LocationsHow can disability inclusion be embedded into planning, budgeting, and evaluation at the district level?
Leaving No One Behind: Building District-Level Capacity for Disability-Inclusive Development
July 7, 2025
Alongside the Ministry of Finance and National Planning and the Zambia Agency for Persons with Disabilities, we are equipping local leaders and OPDs with practical tools to embed inclusion into planning, budgeting, and monitoring — turning “leave no one behind” from principle into practice.
Photos by: Diane Ineza
That’s the challenge the UNDP Zambia, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and National Planning (MoFNP) and the Zambia Agency for Persons with Disabilities (ZAPD), set out to address through a transformative training on disability-inclusive planning, budgeting, and monitoring and evaluation. The training brought together District Development Coordinating Committees (DDCCs) and Organisations for Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) from Livingstone, Choma, and Kalomo. It went beyond theory; it redefined what meaningful inclusion can and should look like in Zambia’s development planning processes.
Historically, disability inclusion has often been overlooked in district development planning, not due to disregard, but because of limited awareness and technical capacity. Recognising this, UNDP partnered with the Government of Zambia, through the Ministry of Finance and National Planning and the Zambia Agency for Persons with Disabilities , to strengthen inclusive planning from the ground up. Because inclusion is not charity; it is smart governance.
Inclusive planning ensures that no Zambian is left behind and that policies, programmes, and budgets reflect the lived realities of all citizens, including persons with disabilities. This training empowered district teams to begin translating inclusive intent into measurable action. From demystifying the budget cycle to breaking down output-based budgeting and performance indicators, participants were equipped with the tools to take inclusion from a policy buzzword to a concrete, measurable practice.
Simiyo Simiyo, one of the participants and the District Disaster Management Officer for Kalomo, expressed how the training reshaped his perspective.
“Before this training, I had never considered including persons with disabilities in disaster planning. Even our committees had no representation,” he admitted. “Now I am going to revise those structures. Disability is not inability. These individuals can contribute, and we must not leave them behind.”
Why It Matters
Zambia’s National Planning and Budgeting Act (2020) gives local authorities the mandate to lead bottom-up - inclusive planning aligned to the National Development Plan. But meaningful inclusion requires more than legislative frameworks, it demands mindset change, technical capacity, and accountability.
That’s where this training comes in. Facilitated by technical experts from the Ministry of Finance and National Planning and UNDP, the sessions equipped district officials and OPD representatives with the skills to speak confidently in decision-making spaces, contribute to budgeting conversations, and ensure that development plans and evaluations meaningfully reflect the needs of persons with disabilities.
Linda Nyangu Chonya from the Ministry of Finance and National Planning emphasised the importance of equipping district-level actors with inclusive planning skills: “Development involves everybody. In most of our development plans, we commit to ‘leaving no one behind,’ and that includes persons with disabilities. This training is about giving local leaders and organisations the capacity to speak up, to plan better, and to ensure that the voices and needs of persons with disabilities are reflected not just in national plans, but also in district-level budgeting, implementation, and monitoring. We want everyone to feel confident and equipped to contribute to inclusive development outcomes.”
Through the lens of output-based budgeting, districts explored how to integrate disability indicators into programmes, design sub-programmes aligned to inclusive policy outcomes, and monitor delivery. The sessions also demystified disability language, clarified tax incentives for inclusive employment, and unpacked strategies for institutional reform.
Participants also acknowledged the practical challenges ahead - limited disability-disaggregated data, resource constraints, and the need for continued institutional support, but left the training better equipped to navigate these barriers.
Walking the Talk
Persons with disabilities were not passive beneficiaries in this training; they were contributors and critics. Their feedback was clear: inclusion must not be symbolic; it must be structural.
As Musola Kaseketi, a human rights advocate and film director, powerfully put it:
“Disability inclusion means that at every stage of planning, from the very beginning to the final evaluation, you have the voice of persons with disabilities represented. When persons with disabilities themselves are speaking their words and their experiences and shaping the process, then you have truly tackled disability inclusion.”
Benson Nkrumah, a youth chairperson for persons with disabilities in Kalomo, echoed this shift in awareness:
“We used to feel left out in national and district matters. But because of this programme, we’ve learnt our rights and understood the benefits that belong to us. Now we are more engaged, not just with others with disabilities, but with the broader community, including those who are able-bodied.”
By the end of the week, district teams had not only learnt new skills, but they had also made public commitments to action. Several promised to revise their existing IDPs and make them more inclusive.
The message from the room was loud and clear: now that we know better, we will do better.
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