Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Duration: 2020-2025
Region: Sub-Saharan Africa
Country: Zambia
Solutions: Economic Growth Governance
Advancing decentralization is critical to Zambia achieving its vision of greater self-reliance and middle-income status by 2030. Recent Government of Zambia (GRZ) advances in the legal and administrative framework are encouraging, but decentralization implementation has been historically slow and uneven. The country struggles to transfer powers, functions, and resources to elected local authorities—the result of a combination of low capacity, misaligned political and bureaucratic incentives, and lack of full engagement of civil society and the private sector.
Local Impact capitalizes on the momentum of recent policy initiatives and builds a sustainable foundation for devolved service delivery in Zambia. By supporting the transformation of subnational governance to be more responsive to citizen needs, Local Impact leverages the U.S. Agency for International Development’s previous gains in transparency and accountability, health, education, and economic growth to help the GRZ improve both the enabling environment and development outcomes critical to advancing self-reliance.
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