The Resident Coordinator's Office reports annually to the UN Secretary-General and the executive heads of UN organizations operations. This includes assessment of the performance of the RC and heads of UN Executive Committee agencies – UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and WFP – against the implementation of the UN Coordination Annual Work Plan. The UNCT compiles the Work Plan on the basis of the key development challenges and national priorities in the country, and is in line with the UN Development Assistance Framework. The achievements are reported in the UN Residen Coordinator Annual Report.

RCAR 2006 - Malawi

Lilongwe, 15 February 2007

Dear Mr Secretary General

First, please accept the congratulations of the whole UN family in Malawi upon your appointment as Secretary General. We look forward to supporting your leadership and to receiving your guidance in the years ahead.

The reporting period ended with your letter of 2nd February, Mr Secretary General, addressed to H.E. the President of Malawi inviting him to support implementation of the ‘One UN’ initiative in Malawi, starting in 2008 with the second wave of pilot countries. We believe that the President’s request to you represented both his recognition of the efforts that the UN is undertaking to ensure that the UN system is effective and efficient in contributing to Malawi’s national development goals as expressed in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MG&DS), as well as the signal for us to move decisively forward with UN reform at the country level.

2006 was a year of great contrasts in Malawi. The first few months of the year saw the UN contributing to a Government-led, donor supported effort to provide food assistance to 5 million people, or 40% of the population. Famine was averted, though a very heavy price was paid by almost every community in terms health and malnutrition, of loss of assets and basic dignity, and erosion of coping mechanisms. Yet 2006 then saw Malawi achieve its greatest maize harvest to date, including a surplus of close to 500,000 metric tons.

This experience dramatically highlighted a number of issues. One is Malawi’s continued vulnerability, as a predominantly rural country in which the majority of the population is engaged in subsistence farming, to adverse weather conditions and climate change. A second is the critical importance of strong partnerships between development actors if efforts to avert humanitarian catastrophe and to manage risks are to succeed. Support for the Government’s seed and fertiliser subsidy scheme and greater involvement of the private sector in sales and distribution of agricultural inputs ensured that smallholder farmers were able to benefit from good rainfall, resulting in the bumper harvest. Lessons from this experience, including some of the problems and shortcomings of the scheme, need to be learned and applied in the future

On the economic front, Malawi’s success in reaching completion point under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative was most notable. This signals a restoration of tighter macro-economic management and fiscal discipline and has given greater confidence to investors, whether from the private sector or official donors. Economic growth is projected to be 8% in 2007 and there is the strong possibility that inflation and interest rates will come down significantly during the course of the year. The prospect of another ‘bumper’ harvest in 2007 will further strengthen conditions for economic growth. The challenge facing the country is now to build on the opportunities created by the Government, including greater fiscal space, to deliver benefits for the poor.

These challenges cannot be underestimated. Malawi is 165th on the Human Development Index and continues to suffer from very high poverty levels, including 22% of the population living in extreme poverty. Chronic malnutrition affects almost half of all children. Environmental conditions are deteriorating as a rapidly growing, predominantly rural population strives to eke out a living on landholdings of diminishing size. Almost every family is affected by disease, including HIV and AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The Government can point to some remarkable successes in battling poverty and disease – for example in scaling up the national response to HIV and AIDS in the last two years – but the fundamental challenges faced by the Malawi as a landlocked, resource poor country remain daunting.

In this context, the completion of the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy for 2008-2011 (MGD&S) at the end of 2006 was highly significant. The MG&DS represents a nationally owned, results oriented medium term framework for promoting economic growth and achieving the Millennium Development Goals. It draws upon sector strategies, policies and plans that have been developed over the last few years, many with UN support, and upon lessons learned during the implementation of the now expired Poverty Reduction Strategy paper (PRSP). One was that PRSP priorities were not translated into national budget allocations. Another was that the PRSP did not provide a basis for strong, Government led coordination of development partners. A third was that critical capacities to implement policies and plans are missing in Malawi, both at the national and local levels.

The MG&DS, and an analysis of it undertaken by the UN system with Government counterparts from a human rights, gender, capacity development and disaster-risk reduction perspective, provided the basis for the preparation of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework, which was signed by the Government in January 2007. You may be pleased to note, Mr Secretary General, that both the preparation and substantive content of the UNDAF is fully consistent with the principles of the Paris and Rome Declarations.

