Frequently Asked Questions

Social Protection has bearings on the Malawi Constitution under Articles 30, 37, and 43. Therefore the Government of Malawi has taken the responsibility to deliver meaningful social support seriously as demonstrated by prioritisation in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) as its second theme. Under theme two, protecting the vulnerable is a sub-theme, with the long-term goal to improve the life of the most vulnerable.

Cash transfers are non-contributory transfers of cash targeted to selected beneficiary households. Their role is to provide social protection for households who are ultra poor and unable to establish a viable livelihood due to being labour constrained. The Malawi Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP) was designed to alleviate poverty, reduce malnutrition and improve school enrolment by delivering regular and reliable cash transfers to ultra poor households that are also labour constrained. The programmes are also designed to help close the gap between the ultra poverty line and beneficiary household (consumption) level. A pilot programme was implemented in Mchinji from 2006. A Cabinet directive in November 2006 endorsed the pilot in Mchinji and requested to roll the pilot out to 6 additional districts by end of 2008. As of January 2010, SCTS is currently being implemented in 7 districts in Malawi (Mchinji, Likoma, Machinga, Salima, Mangochi, Chitipa and Phalombe) with Mchinji being the only district implementing at scale. The programme currently has over 98,000 beneficiaries in 24,308 households. The targeted households are the most destitute in the country as they have a very limited asset base and are not able to meet their basic needs. These households also have no labour base and therefore are unable to earn productive income for expenditure on food, clothing, hygiene or education.

The SCTP does just this by supporting increases in household expenditures through delivery of a regular monthly cash transfer (impacts from an external evaluation are provided below). The programme will contribute to ultra poverty alleviation combined with investment in economic growth and social development. Evidence from an external evaluation* of the pilot programme indicate the following impact:
Short term economic impact includes:

1. Beneficiary households are lifted above the ultra poverty line. This reduces Malawi’s ultra poverty rate in the pilot area by more than 50%.
2. Increased access to credit for poor household who were previously left out.
3. Strengthening of local markets.
4. An economic multiplier effect experienced in villages and surrounding areas where transfers are received.

In the long term:

1. Improved health and education of the children in beneficiary households is an investment in human capital and will contribute to sustained economic growth.

Social development has been advanced through:

1. Reduction in chronic malnutrition as household food security and diversity increases.
2. Increases in school enrolment, retention and performance.
3. Decreases in child labour.
4. Overall improved health of beneficiaries.

Given the positive impacts from the pilot programme, Government wishes to scale up the programme to eventually cover all ultra poor and labour constrained households.**

* Miller, Tsoka and Reichert (2008 & 2009).

**Pending passing of the Social Support Policy and subsequent realization of increased financial resources, the programme could be scaled up in current 7 districts in fiscal year 2010/11 and 6 new districts per year thereafter.

a. Overall Goal/Impact:
To improve the well-being of members of all ultra poor and labour constrained households and promote investment in human capital in terms of nutrition, health, education, shelter, and through creation of productive assets.

b. Project Purpose / Outcome
To extend coverage of the Social Cash Transfer Programme to all ultra poor and labour constrained households in all districts of Malawi, in an effort to ensure that the household income/expenditure exceeds the national ultra poverty line and reduce inequality.

c. Objectives / Results

1. To lift 300,000 labour constrained households with a population of 1.3 million people out of ultra poverty.
2. To contribute to the economic development of the country through an economic multiplier effect.
3. To contribute to the social development of the country through investment in human capital (i.e. health, nutrition, education of children in beneficiary households).

d. Output
At household level, the expected outcomes are:

• Improved food security.
• Improved access to shelter and other non-food basic needs.
• Economic shock resilience.
• Increased school enrolment, attendance, retention and performance of all children including orphans and children with disabilities.
• Improved health and nutrition of the target group of households.
• Increased access to health services and improved health-seeking behaviours.
• Mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS on beneficiary households.
• Increased levels of employment and participation in community development activities.
• Increased accumulation of household assets and reduced need for emergency aid.
• Reduced levels of delinquencies and child abuse such as child labour, exploitation and early marriages.
• Reduced incidence of gender-based violence.
• Reduced number of beggars.
• Decrease stigmatization and discrimination of beneficiaries.

On aggregate level, the expected outcomes are:

• Reduced household ultra poverty from 17% to 7% by 2015.
• Increased progress towards achieving the MDGs 1,2,3,4 and 8 by 2015.
• Increased economic growth in the short term through improved access to credit, strengthened local markets and increased labour demand in local community.
• Increased long term economic growth by investment in human capital (health and education of children).
• Improved overall health status of the country.

e. Activities
1. Galvanize political and financial commitment to sustain the SCT over 10 years.
2. Mobilize financial resources to scale up the programme nationwide.
Scale 7 current implementing districts up to full coverage of ultra poor and labour constrained households in 2010/2011.
3. Build government capacity at national and district levels to ensure quality management of this programme at scale.
4. Scale up by rolling out the programme to 6 additional districts per year.
5. Maintain and strengthen programme monitoring to measure achieved results against planned activities.
6. Ensure sound IMS and financial management systems

