Linking Constituency Development Fund to Democracy in Zambia

The bulwark of decentralization is making citizens become protagonists of their own development and democracy agenda. Even though Zambia is a representative democracy, the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) in principle creates a platform for ordinary citizens to directly influence the kind and quality of their democracy through being protagonists of their development destinies; this is the bulwark of decentralization and subsidiarity. Succinctly, CDF is an avenue for direct democracy in Zambia- people must directly manage their own development at the lowest levels. The democracy summit held in Zambia on 29th and 30th March 2023 presented a candid opportunity for the national, regional, continent and global reflection and discernment on our democracies. A post-mortem of the democracy summit catalysed a critical argument that democracy is not end in itself, but a mere means to achieving public participation in governance, quality social and economic service delivery, good governance, transparency and accountability, common good, enlarging the civic space and constitutionalism.