Zambia Red Cross: Strategic Plan 2026-2030
17 September 2026
Zambia continues to grapple with deep, structural poverty: 61% of the population lives below the poverty line, and 42% in extreme poverty. Prolonged droughts, flash floods and disease outbreaks such as cholera compound this vulnerability, and Zambia is currently facing a drought affecting the wider Southern African region. These overlapping pressures fall hardest on rural communities, where access to clean water, healthcare and stable livelihoods remains limited, and where a single bad season can push families further into hardship.
At the centre of the response is the Zambia Red Cross Society. Founded in 1966 under an Act of Parliament, just two years after Zambia’s independence, following the handover from the British Red Cross, the Zambia Red Cross Society is the country’s oldest and largest humanitarian organization. It operates through 41 branches across all 10 provinces, reaching 41 of Zambia’s 116 districts, supported by more than 10,000 volunteers. The Zambia Red Cross Society is widely recognised as the country’s leading authority on first aid and emergency response, a role it has built over decades as the first responder of choice during disasters. Between 2021 and 2025, the Zambia Red Cross Society more than tripled the reach of its humanitarian and development programming, and it is now carrying that momentum into its new 2026-2030 strategy.
What we work on
The Netherlands Red Cross supports the Zambia Red Cross Society across a range of areas, from responding to climate shocks to building the National Society’s own financial independence.
Building a self-funded first aid business
Since 2016, the Zambia Red Cross Society has grown Workplace First Aid, a training and certification business that generates its own income rather than relying on donor funding. The business has grown by roughly 48% a year, with profits now helping fund the Zambia Red Cross Society’s core operations directly. The Netherlands Red Cross supports this growth, including a new training centre, as a model for the National Society’s long-term financial independence.
Acting before the next drought or flood
Zambia has developed Early Action Protocols (EAPs) for floods and droughts, allowing the Zambia Red Cross Society to act on forecasts before a disaster hits rather than only responding afterwards. As the current regional drought continues to affect Southern Africa, the Zambia Red Cross Society is using cash assistance and agricultural support to help affected households while strengthening longer-term community resilience. The Netherlands Red Cross supports this anticipatory approach as one of its recent examples of locally-led early action.
Restoring nature to reduce disaster risk
Working with WWF, the Zambia Red Cross Society is exploring how working with nature, such as reforestation and watershed restoration, can reduce the impact of floods and droughts alongside more conventional disaster risk measures. The National Society is also exchanging lessons with the British Red Cross on tree-planting and community nurseries. The Netherlands Red Cross supports this work as part of a broader effort to combine climate and conservation approaches into a single disaster risk framework.
How we work together
The Zambia Red Cross Society leads its own humanitarian response. The Netherlands Red Cross plays a supporting role, working from the belief that the Zambia Red Cross Society understands the needs of its communities and the shape of the country’s challenges better than any outside partner.
In practice, this means providing flexible funding that the Zambia Red Cross Society can direct to where it matters most, from its Workplace First Aid business to its work on drought, flooding and cholera. The Netherlands Red Cross also brings in specific technical expertise, including support on cash assistance, water systems and anticipatory action, and is currently the only participating National Society with a physical presence in Zambia.
The Netherlands Red Cross and the Zambia Red Cross Society have worked together since 2013, first under a ten-year partnership agreement and, since March 2024, under a new five-year agreement running through February 2029. As the Zambia Red Cross Society continues to strengthen its own systems and diversify its funding, the Netherlands Red Cross is working alongside it on that transition, rather than directing it.
