The African Development Bank, in partnership with the Government of Zambia, has concluded a five-day Institutional Capacity Building and Fiduciary Clinic (ICFC) to strengthen the country's capacity to implement Bank-financed projects more effectively, as Zambia seeks to sustain its economic recovery and improve development outcomes.
Held in Lusaka from 15 to 19 June, the clinic brought together 106 officials from government ministries and agencies, the Office of the Auditor General, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Secretariat, project implementation units, and development partners.
Experts from the African Development Bank, specialising in procurement, financial management, disbursement, environmental and social safeguards, results monitoring, integrity, gender and capacity development, led the sessions in collaboration with the Bank's Zambia Country Office.
The workshop took place as Zambia consolidates its macroeconomic recovery, following significant progress in restructuring its external debt. Economic growth has been supported by mining, alongside a recovery in agriculture and energy, underscoring the importance of timely and effective implementation of development projects.
Speaking on the Bank's operations in Zambia, Maurice Wanyama, the Country Programme Officer, said the Bank's active portfolio comprised 22 projects financed through 30 instruments, valued at approximately $1.5 billion as of 15 June 2026, with most projects performing satisfactorily.
"The quality of our portfolio depends not only on financial resources, but critically on the strength of institutions, systems, and fiduciary discipline that underpin project implementation," Wanyama said.
Representing the Government of Zambia, Mwaka Mukubesa, Permanent Secretary for Budget and Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Finance and National Planning, described the clinic as a timely initiative that would help strengthen project delivery. She reaffirmed the government's commitment to improving portfolio performance and urged executing agencies and project implementation units to apply the lessons from the programme to address bottlenecks effectively.
Unlike conventional training programmes, the ICFC adopted a practical, problem-solving approach, enabling participants to identify and address implementation challenges in real time. Sessions covered procurement planning and execution, financial management and disbursement, internal controls and governance, results-based monitoring and evaluation, and environmental and social safeguards, all of which support Zambia's 2026/27 Country Portfolio Improvement Plan. Additional modules addressed gender mainstreaming, integrity and anti-corruption.
The clinic forms part of the African Development Bank's broader efforts to strengthen institutional and fiduciary capacity across its Regional Member Countries. In Zambia, the initiative supports the implementation of the Bank's Country Strategy Paper 2024-2029 and its Ten-Year Strategy 2024-2033.
