Mansa Municipal Council today held a Zambia Devolution Support Program (ZDSP) stakeholders engagement meeting. The meeting, held at Central Inn, brought together councillors, Ward Development Committees (WDCs) from various wards and representatives from the Zambia Agency of Persons Living with Disabilities (ZAPD).
The ZDSP is a government-led program with $210 million financial support from the World Bank.It was launched in 2023 and restructured in 2024 in response to the drought and is set to run until 2028 targeting 116 local authorities across Zambia.
Town Clerk Dr. Josephine Mwanza opened the meeting, explaining that devolution decentralises resources and decision-making power from the central government to the lower levels.
Dr. Mwanza stated that the meeting’s objective was for stakeholders to decide how to allocate the K8.4 million funding for 2024 by reviewing and selecting projects to be implemented using the said funds.
Mansa Municipal Council Director of Finance, Maybin Kabaso who facilitated the meeting walked the participants through the ZDSP, its details and projects that qualify to be done using the ZDSP grant.
Mr Kabaso stressed that eligible projects under the ZDSP include feeder roads, public markets, community facilities, street lighting, and waste management among others. He however noted that funds under the ZDSP cannot be used for certain projects such as completing local authority infrastructure, purchase of vehicles and projects that involve displacing vulnerable groups including women and youths
Stakeholders later proposed various projects to be implemented with majority settling on acquiring a bulldozer to facilitate works on feeder roads in various parts of the district and the rest of the funds that will remain after to go towards the rehabilitation or construction of public toilets.
The stakeholders also proposed the construction of a Skills centre and working on feeder roads for the 2026 funding further suggesting that the council introduces incentives to encourage property owners to pay rates thereby boosting own source revenue, a key indicator for qualifying for funding under the ZDSP.
Delivering a vote of thanks, Katangashi ward Councillor Charles Musonda expressed gratitude to the local authority for the engagement and urged participants to disseminate the information to others and not keep it to themselves.
Mansa Mayor His Worship Njikho Musuku was represented by Chilyapa ward Councilor Samuel Mumba Mwansa.