Estimated number of households covered and total programme costs per fiscal years 2010/11 to 2015/16

Direct beneficiaries: All members of households who are ultra poor households and at the same time labour constrained. A household is defined as labour constrained when it has no able bodied household (HH) member in the age group 19-59 who is fit for work (households consisting exclusively of the elderly, children, chronically ill, disabled persons) or when a HH member who is fit for work but has to care for more than 3 dependents (dependency ratio of more than 3). Approximately 65 percent of current beneficiaries are children, nearly 80 percent of whom are orphans. An estimated 18 percent of current beneficiaries are elderly (65+)*. The total number of beneficiary households at scale in 7 pilot districts is estimated to be approximately 83,000 households. At national scale an estimated 1.3 million beneficiaries would be reached including 871,000 children in 304,534 households.
Indirect beneficiaries: Members of the surrounding community are relieved from overwhelming social burdens as former ultra poor households now have a reliable income and adequate access to food. Beneficiary households have been observed to share some of the money (namely with needy relatives), give loans and provide employment (through hiring of casual labour) to other non-beneficiary households. Additionally, local business owners and traders have experienced an increase in customers and therefore business profits. This results in growth in the local economy and strengthening of the local market.
* The Programme has aligned with the definition of elderly within the National Policy for Older Persons in Malawi, therefore scale up will include 60 years of age and above as elderly and the anticipated % of elderly beneficiaries will increase.

a. Impact on other Government projects and activities
In addition to income support, target group households require access to a number of social and economic services like basic health, nutrition, sanitation, education and agricultural extension. Some require home-based care, HIV and AIDS services, rehabilitation services and/or psycho-social support. Many of the beneficiary households may have experienced limited or restricted access to these services given their monetary status prior to SCT Programme. It has been observed that utilization of such services greatly increases after cash transfers when beneficiaries have money to access. The District Social Support Committee (on district level) and the Community Social Support Committee (on community level) have the task to link beneficiary households to these services. They use the monthly meetings at pay points to inform beneficiaries how to access these services and refer households that experience specific problems to the respective programmes/service providers.

b. Impact on business sector
A recent economic impact evaluation of the Mchinji SCT Programme was recently released demonstrating positive impacts on local markets and businesses. It was found that SCT beneficiary households spend their cash at local markets thereby increasing revenue for local business owners and traders. Additionally, beneficiaries are given increased access to credit as business owners report lending to SCT households with the confidence that credit will be repaid.  Business owners also confirmed that “the SCT has strengthened the local market by providing a steady source of customers and cash into villages where they had once been scarce.” The SCTS has also had an impact on the demand for labour as beneficiary households now have cash to hire more casual labour outside of the household.

c. Impact on the community (Poverty and Social Impact)
Results from an external evaluation of the SCTS (March 2007-March 2008) illustrate the significant positive impacts in intervention households compared to the control households including:

• decreased prevalence of underweight children compared to baseline (10.5 percentage point difference);
• improved food security (greater food stores and increased agricultural production) and daily meal intake (fewer missed meals and fewer days without adequate food);
• better nutrition and diet diversification including increased consumption of meat, fish, dairy and oil;
• increased school enrollment (4.9 percentage point difference);
• self-reported improved school attendance (0.9 percentage point difference for mean number of days absent) and performance;
• improved health for adults and children (including higher healthcare expenditures);
• increased asset accumulation including productive assets like livestock and farming inputs;
• decreased child labour (10.7 percentage point difference); and
• improved housing quality among beneficiary households.

Additionally, persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) have experienced significant impacts including improved access to treatment as they can now reliably afford transport to and from the hospital/clinic. Beneficiary PLWHA have reported experiencing improved response to treatment. They are now able to follow treatment recommendations to diversify their diet to meet the recommended daily nutritional intake.

d. Impact on the environment  (Provide Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) results)
N/A

e. Indicate, if any, Cost-Benefit Analysis Results

Calculations for cost of scale up are based upon an average monthly transfer per beneficiary household of MK 2,368 [USD16] (MK 28.416 per year) [USD192] and an administration/operation cost amounting to MK 4,884 [USD33] per household (14.5% of total costs). The average annual cost per household is MK 33,300 [USD225]. Upon full scale up (estimated by June 2015) the annual costs for the following fiscal years remain at the level of MK 10.1 billion [USD68.5 million]. Assuming a GDP for 2015/16 of MK 740 billion [USD 5 billion], the programme costs will amount to 1.4% GDP. Evaluation results indicate that the pilot programme is cost effective in achieving the impact described above (sections 3.d, 5.b and 5.c).

Sustainability can be achieved through a partnership and commitment of resources from government and development partners.

