Zambia drought response preparation through social protection and cash programming
We are delivering technical assistance to the Government of Zambia on behalf of FCDO, focusing on the emergency drought response and leveraging of the social protection system.
Project team members
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DateOctober 2024 - April 2025
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Area of expertisePoverty and social protection (PSP)
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Client
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)
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CountryZambia
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KeywordsAdaptive and Shock Responsive Social Protection , Humanitarian assistance
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Project status
Active
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Project value
£ £87,028.50
In 2019-2020, Zambia faced a dual crisis of drought and COVID-19, necessitating a rapid evolution of its social safety net delivery mechanisms. The existing Social Cash Transfer (SCT) infrastructure was adapted to provide emergency support to households severely affected by these shocks, demonstrating the potential for leveraging established systems to respond to crises.
Currently, Zambia is confronting an escalating humanitarian crisis. An El Niño-induced drought is projected to impact an estimated 5.8 million people with acute food insecurity between October 2024 and March 2025, prompting a national disaster to be declared on February 29, 2024.
Challenges
The SCT, Zambia's primary social assistance program, lacks a formal scalability framework with predefined strategies for financing, adaptation, and scaling of delivery systems during shocks. Such shocks can compromise the resilience of social protection systems, potentially disrupting routine service delivery.
A 2023 World Bank and Ministry of Community Development and Social Services (MCDSS) study highlighted a critical need to integrate shock-responsive elements into the SCT. Subsequently, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) were developed to guide standardized shock responses using the SCT framework. The government has also committed to enhancing coordination among social protection programs to improve welfare outcomes for vulnerable populations.
In response to the drought affecting one million people across five provinces, the government has initiated an Emergency Cash Transfer (ECT) program, building upon the SCT infrastructure.
Expertise
The methodology will be tailored to gather critical evidence of existing processes and strategies, and elicit insightful contributions from key stakeholders. Each deliverable has been assigned a specific methodology to respond to respective demands and expected outcomes for:
- Risk mitigation plan for the ECT.
- Exit strategy roadmap for the ECT.
- Multi-stakeholder coordination strategy outline.
- Ongoing Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) support.
- Recommendations for further system enhancements Integrated lessons learned from ECT implementation.
Impact
We aim to support the Government of Zambia in developing:
- A comprehensive multi-stakeholder coordination strategy.
- A robust risk mitigation strategy.
- A clear roadmap for ECT programme exit.
The project will also capture lessons learned from the ECT implementation to inform future shock-responsive design and research. Ultimately, this work will contribute to enhancing the SCT's scalability, with predetermined strategies and procedures for adapting delivery systems in response to future crises.