Multilateral institutions and good governance in Zambia's third republic: 1991-2011.

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Date
2014-02-11
Authors
Daka, Evans
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Abstract
This dissertation focuses on examining the extent to which multilateral institutions have promoted good governance in Zambia’s Third Republic with specific attention to the efforts of the World Bank and the UNDP.Zambia embraced good governance following liberal democratic transitions of the late 1980s coupled with the economic crisis in the same period. To meet these global dynamics, the country started requesting for aid from developed countries which has since been provided on the basis of promoting good governance. Since then, multilateral organisations such as the World Bank and the UNDP have been actively engaged in various programmes of good governance in the country. Nonetheless, despite the engagement of these multilateral institutions on the agenda of governance, it is debatable whether the aid received from these institutions has significantly improved governance in the country or not. The general objective of this study was to examine the extent to which the World Bank and the UNDP have managed to promote good governance in Zambia. The specific objectives were: to find out measures which the two multilateral institutions have put in place to promote public service reforms; to establish how the two institutions have strengthened the electoral process and Parliament; to establish what efforts the two institutions have put in place to enhance decentralisation and; to find out the measures which the two institutions have put in place to promote human rights.The research design used in this study was a case study. Purposive Sampling was used to sample 18 key informants. Both primary and secondary data was collected. Primary data was collected using research guides administered to key respondents while secondary data was collected from reports, articles, previous research findings, books, journals the internet. Data was analysed qualitatively. The study found out that the World Bank and the UNDP have supported good governance differently. The World Bank has concentrated much on public sector reforms while the UNDP concentrated on political reforms. The study established that the major reforms that the World Bank has funded are: the 1993 Public Sector Reforms, 1994 FILMUP of 1994, PSCAP of 2000 and PSMP of 2005. Through these reforms, ethics and professionalism were introduced alongside improvement in the financial management and service delivery. However, through these reforms, some Zambians lost jobs and the rightsizing exercise has not been adequate. The study also found out that the major political reforms funded by the UNDP are electoral and parliamentary reforms, decentralisation, and human rights. Significant improvements have been realised in the electoral process through UNDP funding. UNDP funding also reformed the Parliament through opening committee meetings to the public with 28 Constituency Offices established together with a Parliament Radio. Also the study found out that Decentralisation Policy was adopted with Funding from the UNDP and the World Bank with establishment of the Decentralisation Secretariat in 2003. However, there seem to be no visible sign to indicate how beneficial decentralisation has been to the Zambians. Further, the Human Rights Commission has been decentralised which has seen improvements in its capacity to address human rights. However, there is need for the government to be more proactive than multilateral institutions if good governance is to be adequately achieved in the country.
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Good Governance , Democracy-Zambia
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