Administration of the SCT programme at current levels is fully funded until October 2010 with financing from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM). Government is expected to provide MK 148 million [USD1 million] in fiscal year 2010/2011 and continue to allocate funding for this programme in the coming years. The German Government has pledged support in the amount of MK 2.7 billion [EURO 13million] from 2011 and UNICEF will continue support of MK 37 million [USD2.5 million] per year towards SCTS. These contributions can help maintain current administration of the programme in 7 districts covering 29,000 households.

Stakeholders are currently working to align the SCT Programme with the financing modalities of the Local Development Fund. This will help facilitate consistent funding flows down to district implementers while also ensuring that resources intended for the community actually reach the community. Additionally this set up will allow for both development partners and Government to contribute funding to the SCTP through the pooled mechanism. As the LDF is based around District Development Plan/Annual Investment Plan activities, funding will be consistent with Local Council planning, thereby ensuring sustainable resources for implementation activities.

In line with the decentralization policy in Malawi, the programme is managed by Local Councils who receive assistance, guidance and supervision from National level. The Ministry of Development Planning and Cooperation provides leadership and coordination of technical assistance to the design and implementation of SCT Programme. The Ministry of Gender, Children and Community Development houses the National Social Cash Transfer Management Unit which provides support to and oversees the District level implementation of the programme. Key task team coordinators to report to the PS through the Deputy Director for Child Development and thereafter the Director. The Deputy Director for Child Development should be responsible for the day-to-day management and oversight of the programme and he/she should oversee the work conducted in three task forces. These three Task Teams are led by task team coordinators who oversee and draw upon a team with membership from various ministries.

On district level, the programme is implemented by Secretariats which are supervised by District Commissioners and Social Support Committees of the Local Councils. The District Secretariat consists of a Coordinator and a number of Social Welfare Assistants. They receive assistance from officers of various line Ministry departments in the Assembly as well as NGOs and civil society. This multi-sectoral Social Support Committee (SSC) act as trainers of the Community Social Support Committees (CSSC). The Secretariats also closely cooperate with the District Finance Departments which are responsible for the delivery of transfers.

At the Community level, under the AEC, a CSSC is nominated and is trained to conduct the targeting of potential beneficiary households. Upon approval, the CSSC provides follow-up and communication to SCTS beneficiaries. Extension workers and civil society provide support and verification on eligibility of beneficiary households. They also provide backstopping support to the CSSC in terms of communication and referral of beneficiaries to additional social, economic and health interventions in the area.

Project M&E framework
An internal monitoring system is in place to monitor progress towards achievement of the SCT programme objectives. Monthly monitoring is conducted by the district SSC in collaboration with the district M&E coordination committee members under the guidance of the district M&E officer. A continuous monthly monitoring report (MMR) is compiled. The report focuses on monitoring of implementation issues including activities and outputs and is financed out of the SCT budget.

The compiled report is forwarded through the Councillor to the National Management Unit who compiles comments into a summary that is presented to the SSTC. It is also the responsibility of the National Management Unit to provide feedback to each District Assembly within a reasonable time frame. The district level monitoring also includes Rapid Appraisal Surveys (RAS) which focus on specific issues of quality of targeting, impact of transfers on school enrolment and attendance, and assessing beneficiary use of cash transfers. The RAS is not included in the SCT budget but financed through a formal request/proposal made by the district.

Additionally quarterly monitoring is undertaken by national level M&E team, with coordination from the National Management Unit (MoGCCD). The monitoring visit includes verification of the information included in district MMRs as an auditing exercise. It is envisaged that each implementing district will be visited once each quarter and follow up visits are made as necessary. Reports are generated by each visit and follow up undertaken where necessary.

District stakeholders also compile reports on quarterly summaries that highlight programme progress, achievements, challenges and actions. Additionally, each quarter a meeting is called to join national and district level stakeholders together to discuss progresses, challenges, achievements and to solidify follow up support from National level.

The programme will also be externally evaluated to examine long-term impacts and achievement of programme objectives. It is planned that this evaluation take place every 3 years after the pilot stage has finished and the programme has been scaled up.

Project Indicators

According to Malawi ECD Strategic Plan (2009-2014), “ECD is a comprehensive approach to policies and programs for children from conception to eight years. It encompasses early learning and stimulation, health, education, nutrition, hygiene and sanitation. ECD is thus a multi-sectoral program which requires full cooperation between key sectors including government ministries, NGOs, Community-Based Organisations (CBOs), faith-based organizations (FBOs), the private sector and communities themselves” (p.10). ECD services in Malawi are delivered through nursery schools, preschools, and community-based childcare (CBCC) centres, nutrition rehabilitation units, children’s wards, parenting education, community dialogue on key child care practices, under 5 clinics, and others.  The major purpose of ECD in Malawi is to protect the child’s right to develop his or her full cognitive, emotional, social and physical development, including attention to nutrition, health, water and sanitation and psychosocial care to ensure promotion and protection of the rights of the young child to survival of growth and development.

