Back Southern & East Africa: Malawi Overview The Government of Malawi has publicly declared that poverty reduction is its highest priority. As one of Africa's poorest countries, it has qualified under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) program for debt relief by developing a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), which details the country's planned public expenditures in key sectors of the economy. In an effort to ensure that the legislature and civil society play a role in overseeing the implementation of the PRSP, NDI designed its current parliamentary and civil society program around monitoring and tracking the national budget and the delivery of programs and services most critical for poverty reduction. Both parliament and civil society are analyzing government spending against the priorities stipulated in the PRSP as a condition for donor debt relief. NDI is also working with civic activists on a variety of advocacy campaigns that target or include members of parliament. For the last two years, with funding from the British Department for International Development (DfID), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and DANIDA, NDI has been working with both parliament and civil society to increase citizen input into the legislative and governance processes in Malawi, particularly with respect to the country's PRSP. To increase Parliament's capacity to function as an independent and representative body, NDI's support focuses on committees as venues for building relationships between MPs, government officials and civil society. NDI is currently providing training and technical assistance in advocacy and lobbying to parliamentary committees that have oversight of government ministries. Prior to NDI's involvement, most of these committees were dormant. NDI also trains and provides technical assistance for clerks and other parliamentary staff to improve support for MPs. NDI's program for civil society seeks to enhance the capacity of civil society organizations to advocate effectively on a variety of public policies and legislative issues. NDI advises civic organizations that work on advocacy campaigns for issues related to agriculture, commerce and industry, education, environment, health, governance and human rights. Assisted by NDI, civic groups are advocating for reforms to the national HIV/AIDS Policy, domestic violence legislation, the penal code and several other public policy issues. NDI collaborates on these issues with a number of key civic networks in Malawi, including the Malawi Health Equity Network (MHEN), the Civil Society Agriculture Network (CISANET), the Civil Society Coalition for Quality Basic Education (CSCQBE), the Malawi Economic Justice Network (MEJN) and the NGO Gender Network. Previous NDI Activities in Malawi NDI has been working with Parliament, political parties, traditional authorities, civic organizations and the media in Malawi since 1993. The goal of NDI's activities is to assist diverse segments of Malawian society to participate more fully in their nation's developing democracy. During Malawi's first multiparty elections in 1994, and again in 1999, NDI provided technical assistance to political parties and nongovernmental organizations for voter education and election monitoring. Contact Information For more information on NDI's work in Malawi, please contact: Brionne Dawson, Program Officer Send Email Updated August 2005 Back