The PSAf Governance and Development programme has kicked off activities under a new project to foster accountability in the utilization of resources allocated for education development in Zambia. Dubbed the Notice Board Initiative (NBI), the new project was launched at the beginning of November, to foster accountability by increasing communities’ access to information on educational issues and processes, and this is expected to lead to their participation in dialogues on issues around school welfare.
Although the annual entitlements to educational institutions at district level and also to individual schools are normally published in official government documents like the yellow book, this information is not easily accessible by many ordinary people in the communities. The NBI seeks to address this challenge by making the information more available in places where the community members can easily access it.
The initiative also seeks to raise awareness in the communities on the role they can play to increase social accountability. The project does this through sensitizing the communities on the presence of the notice board initiative, and what they can do to monitor the resource flows and demand for their entitlements through productive dialogue.
It is expected that the project will enhance access to information for accountability and transparency as a means to improve delivery and effective and efficient use of financial and non-financial resources.
On 8 and 9 November, PSAf trained 27 members of the community drawn from 10 schools in Kasempa in the North Western Province. The schools represented included, Nselauke, Mukunashi, Kibuku/Shibende, Nkenyauna, Lubofu/ Kibangabwe, Mpungu, Kalasa, Kaimbwe, Njenga and Mitumba Lukeka Community School.
The Government of the Republic of Zambia has developed several programs aimed at promoting efficient and effective use of resources in an accountable and transparent manner. This includes the involvement of the local communities in implementing and monitoring of the use of the national resources. These programs are focused on promoting transparency, predictability, accountability, and public participation in the management of national resources for improved service delivery.
The project is a collaborative effort involving PSAf, the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV), the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN), Zambia National Education Coalition (ZANEC), Forum for African Women Educationalists of Zambia (FAWEZA, Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR), Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) and the Ministry of Education to support efforts to strengthen accountability and participation for improved service delivery.
These key stakeholders, using their different interventions through this programme will promote the monitoring of resources to determine the extent to which they reach the intended beneficiaries as planned.
The communities will be engaged through the Parent Teachers Associations (PTAs) which will also be oriented to perform monitoring functions in their locales.
