Zambia country strategic plan (2023 - 2028)

CSP approved at EB June 2023 session. 

Revision 01 approved by the RD in February 2024.

Revision 02 approved by the ED-DGFAO in November 2024.

Zambia has made steady progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 17 despite some stagnation due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, climate change and economic contraction. As part of efforts to reach Sustainable Development Goal 2, the Government recently increased the coverage of safety net programmes with the aim of increasing access to food for more than 3 million very poor people. Despite improvements, stunting rates in Zambia remain among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, including 17 percent of girls age 10–14. This presents an urgent need for integrated programming that ensures food and nutrition security while protecting livelihoods and building the resilience of people, communities and food systems.

In line with Sustainable Development Goal 17, a hybrid financing model including domestic revenue, domestic and foreign borrowing and private sector engagement through public-private partnerships, foreign direct investment and cooperating partners has been utilized to support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. However, the fiscal space remains constrained as static government revenue and public sector debt hamper the Government’s ability to invest in social sectors.

The WFP country office will work on strengthening and restoring local and national food systems to enable them to withstand shocks and stressors. There will be a strong focus on building local, diverse, sustainable and commercially viable food value chains, including in urban areas, as well as on nutrition and resilience building programming. Leveraging existing and new partnerships with the Government, the private sector, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and other United Nations bodies, non-governmental organizations and research centres, the country office will undertake innovative, climate-sensitive and evidence-based activities that contribute to the food systems and the Government socioeconomic transformation agenda with the aim of making progress towards zero hunger.

Leveraging its comparative advantages in Zambia, WFP will implement a five-year plan based on Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 17 and the WFP strategic plan for 2022–2025 and aligned with the United Nations sustainable development cooperation framework for Zambia for 2023–2027, Zambia’s national Vision 2030 and the eighth national development plan. The country strategic plan sets out five integrated outcomes.

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  • Outcome 1: Food-insecure people in Zambia (including refugees) affected by shocks are better able to meet their essential food security and nutrition needs in anticipation of, during and in the aftermath of crises.
  • Outcome 2: Populations at risk of malnutrition in Zambia have improved access to and consumption of safe and diverse nutrient-dense food all year round.
  • Outcome 3: Food-insecure and risk-prone smallholder farming populations, especially women, youth and people with disabilities in targeted rural and urban areas, are enabled to withstand climate change and other shocks and benefit from more resilient food systems through increased incomes that contribute to improved nutrition and food diversity and increased economic and livelihood opportunities by 2030.
  • Outcome 4: National institutions in Zambia have strengthened capacity to design policies and programmes that promote the enhancement of national food systems and deliver national emergency preparedness, anticipatory and response programmes, nutrition-sensitive, shock‑responsive social protection, supply chain systems and sustainable food security programmes by 2030.
  • Outcome 5: Humanitarian and development actors in Zambia have improved access to on-demand services and benefit from innovative, effective and cost-efficient supply chain capacity by 2030.

These outcomes are designed to mutually reinforce each other, leveraging existing programmes, partnerships and opportunities to connect the activities under the various outcomes and achieve the intended goals through a combination of integrated interventions.

To implement the new country strategic plan, the country office will utilize South–South and triangular cooperation to mobilize technical and financial support, leveraging partnerships with the Government to access funds from multilateral and international financial institutions. The country office will also leverage the United Nations sustainable development cooperation framework and coordination platforms for the Rome-based agencies to foster joint programming and resource mobilization. Lastly, the country office will strengthen private sector partnerships for funding and provide expertise to beneficiaries, including value chain actors.