Financing woes of SDGs 48

Financing woes of Sustainable Development Goals in

Malawi

By

Brian Phiri Kampanje

Abstract

Achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by

2030 demands Malawi’s commitment and dedication in
view of the sheer volume of financial resources required
as well as gigantic mental capacity. This study has noted
that Malawi’s Budget Statements which provide the fiscal
policies have not mentioned the SDGs from their
inception in 2015 up to 2023. The National Budgets
represented through the Annual Economic Reports have
scantly discussed the SDGs during the same period. The
SDGs have not been factored into the Local Government
Budgets for all the councils in Malawi. Worse still, the
donor funded programmes have also not put much
emphasis on the SDGs. The chances of Malawi failing to
achieve the SDGs by 2030 are more unlikely than
otherwise because what is not budgeted for, cannot be
done. It is recommended that appropriate budgets be
factored in Malawi’s national and local government
budgets.
49 INTL Sustainability Journal Vol. 1. No. 1, Oct 2023

Type of Paper: Research Paper

Key Words: Financing; Budget; Malawi; SDGs

1.0 Introduction

There are now only seven years before the expiration of

the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but
localization of the SDGs into Malawian social and cultural
fabric seems to be a far-fetched dream as the majority of
Malawians are not aware of these goals. Time is running
out fast and the cost of inaction to redress the current
adverse variance might be quite high in the long run. This
is not the first time Malawi has failed to adequately
accomplish the international development goals as it only
managed to meet four of the eight Millennium
Development Goals as earlier noted by Kampanje (2017).

1.1 Research objectives

There appears to be inadequate funding to undertake the

necessary activities vis-a-vis programmes and projects to
achieve the seventeen development goals along with their
one hundred sixty nine targets. This study therefore strived
to evaluate the probable reasons for low funding in the
implementation of the SDGs in Malawi and three
objectives were pursue as follows:
 Financing woes of SDGs in Malawi 50

a) Evaluate the current national budgetary allocation for

achieving the seven SDGs and their one hundred sixty
nine targets.
b) Assess the level of SDGs in the local government’s
annual budgets.
c) Investigate the level of donor support to Malawi to
achieve the SDGs.

2.0 Literature review

2.1 Malawi’s commitment to finance SDGs

The successful implementation of SDGs in Malawi can

only be achieved if there is adequate funding for the long
term universal development programme. Malawi became
the signatory of the SDGs in 2015 - Kampanje (2017). It
committed to adequate funding of the implementation of
the SDGs as noted by Kampanje (2017:43):

[Malawi is committed to source funds for the successful

implementation of the seventeen SDGs which have 169 targets
unlike the eight MDGs which Malawi adopted in 2000 and
were not successfully achieved because there was no predefined
source of financing the goals – Nankhonya (2015).
Implementation of SDGs might be off-track in the absence of
new country’s development strategy which must be developed
by the National Planning Commission which is yet to start its
job. Khunga (2016) however stated that United Nations ruled
51 INTL Sustainability Journal Vol. 1. No. 1, Oct 2023

out any possible danger that Malawi could be left out if

domestication of SDGs do not start as soon as possible.].

Government of Malawi noted the gaps in the financing of

SDGs as highlighted by Government of Malawi
(2020b:xi):

[Upon discovering the financial capacity challenges to

implementing the MGDS III and SDGs, the GoM, withsupport
from the UN, undertook the Development Finance Assessment
(DFA) in order to determine financial opportunities and
management modalities through conventional and
non-conventional means. Recommendations were made
towards close collaboration with non-governmental and private
sector organisations. In addition, the report emphasises the need
to develop a framework that ensures allocation of resources to
priority areas to realise significant impact for the majority of the
population.].

