Urban Local Government Capacity Strengthening, Phase II

Cowater executed this three-year, USD 292,000 project as a subcontractor to build planning and management capacity in the Ministry of Local Government and Housing and ten urban local governments in Zambia. It supported the governments long-term strategic objective to devolve responsibility for planning, delivery and finance of local infrastructure and services to autonomous, democratic local governments. The project provided technical assistance, training and financing to address financial control, revenue enhancement and managerial improvement. It provided local councils with effective financial management and information systems, and also included the development of a budgeting system for non-financial managers; a review of current revenue sources for individual councils; and the formulation of proposals to improve revenue flows.