• Zambia did not effectively use the 7NDP as a building block to achieve SDGs.
• Most governments around the globe blamed COVID for non-adherence to implement national development priorities.
• Zambia’s performance towards achieving its goals is below 50%.

Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) says the Seventh National Development plan (7NDP) under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has not performed as anticipated in terms of poverty reduction in the country.
Speaking in an interview with Money FM News, Organization Board Member Partner Siabutuba said Zambia did not effectively use the 7NDP as a building block to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Mr. Siabutuba noted that the experience with the Millennium Development Goals is likely to be the same outcome with the SGDs as indicated by international reports on most African countries in line with reducing poverty levels on the continent.
He said amidst the implementation of the SDGs, the world has experienced the COVID- 19 pandemic and other challenges which most governments have blamed for non-adherence to implementing national development priorities.
“SDGs have been standing on different pillars of national development priorities, for Zambia, we are not using the 7th National Development Plan as a building block into the Sustainable Development Goals and different reports from different countries indicate that we have been doing badly especially African countries in terms of poverty reduction on the continent of Africa,” Mr. Siabutuba said.
“The experiences of the Millennium Development Goals are likely to be similar to the issue with the SDGs because amidst the implementation of the SDGs, we’ve had several world pandemics and several other challenges in which most governments across the globe have blamed for non-adherence to implementing national development priorities.”
And Mr. Siabutuba added that Zambia’s planning of the 7th National Development Plan was between 2015 and 2021 which clearly explained the mid-term evaluation of the 7NDP showing that the country’s performance towards achieving its goals as a country was below 50%.
“The mid-term evaluation of the 7th National Development Plan showed very clearly that our performance levels as a country Zambia was below 50% and this was clearly evident by the levels of poverty, Remember we had a pillar on poverty and vulnerability reduction.”
“Our performance as Zambia in terms of vulnerability and poverty reduction has been below 30%,” he noted.