Laura Miti
Alliance for Community Action (Zambia)
Laura Miti has been associated with the Zambian and South African civil society for more than 25 years working in various roles and initiatives to strengthen governance systems. She currently serves as Executive Director for the Alliance for Community Action (ACA), an organisation which works to grow the demand for Public Resource Accountability in the Zambian public. Passionate about how the choices made by those in power affect the poor, Laura has spent her adult life participating in various campaigns to strengthen Zambia’s democracy. Refusing to be cowed by the attacks that female activists routinely receive, she has used first main stream media, and more recently social media to publicly ask the accountability questions that the larger public whispers in private. Laura’s 2017 will be remembered for the lead role she played in demanding for accountability for government’s purchase of 42 fire trucks for 42 million dollars. The march on parliament Laura led on the matter now famously hashtagged #42For42 is the reason she and 5 others are currently appearing in court .
The ACA is a relatively young organisation that punches well above its weight, recognised as a leader in the demand for accountability for public resource management. ACA work is informed by the understanding that the Zambian poor have a standard of living that is well below the minimum that could be afforded by a prudent and accountable of the country’s shared resources. This translates to poor children being denied the basic education that could be a path out of poverty and women spending hours of each day looking for water. ACA works to make everyday citizens, especially the poor, understand that supply of accountability will not come without systematic demand and that citizenship confers on them the right to ask questions.
