SECTOR POSITION PAPER

Malawi Office DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT

A. Sector Analysis
1. Current situation and major challenges of the sector:
Disasters are distinguished in terms of their nature and extent of impacts. Globally, disasters
continue to increase in many countries, affect the economy of the affected countries and attack
vulnerable areas and those in lower income brackets. The “Global Natural Disaster Assessment
Report"(2020) reported that the annual average of global direct economic loss caused by natural
disasters was USD 115.3 billion from 2000 to 2009 but was USD 175.8 billion from 2010 to
2019. Disasters are considered to be caused due to climate change, increasing urbanization and
environmental degradation.

Malawi is highly vulnerable to the impacts of disasters given its location along the great African
Rift Valley, rapid population growth, unsustainable urbanization, poor settlement patterns, weak
buildings/infrastructure, lack of access to information and knowledge, climate variability and
environmental degradation. The most common weather-related shocks affecting Malawi include
floods, cyclones and drought. These disasters cause damage to infrastructure, food insecurity and
increase poverty, loss of lives and property, decline in health status, poor environmental
conditions and a decline in the quality of education of affected populations.

Although there are many types of disasters, this paper mainly focuses on flood disaster. The
reason being that Malawi has experienced more floods than any other natural disasters.
According to the 2019 Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) report, over the past five
decades Malawi has experienced more than 19 major floods and 7 droughts. Furthermore, the
report from the National Disaster Risk Management Communication Strategy (NDRMCS) 2020-
2023, highlighted that about 15 out of 28 districts (which represent 54% of the districts) in
Malawi are considered flood prone.
Between January and March 2022, Malawi experienced two Cyclones namely Ana and Gombe.
These cyclones resulted in severe flooding in the following districts: Chikwawa, Nsanje,
Blantyre, Choradzulu, Machinga, Mangochi, Ntcheu, Salima, Mulanje, Phalombe, Thyolo, Neno,
Mwanza and Zomba. According to flash appeal 2022, Cyclone Ana affected an estimated
990,000 people, with 217,000 households, about 32,900 households displaced, 46 died and 206
injured. Tropical Cyclone Gombe affected about 159,226 people (35,383 households), with 27
injured, 39 dead and 11,008 displaced households. The floods negatively affected people’s lives,
livelihoods and socio-economic infrastructure, pushing more people into poverty.
The main challenges that this sector face include: (i) Insufficient levels of implementation for
each planned activity due to inadequate financial resources. (ii) Poor coordination among
stakeholders and lack of information sharing, including with respect to risk assessment,
monitoring and evaluation, early warning, disaster response and other Disaster Risk Management
(DRM) activities.

2. Sector policy, strategic plan, priority areas:

a) The Malawi 2063 (MW2063)
The Malawi 2063 has three main pillars and seven enablers. One of the enabler is Enabler 7;
Environmental Sustainability. This Enabler focuses on minimising depletion of natural resources
in the country. However, this is accelerated by natural disasters and climate adversities;

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Malawi Office DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT

environmental degradation; weak institutional capacity and coordination exacerbated by political

interference in regulation and enforcement and limited funding for environment sustainability
initiatives. In an effort to tackle the continued occurrence of natural disasters, the government
plans to develop systems to break the cycle of environmental degradation and increase resilience.
These among others include integration of disaster risk reduction, promotion of climate change
adaptation, mitigation and capacity building for sustainable livelihoods.

b) National Disaster Risk Management Policy (2015)

The policy was developed to guide disaster risk management mainstreaming in the country by
reducing disaster losses in lives and in the social, economic and environmental assets. The policy
priority areas are: (a) To mainstream disaster risk reduction into sustainable development
policies and planning processes at all levels of government. (b) To establish a comprehensive
system to identify, assess and monitor disaster risks. (c) To develop and strengthen a people-
centred early warning system. (d) To promote a culture of safety and resilience through
knowledge, education and innovation at all levels. (e) To reduce the underlying risk factors. (f)
To strengthen the preparedness capacity for effective response and recovery at all levels.

c) National Resilience Strategy (NRS) 2018-2030

The strategy was developed to provide guidelines for breaking the cycle of food insecurity in
Malawi. The NRS promotes linkages between disaster risk reduction and climate change
adaptation to improve national resilience to climate change. The priorities for NRS are as follows
(a) Mainstreaming DRM across sectors and administrative levels, (b) Flood Prevention and
Control, (c) Effective Early Warning Systems and (d) Disaster Preparedness, Response, and
Recovery. The NRS will facilitate construction of flood control infrastructure and enhance
rainwater harvesting at national, district and community levels.

d) National Disaster Risk Management Communication Strategy (NDRMCS) 2020-2023

There are a number of stakeholders in the country that are involved in development and
implementation of DRM initiatives. However, coordination/dissemination of information on
climate, weather, early warning systems and implementation of DRM initiatives among the
stakeholders is a challenge. This Strategy therefore, will provide a framework that seeks to
deliver key messages and raise awareness on DRM with the aim of contributing to resilience
building in Malawi. The objectives of NDRMCS are (i) To create awareness among stakeholders
in disaster risk management. (ii) To promote the adoption of positive DRM behaviours among
stakeholders. (iii) To strengthen capacity of stakeholders in the development and communication
of DRM information.

3. Donor activities and commitments:

The notable development partners that are involved in DRM initiatives include:
 UNDP received a project grant of about US$ 12.3 million from Green Climate Fund for
the project on ‘Modernized Climate Information and Early warning Systems’ 2017-23.
This project is working with communities in food-insecure districts to co-develop tailored
weather- and climate-based agricultural advisories to disseminate through various
channels.

