The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development will today, or in the next few days, issue the new Constituency Development Fund (CDF) Guidelines that are meant to enhance the CDF programme and address such of the challenges and bottlenecks that slow down the development, which should have already been delivered in Zambia and for Zambians by CDF by now.
One component that might be removed from CDF is the loan component. Whereas doomsayers may want to politicise this as denying an opportunity for our youth, women and men from accessing loans, this change comes when evidence shows that loan repayment reports are gloomy and all indicators suggest that funds meant for loans are better diverted to grants and funding for community development reports.
The Special Audit Report on the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), done by the Office of the Auditor General for the year ended 31st December 2023, identified three main categories of financial irregularities in the management of the CDF programme: (1) the change of projects without approval, (2) failure to account for funds and (3) failure to recover loans. The highest irregularity in terms of value was failure to recover loans, at over ZMW254 million, as compared to failure to account for funds at ZMW8.3 million and change of projects without approval at ZMW9.4 million. 
There are also other challenges that the new CDF Guidelines will seek to address.
The Constituency Development Fund was first established in 1995 to support micro[1]community projects as part of the wider decentralisation and local development policy. The fundamental objective was to provide resources to bridge the financing gap arising from non-existence of funds to finance micro-community led projects in all the constituencies across the country. The first appropriation and disbursement of this fund was done in 1995 by Parliament. In February, 2022, the Government of the Republic of Zambia issued the revised CDF Policy Guidelines on the management, disbursement, utilisation and accountability of the Fund. The revised CDF guidelines had seen an accompanying expanded scope and increased budget allocation with increased emphasis on enhanced community participation in determining local development priorities. Since 2021, the Government had increased the amount allocated to the CDF from K1.6 million to K25.7 million in 2022 to K28.3 million in 2023 and K30.6 million in 2024, per Constituency. The expanded scope of the CDF covered three specific components namely; Community Projects; youth, women, community empowerment, secondary boarding school and skills development bursaries. Following this, various players noted with concern that factors still existed that were impeding the smooth implementation of the CDF.
The Executive Director of Transparent International Zambia, Mr. Maurice K. Nyambe, during the Press Briefing on Transparency International Zambia’s Analysis of the 2023 CDF Audit Report on 5th March 2025 in Lusaka, revealed that his organisation was deeply concerned that, despite increased CDF allocations over the past years, many constituencies had struggled to effectively utilize these resources. According to his organisation’s assessment, less than 42% of the funds allocated for community projects were utilized, while 53% of the total CDF allocation remained unspent. In terms of funds utilization across the provinces, 8 out of the 10 provinces had utilization rates lower than 50% on Community Projects and all the 10 provinces had utilization rates of less than 60% for the total funds made available. TIZ also said that its analysis had revealed a concerning picture of limited capacity of local authorities, significant financial irregularities and governance weaknesses, as well as underperformance of constituencies in utilizing CDF funds. He therefore argued that that was limited capacity among local authorities and constituencies in implementing the CDF programme and further recommended the halting of increases in CDF funding.
As a result of various concerns, including those raised above, the National Assembly has been working towards changing the CDF guidelines, to ensure better utilisation of CDF and effectiveness of the CDF programme all over Zambia for the benefit of all Zambians. The Committee on Local Governance, Housing and Chiefs’ Affairs in its Report for the Third Session, when it considered the topic “Review of the Implementation of the CDF” in 2024, ade a number of findings and recommendations.
Firstly, the Committee observed that the current CDF disbursement model does not take into account equitable distribution across the 156 constituencies, which all receive the same amount. The Committee recommended that the Government needed to consider undertaking delimitation of constituencies. Additionally, future funding needed to take into account the size of the constituency, population and other variables so that there is equity in distribution of the Fund.
Secondly, the committee observed that there was a Multiplicity of Empowerment Programmes. The Committee observed that the Government was implementing a number of empowerment programmes under the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Gender, Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprise, Ministry of Youth, Sport and Arts including the loan component under the CDF. The Committee bemoaned the poor collaboration between the local authorities and the banks, resulting in poor loan recoveries.
In this regard, the Committee recommended that the loan component be withdrawn from the CDF and the funds be added to the projects and grants component so that it achieves its intended goal.
Will the new CDF Guidelines to be launched by The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development remove the loan component from CDF and allocate the funds initially meant for loans to grants and community development as recommended by all members of parliament and various stakeholders?
