The World Bank in Malawi

Selected re

sults

2005 - 2010

Snapshot of Malawi’s Progress2005-2010

Annual GDP growth in the last five years has averaged about 7 percent, compared to an average of about 2 percent prior to 2005. The economy registered the highest growth in a decade of 9.7 percent in 2008. The growth was buttressed by record tobacco exports (USUS$472 million in the 2007/08 season) and a bumper crop on maize.

Poverty headcount has reduced from 52.4 percent in 2005 to 40 percent in 2008. Social indicators show some improvements:

Life expectancy has improved to 52.2 years in 2009 from less than 40 at the turn of the century;

HIV prevalence is now at 12 percent down from 14 percent; Food security has significantly improved.

Malawi is likely to achieve 5 of the MDGs by 2015. The ones unlikely to be met are gender inequality, universal primary education and maternal mortality.

Challenges still remain in energy generation, improving education outcomes, diversifying the agricultural economy.

World Bank Contribution

How is the International Development Association contributing to Malawi’s progress?

“The World Bank remains a strong and reliable partner of Malawi in its fight against poverty.”

Hon. Ken Kandodo, Minister of Finance

2009 to date

“The World Bank Malawi – a steadfast partner from the beginning.”

Hon. Goodall Gondwe, Minister of Finance 2004-2009

As of June 2010, IDA is Malawi’s largest provider of development aid, accounting for 32%.

RESULT PROJECT

Improved agricultural productivity and food security

• Malawi Social Action Fund• Community Based Rural Land Development Project• Irrigation , Rural Livelihoods and Agricultural Development Project

Better incomes for the rural poor

• Malawi Social Action Fund• Community Based Rural Land Development project• Irrigation , Rural Livelihoods and Agricultural Development Project

Improved learning environment

• Education Sector Support Project• Malawi Social Action Fund

Access to clean water • National Water Development Project

Reduced HIV infection • Multi-Sector AIDS Project

Efficient civil service • Financial Management, Transparency and Accountability Project

Informed decision making • Country Economic Memorandum• Education Sector Report• Mineral Sector Review

IDA Support – Some Results 2005-2010

Food SecurityThis family from Phalombe district had this to say about the IRLAD Project:

"The project has empowered us to arrest food insecurity by enabling us to cultivate two maize crops in a year. … Since we started with [the project], we have never run short of food before the next harvest.”

The IRLAD Project was designed to address some of the challenges affecting smallholder agriculture by combining the development of sustainable small-scale irrigation with provision of high yielding agricultural inputs. Through what is called the ‘Inputs for Assets Program’, beneficiaries are given fertilizer and high yielding seed in exchange for their labour which is used to establish community assets such as mini-scale irrigation schemes, rural feeder roads, storage warehouses. Communities in all the project areas have established over 1,500 hectares of schemes that are now functional, producing 2-3 crops a year. It is estimated that over 230,000 tones of maize is produced every year through this program and this has raised the food security situation of over 191,000 farm households.

Family Income“In 2007, our son dropped out of school because we did not have money for school fees. But when we joined the Kudzigulira Malo program, our income has improved through our improved agricultural productivity. Our son is back to school and all our children are well provided for.”

Mai Galima Kajawo, project beneficiary in MangochiThe Kajawo Family is one of the 14,200 land and income poor households that relocated from their original homes under the Community Based Rural Lands Development Project (CBRLDP), popularly called Kudzigulira Malo in the local language. CBRLDP assisted poor rural households improve farm incomes through implementation of a market-assisted, community-based, and voluntary land reform program. Following are some of the results:

• Each relocated household has 5 acres of land compared to less than 0.5 acres at original home village

• Maize yields have improved from around 900 kg/ha to over 1,800 kg/ha.• Tobacco yield has improved from about 300 kg/ha at baseline to 800

kg/ha. • Beneficiaries also grow a variety of other crops such as cotton, pulses,

groundnuts, chilies for sale. • Farm incomes have increased by about 60% from $120 per annum to $220

per household, on average. • The project has made available services from agricultural extension

workers.

• Government has learned valuable lessons for scaling-up its land reform program.

Sustainable Economic Empowerment of the Poor

• Since 2005, 8300 community savings groups have been established across the country. Communities are learning from each other and continuing to replicate savings groups on their own.

• Businesses such as retailing, piggery, and tailoring are helping individuals improve their livelihoods.

MASAF – a social protection project - has yielded good results in empowering the poor. Through a component called Community Savings Investment Promotion (COMSIP) communities across the country have cultivated a culture of savings and are investing saved resources in economically viable initiatives as cooperative societies, and as individuals.

Access to Clean WaterAbout 1.5 million people were connected to a clean and safe water supply in town and market centres in a period of 2 years.

