News stories by Ephraim Nsingo

As social movements blasted the 'new green economy' proposed at Rio+20 this week, environmental activists in Zambia worried about the role that poor people, especially those in rural areas, are going to play in it.

Climate change may have led to declining water levels in Genda Village in Zambia’s Eastern Province, but Mercy Mwanza and the women here discovered there was a positive side to it and found a new way to earn a living.

The election of Michael Chilufya Sata as Zambia’s new president shows that Zambians are more interested in issues of accountability and transparency than mere service delivery, say analysts.

Only two incidents of violence, triggered by the late start of voting and the suspicion of electoral fraud, were reported as Zambians went to the polls to elect a new president and government on Tuesday.

As Zambians go to the polls on Tuesday to elect a new government and president they do so amid fears of election violence.

Although there is a female presidential candidate contesting Zambia's Sept. 20 general elections, her prospects are not strong. And in fact, fewer women overall are likely to be elected into public office this year, analysts say.

Every year the Zambia government allocates billions of Kwacha for poverty reduction, but much of the money has been stolen or misappropriated.

During the rainy season, and many weeks afterwards, home is never the best place to be for Miriam Banda. Until the end of 2008, she enjoyed living at her house in Kanyama, a high-density settlement bordering the central business district in Lusaka, Zambia's capital.

After two commissions and close to a decade of consultations, Zambia's constitutional redrafting process crashed when the new constitution failed to win parliamentary approval. Politicians, civil society and ordinary citizens seem uncertain whether to laugh or cry.

Elizabeth Phiri was so incensed when she was overlooked as a parliamentary candidate for the Patriotic Front in a 2008 by-election on the basis of her gender that she quit the party. Four years on, she has rejoined the party but remains pessimistic - but other women politicians see reasons to hope the 2011 elections will be different.