2.2 External assistance in financing SDGs

The sheer amount of effort required to successfully

implement the SDGs and achieve the intended objectives
certainly means that Malawi cannot be able to mobilize all
the resources itself but needs the support from the donors
and billateral as well as multirateral partners. This was
clearly elaborated by Matoga (2017):

[… According to the UN Resident Coordinator in Malawi …, it

 Financing woes of SDGs in Malawi 52

is important to engage the community for them to realise and

contribute towards the achievement of SDGs. … further pointed
out that it was not the duty of the United Nations and the
Malawi Government alone who could contribute to the
achievement of SDGs but rather every one getting involved.

The UN Envoy therefore urged everyone to take part for SDGs

to be achieved as there were 5,000 days left then to make sure
that all Malawians have sufficient and nutritious food; clean
water, clean houses as well as health environment, and having
all children in schools. …

… Concurring with localizing SDGs, Ambassador of the EU

Delegation to Malawi … said that as EU, they were glad to see
numerous displays showcasing the efforts of a broad range of
players implementing the 2030 Agenda for sustainable
development and achieving the SDGs.

“As EU, we are investing close to 700 million EURO in the

period to 2020 mainly focusing on Agriculture, Food Security
and Nutrition, corresponding to SDG goal no 1 and 2; followed
by Secondary, Technical and Vocational Education relating to
SDG no. 4 and Governance, referring to the SDG no.16. We are
also supporting Malawi in other SDG relevant areas like
providing safe drinking water to 1.5 million Malawians;
rehabilitating about 2,450 km of rural roads and 220 bridges,
providing over 40,000 jobs and we are continuing to add
another 1,200 km in 12 selected districts,” highlighted ….].

The level of the support from donors and partners

however seems to be inadequate as noted by the
Government of Malawi (2020b:xi):

53 INTL Sustainability Journal Vol. 1. No. 1, Oct 2023

[All cooperating partners have rallied their support towards the
national development priorities through welldesigned country
assistance strategies that have the key priority areas integrated
into their programmes. However, there is a need to increase
their support towards enabling economic sectors such as
agriculture, natural resource management and transportation to
be able to achieve the Agenda 2030 objectives. Increasing
accountability and transparency among the non-governmental
development players is key to ensuring that resources are being
used according to the set national development objectives and
targets].

Nation Online (2022) painted a gloomy picture of possible

financing of SDGs in least developed countries such as
Malawi as follows:

[The trend in sustainable development goals (SDG)- relevant

investment is less favourable for least developed countries
(LDCs) including Malawi, the United Nations has said. …

“Recovery of investment flows to developing countries is

encouraging, but stagnation of new investment in least
developed countries in industries important for productive
capacities, and key SDG sectors – such as electricity, food or
health – is a major cause for concern,” said Unctad Secretary-
General ….].

3.0 Methodology
 Financing woes of SDGs in Malawi 54

The document analysis was adopted in view of time and

cost constraints but this did not compromise the quality of
the data collection exercise. The independence of the
study from the research subjects was also achieved to
minimize unintended biases.

Document analysis involved perusing Malawi's budget

documents especially the Annual Budget Statements,
Annual Economic Reports, Donor Reports and all relevant
documentation regarding SDGs in Malawi.

4.0 Results and discussions

4.1 National budget support for the SDGs

4.1.1 SDGs in the Annual Budget Statements

The SDGs have never been mentioned in the budget

statements from 2016/2017 fiscal year to the 2022/2023
fiscal year. This means that the Government of Malawi
has no priority for SDGs in the national budget. Much as
so many activities highlighted in the budget statements
were directly related to SDGs, omission to provide such
linkage meant that the majority of the Malawians are not
aware of the SDGs which could otherwise evaluate their
progress against set targets by 2030.
55 INTL Sustainability Journal Vol. 1. No. 1, Oct 2023

4.1.2 SDGs in the Annual Economic Reports

4.1.2.1 2016 Annual Economic Report

SDGs were mentioned in Section 11 linking Integrated

Rural Development with SDG albeit with no further
details.

