- Establishing and strengthening institutional arrangements to effectively coordinate the environmental policy agenda has been given considerable attention in Zambia since the early 1990s, and has received support from successive donor-funded programmes from 1997.
- Separation between the institutions charged with coordinating the national development and environmental/climate change agenda has undermined the effectiveness of past arrangements.
- Establishment of an Interim Inter-Ministerial Climate Change Secretariat (IIMCCS) attached to the Ministry of Finance – which is also responsible for national development planning in Zambia - represents a real opportunity to harmonise and integrate these agendas; provided that the Secretariat becomes embedded within a broader permanent institutional regime.
- In addition to its role as facilitator in developing as well as mainstreaming Zambia’s integrated climate change and disaster risk reduction agenda, the IIMCCS has overall responsibility for project execution and reporting under the PPCR. Given that the implementation phase of the PPCR is now underway, the Secretariat’s ability carry out its facilitation functions could become constrained in the absence of additional capacity. Capacity-building support for from a greater diversity of multi- and bi-lateral programmes or funds is likely to go a long way towards mitigating this risk.
Jerome van Rooij, Africa Climate Finance Hub