[{"bbox": [96, 152, 1136, 366], "category": "Text", "text": "Based on 2015 figures, the World Bank places Zambia as top 4 in the list of countries with the highest Gini Coefficient (57.1). Zambia is also placed 137th according to the Gender Gap Index and 146th according to the Human Development Index (UNDP 2019). In terms of growth, Zambia has started to recover after the COVID pandemic, with a real GDP of 4.6% in 2021 after a contraction of 2.8% in 2020, and expected GDP growth for 2023-2025 is around 4.5% annually, despite the spillovers of the war in Ukraine and falling copper prices. The poverty incidence is also expected to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2025, which is not really encouraging, given that more than 61.4% of the Zambian population was earning in 2015 less than the international poverty line of USD 2.15 per day (compared to the Sub-Saharan Africa average of 34.9% in 2019¹⁸)."}, {"bbox": [96, 390, 1136, 549], "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, 576, 1136, 737], "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; (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, 761, 1136, 1025], "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, newborn, 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, 1086, 212, 1114], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## Democracy"}, {"bbox": [96, 1137, 1136, 1378], "category": "Text", "text": "The Action will support the consolidation of democracy in Zambia, which has been progressing positively. Through the General Conditions, the Budget Support is seeking to consolidate a steady process of macroeconomic recovery, and to accompany solid reforms that seek to increase transparency and participation to budget planning and execution, and to eradicate corruption. The PFM component of the Action, through focusing on procurement procedures and practices at all levels of government, will contribute to increasing transparency and reducing corruption. Through the education component of the Action, improving quality of education for all children, will in time contribute to eliminate marginalisation, exclusion and inequalities – all of them solid barriers to democratic progress. The role of education in creating citizens that are informed and able to fully exercise their democratic rights is also crucial."}, {"bbox": [96, 1408, 489, 1437], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## Conflict sensitivity, peace and resilience"}, {"bbox": [96, 1461, 1136, 1569], "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. Resilience is also targeted at the national level through supporting the local production of medicines and medical supplies, as well as through the resilience standards applied to the infrastructure to be built under the Action."}, {"bbox": [86, 1619, 668, 1646], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁸ https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.DDAY?locations=ZM"}, {"bbox": [1027, 1680, 1145, 1706], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 19 of 33"}]