4.1.2.2 2017 Annual Economic Report

SDGs were mentioned six times in the said report. Three

times it was mentioned in relation to the rural growth
centres initiatives and the other three on the budget
allocations which the Government of Malawi (2018:198)
averred:

[Budgetary Central Government (BCG) recurrent expenditure

increased from MK726.2 billion in the 2015/16 fiscal year to
MK823.4 billion in the 2016/17 fiscal year. Using the
allocations to sectors, it can be seen that this is mainly on
account of the increase in general public services, as well as
social and community services. Social and community services
increased by 1 percentage point from 7.4 percent of GDP in
2015/16 to 8.4 percent of GDP in 2016/17. The sectors under
social and community services are the priority areas under
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Increased allocation to
these sectors implies that Government is implementing its
agenda in line with the SDGs.].
 Financing woes of SDGs in Malawi 56

What can be seen above is that SDGs are perhaps

perceived as social and community services without any
economic benefits embedded therein.

4.1.2.3 2018 Annual Economic Report

SDGs were mentioned in Section 11 linking Integrated

Rural Development with SDG albeit with no further
details.

4.1.2.4 2019 Annual Economic Report

SDGs were mentioned in Section 11 linking Intergrated

Rural Development with SDG albeit with no further
details. This also applied to Section 12.7.1 - Community
Health and Section 13.4 - Labour Services (SDG 8 was
specifically highlighted in Section 13.4.1) as well as
Section 14.2 in which SDG was linked to National
Irrigation Policy despite no further details provided on
which SDGs would be met.

There was no quantification of the costs for implementing

the SDGs in Malawi but Section 9.5.8 - Digital skills,
provided some details regarding sensitization of the
masses as noted by the Government of Malawi
(2020a:94):
57 INTL Sustainability Journal Vol. 1. No. 1, Oct 2023

[Developed the SDG Visualization Data tracking platform to

track the SDGs for Malawi. This is an online tool that uses
different visualization techniques to enable interactive
engagement, allowing users to track, monitor and compare
progress on the SDGs at the click of a button.].

Not much was heard regarding the success of the SDG

Visualization Data tracking platform or the costs expended
thereon.

4.1.2.5 2020 Annual Economic Report

Not available online and therefore not scrutinized.

4.1.2.6 2021 Annual Economic Report

SDGs were mentioned six times in the said document.

Five times were in Chapter 9 - Education, Science and
Technology. No monetary values were presented in the
said chapter 9. The Government of Malawi (2022:123)
however specified some SDGs to be achieved as follows:

[The project motivated researchers in Agricultural

Biotechnology and Renewable Energy to find more sustainable
innovative solutions to solve current challenges affecting their
sectors and help Malawi achieve SDGs (2 and 7), Zero hunger
and finding affordable and clean energy.].
 Financing woes of SDGs in Malawi 58

SDGs were also mentioned in Section 11 linking

Integrated Rural Development with SDG albeit with no
further details.

4.1.2.7 2022 Annual Economic Report

SDGs were mentioned in Section 11 linking Integrated

Rural Development with SDG albeit with no further
details.

4.2 Local Government Budgets on SDGs

The study examined the 2021/22 Consolidated Local

Authorities Program Based Budget Volumes 1 and 2 as
well as the 2021/22 Consolidated Local Authorities
Program Based Budget Volumes 1 and 2. There was no
single mention of SDGs in the budgets although
sustainable use of land, food security, water usage and
others were mentioned. This is a worrisome development
as the SDGs were designed to uplift the lives of the
masses who are under the local councils. Failure to specify
which SDGs are being pursued undermines the relevance
of the seventeen SDGs together with their one hundred
sixty nine targets in Malawi. What is not measured cannot
be assessed.

