[{"bbox": [96, 152, 1133, 310], "category": "Text", "text": "Inequalities remain very high especially in terms of income, of access to services, access to nutritious food, etc. The main factors of inequality are the geographical location (rich provinces like Copperbelt versus very poor provinces like Luapula), the urban/rural location (with an extremely disadvantaged rural population – the more remote, the more disadvantaged), the level of education, gender, vulnerability (e.g. people with disabilities), etc. In the areas of intervention of the programme, the main inequalities are based on income level, on gender and on access to education."}, {"bbox": [96, 338, 1133, 524], "category": "Text", "text": "The drivers of inequality are often embedded in tradition and customary practices: (i) gender inequality and the condition of women and girls, with very high prevalence of sexual and gender based violence and early child marriage; (ii) poor nutrition, caused by lack of dietary diversity, which eventually cause long term/irreversible cognitive disadvantages and intergenerational transmission of malnutrition; (iii) high levels of school dropout. For girls this is related to lack of adequate menstrual hygiene and sanitation facilities, early pregnancies, child marriage, etc. For boys, this is related to the need for supporting the household in seasonal work, farming, or other income-generating activities."}, {"bbox": [96, 550, 1133, 814], "category": "Text", "text": "Successive governments have shown efforts in reducing these inequalities, with sometimes good results. An example would be the reduction of inequalities in child survival between the poorest and the wealthiest people (BMC Health Services Research). Between 2000 and 2018, the under-five mortality rate declined for 168 to 64 death per 1000 live births. Even if it is still far from the SDG target of less than 25/1000, it is a result of identifying systemic drivers and putting in place government-driven health policies to reduce inequalities related to reproductive, maternal, new-born, and child health (RMNCH). Government action is therefore key for reversing some of the earlier mentioned inequality trends. Some of the more recent efforts on the government side are the Social Cash Transfer Programme and the Education For All reform, which gives learner access to free education at all levels. After one year, this had already a considerable impact on school attendance in both rural and urban areas."}, {"bbox": [96, 847, 209, 874], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## Democracy"}, {"bbox": [96, 899, 1133, 1087], "category": "Text", "text": "Early childhood education is the foundation for social interacting, intellectual development, physical and mental health of the future citizens. Equitable access to quality education and to decent healthcare for all is also a prerequisite for a democratic culture, where exclusion, structural barriers, harmful stereotypes and practices and unequal and unjust power relations do not have a place. As democracy needs to be built within mentalities just as importantly as through its institutions, the project contributes to some of the critical ingredients of a democratic society. In addition, working with CSOs and promoting advocacy in various policy and legal processes, the action contributes also to strengthen the democratic participation processes at national and local level."}, {"bbox": [96, 1117, 485, 1144], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## Conflict sensitivity, peace and resilience"}, {"bbox": [96, 1170, 1123, 1304], "category": "Text", "text": "Although Zambia is a peaceful country, any actions that contribute to reducing marginalisation, exclusion and inequalities is contributing to further building societal peace and resilience. This particular action aims to increase the resilience of the population in the targeted areas through becoming more educated, healthier, better nourished, with decent chances for both youth and women to act as transformative agents and impact the overall country's social, political and economic development."}, {"bbox": [96, 1335, 335, 1359], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## Disaster Risk Reduction"}, {"bbox": [96, 1387, 1133, 1441], "category": "Text", "text": "Specific shock-sensitive solutions, including application of pre-defined DRR/resilience standards may be defined under the implementation contracts, wherever necessary and feasible."}, {"bbox": [96, 1471, 409, 1495], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## Other considerations if relevant"}, {"bbox": [96, 1499, 139, 1522], "category": "Text", "text": "N/A"}, {"bbox": [1026, 1681, 1143, 1705], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 18 of 34"}]