Efforts by Malawi to achieve sustainable development and poverty reduction received a boost on last week in Tunis, where the board of directors of the African Development Bank, ADB, approved a loan and two grants of a combined $47.24 million, to finance the country’s National Water Development Programme, NWDP.
The ADB support is a loan of $ 24.63 million, an ADF grant of $17.34 million and a Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative, RWSSI, Trust Fund grant of $3,520 million, it will be deployed to provide the country with urban and rural water supply , as well as promote resource management and capacity building, as well promote resource managememt and capacity building in the water sector. The objective of the programme is to ebsure the sustainable provision of adaquate water and sanitation services to the people of Malawi.
The NWDP is being implemented on the basis of need and readiness. Poverty level, socio-economic indicators, water supply coverage and geographical proximity, with the bank group’s intervention focusing on four district; Lilongwe Rural, Zomba, Mulanje and Machinga. The bank’s financing is targetting 1.21 million deprived rural inhabitants of the four districts. Expected outcomes include improved equity and proximity in the distribution of water points, enhanced economic status of women scheme officers, and a reduction in the death of children under five years.