Zambia Elections Research Network (ZERN) (2016-continuous)
Initiated by SAIPAR, the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the University of Warwick (UK), the network aims to bring together experienced scholars of Zambia to undertake a research programme on the polls. Some of this research was published in an edited volume which follows on from and extends the research contained in the volume on the 2016 elections entitled: Democracy and electoral politics in Zambia, (Leiden: Brill) edited by T. Banda, O. Kaaba, M. Hinfelaar and M. Ndulo and a special issue on Zambia’s 2021 elections published by the Journal of Eastern African Studies. In the run-up to the 2026 elections, ZERN will convene research.
African extractivism and the green transition (with York University, 2023-2029)
Building on the insights of a multidisciplinary team of partners since 2018 which focused on Resource Nationalism (https://resourcenationalism.ca/), this partnership studies the dynamics of “mineral energy materials” (MEMs) in four key Southern Africa producers: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Their primary objective is to address research gaps in four policy areas critical for MEMs: (1) the formalisation and incorporation of Artisanal and Small-scale Mining into MEM supply chains; (2) the reframing of mining taxation to leverage revenues and fund expanded social services; (3) the fostering of links between domestic industry and MEMs; and (4) the engagement of transnational frameworks and regulations with the aim of expanding national policy space. SAIPAR is a partner organisation in Zambia and hosts the Country Manager, the PhD, MA, undergraduate students and research grants
Innovation support programs for small and medium-sized enterprises: evidence from Zambia and Zimbabwe (IDRC project, Canada, covering Zambia and Zimbabwe).
This project seeks to understand the impact of innovation support programs in both countries and analyze them through an equity, diversity and inclusion lens. Zambia and Zimbabwe are fiscally constrained countries, with competing social and economic agendas. This context elevates the importance of understanding the impact of their SME support programs and how to improve them. This collaborative project provides a unique learning opportunity for researchers and innovation agencies in Zambia and Zimbabwe to compare findings and formulate policy responses.
Zambia Democratic Governance (ZDG) Project: Reinforcing Public Economic
Institutions and Fostering Economic Transformation (Ford Foundation, 2024-2025)
The project targets the enhancement of Zambia’s economic governance and resilience, addressing challenges exacerbated by the recent drought disaster. The need for strengthened economic and geopolitical diplomacy, macroeconomic modelling, youth capacity building at the grassroots, operationalising agricultural farm blocks, and water resource management under emergency conditions are identified as critical areas that are important for overall economic governance and resilience. The project aims to offer multi-level interventions, from international to national and sub-national levels.
Building stronger political partnerships to address national and regional challenges with SAIPAR (Irish Embassy), November 2023-October 2024
This is a one-year project funded by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ireland (as represented by Irish Aid). It aims to provide the Embassy of Ireland in Zambia with research findings that will enhance its capacity to effectively engage policy makers on the emerging national development issues.
ZambiaLII (www.zambialii.org), 2012-continious
SAIPAR has been running the ZambiaLII project with technical support from AfricanLII since August 2012. ZambiaLII website is currently up to date with High Court, Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and and Constitutional Court Judgments, National Endowment (NED) provides funding for ZambiaLII since 2021. This project aims to empower citizens with free access to legal information for strengthening public accountability in Malawi and Zambia.
Recovering embedded heat in Zambian food and beverage production/preparation: technology and process development, and societal impacts (REHEATZ) (with Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland), 2023-2026
The REHEATZ project aims to develop low-cost technology to recycle the waste heat embedded in the wastewater produced in meat production and preparation in Zambian food production facilities and food service outlets. This technology will significantly lower the energy requirement, cost and CO2 emissions of food products in Zambia. Large volumes of hot water are required for the production of meat products and for the preparation of meat-based food. The REHEATZ project will develop this technology and demonstrate its societal impact on the local community including impact on the price of food, employment, women and youth.
Good City: Good water, sanitation and hygiene service delivery for and with adolescents and young people in sub-Saharan African cities to build better futures and nurture hope (with Zambart)
Good water, sanitation and hygiene service delivery for and with adolescents and young people in sub-Saharan African cities to build better futures and nurture hope. In sub-Saharan Africa, adolescents and young people (AYP, aged 10 to 24 years), who form most of the population in cities, grow up managing their well-being by navigating the interface of formal and informal systems that provide water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services. Working with AYP and local WASH stakeholders, this interdisciplinary study will build on pre-existing research conducted in the contrasting cities of Lusaka and Cape Town, and apply the theoretical concepts of stability, open/closed urban systems, and hope, to address WASH governance for AYP.
