Evaluation of The Impact of UN-Habitat’s Housing Approach to Adequate, Affordable Housing and Poverty Reduction, 2008-2019: Zambia Country Report (4/2020)

The evaluation focuses on determining the impact of UN-Habitat's Housing Approach in Zambia. It addresses specific objectives such as assessing the influence of UN-Habitat on political commitment to housing issues, its impact on vulnerable groups, and the effects on cross-cutting issues like gender, youth, and climate change. The report highlights key lessons learned, such as the importance of clear definitions for the Housing Approach and the need to strengthen the capacity of Country Offices (COs) for efficient implementation.

The evaluation offers several recommendations to enhance UN-Habitat's effectiveness, including ensuring alignment with the Regional Strategic Plan, preparing comprehensive Habitat Country Programme Documents (HCPDs) with M&E frameworks, and supporting COs to strengthen their capacity and fundraising abilities. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of knowledge management, advocacy, evidence-based policy advice, addressing cross-cutting issues, and adopting a cascade capacity building approach.

Furthermore, the report suggests strengthening operational implementation support at the local level and enhancing monitoring and evaluation systems with a focus on Results-Based Management (RBM). It advocates for enforcing compliance with reporting requirements and introducing systems analysis, considering complexity and systems thinking in research and evaluation. The evaluation also calls for strengthening UN-Habitat's value-added and providing technical assistance on housing finance reform.

Additionally, the report recommends promoting regional office support and collaboration to enhance the impact of Housing Approach interventions by leveraging wider expertise and sharing good practices across different regions.