Content

Malawi

Content

Huge deficits in education and health
Development potential
Priority areas of German cooperation with Malawi
Basic education
Health
Democratic decentralisation
Debt relief

Situation and cooperation

Fisherman at Malawi Sea, Copyright: BMZMalawi is an agricultural nation; eighty per cent of all workers are employed in agriculture. Officially, this sector accounts for about 40 per cent of gross domestic product, but with subsistence farming pre­dom­i­nating the actual figure is likely to be far higher. Foreign currency is mainly generated through the export of tobacco and, to a lesser extent, tea and sugar. The economy's heavy dependence on a few agricultural exports makes it very vulnerable to external influences such as drought or price fluctuations on the world market. In addition, Malawi lacks access to the sea, making it reliant on surrounding transit countries for its import and export trade. The nearest port of any size, the Tanzanian metropolis of Dar es Salaam, is some 2,000 kilometres away. This gives rise to considerable additional costs which place the country at a disadvantage compared with international competitors.

Malawi's economy has grown at a considerable rate in the last few years, but this economic development has not been enough to overcome poverty. In spite of the international financial crisis, annual growth rates of about five per cent are forecast for the next few years. This will depend on good harvests though, and the success of planned mining projects.

With an average annual per capita income of about 325 US dollars, Malawi is among the poorest countries in the world. Poverty predominantly affects people living in rural areas. Many of them are undernourished. Periodic droughts have in the past led to repeated food shortages. Further reforms are needed to ensure that the improvements in food security achieved in recent years can be sustained.

Since 1994, the government, which is committed to democracy, human rights and a market economy, has been putting in place the requisite political framework for the economic upturn. It aims to overcome poverty and to mainstream democratic processes in society. To this end, some political decision-making authority and administrative duties are to be transferred to local government level. However, large sections of the population and national elites remain to be convinced that this strategy is the right one. For decentralisation to succeed, then, it is not just financial but also political support that is required.

The parliamentary and presidential elections in May 2009 helped consolidate the young democracy. International electoral mon­i­tors reported that the elections complied with fundamental dem­o­crat­ic principles. President Bingu wa Mutharika was re-elected as head of state with a convincing majority; he is also head of government and can rely on a comfortable majority in parliament.

In recent years the Malawian government has stepped up its efforts to put an end to corruption in the country. People's aware­ness of the problem has been greatly enhanced, resulting in notable success: on the Corruption Perception Index published by the non-governmental organisation Transparency Inter­na­tion­al, Malawi has moved up from 115th place in 2008 to 85th out of 178 countries in 2010.

Huge deficits in education and health

Life expectancy in Malawi is just 54 years, and given the prev­a­lence of HIV it is unlikely to rise in the next few years. Around twelve per cent of people between the ages of 15 and 49 are infected. Diseases such as malaria, respiratory tract infections and diarrhoea also often result in death. On the other hand, pop­u­la­tion growth is very high, threatening to cancel out de­vel­op­ment achievements. Owing to the shortage of financial resources and the lack of staff with the necessary qualifications and skills, the national health system is not equipped to deal with these problems.

Although great progress has been made in the education sector in recent years, the situation remains precarious. Only about half of all children in Malawi obtain a school leaving certificate after eight years of schooling. The quality of teaching is poor. There is a serious shortage of well-trained teaching staff. Around 30 per cent of people in Malawi cannot read or write.

Malawi has been endeavouring for some time to improve the situation in the health and education sectors, with far-reaching reforms and rising government spending in these sectors. Germany is supporting the Malawian government with regard to these reforms.

Development potential

Woman preparing meal with a modern cooker in Malawi. Copyright: GTZ, Andreas MichelMany people in Malawi show great interest in educational opportunities and demonstrate a considerable capacity for self-help. This is par­tic­u­lar­ly true of women in the informal sector and civil society or­ga­ni­sa­tions, which have the po­ten­tial to become key partners for development.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) sees potential for economic development in agriculture, tourism and mining. The government is endeavouring to install irrigation systems, to make agriculture less dependent on rainfall and to improve plannability.

Increasing foreign investment can be expected in the mining sector. Since 2008 several new mines have been opened, producing bauxite, uranium, silicon and coal. The new uranium mine at Kayelekera in northern Malawi is the single largest investment project since Malawi became independent in 1964. It is expected to bring the country annual export earnings of around 120 million US dollars, making uranium the second most important export product after tobacco.

The expanding telecommunications sector – especially mobile telephony – is also giving a boost to the economy. With annual growth rates of 70 per cent, this has become a dynamic growth sector over the last few years. It even attracts foreign investors. The construction industry is growing too, benefiting among other things from extensive infrastructure projects in the energy and transport sectors.

Priority areas of German cooperation with Malawi

Germany is an important bilateral donor to Malawi, together with the United Kingdom, the USA, Japan, Norway and Ireland. In the past, the Federal Republic of Germany has worked with Malawi on a large number of different measures, at both bilateral and multi­lateral level. Important areas of activity have included agriculture and the environment, education, democratisation, health, trans­port infrastructure, water supply and power generation. In order to make development cooperation more effective and efficient, in 2002 Germany and Malawi agreed to concentrate on the priority areas of basic education, health and democratic decentralisation.

Malawi brought out its own poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP) in 2002, which was updated in 2007 in the form of the long-term pro-poor Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS). German development inputs are aligned with that programme and are closely coordinated with the inputs of other donors.

