Zambia Council For Social Development - ZCSD

This morning, our Executive Director, Ms. Mitaba, has a panelist speaking assignment at the Zambia 6th Annual Anti-Corruption Conference (ZACC). She will be speaking on Corruption, Illicit Financing, and State Capture, with a focus on strengthening civic accountability, community engagement, and transparent governance.

Yesterday, the gathering was honoured to listen to a powerful keynote address by President Hakainde Hichilema, who reaffirmed his government’s commitment to stamping out corruption at every level. ZCSD hopes that this commitment comes to full fruition, because the impact of corruption is not just economic but it can be life-threatening for ordinary citizens.

ZCSD is grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this important national conversation and wishes to congratulate colleagues at Transparency International Zambia for another well organized and timely themed gathering as Zambia hearts to the polls in about 8 months.

The Zambia Council for Social Development (ZCSD), in collaboration with Accountability Lab East and Southern Africa (ALESA), has convened a Beneficial Ownership Transparency (BOT) at the ZCSD Secretariat in Lusaka, Zambia. BOT has increasingly taken centre stage globally as governments work to curb illicit financial flows, strengthen corporate accountability, prevent corruption, and promote responsible public resource governance. In Zambia, BOT is an emerging but critical area for deepening transparency and rebuilding public trust in national systems.

Under the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards, beneficial ownership refers to the natural person(s) who ultimately own or control a customer or on whose behalf a transaction is conducted. For Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs), the concept of "beneficial owner" is applied by focusing on who exercises "ultimate effective control" over the organization, as a nonprofit's purpose isn't financial gain but serving the public good. FATF guidance requires that countries have a system to identify those who control NPOs, to prevent misuse for illicit activities like terrorist financing.

The meeting is also taking time to engage with key government institutions on BOT which are PACRA ant FIC. Space is also given to scope what CSOs are doing in the area of BOT, opportunities and gaps to address. It is important to also mention here that BOT is one of the priority areas of work under Zambia's OGP process.