German development cooperation supports the Malawi Government in implementing the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy III (MGDS III, 2017-22).

Education

With a large population growing rapidly and a low per capita gross domestic product (GDP), Malawi is facing challenges in delivering good –quality primary education. The situation in Malawi’s primary classrooms is characterised by a high pupil to teacher ratio as well as high dropout and repletion rates.

Therefore, German cooperation in the education particularly focuses on:

• Improving teacher training for primary school teachers
• Improving teacher management at schools and across schools
• Improving infrastructure for teacher training
• Healthy nutrition in schools

Private sector development in rural areas

Successful, inclusive private sector development is essential to Malawi’s development.

The Government of Malawi is implementing the national Export Strategy (NES) in order to broaden its export base and to increase the national income and stabilise it for the benefit of all Malawians. In 2014, Malawi and Germany agreed on a new joint programme to create employment and generate income in rural areas. The programme focuses on selected value chains like oil seeds and cassava, tourism andenvironmentally friendly building materials. The programme contributes to:

• Product diversification and value chain development +Financing of infrastructure for processing, storage, transport and marketing
• Capacity development for farmer cooperatives
• Provision of quality –related services
• Promotion of storage and receipt bill systems

Health and social protection

Malawi faces substantial challenges in providing its growing population with quality basic health care. The aim of German cooperation in the health sector is to improve universal access to good-quality essential health services, especially for women and children. Germany collaborates closely with governmental and non-governmental providers of health services to:

• Strengthen human resources and quality management in hospitals and health centres throughout Malawi
• Support the education and training of health care professionals
• Improve access to modern family planning methods
• Improve the infrastructure of health facilities

More than 70 % of the population needs to live with less than 1.90 USD a day. Germany supports Malawi in implementing the National Social Support Policy (NSSP) to secure livelihoods of the ultra-poor, strengthen resilience to climatic and economic risks and enable pathways out of poverty.
This includes:

• Strengthening coherence, coordination and implementation of the various social support programmes (e.g. social cash transfers, savings and loans groups, school meals, public works)
• Providing social cash transfers to 10% ultra-poor and labour-constrained households in selected districts in Malawi

Public financial Management

Germany supports the Malawian Government across sectors in strengthening public financial management (PFM) in terms of its efficiency, the regularity and correctness of its budgetary management, the mobilisation of domestic resources as well as its external control mechanisms.

Special initiative “One World – No Hunger”

In Malawi, about 37 % of children are malnourished. Malnourishment means those children will likely never reach their full potential, get sick easily and have reduced resistance to fight illnesses. It is caused not only by missing food but also by dietary habits and inadequate hygiene. In addition, despite generally favourable climatic conditions, Malawi is greatly affected by food insecurity due to weather-induced crop failures. Innovations in the field of agriculture practises to create resistance and improve productivity are highly relevant. Malawi is therefore one of the most important partner countries of the special initiative “One World – No Hunger”.

This includes the following measures and contributions to international organiations’ programs (e.g. UN World Food Program):

1. Green Innovation Centers in the Agriculture and Food Sector support the improvement of agricultural practices to increase productivity and resilience in the event of external shocks (e.g. drought, flood, pests)
2. Food and Nutrition Security Programme (FNSP) contributes to improving the nutrition of the most vulnerable, especially women of childbearing age and children under the age of five.
3. The Multisectoral Nutrition Program, implemented by UNICEF, supports the Malawian Government in implementing the Scaling Up Nutrition Initiative (SUN) and the First 1,000 Days Program, which started in 2011. it aims at improving nutritional habits and supply of micro-nutrients and medicines especially to pregnant women, infants, toddlers and women of reproductive Age.