The Times of Zambia, 23 November 2002, State Lands K33.8 Billion UNDP Funds; UK Donates Food Aid

Zambia (Ndola) - GOVERNMENT was yesterday given K33.8 billion by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for use in the HIV/AIDS, governance, natural resources management and the environment sectors.

Britain also donated £5.1 million to Zambia for buying of food, nutritional and food security surveillance and selective health interventions in the country.

The funding is under the UNDP Second Country Cooperation Framework.

Minister of Finance and National Planning Emmanuel Kasonde said during the signing ceremony between Zambia and the UNDP, that the targeted areas posed a serious challenge that threatened to inhibit Zambia's attainment of sustainable development.

Mr Kasonde said that UNDPÕs emphasis on poverty reduction at grassroots level was highly appreciated by the Zambian Government and was in line with the PSRP objectives.

'Of particular significance is the support that the projects will avail the National Assembly committees namely; Public accounts, Government assurances, legal affair, governance, human rights and gender matters, economic affairs and labour and estimates, to enhance the oversight roles of Parliament,' he said.

Mr Kasonde stressed that the development systems and procedures to facilitate the mainstreaming of rights based approaches to planning and the mainstreaming of multi-sectoral responses to HIV/Aids would establish a basis for revising the policy planning process.

And UNDP country representative Olubanke King-Akelere said that the money given to Zambia represented the core budgeting support over the period of 2002-2006.

She said that the quest for sustainable development could not be achieved through the more typical sector-specific interventions that often lacked systematic linkages to other programmes.

She said that the HIV/AIDS project aimed at strengthening the national, provincial and district capacities to plan, coordinate, monitor and evaluate gender sensitive rights.

The UNDP also pledged a joined effort with other donors, civil society and stakeholders to seek common ground on major issues, and would endeavour to render good services and ensure that the project succeeded.

Ms Akelere said that the UNDP had reaffirmed its readiness to share experiences with Government counterparts on the national execution modality which was adopted to implement projects.

Under the British donation, £3.5 million pounds would be provided to the World Food Programme (WFP) to feed people in remote areas affected badly by the food crisis.

Meanwhile, the French government has donated goods worth K45 million to Bwafwano Home Based Care Centre based in Lusaka's Chazanga area.