THE World Bank Group has approved a US$130 million loan for
Lusaka sanitation and Girls’ Education and Women’s Empowerment
and Livelihood projects.
World Bank country director Kundhavi Kadiresan said the board of
executive directors approved a loan of US$65 million for the
implementation of the Girls’ Education and Women’s Empowerment
and Livelihood project.
The project is designed to support the Zambian government access to
livelihood support for women and access to secondary education for
disadvantaged adolescent girls.
The main beneficiaries of the project will be about 75,000 women aged
19 to 64 years old who are fit for work, and about 14,000 adolescent
girls aged 14 to 18 years old living in extremely poor households in
rural areas.
“Through this support, the World Bank is keen to see more adolescent
girls completing their secondary education and more rural women
engaging in economically productive activities as these are critical steps
to reducing rural poverty in Zambia,” Dr Kadiresan said.
In a statement issued from Washington DC, the bank said the project
has two components targeting the main beneficiaries while
simultaneously building capacity of departments in the Ministries of
Education, and Community Development, Mother and Child Health to
implement the project.
The first component totaling US$36 million will support women’s
livelihoods with a package of activities that includes access to grants to
improve productivity and create savings and loan clubs,training,
mentoring and peer support.
Community Development, Mother and Child Health Minister Emerine
Kabashi said, would be women beneficiaries have different needs and
the funds would help improve their livelihood.
“The beneficiary women have varying needs so the provision of grants
rather than pre-determined goods will give them the flexibility to decide
how to allocate these resources according to their unique circumstances,
which may encourage more productive investments,” Ms Kabashi said.
The bank also approved a loan of US$65 million for the implementation
of the Lusaka Sanitation project.
The World Bank will support sewage collection, on-site sanitation, and
institutional strengthening of the Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company
(LWSC) which will implement the project.
“Development of good sanitation systems and coverage is essential for
Zambia in order to improve the quality of life in line with the country’s
aspiration to be a middle-income country by 2030,” Dr
Kadiresan said.
She said the bank would therefore support Zambia with innovate
sanitation technologies to benefit poor household in Lusaka.
The project will use US$38 million for sewerage improvements,
specifically to upgrade and expand sewerage systems in the Ngwerere
and Manchinchi sewer sheds.
Sewer networks will be expanded in Emmasdale, Chaisa, Chawama,
Kuomboka and Garden neighbourhoods and Kafue Road.
The Ngwerere Western Interceptor and Ngwerere Downstream Collector
will be upgraded, while the Ngwerere Sewerage Ponds will be extended.
Lusaka has a number of peri-urban areas that are not likely not to have
sewerage in the medium- to long-term due to technical and financial
considerations.
The project will therefore spend US$14 million on on-site sanitation
facilities, faecal sludge management infrastructure and service
providers, construction of decentralized wastewater management
systems, and sanitation and hygiene promotion.
About 180,000 people are expected to benefit from on-site sanitation
facilities.LT
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