Malawi is a young democracy, having transitioned to multi-party democracy only in 1994. It remains one of the poorest countries in the world, with 80-85% of the population living in rural areas and deriving their livelihoods from agriculture. Environmental degradation and HIV/AIDS are serious challenges to the country, and are having dire social and economic effects. In addition, the health care system remains weak and underfunded. In fact, Malawi currently faces a broad range of political and economic governance issues. The key ones identified in the literature are:
- Rule of law: Malawi’s court system is overburdened and under resourced, and people living in rural areas have poor access to justice. The judicial system has failed to protect the rights of the marginalised and the interplay of formal and customary legal mechanisms has resulted in gaps in protection, and confusion over applicable law and interpretations.
- Gender: Women and girls in Malawi face widespread discrimination and domestic violence is common. Despite comprising 51% of the population, only 13.6% of parliamentary seats are held by women.
- Decentralisation and Local Governance: Although recent decentralisation intiatives have had some success at regional and district levels, there have been stark inequalities in distribution at the sub-district level. Efforts to decentralise resource management have often resulted in elite capture.
- Education: Education is allocated 24.6 percent share of the budget and Malawi has one of the highest enrolment rates in Africa (63.1%). However the rapid increase in the number of non-state providers has resulted in significant governance issues and quality concerns.
- Private Sector and Financial Services: Agricultural markets have largely been excluded from formal financial systems. The private sector also remains underdeveloped and faces numerous regulations, heavy taxation and lacks protection under rule of law/ property rights.