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 World Bank committed to assist the Government of Malawi (GoM) with about US$ 70
million for two projects namely Disaster Risk Management Development Policy
Financing and Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option 2019-22 with finding of US$ 40
million and US$ 30 million respectively. These Programmes are structured around three
pillars namely: (i) Strengthening the institutional framework and coordination
mechanisms for the implementation of the national disaster and climate resilience
agenda; (ii) Increasing climate and disaster resilience in physical developments and
infrastructure; and (iii) Strengthening adaptive social protection mechanisms and
government financial capacity to respond to disasters.
 World Bank is also supporting the government through DoDMA in implementing a
project on Malawi Resilience and Disaster Risk Management (MRDRMP) 2016-2024
with a total project cost of about US$ 104 million. The proposed project development
objective is to “support the recovery of livelihoods and critical infrastructure, while
strengthening climate resilience in areas affected by the 2016 drought and the 2019
Tropical Cyclone Idai.” The MRDRMP has four components namely: (a) Improving
Food Security and Sustainable Livelihoods. (b) Enhancing Drought-Resilience and
Preparedness. (c) Contingent Emergency Response Component. (d) Project Management.
 African Development Bank is implementing a grant aided project on Post Cyclone Idai
and Kenneth Emergency Recovery and Resilience (PCIREP) of approximately US$ 22.5
million to DoDMA. The development objective is to restore and improve sustainable
livelihoods of the affected vulnerable groups of the population, enhance disaster risk
reduction, early warning, and preparedness, support inclusive social and economic
recovery empowerment and enhance post recovery adaptive capacity. The project has
three components namely: (a) Enhanced Agricultural Productivity and Resilience.
(b) Sustainable Socio economic Infrastructure. (c) Institutional Strengthening and
Program Management.

4. Dialogue structure of the sector:

DoDMA is the secretariat and coordinates all the activities and dissemination of information of
disasters in the country. The disaster sector has the following groupings:
 The Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) comprises of Heads of UN Agencies,
international and local NGOs and Government. The chair for the team is the United
Nations Resident Coordinator (UNRC).
 Disaster Clusters: The clusters operate according to their thematic area of response
assistance. These clusters are Food Security, Agriculture, Health, Nutrition, Education,
Protection, Water and Sanitation and Hygiene, Transport and Logistics, Shelter and Camp
Management. They are responsible for developing and implementation of disaster
response plans.

B. JICA’s Position
1) History of JICA’s Cooperation:
The Government of Japan, through JICA has been responding to appeals by the government of
Malawi for emergency relief assistance. During the floods of 2015, 2019 and 2022, various
emergency relief items such as family tents, Blankets (Normal Season), Blankets (Fleece),

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Plastic Sheets and Sleeping Pads were donated. The distribution of those items, JICA worked
closely with UNICEF in 2015, Malawi Red Cross Society in 2019 and in 2022 by DoDMA.

JICA has been and continue to support DoDMA in improving human capacity of its staff through
short and long Knowledge Co-creation Training Programme.

2) Major outcomes:
 Donations of humanitarian relief items during flood disasters.
 The Director of Disaster Risk Management in 2019 attended a meeting in Mauritius
where Malawi was elected as vice chair country for Disaster Risk Reduction
Management Platform.
 JICA continues to offer Master degree in Flood Disaster Risk Reduction courses in Japan
for officers from DoDMA by utilizing the scheme of Knowledge Co-Creation
Programme (KCCP). In 2016-2017, one officer obtained a Master’s Degree and another
one is currently studying and expected to finish in September 2022.

3) Lessons learned:
 During the 2022 Cyclone Ana, there was lack of coordination and information sharing
among stakeholders in distribution of relief items. In addition, insufficiency of capacity at
the Chileka Airport was observed in terms of being a hub for receiving disaster relief goods.
It would have been more efficient and effective if the Chileka Airport has enough capacity in
term of reducing costs of transporting relief items.

4) Cooperation assets:
The Government of Japan through JICA assisted the government of Malawi in the following
areas:
 Donated a water treatment vehicle to government of Malawi for water purifications
during flood disasters.
 Grant aid infrastructure projects that are resilient to disasters and these include the
expansion of Tedzani Electricity Hydro Power Station, Replacement of Mangochi and
South Rukuru bridges.
 Since 2016 to 2021 over 13 DoDMA officials have attended various short and long-term
disaster related trainings that were sponsored by JICA.

5) Comparative advantage of JICA:

Japan has long history in Disaster Risk Reduction due to her experience in disasters. The notable
type of disasters that Japan has experienced are floods and typhoons. Furthermore, Japan took a
leading role in drafting the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. Between
1991 and 2010, Japan was the top bilateral donor in Disaster Risk Reduction in the world. The
provision of short courses based on Japan’s expertise and experience under KCCP is of
paramount importance for Malawi as it imparts knowledge and skills in Disaster Risk Reduction.

6) TICAD process:
The Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD) 7 Yokohama 2019,
pillar 2, promotes ‘Deepening sustainable and resilient society’ and one of the actions is

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“augment disaster risk reduction and management efforts”. Through this action, Japan would like
to support the formulation and revision of planning for disaster risk reduction, and human
resources development.

7) Possible areas of future cooperation:

 Japan’s Country Development Cooperation Policy for Malawi, priority area 2, highlights
Japan’s development cooperation that focuses among others on human resource
development to foster self-reliant development. This is also in line with the Sendai Frame
Work 2015-30, priority areas of action 2 and 3 where the emphasise are on strengthening
disaster risk governance and investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience.

 The workshop that was held in Mauritius in 2019, it was announced that Disaster Risk
Reduction Management Platform would be launched and Malawi was nominated as vice-
chair country for this Platform. It is through this platform that JICA decided to support
third-country training and it is expected that the regional cooperation will be strengthened.

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