Strengthening Social Protection Mechanisms in Zambia

Social protection is an important component of Zambia’s efforts to reduce poverty and vulnerability, strengthen household resilience, and promote just socio-economic development. Zambia has established a range of social protection programmes implemented by different institutions and supported by multiple stakeholders.

The increasing scope and diversity of social protection interventions require effective coordination mechanisms to promote coherence, reduce duplication, strengthen information sharing, improve referral systems, and ensure that programmes and services respond effectively to the needs of vulnerable and disadvantaged populations.

Strengthening coordination is therefore essential to ensure that social protection policies, programmes, financing, implementation, monitoring and accountability mechanisms are better aligned at national, provincial and district levels.

In this regard, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Zambia Office organized a workshop titled; Strengthening the Social Protection Coordination Mechanisms in Zambia. This workshop took place from the 21st to the 22nd of October 2026 and brought together key social protection stakeholders to review the existing coordination mechanism, identify operational and institutional gaps, and agree on practical measures for strengthening coordination and collaboration.

The goal of the workshop was to strengthen the social protection coordination mechanisms in Zambia by creating a common understanding of existing coordination arrangements, identifying key challenges and opportunities, and developing practical actions to improve collaboration, information sharing, accountability and programme coherence.