Communicating with Policymakers in Zambia: A Guide for the International Development Community

By Klara Debeljak, InterMedia

Based on the AudienceScapes nationally representative survey of Zambia, conducted in April and May 2010

InterMedia conducted in-depth interviews with 17 senior policy actors and policy implementers in Zambia to better understand how they gather, assess, share and disseminate policy-relevant information. In particular, this study focused on how the global development community can best support the policy process from an informational point of view.

The interviewees, referred to in this report as ‘policy actors,’ came from a wide variety of practice areas, but their information-gathering and sharing habits proved to be very similar. The interviewees also highlighted challenges they face in accessing and using policy-related information, and they made concrete suggestions of ways in which the development community can help them overcome these challenges.

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Report Summary- A Detailed Overview of the Main Findings

Read Sections

The Zambian Context for Policy Information: an overview of the political, development and media contexts, along with a brief note on the status of information and communication technologies;

Analysis of In-Depth Interviews with Policy Actors: the role of mass media, ICTs, civil society, global actors in how policy actors consume policy information; gaps and challenges policy actors face in gathering policy information;

Policy Information- Public Dissemination and Feedback: how policy actors seek to disseminate information to the public and gather feedback from them;

Recommendations for the International Development Community: key recommendations about how the development community can provide constructive support to the policy process;

Appendix: Research Methods, In-Depth Interview Guide, List of Organizations from which the interviewees were selected, References; 

This report draws from a nationally representative survey of Zambian individuals, (n=2,000), conducted in spring 2010. The survey included modules on access to information sources generally as well as access to information about development-related issues, plus questions about trust in various information sources and use of word-of-mouth networks to stay informed about development issues. The survey was based on face-to-face interviews and covered all regions of the country.

For more information contact

Klara Debeljak
Email: debeljakk@intermedia.org
Phone: 202-434-9309

Peter Goldstein
Email: goldsteinp@intermedia.org
Phone: 202.434.9584


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