Drought Management in Zambia: Insights from the 2023/2024 Drought

Zambia continues to experience increasingly frequent and intense droughts, with the 2023/2024 season among the most severe in recent history. These events have threatened livelihoods, strained water and food systems, and placed immense pressure on already limited national and local resources. Given the limited knowledge in the literature on drought management in Zambia, this study investigated the state of localized district efforts across the country. By using mixed methods with a total of 161 interviews, it assessed the participation of district governments and sector players across key components of drought governance, including early warning, monitoring, vulnerability and impact assessment, mitigation, and response. Although Zambia has made notable progress in establishing national institutional frameworks and climate policies, key findings reveal a pattern of limited proactive engagement, with most participation occurring only in response to extreme events like the 2023/2024 drought. This reactive posture at the district level is further compounded by inadequate resources, limited coordination, a lack of localized drought planning, and systemic bureaucratic constraints that undermine a timely and effective response. Nonetheless, numerous opportunities exist to strengthen drought management by localizing decision-making, integrating indigenous knowledge into existing early warning systems, and leveraging community-based infrastructures to maximize scarce resources and build long-term resilience. The paper concludes with recommendations for enhancing Zambia’s drought preparedness and response capacity through inclusive, risk-based, and proactive strategies; insights that can be adapted to other developing country contexts.