ECD must be promoted based on the fact that the period from conception to three years of a child’s life is the most critical time for brain development as well as rapid growth. The first eight years lay down the foundation for later learning and socialization and that impressions made during this time determine the quality of life of the child because they last forever. Further, investment in ECD enhances children’s survival, growth and development and ultimately contributes to social and economic development of the nation. Thus, investment in ECD is a reliable and sound strategy for reducing or eradicating poverty in that it lays a strong foundation for optimum development of children, which in turn prepares them to be productive economically and socially. While advancing the long term Government goal of eradicating poverty, investing in ECD ensures that children’s rights are upheld. Again, it cannot be overemphasised that ECD prepares children for primary education and contributes towards increased school retention and higher levels of attainment in school. Studies have shown that if children attend pre-primary school, they are better prepared for school itself. They are more likely to enroll and stay in school and perform better academically than their peers who have not. Early learning also improves children’s health and nutrition status. ECD therefore plays a crucial role in shaping up the character of a person into a productive citizen in later life.

Situation analysis

In spite of the investment the government of Malawi and its development partners have made, indicators for child survival, growth, development and protection remain poor. Vital statistics reveal that:

1. 52.4% of the population lives on less than $1 a day
2. Life expectancy is at 38 years
3. Under five mortality  at 133 deaths per 1000 live births
4. 49% of the children being stunted
5. 22% of children being underweight.
6. 2% of live births in Malawi result in the death of the mother.
7. It is estimated that nearly one third of infected mothers pass the virus to their babies.
8. 50 % of 1 million orphans are due to HIV and AIDS.
9. Of children who enrol to standard one, only 40% reach standard four, and only 26% of the children (16% for girls) complete primary school.   Repetition rates are at 25% and there is long period of time (14 years) taken to complete the primary education cycle.
10. 37% of the children are engaged in child labour
11. 50% of the women getting married before they reach eighteen years.
12. Only 30% of children attend Centre-based ECD, leaving 70% of the targeted ECD-going children with no access to ECD services. 

Achievements and Challenges in ECD

Notable achievements in ECD initiatives in Malawi for the past few years include development of the ECD Policy, development of the ECD Strategic Plan (2009-2014) and the ECD Communication Strategy. The Ministry of Gender, Children and Community Development (MoGCCD) in collaboration with Cooperating Partners has also developed the national ECD network to provide support in mobilizing resources; trained a core team of trainers at national and district levels; trained community facilitators and caregivers; and development of various ECD instructional materials to enhance quality.

Due to increased awareness of the importance of ECD services, more child care centres are being established in all districts of the country.  Currently, over 8390 CBCCs have been established with enrolment of 683,825. The Ministry of Education through its Primary Curriculum Assessment Reform (PCAR) has also integrated ECD services in early primary school.  At the same time, expansion of child survival programs in the health sector has led to an increased number of mothers receiving care and support and reaching more children in the 0-8 years age bracket. Of particular significance is the growing number of HIV positive children accessing ART and an increasing number of HIV positive pregnant mothers accessing PMTCT services through CBCCs, health facilities and community based organisations.

2.3    Problem Statement
Despite the progress made in ECD initiatives, there are still many and varied challenges in the delivery of programme activities and these can be categorised under the following 5 major areas:

Policy and regulatory framework:      The existence of an ECD policy has not translated into an understanding and support from policy makers, and as such, ECD continues to be accorded low priority on the national development agenda.
Access and equity: Currently there are over 8,398 ECD centres known as Community Based Childcare Centres and pre-schools in Malawi. Access to ECD centre services is at 30% percent (683,825 children). This implies that approximately 70 percent of the legible children are not accessing the service. The scenario is worse for children with special needs, children on the streets, the girl child and orphans and other vulnerable children.  Equitable access has not been achieved due to several reasons including; inadequate service delivery points, unavailability of appropriate services, cultural barriers to using the services, poor quality services, geographical barriers and limited capacity of service providers.

Quality and relevance:This is affected by ad hoc capacity building for ECD due to lack of relevant training institutions or recognized training program resulting in inadequate training and qualification of caregivers; lack of minimum set standards in the delivery of ECD services; lack of properly designed parent support programmes; inadequate resources to guarantee quality; Inadequate qualified ECD personnel.  

Infrastructure:  Most ECD centres lack adequate facilities. The current infrastructure is inappropriate to provide adequate care for the survival growth and development of young children. The centres are characterized by temporary dilapidated structures, with poor ventilation, dusty rooms, poor lighting, and absence of child friendly sanitary facilities.

Leadership, partnership and coordination: Absence of a well resourced ECD unit in the Ministry negatively affects the role and authority to coordinate implementation of ECD policy. 

Monitoring and evaluation: Ministry of Women and Child Development recognizes the importance of monitoring and evaluation for feedback into the ECD program. Currently the Ministry has not developed a clear monitoring and evaluation system for ECD,

To address these challenges and make the envisaged positive impact on the national development agenda, the MGDS, the National ECD Policy (2006) and the National Strategic Plan 2009-2014 provide the direction for achieving national targets for ECD.  However, this needs a lot of support if such targets are to be achieved.  It is in this context that the Government of Malawi, through the MoGCCD is applying to the World Bank for financial support.

