Projects

Land Policy

For the past several years, ZLA has been at the forefront of civil society's objection to the current draft Land Policy which would govern land in the country. Civil society was part of the Governments efforts to develop the long awaited Land Policy for Zambia, participating in the consultations carried out with rural communities and other stakeholders. However, the original agreement that civil society should also be part of drafting the Policy itself was abruptly terminated when the Ministry of Lands (MoL) closed the doors to communication in early 2007. And the doors have remained closed since then. As a result, ZLA continues to pressurize Government and rally civil society to arrive at a policy that is pro-poor and equitable in nature.

The draft Constitution and land

In 2008, ZLA is busy lobbying the the National Constitutional Committee (NCC) and most importantly changing the draft Constitution's section on land. To aid this process ZLA has created an advocacy strategy for influencing this institution and in April 2008 held a one-day meeting for its members and partners in Lusaka to discuss advocacy strategies and potential recommendations to the land section of the draft Constitution in which to lobby the assembled NCC participants. Over 35 ZLA associates attended the meeting and ZLA also hired a land and law consultant, Dr. Patrick Matabini, to give an overview the draft Constitution and issues relating to land.

District Land Alliances

During 2007, ZLA established seven District Land Alliances (DLAs) throughout Zambia. These DLAs are located in Mansa, Monze, Gwembe, Petauke, Chipata, Kitwe and Chipata. The focus of these groups is to raise awareness on land issues at the grassroots-level.