Through the National Water Development Project, main supply lines, water sources, and treatment systems were developed in various urban areas, town and market centres in 2007-08. Thereafter new water connections and rehabilitation work has been done to date:

• 8,333 new connections in urban areas, each connection serving 50 people

• 10,143 new connections, each connection serving 150 people

• 5,724 connections rehabilitated in urban areas

• 13,803 connections rehabilitated in town and urban areas

Better Classrooms and Facilities

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• Malawi’s primary education is characterized by a severe lack of pedagogical resources and infrastructure. There’s a high pupil to classroom ratio of 100:1; and a pupil to desk ratio of 9:1.

• Through MASAF, 471 classroom blocks were constructed, keeping 238,483 pupils in primary school every term.

• Poor sanitation causes mostly girls to drop out of school. MASAF constructed 462 toilets and 80 water boreholes

• 118 teacher’s houses were constructed, contributing to better teacher retention.

• Under ESSUP, a new primary teacher training college was constructed at Liwonde to help meet the shortage of qualified teachers. The college has a capacity of 540.

Managing HIV

As of 2009 Malawi’s HIV prevalence rate reduced to 12 percent from about 14 percent three years earlier.

The number of HIV testing and counseling sites increased from 283,462 in 2004 to 1,212,376 in 2008.  

The number of people ever started on anti-retroviral therapy also increased from 3,000 in 2003 to 196,368 in 2008 with a 75 percent survival rate.

On impact mitigation there has been an increase in the number of orphans and vulnerable children supported with nutritional, psychosocial, financial, and educational support from 200,000 in 2004 to 2,651,700 in 2008.

IDA support has helped increase access to treatment and reduce HIV prevalence.

The Bank had granted Malawi US$35 million for HIV/AIDS in 2004 and in September 2009 approved additional financing of $30 million till September 2012. The National AIDS Commission (NAC) is the implementing agency. The Global Fund also pools funds into NAC.

Efficient Civil Service

• Strengthening procurement: An Institute of Procurement and Supply was established for national standards and accreditation system for the procurement and supply profession in Malawi. Further, a Bachelors Degree program in Procurement and Logistics was introduced at the University of Malawi’s Polytechnic. All Ministries have also established Internal Procurement Committees.

• Improved management of the public service payroll through  implementation of a new Human Resource Management Information System and auditing of the Public Service payroll, resulting in payroll discrepancies of less than 5 percent by March 2009.

• Capacity in terms of skills:. More than 1,600 officers were trained in key governance areas including law, accounting, audit, procurement, human resource management, project management, information technology, gender, and M&E.

• ICT capacity enhanced with implementation of a national Government Wide Area Network connecting government offices in all the cities: Lilongwe with Blantyre, Zomba and Mzuzu.

Major improvements in Public Sector Governance: Procurement, Payroll, Skills development, ICT networks

Improving doing business environment

Through BESTAP, the Bank has been addressing constraints in the business environment in Malawi. One of the key areas of Bank support has been the establishment of a Commercial Court in 2007. With this court, as of March 2008, it took an average of 125 days to settle commercial disputes, significantly below the target of 290 days for 2008. The Bank also trained three judges to operationalize the court. Malawi is however still working on improving other doing business indicators since its ranking has been deteriorating since 2007. For 2010 Malawi ranks 132 of 183 economies. Compared to other countries Malawi is reforming too slowly and still needs more support.

Time to settle commercial disputes reduced by 60%

Informed Decision Making

• The Education System in Malawi is an analytical review of the context and challenges of education in Malawi. It also presents options Government could consider to plan for and improve education in Malawi. For example, if universal primary education is reached before 2018, primary school places for 4.8 million children will be needed in 2018.This represents 45 percent more primary school places compared to 2008.

The Malawi Government is supported with analytical work to help it make sound policy decisions:

• The 2009 Malawi Country Economic Memorandum suggested options on how Malawi could build on its current growth through regional integration and trade. The key messages recommended focusing on agricultural productivity growth, transport infrastructure, electricity generation, and macro-economic management that continues to support growth.

• The 2009 Mineral Sector Review examined the sector as a potential source of growth and development in Malawi. The study identified constraints to the development of the sector that need to be addressed by the Government, and suggested strategies to foster a positive contribution by the mineral sector to sustainable development and poverty reduction.

Way Forward2011-2014

• IDA will continue to work closely with the Government to address the challenge of sustaining strong economic growth registered over the past five years, ensuring that all Malawians benefit and the economy remains resilient to shocks.

• IDA is developing a new Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) covering 2011-2014. The strategy will aim to address the remaining development challenges in the form of weak institutional capacities, vulnerability to manmade and natural disasters, poor service delivery (especially in the health and education sectors), weak business environment and maintenance of prudent macroeconomic management.

• The CAS aims to support the Government with short- medium to long-term solutions to the power generation and water supply and management problems, weak social indicators, support to the nascent mining sector, strengthen the financial sector, increase productivity and diversification in the agricultural sector as well as improve the overall macroeconomic and fiscal management.