7.5: Economic Empowerment
The long-term goal is to create wealth for all people. Other Information:
Malawi's experience with economic empowerment programmes can be traced to the early 1960s. Despite the various initiatives
by Government, donors, and NGOs, most Malawians are still involved in low-return, small-scale enterprises. The large-scale,
high-value businesses are owned by foreigners and a minority of Malawians. Situational analysis as part of the development
of National Economic Empowerment Policy shows that lack of empowerment is caused by a number of factors and manifests itself
in the inability by the majority of citizens to control their economic destiny. It affects citizens depending on their race,
gender, age, location and economic disposition. Rural communities are most affected by lack of facilities and infrastructure
supporting the development of businesses. With over 85.0 percent of the population living in rural areas, there is need to
specifically target rural communities if a significant impact in empowering Malawians is to be made. This will require that
private investment in these areas is fostered and the culture of handouts and political patronage to rural communities is
curtailed. Despite past efforts, women in Malawi remain marginalized compared to men. Women have less access to education,
credit, land, and property. In addition, they have less access to employment opportunities both in the public and private
sectors, technology, and other key market information to support their business activities. Unemployment among the youth has
worsened over the last 20 years. Increasingly, the youth are completing their education with very little prospect of securing
a job, or engaging in entrepreneurial activities. Due to lack of experience, very few employers are willing to recruit and
train them on the job. Finally, people with disabilities are usually the most affected in terms of access to assets and other
facilities required to become economically empowered. They experience difficulties accessing financial services and capital,
skills development programmes, and technology developments. They are also the most affected by poor infrastructure such as
roads, communication, and buildings not designed to accommodate or meet their special needs. A coherent and integrated approach
is needed to contribute towards solving the various causes of disempowerment, which exist in different sectors of the poor
and disadvantaged in Malawi... Medium Term Expected Outcome: The medium term expected outcome is to increase the productivity
of rural communities and businesses, employment and income, increase the number of women and youth who are actively participating
in public and private sectors and to ensure that the urban poor are able to contribute to economic development. Despite the
various economic empowerment initiatives that Malawi has undertaken so far, many challenges remain that hinder Malawians from
exploiting their full potential to participate in wealth creation. These include weak linkages to markets and few incentives
for rural communities to organize themselves for productivity enhancement, limited access to micro-credit and high default
rates, lack of business advisory services or training opportunities, and an increase in rural-urban migration. Key Strategies:
Economic empowerment has many facets, and therefore requires a multi-pronged approach. This requires proper coordination to
avoid overlaps and conflicts. While many economic empowerment initiatives exist in Malawi, there is no overall coordinating
institution. Many policies have not been implemented because there has been no specialised institution to take full responsibility
and authority. To be effective, proper coordination, management, monitoring and evaluation of all economic empowerment initiatives
are needed. The main strategies include:
Indicator(s):
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