The vision of ECD in Malawi is to realize “Malawian children that are holistically developed: well stimulated and educated, healthy and nourished, well protected and morally upright so that they can excel in life” (National Strategic Plan 2009-2014, p.16).  To achieve this vision, ECD in Malawi intends to provide the Malawian child with high quality services in early childhood care that ensure his/her survival, growth, protection and development that would lead to his/her active participation in national development

Goal for the SECD Programme

The goal of the SECD programme is to facilitate the provision of ECD services in key areas of legal and institutional framework, access and equity, quality and relevance, research, monitoring and evaluation for purposes of raising the quality of ECD in Malawi.  In the long term, the programme intends to assist the Government of Malawi (GoM) through the MoGCCD to achieve the targets stipulated in the National Strategic Plan for ECD 2009-2014.

Objectives the SECDP Programme

The SECDP project intends to:

1. build the capacity  to increase, access and equity in ECD Service provision by 2014
2. develop standards to improve quality and relevance of ECD service
3. strengthen partnerships, leadership and coordination among various ECD stakeholders and structures to ensure improved governance and management of ECD Programmes
4. support the development of an effective ECD monitoring and evaluation system

Activities under the SECD Programme

Out of the 6 key strategic outcomes of the ECD Strategic Plan, the project will focus on the following 5 key areas: Legal and institutional framework; Access to and equity in ECD services; Quality and relevance of ECD services; Leadership, Partnership and Coordination;  and Research, monitoring and evaluation

Legal and Institutional Framework

Under this component, the project aims at supporting efforts to put in place legislation and regulatory frameworks that will give ECD prominence in the government decision making process at all levels including resource allocation. Key strategies under this component will be to support implementation of capacity development plan for ECD at both managerial and technical levels and instituting standard guidelines for operating ECD facilities. Specifically the activities will include:

1. Support implementation of capacity development plan for ECD at both managerial and technical levels.
2. Procure vehicles for ECD resource centres and the Ministry for implementation, supervision and monitoring of activities.
3. Procure computer sets for ECD resource centres, project unit and the Ministry. 
4. Procure office furniture for ECD resource centres, project unit and the Ministry 
5. Procure laptops, LCD projectors, still cameras and cameras for ECD resource centres, project unit and the Ministry
6. Provide salary for project unit staff.

Access to and equity in ECD Services

This component will aim at increasing access to ECD services through strengthening linkages between ECD centres and  other related facilities such as primary schools and Community Based Organizations (CBOs); supporting the acquisition of play and development materials. The component will also advance equity issues in ECD by supporting the implementation of activities related to the inclusion policy as stipulated in the National Strategic Plan for ECD (Inclusion issues include special needs, gender, HIV and AIDS, street children, children in difficult circumstances, etc). The componemt will also support the establishment of more ECD centres. The specific activities are:

1. Assessing requirements for ECD structures by District and TA
2. Upgrading 3000 ECD centres (CBCCs with play grounds, materials, water source, etc)  in communities, prisons, hospitals and markets by 2014
3. Building and equipping 30 Model ECD centres  
4. Providing  cash grants to model ECD centres
5. Developing tailor made teaching and learning aids (including technologies), mobility and other accessories
6. Training 1500 caregivers and teachers working with children with special needs
7. Providing child/user-friendly structures, including children with special needs

Quality and relevance of ECD services

This component shall focus on capacity building for relevant personnel and institutions involved in the delivery of ECD services.  Capacity building will ensure that quality ECD programmes are not only developed but also implemented efficiently across sectors.  The specific activities will be as follows:

1. Provision of comprehensive ECD training and distribution of relevant learning aids and play resources
2. Training ECD certificate caregivers
3. Conducting training for 300 ToTs (ECD trainers in each district and tertiary institutions)
4. Conducting orientation workshops in ECD for 2000 service providers (primary school caregivers and other extension workers)
5. Conducting parenting orientation workshops targeting parents for 0-2 year olds.
6. Conducting 4000 ECD centre parent committee orientation workshops
7. Constructing and equipping early childhood development Annexes at Colleges and Universities

Leadership, Partnership And Coordination

Support in this component will be directed towards ensuring efficiency in the management (coordination, supervision, monitoring, etc) of  ECD activities through the development of M&E system in the coordinating Ministry, strengthening research (and dissemination) in ECD, and capacity of key institutions and organisations implementing ECD in Malawi. Planned activities are:

1. Provision of ECD scholarships at different levels for education advancement of caregivers, graduate and post graduate studies to persons and organizations implementing ECD services
2. Conducting an audit of institutional and technical capacity of organizations implementing ECD services
3. Developing a capacity development plan
4. Monitoring implementation of capacity development plan

Research, Monitoring and Evaluation

This will involve a continuous and systematic process of collecting and analyzing data to measure the performance of the interventions to wards achieving the desired results. Activities outlined for this component include:

• Reviewing existing ECD tools on M&E
• Training officers and stakeholders in updated M&E system
• Supporting supervisory activities
• Supporting national and district stakeholder meetings
• Compiling and disseminating ECD implementation reports
• Conducting research on various areas of ECD (cross-sectional and longitudinal)
• Disseminating research findings

The Ministry of Development Planning and Cooperation (DPC) is responsible for overall monitoring and evaluation of development programmes in Malawi.  The MoGCCD operates within this national framework to monitor development activities under the Ministry. Thus at programme level, the MoGCCD has direct mandate to monitor programmes through its own M&E System, which feeds into the nation M&E system.

