Malawi: Background information

History

Girls bathe in the Chagwa River.

Credit: Alixandra Fenton

Malawi was the British Protectorate of Nyasaland from 1891 until independence in 1964. President Hastings Banda ruled for the next three decades with a highly centralised government.

Since the transition to multi-party rule in 1993 the country has struggled with the legacy of this in weak local organisation. Hige international debts have also hindered attempts to move towards the free market economy.

Geography and economy

Malawi enjoys a mild sub-tropical climate and is generally well watered; it has a good road system and communications infrastructure. Malawi consists of three main geographical regions; the mountainous North, upland Central plateau and low-lying Southern region.

The most predominant physical feature is the 580km Lake Malawi which forms the eastern boundary of the country with Tanzania and Mozambique.

English is the official language, with the national language Chichewa also widely spoken. The country is predominantly Christian (75%), with a significant number of Muslims (20%) and the balance formed by followers of traditional beliefs.

A legacy of three decades of centralised government, Malawi is heavily in debt, very poor and getting poorer, with the economy shrinking by 1% annually over the last decade. The population is currently increasing by more than 3% a year, despite high infant mortality, the ravages of AIDS, and reported life expectancy of only 39.

The economy is heavily based on agriculture, accounting for 40% of GDP, and dependent on tobacco as a key export crop. Other crops include tea, sugarcane and cotton. However, most of Malawi's population depend on small scale subsistence farming.

Organisation of water supply and sanitation

The Ministry Of Water is responsible for water supply, and is itself divided into Surface Water, Ground Water, and Hydrogeology departments, each with its own management structure maintained right down through region and district, to local community worker level.

Peter Kenda Mcheni with fish.

Credit: WaterAid / Jon Spaull

The Ministry of Health is responsible quite separately for sanitation, as well as for hygiene education. Integration of work in these areas is therefore a major challenge.

Rural areas of Malawi have very low access to safe water (40%) and sanitation (1%). Government focus has been on higher level technologies for ground water extraction, typically boreholes with 'Afridev' handpumps.

These, however, have been notoriously difficult to keep in working order, with lack of local community responsibility for maintenance being compounded by fast wearing components and unreliable supply of spare parts.