By JULIUS PHIRI? –
THE Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) yesterday launched  the ‘Walk the Talk Campaign and the End Extreme Poverty Now Concept, with an emphasis on increasing downward accountability of poverty reduction resources and programmes.
Eastern Province CSPR chairperson Joyce Mwale said the campaign was aimed at lobbying and influencing the Government to create an enabling environment where citizens could effectively participate in the development processes of the country through planning, implementation?and monitoring of various pro-poor Government programmes and policies, to enhance transparency and accountability.
CSPR knows that development challenges such as shortages of teachers in schools, inadequate health infrastructure and personnel, shortage of agricultural extension services and untimely funding to the Government departments.
CSPR provincial coordinator Maxson Nkhoma said that the concept was aimed at demonstrating commitment to the fight against extreme poverty by putting money on specific interventions that would target the reduction of poverty at local levels.
He said the Government would need to commit to cutting down its current administrative expenditure to allow for greater investments in the social sectors and promote agriculture as a growth sector.
Mr Nkhoma said this would require taking measures to cut down on the current size of Cabinet to free up resources that could be channelled to agriculture.
He said there was need to increase resource allocation for poverty reduction programmes targeting the rural areas, especially in Luapula, Western and Eastern provinces that have highest extreme poverty levels.
Government should publish all poverty reduction programmes disbursements in the local media every quarter to allow citizens to participate in the monitoring of disbursements and budgetary allocation for poverty reduction programmes.
“Adopt an open and results-based budget process supported by service delivery indicators at the local levels so as to ensure transparency and accountability to citizens on resources and programmes for poverty reduction in Zambia,” Mr Nkhoma said.
He said Government should maximize revenue collection from the mining sector and re-invest to the promotion growth in the agricultural sector.