The Ministry is also piloting the ending child marriage programme with support from UNICEF in two districts: Senanga in Western Province and Katete in Eastern Province. This programme is expected to be scaled up to other districts as resources may permit. However, it has since been incorporated in the National Budget for the year 2022 and onwards.

ACHIEVE :The Ministry is working with USAID’s PEPFAR program in Zambia, implementing the Adolescents and Children, HIV Incidence Reduction, Empowerment, and Virus Elimination (ACHIEVE) Project with the aim of strengthening the capacity of MCDSS to improve service outcomes and reduce the incidence of HIV among Vulnerable Children and Adolescents (VCAs) and their families. The project is a five-year, USAID-funded global project to reach and sustain HIV epidemic control among pregnant and breastfeeding women, adolescents, infants, and children.  The project will focus on providing technical assistance to MCDSS to improve the quality, monitoring, and coordination of services delivered through MCDSS community structures and other partners working to improve access to health and social protection services. The initiative is expected to lead to Government to Government Funding between the governments of Zambia and the United States of America.

ECAP: The Ministry is also working with another USAID funded program namely, Empowered Children and Adolescent Program (ECAP) to mitigate the impact of HIV and improve the health and wellbeing of Vulnerable Children and Adolescents (VCAs) through the delivery of high-impact, evidence-based and age-appropriate interventions using a child focused and family centered approach.

The two USAID funded programs are being implemented in 6 Provinces and 26 selected districts.

The ACHIVE project has supported the Ministry to develop Community Case Management training materials and tools as well as training in case management. The project has also trained officers in Basic Accounting which is expected to lead improved knowledge as skills in fiscal accountability.