For the proposed SECD Programme, the MoGCCD through its Planning Department will have the overall responsibility for monitoring the programme at three levels, namely: national, district and community. However, as part of monitoring, external evaluators (consultants) will be engaged do conduct baseline study at the beginning of the program, mid-term and final evaluations for the programme.

Implementation of the ECD M&E system will involve development ofstandardized M&E tools based on the data needs of all the stakeholders of the project. There will be quarterly monitoring visits by the Planning Department to the district and community levels to assess the progress being achieved at the point of service delivery. Multilevel supervision will also be carried out by officers from both the national and district offices. The Planning Department will also coordinate the development of an ECD database which will eventually be integrated into the overall Ministry database.

District level monitoringwill be implemented by the District Assembly through the District Social Welfare Offices (DSWOs), which will also be trained to manage the data base at that level. At the community level,child protection workers, care givers, CBOs, FBOs’ and NGOs’ staffwill collect the necessary data to feed into the database at the district level.

As part of implementing the SECDP, the technical capacity at the ministry headquarters will be strengthened to ensure efficient management of the data base, by recruiting an M&E technical expert.  Similarly, partners involved in ECD at district and community levels (i.e. key line sectors, NGOs, CBOs, FBOs and caregivers) will be strengthened through training and provision of essential equipment and materials to ensure availability of quality and timely data.

Details of the proposed M&E System are indicated in detail in Annex A – Logical Framework

The programme will create opportunities for both girls and boys to participate in education and development programmes in the country by ensuring that they have access to ECD services and therefore a good start in life and preparation for formal education.  Research has shown that when children go through ECD, they are less likely to dropout of school than when they do not.  In Malawi, most girls drop out of school early partly due to lack of stimulation and good foundation when they are young. 

The programme will also address issues of abuse of the girl child, by offering protection through the activities around the ECD centre and capacity building of various service providers at the grassroots level such as child protection workers and other extension workers. Furthermore, the programme will promote equal participation of both men and women in the implementation of ECD service by encouraging men to take a more active and supportive role as caregivers, members of parents committees and implementers at various levels.

The Ministry of Gender, Children and Community Development is the lead agency that oversees and coordinates the provision of ECD services through the Department of Children Affairs. The Department is headed by a Director of (Children Affairs), assisted by a Deputy Director. A number of officers responsible for diffrent programs, including ECD, report to the director through the deputy director.

Under coordination, a national level Steering Committee, Technical Working Group and the ECD Network facilitates the decision-making processes.

However, a scaled up ECD programme will require a considerable human resource capacity building both professional and support staff. Apart from strengthening the staffing levels of the ECD unit, the project will therefore have to also focus on training of staff in early childhood development. This will ensure that appropriate staff is in place at the national, district and community levels. Despite this, the programme shall still require technical support in form of a Technical Advisor, an accountant and procurement officer as part of institutional strengthening and capacity building at Ministry level.

GoM Contributions

An extensive programme like the ECD requires considerable human resource personnel both technical and administrative staff. The GOM will ensure that the following personnel is in place:-

• 1 National Coordinator (P5) who will be the overall in-charge of the programme
• 3 ECD officers at grade G (P7) each responsible for training, curriculum development and parenting education components. However these officers will have to specialise in their areas of operations
• 3 Accounts Assistants to handle relatively large amounts of  money in the process of implementing programme activities
• 30 District ECD programme officers whose function will be to coordinate district level activities; and
• 2 administrative  secretaries, 1 messenger, 2 drivers according to the distribution of vehicles to be purchased

Linkages with ongoing programmes

The ECD programme will establish linkages with programmes implemented by the some of government and non-governmental agencies as listed below.

