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Socio-Cultural factors promoting hindering reforms and development

Socio-Cultural factors promoting hindering reforms and development. The importance of socio-cultural factors in setting development cooperation priorities and determining intervention and negotiating strategies has been largely ignored by cooperating partners;.

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Socio-Cultural factors promoting hindering reforms and development

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  1. Socio-Cultural factors promoting hindering reforms and development

  2. The importance of socio-cultural factors in setting development cooperation priorities and determining intervention and negotiating strategies has been largely ignored by cooperating partners;

  3. Mutual accountability has not been adhered to in practise; • Elites are quite happy in maintaining a status quo situation; • Cooperating partners are investors, but they hardly behave as investors

  4. Ownership • Commitment • Capacity development • Culture • Patronage • Change • Role of cooperating partners • Zambian elite

  5. Ownership • Requires true commitment, leadership and broad participation (parliament, private sector, civil society) • Ownership linked to processes of change, that challenge vested interests • Ability to say “no” to cooperating partners

  6. Zambia: • strong leadership, really focussed on development objectives is lacking • vested interests are strong and hamper “true” ownership • accountability system is weak (e.g role parliament) • cooperating partners hardly ever hear “no”, which is harmful to development process

  7. Commitment • Highest level commitment to plan and implement in line with national priorities • Political strategy to built support for change • Zero tolerance on corruption • Role of cooperating partners should not be too dominant

  8. Zambia: • highest level commitment is partly present. There is a lack of drive. • patronage remains a huge stumbling block • no clear strategy to promote support for change • corruption remains huge problem • Co-operating partners still very dominant

  9. Capacity • Lack of capacity compromises possibility to work towards improvements based on ownership and commitment • Technical assistance is not the solution • Capacity development is more than education and training (e.g. conducive environment, work culture, reforms) • Necessary to build on local, home grown processes, use local expertise

  10. Zambia: • enormous lack of capacity, limited drive to work towards solutions • quite some cooperating partners continue to provide technical assistance • joint technical assistance receives little support • important to use local expertise, however, difficult to find

  11. Culture • Adequate understanding of local social/cultural factors and processes • Understand the hidden agenda that exists

  12. Zambia: • cooperating partners pay far too little attention to understanding Zambian social/cultural context • by the time expatriate staff members leave they start to grasp some issues……. • cooperating partners are too much focussed on internal processes and implementation of programmes that are part of their portfolio

  13. Patronage • Patronage plays an important role in the way work processes are structured and decisions are taken or deferred. • Relationships and loyalty are very important, often more important than policy planning or implementation.

  14. Zambia: • Patronage determines to a great extent decision making processes in Zambia. • Reforms, capacity building and accountability are severely hampered because of patronage

  15. Change • Change means uncertainty. • Processes of change are complex and unpredictable. Zambia: • change is a threat to many in a country where social security systems do not exist, unemployment levels are high and knowledge is limited

  16. Role of Cooperating Partners • Disbursement pressure • Incentive structure for aid officials • Too little time to understand local setting • Reluctant to criticise (e.g. culture)

  17. Zambia: • although important processes have been implemented, such as the harmonisation process, cooperating partners continue to make well known mistakes. • disbursement pressure plays a role • national priorities (“our parliament”) do not sufficiently appreciate the Zambia context • still a great lack of in-depth knowledge about Zambian culture and processes • cooperating partners are very careful in expressing criticisms. In practise they have few ways to be firm…….

  18. ROLE OF THE ZAMBIAN ELITE? TODAY allow me to provoke……although I’m afraid I’m showing you a realistic picture! • maintain the status quo • use the state and its resources to consolidate power • keep the patronage system in place

  19. little commitment to improve the standard of living of the poor • “what’s in it for me”? • speak the right language, but act differently, know how to play the game

  20. In 2020? • Difficult to predict……… • HIV/AIDS, the brain drain and lack of economic diversification • Increased access to information, new generation • Conclusion: trust that situation will gradually change

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