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The Zambian Parliamentary Caucus on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights has attributed its progress in advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in Zambia to strong support from cooperating partners, including the Government of Sweden and the United Nations Population Fund.
Caucus Secretary-General, Sunday Chanda, said the assistance from these partners had strengthened parliamentary leadership, enhanced civil society participation, and enabled a unified approach to addressing SRHR challenges in the country.
Chanda made the remarks at Parliament during a courtesy call by visiting Swedish Members of Parliament led by Karin Sundin, who are in Zambia to assess progress and better understand the challenges surrounding the SRHR agenda.
“One thing that we have done is to ensure that we do not operate in silos, but that we look at these matters and see how we can take a collaborative and cooperative approach,” Chanda said.
He called for sustained support to scale up youth-friendly services nationwide, noting that such efforts would help expand programmes like Life Skills and Health Education (L-SHE) and strengthen the availability of youth-oriented SRHR services across the country.
However, Chanda acknowledged that implementing youth-friendly services remained difficult due to competing priorities at community level, especially under the decentralization system.
“Sometimes this becomes very difficult because the resources that are disposable are competing. What a particular community will prioritize under the decentralization framework may differ from what we think needs to be done,” he said.
He further highlighted the difficulty of promoting SRHR in a conservative society such as Zambia, where issues like abortion often faced resistance, despite being crucial to comprehensive health and rights.
“This caucus has the obligation to look at how we can best reform the law to serve the best interests of those we are entrusted to defend within the SRHR community. Nobody really wants you to talk about the Abortion Act because it just powers up control,” Chanda stated.
Chanda, who is also the Patriotic Front Member of Parliament for Kanchibiya, stressed the importance of a bottom-up approach that empowers communities to contribute to decision-making and guide priority-setting.
“I know the difference it is making in the lives of our young people when the community is involved in decision-making,” he said.
He also paid tribute to Christopher Kalila, the immediate past Chairperson of the Caucus, recognizing him as a pioneer who championed SRHR even before the caucus was officially established.
The meeting was chaired by Joseph Munsanje and attended by several civil society organizations, including the Centre for Reproductive Health and Education, SAfAIDS, REPSIS, as well as representatives from UNFPA and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
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