50 years of UN in Malawi
Malawi’s commemoration of 50 years of independence and 20 years of multiparty democracy coincides with 50 years of United Nations (UN) operations in the country. This is an opportunity to reflect on progress and challenges in Malawi’s development journey.
Malawi at 50 is a country that has managed to sustain peace, consolidate democracy, decrease maternal and child mortality, malaria, HIV and Aids, while increasing primary school enrolment and access to safe water. While these achievements should be recognised, many Malawians are calling for an acceleration in the pace of change.
Malawi still has many challenges to address: too many people live in abject poverty, many children are not in school, many households face hunger, many girls marry and conceive at a young age and many women and children are subject to violence.
Malawi continues to experience unstable economic growth rates, leaving the poverty headcount at 50.7 percent while ultra-poverty is at 25 percent. Malawi has the highest stunting rates in the Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc), and 42 percent of children will not live up to their potential as their cognitive development is limited because of poor nutrition at an early age. If families continue to have on average six children, Malawi’s population could reach 37 million by 2050. This fast growing population would challenge any progress made in social protection, quality education and health care, leaving many of vulnerable people with poor access to essential services. Much stronger economic growth is needed to fund a massive scale-up of social services with present population growth rates.
The development challenges may seem intractable. Yet experience from countries like Mauritius, Rwanda or Ethiopia shows that it is possible to make rapid advances with determined leadership, credible and trusted institutions, decentralisation and reforms that strengthen transparency and accountability at all levels and results in a nation working together.
Malawi aspires to transform from an importing and consuming economy to a producing and exporting one. This is not possible without investment in human capital and skills development through better health care, higher quality education and better designed and targeted social protection programmes. A better educated and healthy population facilitates economic diversification, job creation for the youthful and urbanising population, and makes Malawi more competitive and an attractive investment destination.
None of the above results will be achieved without good governance. Good governance needs to address the growing inequalities in society, looking beyond averages to redistributive mechanisms to ensure no one is left behind. Emphasis should be on educating girls and integrating them into the labour force to break the intergenerational cycles of poverty.
An educated and healthy population is a more active and better informed citizenry that holds institutions to account and demands better services from government.
It is easy to argue for investing in human capital, but the difficult question is how to fund it. Many Malawians express frustration over the continued dependence on aid. Aid is no panacea. Aid is effective where it supports nationally driven reform processes and aligns with national yet mutual priorities. It is time for Malawi to drive a results-oriented development agenda and to redefine the dialogue about aid to focus on results, development effectiveness and innovative financing. The public purse is constrained but can be better used by ensuring that the development agenda is not politicised and that resources are not lost due to lack of continuity and time spent reinventing the wheel rather than on implementation.
Savings can be made from ensuring value for money from government procurement, a determined public sector and public financial management reforms. Medium term, future revenue from the extractive sector should be invested in human capital development and infrastructure that benefit the economy as a whole.
If the time for change is not now, then when? Small steps and quick wins need to be taken immediately in all sectors to encourage a movement towards bigger change. Change that unleashes the potential, the initiative and the innovation of Malawians for a better Malawi. It is possible. n
—The author is United Nations resident coordinator. Follow her on Twitter @MiaSeppo.