Malawi's poverty reduction strategy focuses primarily on sus­tain­able economic growth and infrastructure development. The fields of social protection, improving health care and education, and good governance also enjoy a high priority. Some 28 non-governmental organisations have joined forces to form a network that will work together to implement this process.

At the government negotiations on development cooperation between Malawi and Germany in December 2011, a total of 41 million euros was pledged to Malawi for 2011 and 2012. Three priority areas of cooperation were confirmed:

  • Basic education

  • Health

  • Democratic decentralisation

Gender and HIV/AIDS are cross-cutting issues in this cooperation.

Basic education

Boy in front of a school in Malawi. Copyright: GTZThe government of Malawi in­tro­duced free primary education in 1994. Since then the number of children attending school has undergone a marked increase – 79 per cent of boys and girls are now being enrolled in school. However, the drop-out rate is still very high: only about half of the children manage to graduate from primary school after the eighth class. The proportion of girls dropping out is particularly high.

There is a considerable problem with the quality of the education. There is a shortage of schoolrooms, teaching aids, learning aids and qualified teachers. In 2009, the average teacher-to-pupil ratio was 1:81.

At the end of 2008, Malawi's government adopted a long-term National Education Sector Plan (NESP 2008-2017). The NESP provides the foundation for German activities in the education sector, with both sides working together to improve access to primary education, as well as the quality, efficiency and management of primary schooling in Malawi.

One of the priority areas of German support in the education sector is capacity development within the education ministry in order to forge ahead with the implementation of the NESP. A basket financing arrangement, with contributions from other donors too, is providing funds for teacher training, the pro­cure­ment of learning and teaching aids, curriculum development, primary school infrastructure and innovative educational offerings for children not in school.

Parallel to this, with German support, the foundations are being laid at the local, district level for implementing the education strategy. Marked improvements have been achieved with regard to teacher training. A newly developed training system with theoretical and practical training phases has been introduced in all state teacher training institutions. Meanwhile, the effort to offer children without access to formal education the chance to catch up with the primary education they have missed out on has enabled several thousand children to obtain a school leaving certificate, giving them access to a higher level of the formal education system.

Health

Malawi's health sector is not able to cope with the large-scale problems nor able to satisfy the many needs of the pre­dom­i­nant­ly poor population. One particularly serious problem is the per­sis­tent­ly high death rate among women in conjunction with preg­nan­cy and childbirth.

In rural areas in particular, access to primary health care is inadequate. This is not just due to a lack of money, but also to the inappropriate distribution of funds as well as poor man­age­ment and a lack of personnel at all levels. Low wages and poor working conditions cause many trained staff to move abroad.

Germany is helping the Malawian health ministry reform the health system as part of a sector-wide approach (SWAp). German experts are advising the ministry on the development and im­ple­ment­ation of health policy strategies. Malawian-German co­op­e­ra­tion puts particular emphasis on significantly reducing infant and maternal mortality (Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5). Another priority of the reform is the decentralisation of the health system in order to give the population better access to basic health care. To this end, management is to be strength­en­ed and training improved at the district level too.

The implementation of the health policy has already led to remarkable successes. The range of health services on offer has been expanded significantly since the implementation of the programme began. In 2009, the Essential Health Package was being offered by almost three quarters of all public health facilities (compared with only 15 per cent in 2006). The number of graduates at the medical faculties of the universities tripled between 2002 and 2008. Similar developments can be observed in the case of nurses, midwives and other medical staff.

Democratic decentralisation

Malawi's democratisation is being accompanied by a process of decentralisation: Malawi's 1995 constitution provides for local assemblies in 40 predominantly rural districts; the first elections at this level took place in 2000. Turnout at these elections was very low, however. After three decades of one-party rule, during which grassroots political initiatives tended to be suppressed, people's willingness to participate in political life must first be rekindled. In accordance with the constitution, the second local elections were due to be held in 2005. They did not take place, however, because the drought made other government activities more urgent. The next local elections are scheduled for April 2011. There are hopes that these elections will give the de­cen­tral­i­sa­tion process, which has rather ground to a halt, new vigour.

Contributions being made under German development co­op­e­ra­tion include supporting the National Decentralisation Programme II (2008-2013). Germany is promoting the de­cen­tral­i­sa­tion of political structures and also fostering an understanding of this process among the population via educational and action pro­grammes. Measures aimed at promoting good local governance, such as close cooperation between local authorities and civil society organisations, are being stepped up. Civil society part­ners are being approached specifically with offers of advice, so that they can become more closely involved in the political process.

Districts are being helped to mobilise their own revenues, allowing them to finance their own investments – a process that includes support for the attendant financial management issues. Local governments are being assisted in local development planning and in building administrative structures. This way the districts have been able to increase, with German assistance, the revenues generated locally, so that they are now using more of their budgets for concrete services to benefit the local population.

Debt relief

In August 2000, Malawi was one of the first African states to submit an interim poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP). By 2006 it had qualified for extensive debt relief under both the HIPC Initiative and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI). All in all, Malawi has seen debt worth 3.19 billion US dollars cancelled. The German share of this was 45.6 million euros.

Service-Links & Content-List

Ministry

What we do

Press room

Publications

Services

BMZ glossary
Close window

Facebook Twitter MySpace Favorites Mister Wong Google