By Jane Chanda
The World Bank has approved a $207.6 million grant to support Zambia’s efforts to mitigate the impact of the ongoing drought.
The grant, which is the second additional financing for the scaling-up shock responsive social protection project, will be used to scale up the Social Cash Transfer Programme and provide emergency cash assistance to over 1.6 million households across 84 drought-impacted districts.
According to a letter addressed to Finance and National Planning Minister Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane, the grant was comprised of $200 million from the International Development Association (IDA) and $7.6 million from the Zambia Girls’ Education and Women’s Empowerment and Livelihood (GEWEL) Multi-Donor Trust Fund.
World Bank executive director for Africa Group 1 Constituency, Dr. Floribert Ngaruko, stated that, “I am pleased to inform you that the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank’s International Development Association approved…a second additional grant in the amount of $200 million from the IDA Crisis Response Window to the Republic of Zambia for the Scaling-up Shock Responsive Social Protection Project.”
The grant will support the government’s efforts to provide temporal increases in transfer value to existing social cash transfer beneficiaries, as well as recruit additional beneficiaries in affected districts.
And Dr. Musokotwane expressed gratitude to the World Bank, stating that the Zambian government applauded the World Bank for approving funds, which would complement the country’s drought response plan by scaling-up the Social Cash Transfer Programme.
The minister added that the expansion of the program would entail a temporal increase in the number of beneficiary households and an increase in cash transfer values from K200 to K400 per month.
The grant was a testament to the World Bank’s confidence in Zambia’s economic reforms and public financial governance.
This funding comes on the heels of the IMF’s approval of the third assessment of the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) program, which included an immediate disbursement of approximately $569.6 million.
Dr. Musokotwane acknowledged the support of local and international development partners, stating that the government was confident that it would succeed in overcoming the challenges facing the country this year and become a net food supplier for the region in the medium-term.
