Political

Malawi is a young democracy. Following independence from Britain in 1964, Kamuzu Banda ruled for 30 years under a one-party system of government. The country held its first multi-party elections in 1994. President Bingu wa Mutharika was elected in 2004 and held the office of President until his unexpected death in April 2012, when former Vice President, Joyce Banda was sworn in. Tripartite elections (Presidential, parliamentary and local government) were held in May 2014, when Bingu wa Mutharika’s brother Peter Mutharika was elected President and was declared winner again in the tripartite elections of May 2019. However, the results were nullified by the High and Supreme courts in 2020 which ordered fresh elections. Lazarus Chakwera was elected president in June 2020.

Malawi is a relatively stable and peaceful country and has continued to make strong progress in respect of developing strong legislation, strategies and policies. Malawi is making significant progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), otherwise known as the Global Goals. The Malawi Implementation Plan 1 was developed replacing the National Growth and Development Strategy as the means of achieving the Global Goals and other longer term visions. The plan aims to transform Malawi into a middle-income economy by the year 2030.

Economic

Malawi is currently considered the third poorest in the world, with 51.5 percent of the population below the poverty line and 20.1% considered ‘ultra-poor’.

Agriculture is the single largest sector of the Malawian economy accounting for almost 29% of GDP, and almost 80% of employment of the Malawian work-force, with most people relying on a single annual crop of maize grown during a short rainy season.

Malawi has experienced modest economic growth in recent years, however, overall the economy has remained very fragile with persistent macro-economic problems and uneven policy implementation.

Development

Malawi is ranked 174 out of 189 countries on the United Nation’s Human Development Index for 2020 (Ireland is currently ranked 2). Due to high dependence on rain fed agriculture, Malawi is highly vulnerable to climate change. The frequent climatic shocks such as floods and droughts result in high levels of food and nutrition insecurity.

Social vulnerability is often combined with more limited household means to generate income and/or to produce food: low levels of education, high dependence on informal daily labour, small plot sizes, and low agricultural productivity with high dependence on rain-fed cultivation, limited access to inputs like fertiliser and improved seeds and limited access to farm credit and agricultural training.

Communities in disaster prone areas, and households particularly vulnerable to poverty, often lack the resources to mitigate against these social, economic and climatic shocks. Despite these challenges Malawi has succeeded in reducing stunting rates amongst under five children from 47% in 2011 to 37% in 2016.

99% of Malawi’s rural population are still without access to electricity, and remain entirely dependent on biomass (wood) for daily energy requirements. This dependence on biomass for fuel, combined with severe land pressure has contributed to continued rapid deforestation. The rate is currently estimated at 3% per annum, one of the highest rates of deforestation in Africa.

Malawi ranks 142 out of 188 on the UN’s Gender Inequality Index (GII), and has a child marriage rate of 42%. Malawi maintains one of the highest HIV rates in the world, however the prevalence has dropped to under 10% and there has been a significant decline in new infections in recent years.

In Malawi, Ireland works with a variety of partner organisations at national and local levels including government institutions, UN agencies, international research institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to deliver results in three main areas:

Improved sustainable livelihoods

Ireland is working alongside the Government of Malawi and other development partners to support the empowerment of young women, increased food, income & energy security and reducing the impact of humanitarian crises

Through Ireland’s support, rural households in Malawi are benefiting from improved crop productivity and diversification. Given the serious effects of climate change on agriculture productivity, Ireland also supports smallholder famers to develop their capacity to adapt to the effects of climate change. These programmes provide opportunities for more diversified and nutritious crops; improved soil fertility and land management practices, and increased agricultural income.

Ireland also promotes dietary diversity and great access to high quality nutrition intervention at district and community level, with the overall aim of improved nutrition at household level.
Our work also aims to reduce household vulnerability and build the resilience of communities especially those that are prone to drought or floods. These interventions include; disaster risk management, irrigation, crop and livestock diversification, and access to microfinance.

Social Cash Transfers

Providing social cash transfers for poor households in times of crisis such as crop failure, is an effective way of ensuring people do not fall even further into poverty. Ireland supports the national social protection agenda in Malawi with a strong focus in promoting the scale up of the Malawi National Social Cash Transfer Programme and ensuring regularity, and predictability of monthly payments to beneficiaries.

Improved governance systems

Ireland recognises the importance of accountable and transparent governance systems. Through our governance programme we support a range of initiatives that seek to increase citizen voices for increased public accountability and improved local service delivery.

Support to the government’s public finance management system as well as supporting the government’s decentralisation policy has been central to Ireland’s work. 

Ireland also provides support to the establishment of a national registration system, democratic elections process and strengthening access to justice for vulnerable communities.

How we spend our budget

Over the five year period of the Mission Strategy of the Embassy of Ireland 2021-2026 , Ireland plans to provide in the region of €73 million.

Ireland’s Development Assistance Annual Reports detail the many results delivered through Ireland’s aid programme, across our partner countries, including Malawi. They include key policy developments and details of Ireland’s overseas development assistance across the world.

Malawi’s progress

At a national level, Malawi has made significant progress in these areas:

• There was a reduction in stunting among children under 5 years of age from 47% in 2011 to 37% in 2016.
• Between 2012 to 2017 there was a reduction in ultra-poverty rate from 25% to 20%
• The rate of under-five mortality (deaths per 1000) live births in the first 5 years has declined from 189 deaths per 1000 live births in 2000 to 63 in 2016
• The government has developed a multi-sectoral National Resilience Strategy
• The government launched its development Agenda 2016 alongside the Malawi Implementation Plan 1 in 2021.

How we have helped:

Irish Aid has played its part in the progress made by Malawi.

• Through research studies, Ireland managed to support nutrition specific and sensitive studies that have fed into the national nutrition response in Malawi.
• 24,448 ultra-poor households are benefitting from timely and predictable monthly social cash transfer payments through direct Ireland support.
• In partnership with government and other donors Ireland contributed to over 2,000,000 energy saving cook stoves being adopted, resulting in positive impact on women’s time spent collecting firewood and reducing cooking time.
• In partnership with Government and NGO consortia, Ireland provided funds (€2.7 million for the 2016/17) that targeted 12,670 people in Nsanje District with a tailored package of interventions to ensure a stronger base for future resilience. This emergency package was designed to go beyond short term humanitarian interventions, addressing the cyclical nature of extreme poverty.
• Irrigated Potato productivity has increased more than 100% from less than 10MT/ha at baseline in 2006 to 22.6MT/ha in 2020.
• 36,623 households have been reached with support in the seed industry development programme and 29546ha are under improved seed technologies.
• Dedza district reported a drop in babies born underweight from 13.5% in 2018 to 11.5% in 2021, through Ireland’s nutrition support.
• By 2020, over 10 million citizens have been registered through the National Registration Identification System surpassed its expected target. The ID system is has been linked to other services including voter registration for the 2019 elections, banking, health and immigration.
• Through the work of Irish Rule of Law International since the outbreak of COVID-19, lobbying has resulted in the pardoning of 2,300 prisoners.

• There was a reduction in stunting among children under 5 years of age from 47% in 2011 to 37% in 2016.
• Between 2012 to 2017 there was a reduction in ultra-poverty rate from 25% to 20%
• The rate of under-five mortality (deaths per 1000) live births in the first 5 years has declined from 189 deaths per 1000 live births in 2000 to 63 in 2016
• The government has developed a multi-sectoral National Resilience Strategy
• The government launched its development Agenda 2016 alongside the Malawi Implementation Plan 1 in 2021.