• Ministry of Health: health care, growth monitoring, imunisation, disease prevention and treatment
• Ministry of Education:  basic education, teachers training in ECD, monitoring and data collection and introduction of ECD training in colleges of higher learning and teachers training colleges
• Ministry of Water and Enviromental Sanitation: provision of safe water points, environmental sanitation and hygiene education
• Ministry of Agricultures:  food security and nutrition education
• Ministry of Justice: Promotion and advocacy of child rights, law reform and putting in place systems for protecting children against abuse.
• Office of the President and Cabinet responsible for HIV and AIDS and Nutrition: Nutrition care, including HIV and AIDS education
• Ministry of Local Government and District Administration: Inclusion of ECD activities in district development planning, development of by-laws to safeguard the interests of children, reources mobilisation and maintenance of ECD facilities
• Ministry of People with Disabilities:  Integration and support to children with special needs and training caregivers in working with children with special needs
• Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture: promoting child and youth participation
• Various Civil society Organisations: Scaling ECD services to reach many children

The ECD programme addresses five of the six Strategic Key Outcomes from the Malawi National Strategic Plan for ECD 2009 to 2014.  This means that the project will help move the ECD agenda to a higher level as this will allow Malawi to explore more possibilities within the plan. The fact that this ECD programme is to be implemented through a community-based approach, gives Malawi the opportunity to explore more issues around this model to promote community ownership of the initiatives. The establishment of ECD resource and Model ECD centres in each of the 29 districts in Malawi is unique innovation as it will facilitate the development of professional skills and social effectiveness among caregivers, parents committees, extension workers and community leaders in the delivery of services.  Furthermore, ECD centres are being linked to primary schools to create opportunities for interaction between formal education service providers and ECD services to ensure the child is ready for school.  Community capacity building in M&E, will lead to creation of a comprehensive and therefore dependable data base for ECD in Malawi.  A strong M&E System for ECD is central to the advancement of ECD in Malawi as it will allow various stakeholders to clearly see the levels of progress in various components.  Inclusion of basic research component in the project will be another innovation in ECD in Malawi as we shall add an African voice to ECD literature since there are currently very few published African voices in the literature related to ECD.

Sustainability

The Government of Malawi is implementing other development programmes to reduce poverty towards sustainable development. The ECD services are therefore specifically designed to invest in children to sustain their health, social and economic well-being and contribute to overall national development. Sustainability in the context of the ECD programme is related to three key issues, which are:  institutional, technical and financial.

Institutional Sustainability

The MoGCCD has over the past years shown very strong commitment to the implementation of ECD activities despite the limited resource-base.  There is already a well defined implementation structure at community, district and national levels.  The community–based approach to ECD that the MoGCCD and its partners follow is one of the major institutional strengths, as the community runs and owns the CBCCs.  In terms of cost-effectiveness, both the short and the long-term benefits outweigh the costs involved in the setting up and running of a Community-Based Child Care Centre (CBCC). Thus the proposed Support to Early Childhood Development Programme will extend, strengthen and add value to the already existing structures to be more robust in terms of quality service provision.

Technical sustainability

The Coordinating Ministry has a Child Development department which has over the years coordinated ECD services across the country.  The existence of the Planning Department, with expertise in M&E will ensure technical sustainability of programme.  However, technical challenges remain, and the capacity building proposed for this programme (leading to the creation of a pool of trainers at all levels) will contribute towards addressing the technical capacity challenges in the Ministry and other sectors, and therefore improve technical sustainability of the objectives of the proposed programme

Financial Sustainability

The government of Malawi is committed to promoting ECD, and therefore financial sustainability of the activities supported under this programme will be ensured partly through the government’s subvention and partner support.  Since the ECD centres at the community level are owned and run by the communities themselves, there will be limited financial support to these, except in core areas of further capacity building.

Through this project the ministry intends to construct one girls’ hostel each at Mpemba and Chilwa Reformatory Centres. This will help to accomplish one of the major objectives of the ministry which is to ensure that women/girls are provided with all the opportunities to fully participate in the development of this country. Further more the project is relevant to the fulfilment of MGDS II Theme 2 Sub-Theme 4 where children (including girls) are deemed to be the future of the nation. However, it is a fact that just likes boys, girls might find themselves in conflict with the law. To ensure that their future is secured, society should not give up on such girls but rather provide them with services that will bring them back into the mainstream where they will get another chance to meaningfully contribute to their own development and that of the nation. One of the strategies to achieve this is to improve equitable access to quality child development service i.e. through the reformatory services.  

A juvenile offender who has gone through reformation services adjusts well to social life and is better placed to be involved in economic ventures and social activities. Placing a girl juvenile therefore in this environment that provides discipline, structure, education and training, as well as programmes aimed at tackling anti-social behaviours and reducing offenses will give the girl child a chance to break away from criminal life and regain control of her future.

a. Overall Goal/Impact:
Girl juvenile offenders reformed and re-integrated into their communities and able take control of their lives and contribute to the development of the country.

b. Project Purpose / Outcome
To provide character reform of girl juvenile offenders through counselling, acquisition of vocational skills, education, social and recreational activities with the view of making them useful, self reliant and responsible citizens of Malawi.

c. Objectives / Results

1. To protect the rights of girl juvenile offenders.
2. To keep the girl juvenile offenders out of adult prison
3. To reduce risk of girl juvenile offenders turning into hardcore criminals
4. To equip the girl juvenile offender with livelihood skills
5. To reduce congestion in prisons

d. Output

1. 2 girls hostels constructed: 1 at Mpemba and 1 at Chilwa.

e. Activities

1. Identification and selection of construction site.
2. Engaging the Consultants for the design and Construction supervision of the hostels
3. Procurement of a construction contractor
4. Construction of the 2 hostels
5. Supervision and monitoring