Zambia Judicial Sector Public Expenditure and Institutional Review Report (PEIR), World Bank project, 2022-2023
The main finding of this report is that although there is some level of effectiveness within the Zambian court system, overall, the system needs to perform better below its capabilities and true potential. This report takes a holistic look at the various binding constraints and thereby assesses their combined impact on judicial service delivery.
SEDBROZ (2020-2022)
The ‘Support to the Electoral Dispute Resolution Oversight and Capacity Building Zambia (SEDROBZ)’ project aims to assess the compliance of Election Dispute Resolution (EDR) mechanisms to the regional and international standards that govern electoral justice. The project also serves as a resource on how electoral stakeholders, especially political parties, can access both formal and informal EDR mechanisms in Zambia. In addition, the project will track EDR cases before, during, and after the elections. This activity provided an in-depth understanding of the existing legal framework as well as the current practice in adjudication of electoral matters both within the election administration and the Zambian judiciary.
Assessment of Access to Justice and Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems in Zambia (World Bank project), 2023-2024
The Assessment of Access to Justice and Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems in Zambia focuses on 1. Demand Side aspects of Access to Justice, especially in under-served areas of Zambia; and 2. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) processes and systems in Zambia
SAIPAR co-hosted Journal of Southern African Studies (JSAS) conference and early career scholars’ workshop (sponsored by JSAS and British Academy). Centring African agency: co-producing science, technology and medicine. The conference in memory of Lyn Schumaker was co-hosted by the Journal for Southern African Studies (JSAS) and the Southern African Institute for Policy and Research (SAIPAR) and took place over a period of two and half days in Lusaka, Zambia, 16-18 August, 2023.
Publications from previous projects:
Researching the Politics of State Capacity in Africa: The role of pockets of bureaucratic effectiveness (University of Manchester, ESRC-DFID grant, 3 years). Marja Hinfelaar (lead researcher) and Caesar Cheelo. The chapter for Oxford University Press book came out in Sam Hickey (ed) Pockets of Effectiveness and the Politics of State-building and Development in Africa (Oxford University Press, 2023) Open Acess
Corruption in the renewable energy sector, Marja Hinfelaar and O’Brien Kaaba (SIDA/U4), output: paper entitled Zambia’s anti-corruption regime 2001-2021 in the renewable energy sector: A legal and political economy analysis
Open Access
Backlash against Democracy:
Two chapters in Leonardo R. Arriola, Lise Rakner and Nicolas Van De Walle (eds.) Democratic Backsliding in Africa? Autocratization, Resilience, and Contention (Oxford University Press, 2023), Open Access
ESID project on Urban Dominance
Hinfelaar, Marja, Danielle Resnick, and Sishuwa Sishuwa, ‘Fragile dominance? The rise and fall of urban strategies for political settlement maintenance and change in Zambia’, in Tom Goodfellow, and David Jackman (eds), Controlling the Capital: Political Dominance in the Urbanizing World (Oxford, 2023; online, Oxford Academic, 23 Nov. 2023), Open Access
Zambia Justice Sector Public Expenditure and Institutional Review (World Bank)
Open Access
Study on Political Cadres and Financial Sustainability of Local Authorities (GIZ), fieldwork sites: Southern Province (Choma, Monze, Namwala and Livingstone), Copperbelt (Kitwe), Solwezi and Mansa, product: report and policy brief. USAID is funding the sector phase of the project to include Kabwe, Kapiri Mposhi, Mpika and Nakonde (2022), report on SAIPAR website under publications.
IAD Summer Africa Conference, 2017 Inequality in Africa: Economic Vulnerability, Environmental Risks, and Inequitable Access to Justice August 3-4, 2017, Livingstone, Zambia This resulted in Caesar Cheelo, Marja Hinfelaar, Manenga Ndulo (eds), Inequality in Zambia (Routledge, 2022).
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