4.3 SDGs in the donor programmes

59 INTL Sustainability Journal Vol. 1. No. 1, Oct 2023

Donor programmes vary significantly in terms of size,

scope and even publicity. The focus on this study was on
the bigger projects in view of their impact in Malawi.
Some of the major donor projects/programmes in Malawi
between 2016 and 2023 are as follows:

4.3.1 World Bank credit facilities (grants and loans)

About US$2.592 billion has been disbursed by the World
Bank to Malawi between 2016 and 2023. Another
US$265.000 million under the second phase of the
Agricultural Commercialization Project has just been
approved. SDGs were spotted only in the Mozambique
and Malawi Interconnector Project. The World Bank is not
keen to link its grants to Malawi with the SDGs. Malawi
ought to have been accessing such credit facilities to
achieve specific SDGs.

4.3.2 European Union grants

The European Union through the Multi-annual Indicative

Programme for Malawi for 2021 - 2027 indicates the EU
has committed Euro 352.000 million in three priority
areas. European Union (2022) stipulated:

[The programme has been developed in close consultation with

Malawi Government, Civil Society Organisations, including
women and youth organisations, local authorities,
 Financing woes of SDGs in Malawi 60

representatives from the private sector, the United Nations and

other partners, and of course EU Member States.

The focus of the Multi-annual Indicative Programme (MIP) for

Malawi is aligned with Malawi’s national development plan,
Malawi 2063.

For the period 2021-24 the EU will seek to reinforce the

bilateral cooperation in three main priority areas in particular:

● Priority area 1: Green and resilient economic

transformation
● Supporting in particular agrifood systems in the agriculture
and fisheries sectors
● Enhancing environmental sustainability
● Developing affordable and reliable renewable energy

● Priority area 2: Democratic and economic governance

● Advancing democracy, human rights and the rule of law
● Enhancing economic governance along the public finance
management cycle
● Improving the investment climate and business environment

● Priority area 3: Human development and social inclusion

● Advancing quality education and skills
● Strengthening social protection systems

In addition, climate action, in line with the European Green

Deal, gender equality and digital development are crosscutting
priorities of crucial importance for the realization of the
objectives of this MIP
61 INTL Sustainability Journal Vol. 1. No. 1, Oct 2023

The financial allocation for 2025-2027 will be determined

following a review in 2024…

… The agreed priorities will be implemented in partnership

with the European Union Member States in a Team Europe
approach. They are in line with UN’s 2030 Agenda, the Paris
Agreement and the EU’s Global Gateway Strategy.].

The SDGs are not the integral aspects of the European

Union as they were not fully articulated in the three
priority areas above. The Government of Malawi could
however use specific SDGs and their relevant targets to
targets for its own benefit and not determined by the
donors.

4.3.3 Government of the Flanders

The indicative funding for the Country Strategy Paper for

Malawi for 2019 - 2023 is Euro 25,000,000.00 on specific
areas of the Government of Malawi implementing policies
that that create an enabling, inclusive and sustainable
agribusiness environment (13%); qualitative and adaptive
extension services for sustainable production and
market-oriented farming by all smallholders (25%);
sustainable land management (30%); smallholder farmers
participate in inclusive, well functioning markets (30%);
and monitoring and evaluation (2%).
 Financing woes of SDGs in Malawi 62

The Government of Flanders (2019) targeted SDGs and

these were specifically stipulated as 1, 2, 5, 8, 10, 12, 13
and 17.

4.3.4 USAID

USAID (2020) stated that the Country Development

Cooperation Strategy 2020 - 2025 has three main
development objectives - Development Objective 1 -
Public Sector is more accountable and effective at national
and decentralized levels; Development Objective 2 -
Youth Lead Health, Informed and Productive Lives; and
Development Objective 3 - Private Sector increases
inclusive and sustainable wealth generation.

The USAID Country Development Cooperation Strategy

2020 - 2025 did not mention SDGs even once. It was
however incumbent upon the Government of Malawi
through its development agendas such as the MIP-1 to
look at the activities financed therein and match them with
specific SDGs which Malawi is required to achieve.