The project is targeting 60 girls (30 in each centre) who will reside in the hostels and have access to the reformation services.

a. Impact on other Government projects and activities:
Constituting 52% of the population women including girls offer a vast human resource potential for increasing the country’s productive capacity and contributing to sustained economic growth and development. The empowerment of a girl child (who is in conflict with the law) through reformation will therefore ensure that they are of socio-economic and political value to the nation for real sustainable development and consequently poverty reduction. This will contribute towards achieving the goals of the country’s development agenda as outlined in the MGDS.

b. Impact on business sector
The MGDS recognises human resource development as key to economic development in Malawi. The business sector requires human resource that is well educated and skilled for it to power the economy. This project will therefore have positive impact on this sector through the skills that the girls will attain at the centres.

c. Impact on the community
When juveniles are released and re-integrated into their communities, they become productive members of those communities through employment/ self employment and the good moral values attained at the centres. Targeting girl child offenders with appropriate reformatory services will also ensure a more inclusive growth where they are able to benefit from the services that the economy provides and also contribute to that growth.

d. Impact on the environment
The project will have no adverse effect on the environment since it will be implemented within the institutional boundaries which are already developed.

e. Indicate, if any, Cost-Benefit Analysis Results
The actual cost-benefit results would be clear after the design stage. However there are several shadow benefits that will accrue from the implementation of this project and this can be summarised at three levels:

The Economy: Reformation of the girl juvenile reduces the future rate of offending, thereby reducing the cost to the taxpayers who do not have to pay for the criminal justice system that would have processed those offenses.
The Community: Benefits of reforming the girl child will also accrue to people and communities who would otherwise have been the victims of possible future and more serious crimes.
The Girl Juvenile: The interventions of the reformation program also contribute towards improved schooling outcomes and employment opportunities for the girls through the values of discipline and the livelihood skills that they will gain from the program.

From the onset of the project, all stakeholders, including surrounding communities, will be consulted to create a sense of ownership.  The project will also ensure that the institutions’ capacity to manage the hostels is enhanced for continuity beyond the life span of the project.   The construction of the girls’ hostels will ensure that there is continued access to formal education and vocational training for the girls.

The project will be managed by the Ministry through the Directorate of Planning and Research who will also recruit a consultant to design and supervise the project during construction phase. After completion of the hostels, the operational and management hostels will be under the Reformatory Centres themselves with the Principal as the contact person. The Monitoring Unit of the ministry in collaboration with the Buildings Department will monitor and supervise the project on regular intervals during the construction phase to ensure its sucessful implemetation.

The Department of Planning and Research in the Ministry of Gender, Children and Community Development will be responsible for the designing of a comprehensive M&E Framework specific to this project to monitor resources invested, the activities implemented, services delivered after the completion of the project as well as evaluate outcomes achieved and long-term impact made through the rehabilitation of the girl child in these Reformatory Centres. Besides, as aforementioned the Planning and Research Department in collaboration with the Department of Buildings will conduct regular site visits to monitor progress during the implementation of the project.

Result Area 1

Institutional capacity of the national “Gender Machinery’’ strengthened (defined as Civil Society, Public and Private Sector Actors working towards gender equality and equity).

Result Area 2

Capacity for mainstreaming gender in National AIDS Commission (NAC) and key priority sectors are enhanced.

Result Area 3

Equality between women and men in society improved through economic, social and legal empowerment.

Result Area 4

Socio-cultural practices impacting on the link between gender and HIV and AIDS including Gender Based Violence (GBV) better understood and utilized for behavioral change intervention in HIV and AIDS.

The programme officially became effective on 18th May, 2012 and it was officially launched by the President of the Republic of Malawi, Her Excellency, Mrs Joyce Banda, on 12 July 2012 at Bingu Conference Centre in Lilongwe.

The total programme cost is estimated at €11.7 million through a contribution agreement between EU and UNFPA and the duration of the programme is 3 years.

The Programme is being implemented on a pilot basis in 13 districts of the country representing the diversity of gender issues in all the three regions as follows: Chitipa, Karonga, Nkhatabay and Mzimba in the Northern Region; Dowa, Mchinji, Salima and Dedza in the Central Region; and Mangochi, Machinga, Chiradzulu, Chikwawa and Nsanje in the Southern Region.

The primary beneficiaries of this programme are women, men, girls and boys, particularly in the 13 target districts, that will be reached directly or indirectly by the Gender Machinery with interventions aimed at improving gender equity and equality. Other key beneficiaries for this intervention include Government Ministries and Departments; Civil Society Organizations and Non State Actors; academic and research institutions; UNFPA and other development partners, District Councils and Traditional Authorities.

The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare is the lead implementing agency of the programme on behalf of the Government of Malawi. Implementation of activities at national and district level is jointly done by MoGCSW and 10 Implementing Partners that were competitively selected through a Call for Proposals that was announced in August 2012.

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