Close to 850 000 Malawians are expected to benefit from DfID’s K12 billion (about $33.3 million) Malawi Integrated Water and Sanitation Programme.
The programme seeks to improve access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the least served districts.
Responding to an emailed questionnaire, DfID head Sara Sanyahumbi said most of the projects would be controlled by Unicef and implemented by NGOs.
She said the programme will focus on rehabilitation and new water, sanitation and hygiene (Wash) infrastructure; and improved operation and maintenance of Wash facilities.
Sanyahumbi said the project will centre on demand-led sanitation and hygiene promotion, piloting small scale innovations in the Wash sector through a Challenge Fund.
However, she said the programme would meet some challenges in the social economic context, sustainability of facilities and NGOs capacity.
“The anticipated risks of the programme include the social economic context; sustainability of the facilities and NGO capacity to implement the programme effectively.
“We are putting a large emphasis on sustainability in our programme, and a rigorous procurement process was followed to select the NGOs to help ensure they have the required capacity. In addition, we will monitor progress carefully through field visits, financial spot checks and quarterly reports from all partners,” said Sanyahumbi.
