Dr. Davies Banda

Davies Banda

Davies Banda

Dr Banda obtained his teaching qualifications at Kitwe Teachers College (primary education), Nkrumah Teachers College (secondary education) and University of Leeds (Higher Education). He obtained both his MSc and PhD qualifications from Loughborough University in the United Kingdom. He is currently working as a Programme Director for the
BSc Sport and Recreation Management Programme at University of Edinburgh in Scotland, United Kingdom. He also undertakes consultancy work for international organisations in Zambia and across Europe focusing sport, education, development, volunteering and
corporate social responsibility.

 

Abstract

Corporatism and beyond: Re-claiming state influence in sport (and physical education)
delivery in Zambia
The characteristics of state corporatism in Zambia can evidently be argued in favour of the provision of sport and leisure in urban areas. Neo-liberalism is strongly criticised for its
destabilisation of the local systems which perhaps needed state protectionism when
responding to the demands for economic privatisation by the international financial
institutions (IFIs). Zambia’s state corporatism, despite its detrimental effects on the nation’s
economy as a whole, delivered social services that were beneficial to the sports sector
(Banda, 2010). Today, market failures in sport infrastructure provision are evident and state-
driven interventionist approaches are equally witnessed through the construction of two
stadia for the national sport, football. The paper will highlight the features of the political
regime that were negative to governing sport yet played a key role in rowing (and ‘steering’)
state corporations to meet the demand for sport and leisure, particularly those of young
people.
The paper also focuses on the changing nature of the governance of sport underpinned by
theoretical debates surrounding the co-production, co-management and co-governance of
sport (Groeneveld, 2009). The contemporary approach by the Zambian state seeking to
deliver both sport development and sport-for- development outcomes has recognised the role
and value of wider stakeholder interactions through active participation in agenda setting,
policy design and implementation. The emergence of sport-for- development non-
governmental organisations (SfD NGOs) has helped bring together non-state and state
actors through foreign funded projects (Lindsey and Banda, 2010). The paper questions the
lack of local initiatives, driven by the state, which demonstrate a strong rejection of external
interference similar to the economic reforms by the IFIs highlighted above. While recent
stakeholder interactions demonstrate the steering role of the state in physical education and
sport policy design (Banda and Chipande, forthcoming), external actors are still visibly
making demands or rowing the policy development.