Background: Lui Wanyau Combined School is situated in Senanga District of Western Province of Zambia. Lui-Wanyau is in Wanyau Ward of Senanga Central Consistency is located 30 kilometers away from Senanga town. The area is one of the poorest areas of Western Province. It has a population of 2,000 and the poverty levels are at 0.90 per head count.
The school suffered a disaster during a heavy rainy storm in 2020 which brow off the roof from one of the teachers houses, To address this the school received funds amounting to K180,000 from the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit to renovate the house. The School Administration engaged a contractor to renovate the house.
Beneficiary’s story in their own words: My name is Muyumbelo Mayumbelo. I am the Chairperson of the Social Accountability Community Group at Lui Wanyau Primary School. Through support from Civil Society For Poverty Reduction we have learnt about Social Accountability, Using the skills I have learnt from the trainings I was informed by some community members that the building materials for the renovation of the house were delivered to the site, I personally went to check on the quality of the materials and ascertained that they were of good quality. I later leant from other community members that the contractor was on site and works to renovate the house were underway. I went to monitor the quality of works being undertaken at the project site. I found the contractor making concreate blocks to reinforce the walls. At the same time, roofing works were underway. I observed that the construction works were going on well. I also observed that the workers who were applying preservative on the timber used for roofing were not applying enough preservative. I informed the construction workers of my concerns. The contractors changed and increased the amount of preservative they were applying to the wood. I appreciate the knowledge I have acquired on Social Accountability because I used these skills to monitor the renovation works at our school. Without these checks we would have had a sub-standard structure which would have been damaged with another storm. I am proud to deliver a good quality teachers house for our school which will be used for generations to come.
Project Background:
CSPR with support from the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) through the World Bank is implementing the Zambia Voice and Accountability: Community Empowerment for Improved Local Service Delivery Project (V&A Project) in 9 Districts of Eastern and Western provinces. The project aims to enhance community engagement and participation in monitoring the delivery of education services.
