International Development CommitteeSupplementary written evidence submitted by World Vision UK
1. Further to World Vision’s oral evidence in front of the Committee, World Vision is pleased to now provide supplementary written evidence in answer to some of the questions the Committee posed.
2. Richard Harrington MP questioned World Vision on DFID’s wealth creation policy in Zambia and suggested that World Vision in their written submission was critical of DFID’s implementation of wealth creation policy. We welcome the opportunity to clarify our position.
3. As we say in our written submission, we believe that DFID’s approach is the right one. Wealth creation is essential, 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. Our evidence highlighted our belief that in delivering wealth creation, DFID must ensure that communities are fully engaged to ensure sustainability. This was not a criticism of the current model, but a principle which we believe must be central as DFID scales up wealth creation in Zambia and other countries they work in.
4. We welcome the support by DFID of programmes such as Citizen Voice in Action and our recommendation is that DFID should increase its support for programmes like this and ensure that in future planning, community empowerment remains central.
5. There are a range of wealth creation programmes operating in Zambia delivered by a combination of the Government of Zambia, donors, NGOs and private companies. Our concern is that these programmes target the areas of greatest need and benefit the most vulnerable. We welcome those programmes which already focus on areas such as the rural poor both run by DFID such as the Development of Rural Markets Programme, but also those run by the Government of Zambia, NGOs and the private sector.
6. In reviewing the types of wealth creation projects DFID is engaged in, we recommend that there is greater emphasis on programmes such as Village Savings Programmes. Programmes like this link the local commodity chains and entrepreneurs and so as enterprises develop, the commodity chain is used which has a knock on effect to a community’s economy. In certain areas DFID should look at expanding input discount vouchers to stimulate growth. The expansion of the input distribution networks in rural areas could have long term effects to benefit people in rural areas.
7. Initiatives like this not only support household level economic development but also communities which can use them to raise resources for community projects. Emphasis on this sort of project by DFID will help ensure greater sustainability of wealth creation particularly if working in partnership with the Government of Zambia through bodies such as the Zambia Development Agency. The target of this must be to have community produce “for the market” as opposed to “producing to market”.
8. Long term investment in wealth creation can deliver change for communities. We would encourage DFID to ensure that funding is as much as possible available in the long term. Wealth creation projects, as with many which require behaviour change and developing consistency in systems, work well need sustained investment and support. There is a need to build consistency in systems over years to ensure sustainable projects that continue to deliver year on year. Our concern is that often short term funding limits the extent to which this can happen.
9. Jeremy Lefroy MP highlighted the issue of a lack of health workers in Zambia, which was raised by a Zambian Minister with the Committee in an earlier session.
10. The Government of Zambia have prioritised health workers in their health strategy. DFID is rightly aligning its work with Zambia’s country plan. DFID have had a programme the “Strengthening Human Resources for Health” project, which we understand is finishing this year and we are not aware of any plans to replace it. This programme is working to train and improve the work of Community Health Workers.
11. Their new projects, such as the “Malaria and Child Health Programme” or the “Scaling Up Family Planning Services Programme”, will have less of an explicit focus on building capacity in Community Health Workers, although they will have aspects of supporting health workers.
12. In addition to this, DFID’s share of ODA being spent on health is being reduced from 45% to 23%. This will have an impact on the goals and strategic priorities of the Government of Zambia—including. building the capacity of health workers.
13. World Vision would recommend that DFID replace or extend, the “Strengthening Human Resources for Health” programme beyond 2013. This will ensure that they have an explicit focus on supporting and strengthening the health workers aspect of Zambia’s health system.
14. DFID’s target is that 50% of all bilateral aid for health should be focused on health system strengthening and 25% on Health Workers, specifically. Therefore each new health project should have more specific health worker targets, and they should ensure this 25% target is met.
15. Skilled health care workers leaving the country for work elsewhere remains an issue. As well as training, DFID should focus on improving conditions for workers in the health sector to encourage staff to remain. Direct funding models such as topping up salary of health staff above the government salary would make remaining in Zambia more appealing for staff. The cost of meeting this would be considerably less than the cost of replacing staff. This should not be applied uniformly but could be used to encourage staff to work in the most difficult areas where there is a particular problem recruiting and retaining skilled staff.
16. Both the President of Zambia and the Health Minister have repeatedly made statements that are aimed at addressing the issue of health care staff brain drain which is a continuing problem for the country. DFID’s support in this sector and particularly addressing the issue of retaining and re-training the health staff will help the situation immensely.
June 2012