NAYD MALAWI

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Of Development Aid in Malawi - David Mkwambisi
Malawi is heavily dependent on aid and the Malawi’s annual debt and aid report released by the Ministry of Finance in October 2006, reflects the support Malawi receives from our development partners The overall volume of aid disbursed by the development partners covered in this report was approximately K64 billion ($497 million), of which more than K11 billion ($88 million) was in the form of humanitarian relief for the food crisis. Analyzing the breakdown of this support by Malawi Growth and Development strategy (MGDS) theme and sector the report shows the least well-funded theme in 2005/06 was Good Governance (why? Why?), followed by Infrastructure and Sustainable Economic Growth, both of which are central to the MGDS. Scholars have argued and asked whether aid to these countries contribute macroeconomically or otherwise to growth? Does it reach the poor? Is policy dialogue that accompanies aid successful and valuable? Does aid help or hinder an appropriate functioning of market forces? If post aid works, why has Malawi’s development been so halting? If aid is failing to relieve poverty, why then do we still continue receiving aid?

The management of development aid by both government and development partners leaves a lot to be desired and has received a lot of public scrutiny. Ministries have misused development aid and yet nothing has been don to punish those responsible. Government projects aiming to improve the lives of million malnutrition children have been left into few greed managers. Aid meant for educating thousand children in an entire region have been diverted to a single village. Development aid targeting irrigation and micro finance has been diverted to political functions with donors watching, affecting research institutions, giving pressure to medical doctors, resulting in half baked graduates, with women dying like pigs affected with African Swine fever or chickens with Newcastle disease.

Experienced people who can manage development aid have either been transferred to create room for corrupt managers, or they have left for better institutions where governance is not compromised by politics. Separate accounts gave been opened to divert development aid. Despite that Malawi depend on primary commodity exports facing highly unstable markets, the distribution of donor support by functional sector during 2005/06 shows that agriculture was not among the most important sector to receive aid. Coupled with unfavourable agro-climatic conditions, misallocation of coupons and movements of same commodities at wrong hours, development aid is failing to achieve its intended results. Bilateral donors often have political and commercial motives for aid that can interfere with developmental objectives. When these motives predominate, the results can be harmful to growth and to the poor. The effects of having many donors working in a single country has also a negative impact on the outcome of development aid. The relief of poverty depends both on aid and on the policies of the recipient countries-a collaboration in which aid is definitely the junior partner.

Increasing institutional capacity in the recipient country is a key feature of successful development, affecting both the prospects for long-term economic self-reliance and also the performance of the project itself. Findings have shown that over 70 percent of the small number of projects receiving aid with poor institutional results produced low or negative returns. The involvement of women has also been considered as an important element is managing development. In Malawi most of key positions in the department of Malawi Revenue Authority as managed by women, because as mothers they consider the plight of many. Misuse of resources by women is very minimal. In development aid, too often women are little consulted and considered in the design of projects, and they receive a disproportionately small share of the benefits. The natural environment also affects development aid and many managers have failed to consider ecological issues in the design and implementation of projects. With large parts of the country under ecological pressure and some in acute crisis, the effectiveness of aid must in part be judged by the contribution it makes to sound management of natural resources.

Programmes receiving aid should make sure that potential and harmful ecological effects are minimized or eliminated, giving attention to the scale and effectiveness of projects that are primarily concerned to remedy environmental problems. Even though donors have clearly indicated the importance of environment in their package, project managers have deliberately ignored this aspects hacking back to saving money for personal gains. Finally, as a country, we should be in a position to control development aid and those supporting us. Project proliferation has an impact if nor well coordinated. Aid projects are planted here and there in an almost haphazard way and in excessive numbers, with a variety of untoward consequences. Aid overload with donors setting up and funding projects beyond the capacity of the recipient country to administer is dangerous and should be checked. Project proliferation has exacerbated existing manpower and administrative shortcomings. Even though this increases the volume of technical cooperation projects, at the same time it creates competition and scares investments from local investors and promotes duplication of projects.

Google Earth and How It Can Help Development Activities - Paul Shaw
Google Earth is a FREE map of the world viewable through the internet. You first have to download the software onto your PC from here. Once the software is loaded the first thing you see is a view of the earth seen from outer space. You can then zoom into any part of the world using the navigation bar or simply type in your home town and Google Earth will take you there automatically. The imagery of the earth you see varies in scale but for many parts of the world it is possible to look at individual houses, cars, waterways, and even trees. The software also allows you see the land in 3 dimensions. This means, for example, that you can view a mountain looking straight down on it or from an oblique angle. In a lot of countries you can also do a search for restaurants, or ask for directions from one town to another. Unfortunately information can be very sparse but the good news is it is getting better day by day. More

Students for Rural Development - David Mkwambisi
Students for Rural Youth in Development (SRYD) club was founded in April 1993 by Bunda students with technical and financial support from UNICEF Malawi. The overall goal of SRYD is to engage university students as volunteers in sustainable development projects in Malawi. Specifically the club aims to transfer learned skills to the poor communities, gain experience required for their new challenges in both governemnt, NGO and private institutions and have first hand experience on the problems faced by poor communities.

The club has implimented several development programmes both in rural and urban areas. In 2006, UNICEF-Malawi and Winrock International funded sustainable livelihoods to reduce child labour and promote formal education in tea and tobacco estates respectively (http://circle.winrock.org/ngo/mw/SYRD.cfm). Currently, project proposals have been submitted to donors to involve students in integrated livelihoods projects. Funding is also sort to allow students participate in internatioal conferences and workshops that aim to promote volunteerism and sustainable development. The contact details for SRYD are: The Chaiperson, SRYD Club, Bunda College, University of Malawi, PO Box 219, Lilongwe. Malawi, Email: srydclub@bunda.unima.mw, Phone: 265 1 277 900/226, Fax : 265 1 277 364

Individual members who have joined through the WEB

Kelson Milward Chimunthu - Student chimunthukelly@hotmail.com +886917305675
Charles Banda - Youth Net & Counselling (YONECO) charlespkbanda@yahoo.co.uk +2658507488
Hastings Maloya - Mount Mulanje Conservation Trust hastings@mountmulanje.org.mw
Greenwell Collin Matchaya - Leeds University greenwellmatchaya@yahoo.com