Donors pump in K101 billion for Malawi SDGs

Donors have pulled together resources in one Malawi basket to raise K101 billion towards attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s).

UN Resident Coordinator, Maria Jose Torres says the Fund’s Steering Committee, co-chaired by the Secretary to Treasury Chauncy Simwaka and Torres, endorsed the Joint Programmes during their meeting last week.

The funds will focus on girls’ education, building resilient livelihoods for the poor and vulnerable, and improving access to basic healthcare, says Torres.

She says an additional K3 billion has been allocated to fight the Covid 19 pandemic, specifically targeting vulnerable groups such as women and girls.

The programmes are financially supported by the United Kingdom, Norway, Canada, Flanders, Ireland, Romania and the UN.

“The new contribution, this time thanks to support from Canada, will strengthen Malawi’s response to  tackle the pandemic and its adverse socio-economic effects by ensuring that vulnerable groups such as  women and girls are not left behind in the response,” said Torres.

Simwaka highlights that these programmes represent strategic partnerships towards accelerating the SDG agenda in the next 10 years.

He says this is in line with the Malawi 2063.

“These programmes represent strategic partnerships between the Government of Malawi, including local  authorities and communities, and the UN, thanks to the support of development partners in a step towards  accelerating the SDG agenda in the next 10 years as outlined in the Malawi 2063 Vision,” said Simwaka.

Malawi’s Sustainable Development Goals Acceleration Fund (SDG-AF) was set up in 2019 by the  Government of Malawi, development partners, and the United Nations (UN) to accelerate progress towards  national attainment of the SDGs.