Content
Sub-Saharan Africa
In 1994 – three decades after gaining independence – Malawi managed to make the peaceful transition from an authoritarian regime to a multi-party democracy. In May 2009, the fourth democratic parliamentary and presidential elections were held in this south-east African country. Bingu wa Mutharika and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) were confirmed in office with a clear majority. The electoral monitoring mission deemed the 2009 elections to be largely free and fair.
Up until 1964, the territory that is now Malawi was a British protectorate, after which it spent 30 years under the authoritarian rule of Hastings Kamuzu Banda. The early 1990s saw mounting opposition to the one-party regime. In a referendum in 1993, the majority voted for a multi-party system; the first democratic elections took place a year later. Germany supported this political process from the outset. Relations between Malawi and Germany have been close and friendly for more than 45 years.
Malawi is one of the least developed countries in the world. On the Human Development Index (HDI 2010), it ranks 153rd out of 169 states. The country itself has hardly any income to finance its state expenditure, and is heavily dependent on international donors. The institutions of what is still a young democracy suffer from financial, material and human resources shortages, producing severe constraints in their capacity to function.
The progress Malawi has made can be seen in its remarkable economic growth (recently between six and eight per cent a year) and increasing food security. Compared with other African countries, Malawi is making good progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. In 2007 the government adopted a pro-development strategy paper, the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS), which builds on past achievements as well as setting new priorities for sustainable pro-poor growth, for instance in the fields of agriculture and food security, education, health and good governance.
Development cooperation between Germany and Malawi is aligned with this strategy and coordinated with the efforts of other donors. The focus is on the fields of basic education, health, democratic decentralisation and macroeconomic support, with the government and the people of Malawi increasingly taking on more responsibility for all these aspects. It is crucially important that Malawi's government recognises its responsibilities and shows determination in pushing through the implementation of its strategies in order to achieve concrete results that also have an impact on the people at the local level.
German Embassy

German Embassy in Malawi
Convention Drive
P.O. Box 30046
Lilongwe 3
Malawi
Phone: +265 / 1 / 77 25 55
Fax: +265 / 1 / 77 02 50






