Debt Resource Monitoring Manual

The achievements made so far in the campaign for debt cancellation need to be complemented by prudent management and utilisation of debt resources in the post HIPC era. In order to facilitate transparency and accountability in the utilisation of debt resources, the Jubilee-Zambia campaign hosted by the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) has focussed on enhancing the participation of local communities and other stakeholders in monitoring of debt resources. This can only be adequately and effectively done if the current challenges faced in governing and administering debt resources are well understood. Therefore, a Debt Resources Monitoring Manual (DRMM), providing guidelines on how debt resources can be monitored by community stakeholders has been designed. In the Zambian case, there are many groups that carry out comprehensive budget monitoring. Therefore the work of Jubilee-Zambia in monitoring debt resources should be seen as complementary to the already ongoing efforts by other monitoring groups. It should also be seen as a specific attempt to evaluate the efforts that went into the campaign and the corresponding benefits from debt cancellation that are supposed to accrue to the people of Zambia, especially the rural poor. The Zambian people generally want to know whether or not it was worth sacrificing and fighting for debt cancellation and they can only know if there are mechanisms to measure how debt relief and debt resources are being used, on what programmes and for whom.