In the UNDAF 2008-2011, the UN system has identified specific development outcomes in the MG&DS to which we are able and mandated to contribute – as well as areas where the UN has no comparative advantage vis-à-vis other development actors in Malawi. The overall emphasis in the UNDAF is investment in people, particularly women and the poor, including their health, education, basic living conditions and their opportunities to contribute to and benefit from economic growth. Drawing upon the lessons of recent experience, the UN system will also invest in developing national capacities both to manage and coordinate development assistance and also to ensure that implementation and accountability systems are strengthened.

Accountability systems and the quality of governance remained in the spotlight during 2006. The President repeatedly reaffirmed his strong commitment to fighting corruption, the importance he attaches to the full enjoyment of human rights in Malawi, and his commitment to the independence of constitutional bodies such as the Anti Corruption Bureau, the Malawi Electoral Commission and Parliament.

However the political scene was dominated by public debate relating to the constitutionality of a number of actions taken by Government, notably regarding the appointment or dismissal of senior public officials. Other high profile issues were the arrest of the Vice President on charges of treason, and legal disputes over the interpretation of Section 65 of the Constitution. By the end of the reporting period, it was still not clear whether Members of Parliament elected under the banner of one political party but who ‘crossed the floor’ to other parties, notably to the party created by the President in 2005, the Democratic Progressive Party, would be compelled to vacate their seats. If so, the prospect is of a large number of by-elections.

The constitutionality of the delay in holding Local Government Elections was also a major political issue. Due to be held in 2005, these have still not taken place even though by law they should have done so. Initial delays were justified by Government on the grounds that addressing the food shortage should take priority. By the end of the reporting period, Government’s explanations of the delay related more to the expense of both conducting Local Government Elections and of maintaining local counsellors given other priorities, as well as to the ‘added value’ that this layer of Government provides.

Development partners have expressed a number of concerns in this context, some relating to perceptions of a growing ‘democratic deficit’, others to the need to amend the constitution as quickly as possible. Several have indicated that the scope of their support to Malawi, whether as budgetary aid or assistance to specific sectors such as decentralisation, may be affected by failure to legalise the situation. Some are also concerned that these problems complicate preparations for the next Presidential elections, due in 2009. A major challenge will be to ensure that the Malawi Electoral Commission and the national Voters’ Roll are prepared in time to ensure free and fair elections with a high voter turn out.

Malawi remains heavily aid dependent with donors providing over 40% of the national budget. Government’s subscription to the Paris and Rome Declarations and donors’ willingness to provide greater levels of budgetary support both create opportunities to increase levels of development assistance but also highlight the imperative of strengthening economic and political accountability systems. The UN has played a significant role but, as outlined in the UNDAF, needs to increase its engagement to help strengthen capacities. This will be a priority in the years ahead.

Efforts to move to ‘one UN’ are highly relevant in this regard. In June 2006, the UN Country Team issued a position paper ‘The Role of the UN Malawi in a Changing Aid Environment’ which set out a vision of ‘one programme, one team, one leader’. The UNDAF translates this into a programmatic agenda, while a UN Business Plan is being articulated to set out a timetable of the actions required and support needed to make ‘one UN’ a practical reality – including in terms of a skills and competency assessment, an UNDAF resource mobilisation strategy, simplification and harmonisation of reporting and administrative procedures, common services and a shift to common premises. The High Level Panel Report has added further momentum to these plans, as has your letter inviting Malawi to be a one UN pilot from 2008.

In conclusion, Mr Secretary General, 2006 was a productive and eventful year both for Malawi and for the UN system. The challenge for Malawi in 2007 will be to build upon positive economic developments and a second good harvest to strengthen the quality of life for every Malawian. The UN has an important partnership role in supporting the country to achieve specific outcomes, as set out in the UNDAF. For the UN, 2007 will be a transition year, characterised by the emergence of new ways of conducting UN business in preparation for the designation of Malawi as a ‘one UN’ pilot country.

With highest regards and on behalf of the entire UN family in Malawi, I remain

Yours sincerely


Michael Keating
UN Resident Coordinator & UNDP Resident Representative
UN System in Malawi