Members of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs are on an official field visit, from 28 June to 2 July, 2010 to oversee Irish Aid programmes in Zambia. Deputies John Deasy, Rory O’Hanlon and Senator Dominic Hannigan of the Joint Oireachtas Sub-Committee on Overseas Development visited villagers living on the banks of the Zambezi in Zambia who are benefiting from an innovative Irish Aid supported scheme to tackle rural poverty.

The visit is intended to oversee the impact of Irish Aid’s support to Zambia, where two-thirds of the population of 12 million are living below the poverty line.

Irish Aid has worked in partnership with the Zambian government and civil society organisations since 1980. Irish Aid’s programme in Zambia is focused on improving access to quality education for all, support to the poorest and most vulnerable communities, people living with HIV and AIDS and good governance. Irish Aid is working with other donors and the Zambian government to pilot social cash payment schemes for very poor households.

Speaking in N’gandu village in Kasungula, Deputy Deasy, Chair of the Sub-Committee said:

“Over the course of our visit to Zambia we have seen how Ireland is working to support rural people living in extreme poverty. The social cash payments scheme will reach some 69,000 of those poorest households by 2015. A monthly grant of just €8 can make an enormous difference to a poor Zambian grandmother caring for her large family.  Ireland has made the eradication of hunger one of its key foreign policy priorities. It is heartening to see people who used to survive on one very basic meal a day now able to feed their families, send their children to school and perhaps even start to invest in a small business.”

The delegation also visited local development projects in the far-north of Zambia where Irish Aid has funded access to clean, safe water for 400,000 people over the past ten years and supports community organisations providing home-based care for chronically ill patients. Visiting a school where Irish Aid has funded the construction of new classrooms, the delegation heard about Ireland’s role in co-ordinating donor input into education in Zambia which has resulted in an extra one million children in school since 2000.

While in Zambia, the members of the Joint Committee also took time to meet with Irish missionaries and Irish NGOs working in the country.

Further Information:

The members of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs are on an official field visit, from 28 June to 2 July, to oversee Irish Aid programmes in Zambi .
 
Since 1980, Ireland’s assistance to Zambia has supported the Zambian government’s objective of becoming a middle-income country by 2030. The Irish Aid programme is designed to contribute to the reduction of poverty and inequality. Total Irish Aid support to Zambia this year will be €21 million.

64% of Zambians live in poverty – half of that number in extreme poverty and unable to afford basic foodstuffs. Along with other countries in the Southern African region, Zambia has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates (14-15%).
 
The social cash transfer scheme is supported by Irish Aid and its partners DFID and UNICEF. The scheme provides monthly cash grants of between €6 and €8 to the poorest 10% of households. The scheme is currently being scaled up from five to 15 districts. Irish Aid is supporting monitoring of the programme to ascertain how an optimum social cash transfer scheme for Zambia would work. Irish Aid started funding the social cash transfer programme in 2009 and has committed €800,000 this year. Some of the results to date include:
 
•        a fall of 30% in the number of households in the programme areas surviving on just one meal a day
•        a drop in absenteeism from school from 40% to 25%
•        an increase of 15% in chicken ownership

The delegation met representatives of:
 
MJ Kelly bursary scheme
Media Institute Southern Africa
Jesuit Committee for Theoretical Reflection
Concern Worldwide
Self Help Africa
SMA Fathers
CAMFED
Transparency International Zambia
Sacred Heart of Mary and Jesus
Households in Distress
Local area development committees in Mbala
Government representatives in Southern and Northern Provinces
Capucin Fathers
Franciscan Sisters for Africa

Last modified 01.07.10