By JACK MWEWA –

THE American and Zambian governments have partnered with His Royal Highness Senior Chief Shakumbila of the Sala people in Mumbwa District to launch a strategic plan.
The plan launched during the Sala Ikumbi Lya Loongo traditional ceremony yesterday defines the chiefdom’s development aspirations and delivers the first-ever roadmap to achieve set goals.
The Shakumbila Chiefdom collaborated with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and four Zambian ministries of Agriculture and Livestock, Chiefs and Traditional Affairs, Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education and Health to develop the Shakumbila Chiefdom Development Strategic Plan for 2014 to 2018.
With funding from USAID under the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), John Snow Inc. will lead the initiative through the support to the HIV/AIDS Response in Zambia II (SHARe II) project.
The plan will address issues of poverty which is compounded by an 18 per cent HIV/AIDS rate in Central Province, increasing vulnerability to HIV infection, reducing household resilience and increasing illness and death in the Chiefdom.
The SHARe II programme addresses poverty-HIV linkage by helping chiefdoms plan their development and improve their capacity to mitigate HIV/AIDS.
To address poverty, the Plan focuses on vulnerable households by harnessing appropriate technologies such as irrigation and conservation farming to increase agricultural yields and household incomes.
“The strategic development plan is the product of the chiefdom’s peoples themselves – senior headpersons, headpersons, women, youth, and non-governmental organisations, all led by their Chief and supported by the local district government and several ministries,” said Dr Susan Brems, who is USAID/Zambia Mission Director.
SHARe II is also engaging 35 Zambian chiefdoms to develop and implement development strategic plans to alleviate poverty and strengthen local HIV/AIDS responses.
During the activity’s five-year period, with funding from PEPFAR, USAID/Zambia will invest a total of US$30 million through SHARe II to promote sustainable HIV activities by integrating them into local development goals and broader strategic plans.