Changing landscapes and the outliers: macro and micro factors influencing livelihood Trends in Zambia over the last thirty years

What long-term trends underpinned the recent crisis in Zambia? How have rural Zambian households responded to it and to other macro level economic, political and structural changes? This literature review undertaken for the CARE Southern and Western Africa Regional Management Unit by Margaret McEwan develops an analysis of livelihoods trends and their implications for Zambia over the last thirty years.

It pays particular attention to the outlying areas, away from urban centres and the rail network, and finds that:

• Attention to the2001/2 drought in parts of Zambia has obscured a broader picture of persistent high levels of poverty and malnutrition in some areas and social groups, in particular where the state and its institutions have retracted and where the private sector has not filled the space.
• Political patronage associated with the maize economy continues to act as a constraint on efforts to reduce chronic food insecurity, although local coping strategies including reverting to cassava production allayed the crisis to some extent.

• Attention needs to be paid to the new institutional landscape of the outlying areas and to how they function for production, transaction and social protection purposes.
• The role and depth of civil society and its ability to produce a rights-based platform to address malnutrition should be investigated.