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Abstract:
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In 1994 Malawi emerged from 30 years of one-party government following its first multi-party democratic elections. The new government has shown a strong commitment to addressing the urgent needs of the rural poor, particularly the lack of access to safe drinking water in a sector where the effective coverage is only around 43%. The rural water and sanitation sector faces a set of major constraints:
a) inadequate investments
b) lack of clear sector policies, strategies and work plans
c) lack of an established hydro-environmental framework in which to develop water resources
d) lack of guidelines and experience at district level
e) poor operation and maintenance of facilities
f) weak co-ordination mechanisms
g) inadequate integration of sanitation and hygiene with water supply
h) weak community involvement in planning and operation and maintenance of facilities.
This sector review attempts to address these problems and propose strategies and actions leading to an outline programme for the sustainable delivery of rural water supply coupled with improved sanitation and hygiene practices. The review also includes an analysis of the financial mechanisms for the proposed National Water Development Project (NWDP) and Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF). These proposals indicate that:
a) only 14.7% of the NWDP $100 million draft proposal is earmarked for rural water supply and nothing for rural sanitation.
b) under the NWDP draft proposal 1.5 million people are expected to be covered in 5 years: however, the funds available appear only to be enough for about 850,000 which means that only 17% of the roughly 5 million presently not served or under-served rural people would gain access through boreholes in the NWDP.
c) it is still unclear how the rural population will access MASAF funds or how much of the $US 40 million available will be used for rural water and sanitation. |