Front cover of policy brief
Zambia faces a dual challenge of persistent poverty and escalating climate risks, particularly droughts and floods, which increasingly disrupt livelihoods, infrastructure, and macroeconomic stability. This policy brief synthesises findings from a comprehensive policy and programme analysis examining how national frameworks address climate adaptation, disaster risk management, and social protection. The analysis indicates that Zambia has developed a robust policy architecture anchored in Vision 2030, the Eighth National Development Plan, and the National Adaptation Plan. However, systemic gapsremain in financing, coordination, data integration, and implementation effectiveness.
Resilience (defined here as the capacity of households to recover from shocks) is typically achieved by households at high levels of welfare. The key question is how policies and public action can help households at lower levels of welfare to achieve higher degrees of resilience.
While notable progress has been achieved through institutional reforms, early warning systems, climate-smart agriculture initiatives, and digital social registries, resilience investments are fragmented and predominantly donor driven. The transition from reactive crisis response towards anticipatory, risk-informed governance is underway but incomplete. Rural populations remain highly exposed due to reliance on rain-fed agriculture and natural resources, while urban vulnerabilities are rising, with rapid informal settlement growth and infrastructure deficits.
This brief proposes consolidating existing frameworks into a national resilience strategy, supported by predictable financing, integrated data systems, greater capacity at local level, and strengthened accountability mechanisms. Embedding resilience within fiscal policy, incentivising private sector engagement, and enhancing subnational and, especially, community-level (first responder) implementation capacity are central to achieving sustainable outcomes.