Review of Matantala Rural Integrated Enterprise and the Community Development with Traditional Leaders Programme

This report addresses the activities of the project on community development with traditional leaders funded by the Norwegian Embassy in Lusaka and implemented in Zambia. The project’s main objectives were to contribute to reduction of poverty and improvement of living conditions in three chiefdoms in Zambia’s Southern Province. The project approach was to work through traditional leaders in the area.

The project’s activities included support to provision of social services, support to diversify economic activities and support to change attitudes and norms among the population, related to empowerment and to their own ability to combat poverty.

Based on its review of the project, the paper makes the following recommendations:

• the project should contact the appropriate authority in central government to have their views and recommendations about the development of permanent development structures related to the traditional leadership
• more emphasis needs to be put in the sensitisation of the development committees on their overall responsibilities and how they relate to the different NGOs operating in the area and to local government
• efforts should be increased to strengthen the functioning of all the revolving funds in the project; it is of crucial importance to secure a sustainable functioning and use
• the support to activities aiming increased and improved production for the market should be redesigned; the support should be channeled through an organisation that possess the required competence about such projects
• projects aiming for improved social resilience should mainly be organised as clubs/cooperatives
• in light of poor repayments and unclear selection procedures, the agricultural input support should be withdrawn
• a gender analysis should be conducted to identify opportunities and/or constraints for mainstreaming gender at different levels.