Goals for the rich: Indispensable for a universal post-2015 agenda

The paper deals with the question of how a fair sharing of costs, responsibilities and opportunities among and within countries can be achieved in formulating and implementing a post-2015 sustainability agenda. Introduction After many years of focusing on the symptoms of extreme poverty with the pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals, the UN system is finally picking up a universal sustainability agenda, enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals, that address sustainability and causes of poverty and inequality.The Open Working Group of the UN General Assembly on Sustainable Development Goals has proposed a list of 17 goals and 169 targets. The consensus outcome of this group, endorsed by the UN General Assembly in September 2014 as the "main basis" of the post-2015 development agenda, goes far beyond the narrow scope of the MDGs. The Millennium Development Goals provided an international framework for the advancement of social development for the poor in the global South with a little help from the rich in the global North. Unlike the Millennium Development Goals, the Post-2015 Agenda with the Sustainable Development Goals as a pivotal building block is intended to be truly universal and global. Sustainable Development Goals will be for everybody, rich countries, countries with emerging economies and poor countries &nbsp

JCTR Bulletin 4th Quarter 2016

In the last issue we acknowledge the violence in the August general elections. Zambia has continued to experience pockets of post-election political violence amongst supporters of different political parties. In some cases,intra-party political violence has continued, rendering ordinary citizens physically and emotionally marred. The Jesuit Centre For Theological Reflection (JCTR) takes cognisance of the church’s role in reconciling and reminding the citizenry that violence is not the way to solve problems. JCTR held an Ecumenical Theological Reflection Day last October under the theme: “The role of the church and citizens in reconciling the nation”. In her article on the Ecumenical Theological Reflection day, Dominica Kabale reports that the lack of initiative to build peace amongst political actors has had a negative influence on young voters in Universities and Colleges. She reveals that it is shocking that college students have taken a leaf from happenings in national elections by refusing to accept student body election results. Some of these students have resorted to mobilising resources to petition college election results

Implementation of Select Health Projects at Livingstone Central Hospital

Enjoyment of the right to health is still a concern in Zambia and falls below that required for the people to fully enjoy that right and other related rights such as the right to right. Therefore, the projects of building the laboratory, the eye clinic, the dental clinic and the wall fence at Livingstone Central hospital aimed at enhancing access to health in Livingstone by the local people interested the Livingstone JCTR Outreach team. The said structures were meant to be modern facilities that would house all necessary equipment and would provide a wider range of services to three quarters of the population of southern province. This would drastically reduce referrals of patients to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka.Over the years, the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) has monitored the use of public financial resources in an effort to foster accountability by public officers. Some works have included analysing issues raised in the Auditor General reports over the year and advocating action on culprits. Hence, undertaking of the social audit by the JCTR Livingstone outreach team to measure among areas, progress on projects and the quality of works. Monitoring of the projects was implemented over a period of 12 months, November 2017 through to November 2018

A STUDY ON FRAMEWORKS AND POLICIES FOR GOVERNANCE IN THE MINING SECTOR IN ZAMBIA

The study on governing frameworks in the mining sector will inform stakeholders on the current regulations and policies in place in the sector as well as the levels of respect for human rights for workers that can inform future interventions of the JCTR and partners in the sector.Most of Zambia’s large-scale copper mines are located on the Copperbelt Province and North- Western Province. Zambia like all states has an obligation to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms as enshrined in the international conventions and instruments that the country has signed and ratified such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In addition, the mining companies adhere to various international conventions and practices under the auspices of international organisations such as International Labour Organisation (ILO) and United Nations (UN). These include the UN Global Compact Initiative, ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy.Norwegian Church Aid; Act Allianc

Basic Needs Basket (BNB) for April 2018

Basic Needs Basket (BNB) for April 2018. This item contains the data for the following towns: - Chinsali, Chipata, Choma, Kabwe, Kasama, Kitwe, Livingstone, Luanshya, Lusaka, Mansa, Mongu, Monze, Mpika, Ndola and Solwezi

Continued Increase in Public Funds Abuse/Waste worrying

Zambia has many developmental challenges to continue on the path of wasteful use of public resources. In the last few years, government has struggled to balance its incomes with expenditure partly due to reduced economic growth which has been caused by reduced copper prices on the international market and low electricity supply among others. This has resulted in government recording huge budget deficits of over 6% of GDP per annum way above the projected annual deficit of 3% of GDP. Government has thus been courting the IMF for a US$1.3 billion for balance of payment support. While the economy has shown signs of recovery with projected growth of 4% for 2017 from 3.4% of 2016, government fiscal space is still under serious strain. Seeing that we are on a route to economic recovery stringent public financial management policies should be instituted in our country to ensure that funds are used for the intended purpose in order to uplift lives of the poor.The office of the auditor general on 2nd November, 2017, released a report on the Accounts of the Republic for the financial year ending 31st December 2016. The Jesuit centre for theological reflection is concerned with the current public financial mismanagement in Zambia which keeps getting worse every year without corrective measures. While seven out of twelve categories of irregularities showed some reduction, irregularity such as untouched expenditure remained the highest ranking irregularity at K170 million, an amount that could have doubled 2018 budgetary allocation to Skills Development and enabled hundreds of young school leavers acquire some skill