the study employs lean methodology by use of value stream and process mapping to analyze process design and

discover critical points of waste in the process workflow, personal interviews were utilised to appreciate lived

experiences of the process operators and Literature review to benchmark with best practices particularly the

international standardization organization (ISO) process symbols. The study design is exploratory sequential

design. Key Findings indicate that the current CDF process is modelled as a basic linear flowchart, which

operationally functions as a Value Stream Map (VSM), it has redundant process steps (too many steps of a

similar kind e.g., approval steps) thereby resulting in a lot of handoffs, which increases the chances of process

delay, most process steps lack cycle time, which compromises process lead time and data entry is mostly done

manually resulting in missing data between handoffs. Recommendation(s): The Government should adopt the

appropriate Process Map (VSM) with basic ISO compliant symbols in order to enhance its capability and make

The Zambian Government’s desire to develop various sectors of the country, particularly local communities

through Local Government, was escalated by the adoption of the constituency development fund (CDF), which

was approved by Parliament in 1995 (CDF guidelines, 2022) as a decentralized fund. This has led to

unprecedented increase of the same fund in the recent past of up to 40 million Kwacha per constituency (Mbewe,

2025). However, there is overwhelming evidence of recurring underutilization of CDF across the country due

to bureaucratic delays in project approvals (Hichilema, 2024) observes. These sentiments are re-echoed by

(Sichula, 2025, Pollen, 2025, Likando et al, 2023 & Mofya, 2023)) in their various findings. In addition, Sampa

(2022) reveals that the challenges in question are historical due to the set-up of the CDF process by Central

Government which has a two-year lag period. To that point, George (2003) also observed that whenever an

operational process consistently manifests chronic waste or problems, it is because it was set up that way. Hence

The study employed an Exploratory Sequential Design whose goal was to first map the process in question in

order to uncover the inherent operational deficiencies and suggest ways of optimisation. For the purposes of

To analyse variations in the process visualization models of the constituency development fund for project

In order to obtain the depth of perspective, the population comprised people most knowledgeable about the

redesign. Process mapping (PM) therefore, fundamentally facilitates better understanding of complex systems

and processes, which gives way for adaptation of improvement interventions to their local context (Antonacci,

In order to uncover bottlenecks, inefficiencies and delays in the work flow affecting project implementation,

the above analysis was utilized by visualizing the current CDF process. According to Eckhard, Wittges and

Rinderle-Ma (2025), Visualization has a duo purpose namely to visualize the process model or show information

about process bottlenecks. The purpose of visualization therefore, was to make the process understandable, and

mapping makes it actionable for improvement. As such, it is the first task that an organization implements as a

framework of how operations must be conducted (Mandelburger, Mendling and Mendling, 2014). Process

visualization is so critical that it stands as self-evidence of clarity and effectiveness as argued by Malinova,

visualized in any way provided the process steps are sequential. As such, the process does not have complete

or 3 basic minimum ISO process symbols, (b)There are too many process steps (13) in number, which create a

lot of handoffs (c) some process steps do not have cycle time that is, the time taken for a process step to complete

a task or how long a task or activity takes from one point to the next as shown in figure 2 while figure 1 does

not have any process step with cycle time, (d) there are too many approval stages signaling the need to

streamline such stages by merging them or some of them, (e) the process steps with the most bottlenecks or

delay points are, Procurement with 1 to 3 months and approval by Ministry of Local Government and Rural

linear flowchart, which is a type of a process map but operationally functions as a value stream map is the first

design, a flowchart is meant for information or instructional purposes only. On the contrary, a value stream map

Malinova et al (2013) indicates that the above analysis is done in two phases. First, by assessing cognitive

effectiveness of the process maps with focus on the design of a process map, without going into the process

details. The assessment is restricted to the process map design regarding whether or not its design conforms to

the principles for designing cognitive effective visual notations (Moody, 2009). Second, by applying the

cognitive fit exists between process design and organizational goals. To that effect, the assessment is to ascertain

whether process design infers any meaning, which leads to effective results. Therefore, if a process map does

not align with the said criterion, then it becomes difficulty to interpret thereby yielding unwanted, unanticipated

effects (Malinova et al, 2013) or as is stated in process capability parlance, the process becomes unstable and

In light of the above, figures 1 and 2 only have two symbols, namely the Connector and rectangle, as such,

according to Moody (2009), they do not qualify as efficient processes. Ramuthi (2025) argues that without the

because through process mapping, it was revealed that certain process steps like procurement and fund

disbursement are not in control of the local Councils anywhere in the Country as the central Government still