5.0 Conclusion

There is substantial evidence that Malawi has not put clear

guidelines of financing the seventeen SDGs along with
their one hundred sixty nine targets as neither the national
63 INTL Sustainability Journal Vol. 1. No. 1, Oct 2023

budget nor the local government budgets clearly allocate

funds for activities related to the attainment of the said
targets. It is usually true that what is not budgeted for
cannot be done. Budgets are both planning as well as
monitoring and evaluation tools but also provide control
mechanisms. While some might argue that what is in the
SDGs, has traditionally been implemented in Malawi, it
can be argued that benchmarking against the regional and
continental results is not reflected in the budget and
therefore remedial actions not being taken. The Malawians
will suffer greatly if no meaningful achievements are
realized by 2030.

The donors have been financing projects in Malawi

primarily based on their objectives and not purely on the
attainment of the SDGs. Both the Central and Local
Governments could use donor funds to specifically
achieve certain SDGs targets and document the results
along with the funding source.

6.0 Recommendations

Going forward, it is recommended as follows:

a) The national budget statement should include a

portion of money allocated for implementation as well
as monitoring and evaluation of the SDGs and how
that can benefit Malawi based on the prevailing
 Financing woes of SDGs in Malawi 64

economic and social factors. This should not be a

mere routine statement.
b) The Central Government through the Ministry of
Finance should budget for all the SDGs related
activities including external financing from the
donors. Appropriate disclosures could be made as to
what was the overall cost and how it was shared
between or among different parties. The overall
picture is what is required to show commitment to the
financing of the SDGs, value for money audit for the
activities undertaken as well as funding gaps.
c) The Local Governments through the councils should
allocate funds specific for running SDGs activities
and provide variance analysis. The SDGs were rolled
out for the local person and therefore deliberate
strategies of evaluating the success rate should be
encouraged.
d) The Council for Non-Governmental Organizations in
Malawi (CONGOMA) should tabulate all donor
driven activities which have elements of achieving
specific targets of the SDGs and these should be
presented in a well defined dashboard for all to see.

References

European Union (2022) “Malawi: European Union

Approves 353 Million Euros for Development in Malawi”,
European Union, 12.01.2022 accessed on 8th August 2023
at
65 INTL Sustainability Journal Vol. 1. No. 1, Oct 2023

https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/malawi/malawi-e
uropean-union-approves-352-million-euros-development-
malawi_en?s=107#:~:text=The%20European%20Union%
20has%20adopted,for%20the%20next%20three%20years.

Government of Flanders (2019) Country Strategy Paper

for Development Cooperation: Flanders Malawi 2019 -
2023 accessed on 8th August 2023 at
https://www.fdfa.be/sites/default/files/2022-01/Y18-2784_
VO_BUZA_Landenstrategienota_MALAWI_A4-web.pdf

Government of Malawi (2019) Annual Economic Report

2018

Government of Malawi (2020a) Annual Economic Report

2019

Government of Malawi (20220 Annual Economic Report

2021

Government of Malawi (2020b) Voluntary 2020 National

Review Report for Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs)

Kampanje, Brian. Phiri. (2017) “Unlocking Mysteries

Surrounding Development in Malawi” SSRN
Development Economics: Regional and Country Studies
eJournal, Vol. 6, No. 150. Also available at
http://ssrn.com/abstract=3003066
 Financing woes of SDGs in Malawi 66

Matoga, Adamson. (2017) “Localizing SDGs;

Responsibility for all”, accessed on 30.07.2023 at
https://www.congoma.mw/localizing-sdgs-responsibility-f
or-all/

Nation Online (2022) “SDG-relevant investment for

Malawi - UN”, Nation Online accessed on 25th August
2023 at
https://mwnation.com/sdg-relevant-investment-for-malawi
-un/

USAID (2020) Malawi - Country Development

Cooperation Strategy accessed on 15th August 2023 at
https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/2022-05/EXTER
NAL_CDCS_Malawi_2020-2025_-_Exp_April_2025_50
8_1.50.43_PM.pdf