Zambia’s purchasing and supply professionals have gone down a similar path to their counterparts in Kenya, with one major exception - the Zambians have got further towards achieving statutory recognition for professional qualifications, in particular the CIPS diploma. As in Kenya, by the mid-1990s, CIPS members and students in Zambia had decided they needed to do something about the lack of a formal branch structure, and the absence of opportunities for networking. Their frustration was understandable: with 1,208 members and students at the start of 1999, Zambia has 25 per cent more members than the largest branch in the UK, and accounts for nearly 5 per cent of total CIPS membership. At the same time, an ambitious programme of economic restructuring, and changes in the conditions applied by aid agencies which were being felt across the whole of Africa, meant that growing numbers of employers were looking for professionally qualified staff with the highest levels of integrity to manage their supply chains. And on top of all of this, the quality of purchasing practice overall was of increasing concern to the Zambian government and its procurement arm, the National Tenders Board; it was of paramount importance for the profession to have a representative body that could speak on its behalf. So when a group of senior CIPS members began meeting informally in the capital, Lusaka, they soon decided to set up their own branch structure. Leading lights in this group included Shiliabana Ndulu, then senior administration officer at the Zambia State Insurance Corporation, who was subsequently elected president of the branch; vice-president Abraham Mutakila, chief supplies officer at Lusaka City Council; Captain Patricia Hamusonde, purchasing officer in the supplies wing of the Zambian Air Force; and Misheck Kaoma, senior procurement officer at the Zambia National Tender Board. In the relatively short time since it was formed, the branch has done an impressive job in influencing key decision-makers in the government. For example, during the visit by CIPS chief executive Charles Holden and his colleagues last summer, the branch staged a formal dinner at Lusaka’s Pamodzi Hotel, at which the guest of honour was Godden Mandani, deputy minister at the ministry of works and supply, which is responsible for roads, government buildings, office equipment, printing and supply and maintenance. Another highlight of the trip was a meeting with Jason Songwe, director of procurement at the ministry, who is on secondment from the National Tender Board. He outlined the work that the government has been doing to raise standards in public procurement in Zambia, in particular a drive to pump-prime the recruitment market by selecting - and funding - 90 university graduates to go through the CIPS qualification over the next few years. At the time of last summer’s visit, 30 students had already started studying for the CIPS diploma at two accredited colleges, and a further 45 had been selected from the University of Zambia and the Copper Belt University, and were about to begin their courses. The tender board was also trying to secure funds to put another 15 students through the course during 1999-2000. In addition, in 1997 the government established procurement units in all of its departments, including the ministry of works and supply, and the tender board has been recruiting purchasing practitioners to support these units. The departments have been instructed to employ professionally qualified staff to manage these units - so far, the only qualification which the government recognises is CIPS’s own. The CIPS branch is keen to go further, extending the example set by central government into other public-sector areas, such as local government, and pressing for legislation to make it mandatory for the private sector to employ professionally-qualified practitioners in key procurement roles. At present, the government prefers to take a voluntary approach, at least where the private sector is concerned. Jason Songwe told SM: “We believe the best way of ensuring best practice is for employers to see the light, rather than to impose rules which employers might break.” However, he believed that the example set by central government, and the injection of 90 new purchasing professionals virtually overnight, would create an unstoppable momentum for change. “If this country had had more professional procurement in the past, we’d be miles ahead now,” he concluded. Not everyone is as lucky as the 90 students who are being sponsored by the government, however. It was made clear to Holden and his colleagues that the majority of Zambia’s students and members suffer from the same burdens as their colleagues in the rest of Africa - books are expensive and hard to come by, membership subscriptions and examination fees are high initially, when relative incomes are taken into account, and exchange rates and transfer charges make matters worse. Members do not have the kinds of courses, conferences and graduation ceremonies that practitioners in the UK often take for granted and, for all its achievements, the Zambian branch has been run on a shoestring, dependent on the voluntary contributions of a few activists. As in Kenya, some of these issues are now being addressed by the institute. A permanent, well-equipped CIPS office is being opened in a government building in Lusaka, and a part-time administrative worker is being funded. A library of textbooks for students has been established at the Zambian Institute of Management (ZIM), accessible to those studying outside the college as well as ZIM’s own students. Members will soon be able to pay their subscriptions in the local currency, saving on transfer charges. And, perhaps most importantly, CIPS has pledged to maintain a regular dialogue with its members in Zambia, to ensure they get the support they need to continue the initiatives they have begun. As Shiliabana Ndulu puts it: “CIPS’s members in Zambia have excelled themselves. Look at Zambia and you don’t see chaos, you see good governance; you don’t see street fighting, you see street vendors. We are a dynamic profession, with real momentum behind us.” Margaret West-Burnham, CIPS director of membership services, says: “What the Zambian branch has achieved in a very few years is quite remarkable. They have succeeded in convincing their government not only that the employment of professionally-qualified staff will help it achieve its objective of high standards in public procurement, but also that the professional qualification which sets those standards is the CIPS’s own. “CIPS is equally committed to supporting its members in Zambia, providing better opportunities for personal development, as well as backing these important initiatives. The opening of an office in Lusaka will provide members with a local focus for their activities. We know that transfer charges and exchange rates impose extra burdens on our African members; the steps we are taking to enable members to pay for their subscriptions, exam fees and books in their local currency should be of real, practical help.” Zambia facts Zambia is a big country - at 750,000 square kilometres, it is larger than Texas. Although it borders some of the most troubled countries in Africa, including Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), it has managed to avoid getting embroiled in most of the disputes that have troubled central and southern Africa. Economically, Zambia has come a long way in a relatively short time; the accession of president Frederick Chiluba’s government in 1991 heralded the start of a programme of reform and modernisation, including major inward investment and the privatisation of state industries. The most sensitive and protracted of these privatisation programmes concerned Zambia’s copper industry, based in the north, which accounts for 80 per cent of the country’s foreign earnings, a quarter of GDP, and a considerable proportion of Zambia’s CIPS membership. The copper industry had a tough time in 1998 - export earnings fell by 44 per cent in the first three quarters of last year, partly due to a worldwide dip in copper prices resulting from reduced demand in Asia - and by the time the privatisation of the country’s main copper mines was agreed earlier this year, their value was considerably lower than it was when negotiations began four years ago. The Zambian economy has also suffered from donor countries withholding aid (due to concerns over the privatisation process in the copper belt), from problems with inflation, and from the high level of foreign debt - last year around a third of Zambia’s export earnings went on servicing its foreign debts. Source: CIA website (www.odci.gov/cia/ publications/factbook/index.html)