New World Bank Grant Supports Zambia to Improve Opportunities for Refugees and Host Communities

LUSAKA, September 27, 2024 -The World Bank has approved new grant funding to help Zambia improve access to socio-economic opportunities for refugees and their host communities.

The Zambia Refugee and Host Communities Project is a $30 million grant that will prioritize legislative reforms aimed at supporting the Government of Zambia's 2023 Refugee Policy whilst also investing in social and economic activities within and around the Meheba refugee settlement.

"This project will strengthen the enabling environment, climate-resilient community infrastructure, and support to agribusiness and livelihoods," said Achim Fock, World Bank Country Manager for Zambia.

Zambia currently hosts over 100,000 refugees who will all benefit from new legislative measures to be enacted across government to ensure alignment with the new National Refugee Policy.

"This World Bank project will provide Zambia with the international support it needs to transform the areas hosting refugees and former refugees into economic hubs. The project will boost the government's work to advance the refugee inclusion, human development, and self-reliance direction it has embarked on, in line with the ambitions of the Global Compact on Refugees. Through a sustainable approach, Zambia will improve living conditions for local communities and support long-term solutions for the forcibly displaced persons for which the country has been a safe haven," said Preeta Law, the UNHCR Representative in Zambia.

The project will specifically benefit both host communities and refugees at Meheba by supporting health and education services, widening access to electricity, and improving accessible road infrastructure.

"Zambia has a long history of hosting refugees. The country is taking bold and significant steps to ensure greater refugee inclusion and self-reliance, whilst also supporting the communities which host them. Their eventual success will no doubt inform other countries, both regionally and globally," said Andrew James Roberts, World Bank Senior Social Development Specialist and Task Team Leader.

This project aligns with the new Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Zambia (FY25-29), which prioritizes the creation of more and better jobs, improvement of human capital, and enhancement of climate resilience.

Through this grant, the World Bank will help Zambia accelerate the sustainable development of refugees and host communities, support fiscal decentralization, enable the rural population to increase resilience to shocks, and address critical infrastructure gaps.