Overview of development cooperation

The information in this part of the website summarizes the Netherlands’ Embassy’s progress in the implementation of its Multi-Annual Strategic Plan, 2008-2011. The Embassy –together with other donor agencies- supports the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) in the implementation of Zambia’s Fifth National Development Plan, 2006-2010 (FNDP).

The Embassy’s strategic plan reflects the priorities of the Dutch Aid Policy, “Our Common Concern” (www.minbuza.nl/en/developmentcooperation/Themes) and focuses in particular on achieving the Millennium Development Goals –MDGs- (www.un.org/millenniumgoals).

The Embassy’s plan is based on the Joint (donor) Assistance Strategy to Zambia (JASZ), which 16 donor agencies agreed in 2007. The JASZ document (PDF) reflects the intention of the Cooperating Partners or in short CPs (as the donor agencies are called in Zambia) to strengthen country ownership of the development process, enhance development effectiveness and reduce the administrative costs, through:

More aligned support with country systems instead of setting up parallel-running projects.
better coordination and harmonization between the Cooperating Partners, including specialisation and reduction of the number of areas each CP is involved in (PDF).

As a consequence of the agreements with other CPs in the JASZ, the Embassy has taken up co-lead roles for Education and for Private Sector Development (PSD). The Embassy is also active, but not leading, in Governance, HIV/AIDS and Gender. The Embassy will gradually phase out its support to the Health sector by 2011. Together with 6 other CPs, the Embassy also provides General Budget Support, which involves high-level political dialogue. The EKN has already phased out it support by 2008 in the following three sectors: agricultural sector, environment and water & sanitation.

The Embassy follows a few guiding principles in all its activities:

Focus on ownership, alignment to country systems and harmonisation
Country-wide / rural outreach, where poverty is more severe
Attention to women’s participation as they are the most vulnerable
Support to innovative initiatives, taking advantage of its fast decision making

The Embassy also has a fund for Small Embassy Projects (SEP) that aim at improving the socio-economic development of the poorest in Zambia, in particular women. The application period runs from 1st December to 31st January. The SEP are in high demand, but resources are limited. In 2008 only 15 projects were awarded out of 300. The criteria for SEP include positive and negative criteria. A hardcopy of the application form is available at the reception of the Embassy. An electronic version can be downloaded here (Word doc).

The total development cooperation budget of EKN amounts to about Euro 50 million per year. The largest part is allocated to Education (Euro 20 million), followed by Health (Euro 12 million), General Budget Support (Euro 10 million), Private Sector Development (Euro 4 million), while the remainder is spent on activities regarding Governance, Gender and HIV/AIDS.