Since independence in 1964, Zambia in general and the Copperbelt Province in particular have largely depended on the mono-economy based on copper mining. Around the 1970s the copper prices started falling causing the mining industry to collapse leading to economic stagnation. Efforts to revive the economy, such as the Structural Adjustment Programme implemented since the late 1980s have not brought about well-being for the people of the Copperbelt. As a result the government of the Republic of Zambia decided to launch an economic diversification programme for the Copperbelt province whose main aim is to seek and implement alternative economic activities that would accelerate economic growth thereby improving people's living conditions on the Copperbelt. This thesis proposes that in order to overcome poverty and improve people's living conditions, we need to shift our policy and practice from free market economic growth centred approaches, to shalom. The shift is based on the argument that development seen through the lenses of free market economic growth alone has not sustained life; instead it has contributed to environmental degradation and poverty creation in Zambia and the Copperbelt Province in particular. The thesis argues that shalom is an authentic development paradigm. This argument is based on three fundamental integral parts of shalom namely creation, people and justice. In order to bring about comprehensive well-being for people there is a need to a) appreciate creation as a phenomenon with its own integrity. It should not be destroyed for selfish economic ends; b) give pre-eminence to people as free agents who could participate in creating their own destiny based on their capacities and social conditionalities; and c) ensure social justice as a necessary condition for human relations and economic dispensation. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

This thesis investigates policy formulation and implementation processes in Zambia. A number of issues emerge with respect to the weaknesses of the system and how policy decisions worsened Zambia's economic performance instead of improving it. The Kaunda era policies of nationalization had an adverse impact on productivity of industries as well as affecting the resource flow from donors and business houses. On the other hand President Chiluba's reforms in the 1990s have had both positive and negative impacts on the people of Zambia. The rapid privatization and liberalization affected employment levels thereby worsening the poverty levels. Further, the liberalization brought in stiff competition from other countries forcing most manufacturing companies to close down. The policy environment based on the Bretton Woods Institutions seems not to be working as result of not taking into account the local Zambian situation. On the other hand, there were positive macroeconomic developments such as growth in GDP, lowering of inflation and stabilizing of exchange rates as from 1996. This has however not improved the living standards of the people. In Zambia, the shifts back and forth between strong and weak planning institutions have negatively affected policy development and implementation. There has been uncoordinated policy development; as a result, some policies in the major sectors are contradictory while in other cases policies are not linked to the resource envelope, making them un-implementable. Secondly, the institutional framework for policy development is not effective. There is generally lack of coordination among ministries, provinces and other stakeholders in planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of development programmes. This thesis urges that the improving planning capacities at the national, provincial and district levels should improve the processes of policy development and implementation in Zambia, which will in turn help to reduce poverty. Further, the districts should be the centre for the bottom-up process. In order to carryout this responsibility, efforts should be made to improve their capacities. As for the top-down process, the Sector Advisory Groups should continue to participate in the planning, monitoring and evaluation so as to contribute to policy formulation and implementation. These should be coordinated by the National Development Coordinating Committee (NDCC) through a Planning Bureau. / Development Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies)

Social Safety Nets (SSNs) were in the early 1990s a major feature of poverty alleviation and social impact mitigating mechanism from austere economic reforms implemented by the Zambian Government. Evidently, SSNs became prominent when Zambia accelerated the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in the early 1990s. At that time, the levels of poverty skyrocketed affecting 73% of the 10.5 million people of which 58 % were said to be extremely poor with the acute levels of poverty being more concentrated in rural areas which harbour about 65 % of the country’s population (CSO 1998: 20). SSNs are non-contributory transfer programmes for the poor or those vulnerable to shocks and these include income support through participation in public works programmes, cash transfers to the poor or vulnerable households, fee waivers for usage of essential health and education services, in kind transfers such as school feeding or even price subsidies for specific goods deemed essential to the poor (World Bank 2005: 1). Pritchett (2005:17) observed that SSNs can be applied across the various levels of society whether or not the shocks push households below the absolute threshold of poverty. Despite being a major feature of social mitigation it is not clear to what extent they (SSNs) can be said to an effective mechanism for poverty mitigation in Zambia. With SAP be decried by interests groups as having reduced people’s living conditions for fuelling in, higher prices for basic commodities, lower real incomes, reduced access to social services, medical care and retrenchments and lack of job opportunities for those seeking employment. The absence of fully fledged unemployment benefit system, made the victims of the adjustment process worse off. The social security schemes equally got adversely affected by high unemployment levels and growth of the informal sector because the proportion of the insured population plummeted and that inexorably leads to a fall in contributions. Other consequences of SAP besides retrenchments of blotted workforce include child labour and overburdening women as their participation in economic activities increased as part of the copping mechanisms besides their reproductive roles. Given the aforementioned complications that arise during structural reforms, this thesis seeks to examine how effective SSNs are in poverty alleviation programmes in countries like Zambia where they have been tried. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

Social Safety Nets (SSNs) were in the early 1990s a major feature of poverty alleviation and social impact mitigating mechanism from austere economic reforms implemented by the Zambian Government. Evidently, SSNs became prominent when Zambia accelerated the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in the early 1990s. At that time, the levels of poverty skyrocketed affecting 73% of the 10.5 million people of which 58 % were said to be extremely poor with the acute levels of poverty being more concentrated in rural areas which harbour about 65 % of the country’s population (CSO 1998: 20). SSNs are non-contributory transfer programmes for the poor or those vulnerable to shocks and these include income support through participation in public works programmes, cash transfers to the poor or vulnerable households, fee waivers for usage of essential health and education services, in kind transfers such as school feeding or even price subsidies for specific goods deemed essential to the poor (World Bank 2005: 1). Pritchett (2005:17) observed that SSNs can be applied across the various levels of society whether or not the shocks push households below the absolute threshold of poverty. Despite being a major feature of social mitigation it is not clear to what extent they (SSNs) can be said to an effective mechanism for poverty mitigation in Zambia. With SAP be decried by interests groups as having reduced people’s living conditions for fuelling in, higher prices for basic commodities, lower real incomes, reduced access to social services, medical care and retrenchments and lack of job opportunities for those seeking employment. The absence of fully fledged unemployment benefit system, made the victims of the adjustment process worse off. The social security schemes equally got adversely affected by high unemployment levels and growth of the informal sector because the proportion of the insured population plummeted and that inexorably leads to a fall in contributions. Other consequences of SAP besides retrenchments of blotted workforce include child labour and overburdening women as their participation in economic activities increased as part of the copping mechanisms besides their reproductive roles. Given the aforementioned complications that arise during structural reforms, this thesis seeks to examine how effective SSNs are in poverty alleviation programmes in countries like Zambia where they have been tried. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)