Strengthening Zambia's Public Investment Management System

Through the World Bank’s Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) with the Republic of Zambia, The Public Financial Management Reform Program – Phase 1 (PFMRP) was implemented and concluded between 2014 and 2019. The main objective of the PFMRP was to improve efficiency and accountability in the mobilization and utilization of public resources within Zambia. One of the components of the PFMRP was the Strengthening of Zambia’s Public Investment Management System (PIMS). Pursuant to the Government of Zambia’s commitment to enhance the quality and efficiency of its PIMS, Cambridge Resources International Inc. (CRI),  was awarded the contract to provide Technical Assistance (TA) to strengthen the Republic of Zambia’s PIMS.

The Ministry of National Development Planning’s (MNDP), Public Investment Planning Department (PIPD) was CRI’s main counterpart from the Government of Zambia during the delivery of the TA. The purpose of the TA was to provide support to the PIPD in its effort to enhance critical processes underlying the PIMS. In particular, the TA was aimed at:

• Establishing standardized project appraisal and budgeting mechanisms for public investment projects (PIPs).
• Developing the institutional and technical capacity of Ministries, Provinces, and Other Spending Agencies (MPSAs) in preparing, appraising and implementing PIPs.
• Enhance the capacity of PIPD to conduct independent reviews and evaluations of submissions of PIPs by MPSAs so as to ensure that only economically viable projects and programs are considered during the budgeting process.

Enhanced capital planning and budgeting of PIPs is essential to providing evidence of the efficiency of proposed public investments before commitments are made to undertake any projects or programs. Through the TA provided by CRI in collaboration with the MNDP, LMs, and MPSAs in Zambia managed to draw up a proposal for an improved PIM framework.