Foreign economic-aid-related services

Tender description

Malawi is 1 of the poorest countries in the world, with an inconsistent rate of economic growth, which is dependent on a narrow agriculture sector. Household vulnerability to shocks and stresses is high, with entrenched income poverty increasingly undermined by natural resource degradation and climate change. Poverty, livelihoods and food security have been on the decline for rural households for the past three decades and an increasing number of people are requiring food assistance each year. In 2016, the number of food insecure population reached a historic 6 700 000 people (about 40 % of population). DFID Malawi has prioritised the need to break this cycle of recurrent hunger and to move away from expensive annual humanitarian responses in favour of longer-term investments which address the root causes of poverty and vulnerability in Malawi, leveraging UK climate finance to build the resilience of Malawi's population and economy to climate related shocks, such as floods and drought. The UK will provide up to 50 000 000 GBP (2018-2023) to this new resilience programme in Malawi. The goal of the programme is to strengthen resilience of poor and vulnerable households to shocks and stresses and to reduce annual dependence on humanitarian aid. The programme will support poor and vulnerable households and communities to manage their own risks, to reduce their exposure to shocks through better targeting and delivery of social protection, better land and water management for increased agricultural production, build a strong and sustainable natural resource base and to sustainably strengthen resilient livelihoods. This will be achieved through delivery of climate-smart agriculture interventions including expansion of irrigation and support to effective management of social support programmes, disaster risk reduction and early warning. The programme will also improve knowledge and use of evidence on poverty, vulnerability, climate risk and livelihood opportunities, and the best methods for implementing effective and scalable social protection programmes.