[{"bbox": [96, 151, 1136, 473], "category": "Text", "text": "based violence rates⁸, and lower female participation in the labour market compared to men⁹, being vulnerable employment among women higher than men¹⁰. Financial inclusion and literacy also show gender disparities¹¹. Additionally, with over 83% of the population under 35 and a youth unemployment rate of 19.9%, Zambia is revising its national youth policy to better integrate young people into its development plans. Concerning persons with disabilities, they make up nearly 11% of the population and as the Zambia Agency for Persons with Disabilities Strategic Plan 2023-2026 highlights “people experiencing poverty are more likely to become persons with disabilities and those who have disabilities are more likely to be poor”. Facing discrimination and lack of opportunity, many Zambians with disabilities are systematically excluded from access to services and places, legal aid, healthcare and more. Often, these disparities are sharper in rural settings with a greater lack of infrastructure, investments and institutional support¹²."}, {"bbox": [96, 499, 289, 527], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## Access to Finance"}, {"bbox": [96, 529, 1136, 992], "category": "Text", "text": "The financial system in Zambia is relatively underdeveloped. The country's commercial banks dominate the financial services industry, which offer low-risk and high-value services to only a limited number of customers¹³. Non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs), such as microfinance institutions (MFIs), are also active, but focus on smaller loans, predominately to micro-businesses and micro, small and medium size enterprises (MSMEs) in urban areas, creating a supply gap for farmers and less formal agricultural MSMEs. In 2017, 85% of agricultural credit was allocated to large farms, with only 8% reaching small and medium-scale farms¹⁴. Nevertheless, over 30% of firms identify access to finance as their primary business environment constraint. High lending rates and the absence of adequate formal financing options further exacerbate this issue, particularly for rural businesses and women entrepreneurs. Most farmers use informal services, such as informal rotating savings schemes, community organisations or informal credit providers to access financial products¹⁵. Access and usage of digital finance in Zambia has been increasing significantly since 2015, with banks, third-party providers, and telecommunication companies offering digital services. Despite the central bank's reduced policy rate, high nominal bank lending rates and short-term credit prevail, exacerbating the challenge for smallholders and agro-processing SMEs to access and afford finance, underlining the need for innovative targeted actions to broaden financial inclusion and support agricultural SMEs."}, {"bbox": [96, 1005, 226, 1034], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## Agriculture"}, {"bbox": [96, 1034, 1136, 1208], "category": "Text", "text": "The agriculture sector remains the largest employer but struggles with low productivity, leading to diminished incomes for workers and a reduced contribution to the nation's GDP and exports. As of 2020, the agriculture sector employed an estimated 8.1 million Zambians, constituting roughly 50% of the national workforce¹⁶ while women comprise a significant portion of this workforce, making up approximately 75%¹⁷, but mainly as contributing family workers or being engaged in informal and seasonal employment which provide little opportunity for economic security. However, agricultural"}, {"bbox": [85, 1261, 1145, 1372], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁸As highlighted in the National Gender Policy (2023), although incidences of GBV remain high, thanks to the legislation put in place and other measures implemented (i.e. community engagements and dialogues with traditional leaders and faith based organisations, the establishment of fast track courts, one stop centres and the reinforcement of the coordination system and development of GBV referral directories and dashboard), there is an increased knowledge of GBV and a reduced prevalence of physical violence against women aged 15 to 49 from 47 percent in 2007 to 36 percent in 2018."}, {"bbox": [85, 1371, 1109, 1415], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁹ According to the World Bank's latest figures in Zambia, the labor force participation rate among females is 52.1% and among males is 67.3% for 2023 (https://genderdata.worldbank.org/en/economies/zambia)"}, {"bbox": [85, 1414, 1144, 1461], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁰ Vulnerable employment among women is 80.1% and among men is 60.6% in Zambia for 2022 (https://genderdata.worldbank.org/en/economies/zambia)"}, {"bbox": [85, 1460, 1144, 1507], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹¹ The FinScope Survey (2020) shows that fewer women (56.6 percent) compared to men (62 percent) are banked, and more men (59.3 percent) than women (51 percent) use microfinance services."}, {"bbox": [85, 1506, 761, 1531], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹² https://zambia.un.org/en/260525-un-zambia-doubles-down-disability-inclusion"}, {"bbox": [85, 1530, 550, 1553], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹³ FSDZ, Financial Inclusion Summary Report Zambia 2018."}, {"bbox": [85, 1553, 812, 1576], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁴ World Bank. 2019. Agriculture Finance Diagnostic: Zambia. © World Bank, Washington, DC"}, {"bbox": [85, 1575, 991, 1600], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁵ BoZ, 2019 Credit Market Monitoring Report: Growth of Credit to Households and Implications for Financial Stability."}, {"bbox": [85, 1598, 497, 1622], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁶ https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/zambia"}, {"bbox": [85, 1621, 589, 1645], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁷ https://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/index/en/?iso3=ZMB"}, {"bbox": [1037, 1681, 1145, 1707], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 6 of 32"}]