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News from around VSO > Zambia
Second phase of RAISA launches in Zambia
(1 February 2006)
February 1, 2006 marked the National launch of the second phase of VSO's Regional AIDS Initiative Southern Africa (RAISA) in Zambia.
This programme will focus on three key issues: orphans and other vulnerable children, People Living with HIV and/or AIDS, and gender and HIV and AIDS. We will be supporting our partner organisations through placement of volunteer development workers, small grants and setting up opportunities to share learning.
At the launch, officiated by Dr. Kenneth Kaunda, first president of Zambia and HIV and AIDS activist in Africa, Africa Direction, one of VSO-RAISA’s partner organizations, presented a sketch focusing on the burden of care for People Living with HIV and/or AIDS, a key focus area of RAISA II's advocacy work in Zambia and across the Southern Africa region.
Government announces budget increase to tackle teacher shortage crisis
(14 February 2005)
Last October's VSO-led Global Campaign for Education report Undervaluing Teachers exposed the IMF-imposed wage freeze on Zambian public service workers which resulted in 9,000 qualified teachers left unemployed while schools went without teachers. The Zambian government has recently announced that it is to lift the wage freeze and increase its education budget by 4% in an attempt to tackle the teacher shortage crisis. On 28 January, the Minister of Finance Ng'andu Magande announced that he will be:
...progressively allocating higher levels of resources for education infrastructure and service providers. The prime focus will be to address the shortage of teachers.
As well as increasing the budget (from 20% to 24% of total government expenditure), and lifting the wage freeze, the Minister plans to employ 5,000 new teachers in 2005 (from the 9,000 unemployed teachers), pay all outstanding housing allowances for public service workers, and increase the public sector wage bill from 7.99% to 8.12% of GDP (a move previously blocked by IMF economic dogma which dictated public sector wage bills should rise to no more than 8% of GDP).
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