Fostering Accountability and Transparency (FACT) in Zambia Quarterly Report January 1 to March 31, 2018

The program is implemented by Counterpart International and is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Leader with Associates Cooperative Agreement. During the reporting period from January 1 to March 31, 2018, FACT partners continued to contribute to broadening civic space for citizen participation through various interventions. The Rise Community Aid Program (RICAP) conducted targeted trainings and community sensitization in the four wards in Kafue district, a key priority district for decentralization in Lusaka province. RICAP was elected as ex-officio on the four Ward Development Committees (WDC), representing the lowest decision-making body at district level. The organization successfully influenced the inclusion of youth and persons with disability on the committees to ensure equal representation. Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) continued partnering with key government ministries to monitor and enhance citizen participation in national-level policy framing and implementation. This resulted in the agreement to design and administer a score card that will be rolled out twice a year to examine the state of implementation of the citizen participation and enabling governance environment as a key element in the successful implementation of the 7th National Development Plan (7NDP). The score card presents civil society, government, and other stakeholders with an opportunity to monitor and track progress on the implementation of the 7NDP with respect to level and depth of citizen participation. Through its capacity strengthening activities, FACT completed Participatory Organizational Development Assessments (PODA) with four partners, including Zambia National Education Coalition (ZANEC), Treatment Advocacy and Literacy Campaign (TALC), Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO), and the Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASD). A media training was also conducted for all FACT partners to explore opportunities for media engagement, broaden CSO visibility, and broaden their civic education outreach work. During the training, partners developed clear action plans, with COMACO, RICAP, and Zambia Inter-Faith Networking Group (ZINGO) expressing a desire for additional support to help them create robust relationships with various media agencies and better media outreach activities. FACT continued to build its external relationships as a way of strengthening the influencing work and better understanding of the contextual environment in which accountable governance is pursued. Notable under this period is the engagement on the social accountability strategy of the Ministry of Health, sharing experiences with other like-minded organizations, and creating better links with other USAID projects. There is a heightened understanding of FACT's work and how it might support similar social accountability initiatives within Zambia. The program's goal is to improve the enabling governance environment of Zambia by strengthening the capacity of local CSOs and enhancing citizen engagement with government service providers. The program's objectives are to strengthen the capacity of local CSOs to enhance delivery and oversight of public service delivery in the education, health/HIV, sustainable rural livelihoods, and environment sectors, and to improve engagement between citizens and government service providers in the same sectors to improve service delivery. The program's implementation progress is being monitored and evaluated through the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan (MELP). The MELP is designed to track progress towards the program's objectives and to identify areas for improvement. The program's challenges and lessons learned are also being documented and used to inform future program activities. The program's financial management is being overseen by the Agreement Officer's Representative (AOR) and the program's financial reports are being submitted to USAID on a quarterly basis. The program's management and administration are being handled by Counterpart International, and the program's external relationships are being built through engagement with other USAID projects and like-minded organizations.