmes to meet that context may be not be done as fully as they would with longer term projects—this could impact on effectiveness.
3.3 Short term initiatives can also increase the resource needed to deliver programming. The short term nature of initiatives creates additional bureaucracy where proportionally more time and money is spent managing funding and donor requirements than in longer term projects.
3.4 World Vision recommends that more of DFID’s funding is long term and that community empowerment is, wherever possible, used to better enable long term sustainability.
3.5 Within Zambia DFID has an important role in advocating for the needs of people living in poverty. In the “Copper Belt” of Zambia for example the mining sector is in places adversely affecting the health of many rural and urban communities. The emitted fumes of sulphuric acid in some mining areas are not only affecting the environment but also the health of the children and families in the long run, as well as affecting the growing of vegetables, water and sanitation.
3.6 The development of industries provides jobs and investment in communities for these communities’ futures. However, if unchecked there are examples of where the communities do not benefit as much as they could from this development. The interest of mining companies both Zambian and international may override the needs of local people, the environment and the best interests of the local economy.
3.7 In cases like this where there are strong commercial interests at play; World Vision recommends that DFID use its position to lobby the Government of Zambia in the interests of people in poverty and for strong social corporate responsibility in companies active in the mining sector or other large corporations.
3.8 Money does not always reach the intended beneficiaries at the level that it should. This can be for various reasons including stringent government bureaucracy. Local institutions need their capacity building so that they can advocate within bureaucracies to secure the resources they need. DIFD can participate in building capacity for the local level institutions such as Councils and Municipalities which will ensure better distribution of resources. The Government of Zambia is moving towards greater decentralisation. World Vision believes that it is therefore crucial that local institutions have the capacity to use these new powers and resources for the intended communities.
3.9 World Vision recommends that DFID should support local level capacity building through proven approaches such as CVA to ensure that local institutions can deliver for communities as the Government drives towards greater decentralisation.
4. Summary of Recommendations
4.1 DFID should increase their support for programmes which build the capacity of communities to hold their government to account for the quality and efficiency of services.
4.2 DFID should ensure that children are empowered to advocate for themselves and become active participants in their community’s future.
4.3 More of DFID’s funding is long term and that community empowerment is, wherever possible, used to better enable long term sustainability.
4.4 DFID use its position to lobby the Government of Zambia in the interests of people in poverty and for strong social corporate responsibility in companies active in the mining sector or other large corporations.
4.5 DFID should support local level capacity building through proven approaches such as CVA to ensure that local institutions can deliver for communities as the Government drives towards greater decentralisation.
March 2012