USAID Malawi - Programs - Democracy and Governance

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Democracy and Governance

For the past five years, USAID/Malawi’s Democracy and Governance strategy has focused on reducing corruption, improving fiscal management, supporting election processes, and strengthening the role of civil society.

The flagship activity of the Democracy and Governance team has been managing the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Threshold Country Plan (TCP), which came to an end in September 2008. The TCP focused on anti-corruption and improved fiscal management. Based partly on the successes of the TCP, Malawi was selected as MCC Compact Eligible in December 2007. The Government is currently developing a Compact proposal to be submitted to MCC/Washington.

As the TCP wraps up, USAID/Malawi has undertaken several other activities with a modest amount of funding to help consolidate gains made under the TCP. These activities include supporting the commercial courts which are improving the business environment and lowering costs of litigation; and, supporting the legal aid department to provide greater access to justice for poor and vulnerable people.

USAID/Malawi just wrapped up support for the Malawi general elections that took place in May 2009. USAID funds were placed in the United Nations Development Program Elections Trust Fund (UNDP), which managed donor support to the Malawi Election Commission. These funds are dedicated to the training of election officials and provided voter and civic education. More than 500,000 people were reached through outreach programs. These programs were aimed at providing the public with a better understanding of voting rights/responsibilities. Over 150 election officials will be trained as a result of these efforts.

There are also a number of ongoing activities that match Mission funds and leverage other sources of support through public-private partnerships, including:

Facts at a glance:

On May 19th, 2009 Malawi held presidential and parliamentary elections. The incumbent President Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika won the presidential elections returning for the second term.
There is a unicameral National Assembly with 193 members elected every five years.
Malawi is comprised of three regions that are sub-divided into 28 districts, 250 traditional authorities and 110 administrative wards.
The FY08 MCC scorecard shows Malawi in the green for most key indicators, but only marginally in the green for control of corruption (hard indicator).
The Ibrahim index of governance shows Malawi as 11 th out of 48 countries in sub-saharan Africa .

A lady from Mangochi casts her vote during the Malawi General Elections in May 2009.

An official from the Malawi Electoral Commision assists a voter during the May 2009 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.

Children in the Wilderness (CITW)

A Global Development Alliance (GDA) grant to CITW supports periodic camps and follow-up activities for vulnerable children who live in areas surrounding parks and reserves, with facilities managed by Wilderness Safaris. These camps focus on life skills that are the fundamental building blocks of healthy citizenship, including mutual respect, teamwork, self-esteem, advocacy, leadership, human rights, access to justice and health.

African Institute for Corporate Citizenship (AICC)

A grant to mobilize private sector commitment to combat corruption and find practical ways of creating effective and sustainable partnerships between business and government in tackling corruption. This project is currently in closeout phase.

Financial Services Volunteer Corps (FSVC)

A public-private partnership award that supports the Reserve Bank of Malawi’s (RBM) ability to address problem banks; builds capacity within the RBM for robust banking supervision; helps the RBM develop a system of deposit insurance; supports the Malawian authorities in launching a credit bureau, and helps strengthen financial institutions through technical assistance and training for banks to comply with Malawi’s new anti-money laundering regulations. By working directly with the Malawian financial regulators and commercial banks, these activities will help encourage deeper financial markets and increased private, capital inflows into Malawi.