Press Release: USAID Ramps Up Strategy to Advance Malawi 2063

LILONGWE -USAID is proud to partner with the Government of Malawi (GOM) and local and international organizations on a shared development agenda to pursue “an inclusively wealthy and self-reliant nation.” USAID recently launched its five-year Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS), which supports Malawi 2063 and focuses USAID’s work on: (1) strengthening the accountability and effectiveness of the public sector; (2) helping Malawi’s youth lead healthy, informed, and productive lives; and (3) ensuring that the private sector increases inclusive and sustainable wealth generation.

Regarding the new strategy, USAID Acting Mission Director Melissa Francis, "The level of regard and coordination we share with the GOM enabled us to achieve important development objectives over the life of our previous five-year strategy. Now, we believe that we can make a significant contribution to the GOM’s vision for improving the Malawians’ quality of life over the course of our new strategy.”

Designed to produce greater development results for the country, USAID’s 2020-2025 CDCS takes a holistic approach that addresses the complex and intertwined nature of Malawi development goals. USAID is embracing this approach in close coordination with the GOM to help realize the Malawi 2063 commitments to provide more effective government services, preparing youth to succeed, and ensuring that the private sector is an engine of wealth creation for all Malawians.

USAID’s new strategy is designed to build upon the significant successes of its 2014-2019 CDCS. Under that CDCS, USAID worked with the GOM to launch a public-private partnership with the government, Airtel, and mHub using an SMS-technology that enables citizens to communicate directly with their elected representatives. In education, USAID/Malawi distributed morethan 24million textbooks and supplementary readers to reach a 1:1 student-to-textbook ratio in Standards 1-4 for the first time ever.

In the agriculture and livelihoods space, USAID/Malawi worked with the GOM and partners to introduce better farming technologies across 7,200 additional hectares of land, which helped 226,000 farmers achieve higher crop yields. USAID also partnered closely with the Ministry of Health to strengthen its public health system, including supply chain management, laboratory services, and district health office operations that have all been integral to Malawi’s COVID-19 vaccination and treatment response.