Mid term review of the programme of the development of Kafue National Park as a model of sustainable economic use and biodiversity conservation in a management extensive environment: Kafue National Park Project

The Project

The Kafue National Park (KNP) is the largest national park in Zambia, but after years of neglect the park's infrastructure and natural resources had deteriorated to a point where significant investments were required to restore the protection and management of its biodiversity. In 2004 Norway and the World Bank agreed to join forces to support Zambia Wildlife Authority and KNP through a project with the purpose of securing critical habitat and species through improved management, infrastructure and tourism development. The total budget is approx. US$ 22mill., whereof the Norwegian contribution is almost US$ 13 mill.

Interesting Findings

• After two years, only 49.5% of the planned expenditure has been disbursed.

• The annual work plans were overambitious, and implementation has fallen far short of targets.

• To date the outputs have been limited and hence the overall efficiency has been rather low. The major shortcomings in the two first years are primarily related to the non-performance in the components "Infrastructure Development" and "Community Based Natural Resource Management". Nonetheless, there is clear that the project, despite its shortcomings, has improved the capacity of the Zambia Wildlife Authority to manage the park.

• The project does not have a clearly defined leader who is ultimately accountable for all matters pertaining to the planning, implementation and overall management of the project, something which has been to the detriment of project implementation and financial management.

• Budget planning and production processes are adequate, but there are problems regarding overestimation of quantities and associated unit costs, in addition to the inclusion of activities that are not related to the project.

• There have been serious cases of misappropriations of funds resulting in staff being dismissed. However, compared to the initial stages of the project, there has been a general improvement in the financial management and control of funds. Nonetheless, there is a need to maintain and even strengthen vigilance to prevent the reoccurrence of any financial misdemeanour.

• The capacity of staff to implement the project varies between components, and the lack of motivation at different levels is a major concern.


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