Livelihood impacts of challenges in accessing pension benefits: A case of civil service teacher retirees in Kapiri-Mposhi district Zambia

The negative outcome of the Zambian Social Security Pension System which, impacts the livelihoods of retirees, has been shaped by shifting state approaches guided by manifestations of a transition from one phase of Globalization (i.e. Colonialism) to another (i.e. Modern trade and aid ). Employing the Sustainable Livelihood approach as tool of analysis, a case of retired civil service teachers in the Zambian Kapiri-Mposhi district was used to illustrate these challenges, their impacts and employed coping strategies in the risky pension system context. Resultant Pension system inefficiencies translated into challenges faced by all study participant retirees in accessing pension benefits. It was discovered that these challenges, especially delayed payments of pension benefits, yielded social exclusionary impacts on the retirees and their families as their livelihoods are disrupted by inability to provide for some basic needs. Risk management strategies employed by the retirees were coping strategies rather than mitigation or reduction hence proving them unsustainable. In concluding, emphasis is made on the incorporation of more contextually relevant micro (e.g. reciprocity centered) and meso level (e.g. civil action) approaches that ought to survive under and influence shifts in macro policy reforms towards being more comprehensive.