Malawi.

• Author: Matinga, Pricilla
• Position: Reproductive & Sexual Health Rights in Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Malawi and Rwanda: An Advocacy and Communications Approach - Report

1.0 BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research methodology

The research has been conducted using the Health Rights of Women Assessment Instrument (HeRWAI) to assess progress by the government of Malawi in implementing its commitments to protect and guarantee women's SRHR. The HeRWAI is a strategic tool used to enhance lobbying activities for better implementation of women's health rights. "A HeRWAI analysis links what actually happens with what should happen according to the human rights obligations of a country. It examines local, national and international influences. The HeRWAI analysis consists of six steps, which analyse a policy that influences women's health rights. (1)" A series of questions were answered for each of the six steps; a literature review conducted, key informant interviews and focus group discussions with women groups and male groups, were used to get information on policy related to SRHR; government commitment and capacity to implement; policy impact; state obligations; recommendations and action plans. The assessment has undertaken an extensive analysis of the gender and the reproductive health policies.

1.2 Background on Malawi

Malawi's population is estimated at 13,013,926 (23) with a life expectancy of 41.7 years (4). The country has a large percentage of young people- 46.5% (5) of the population is under 15 years of age. The majority of people are poor- those living below an income poverty line of $1 per day account for 41.7 % (6) of the population. The literacy rate for females is lower than male literacy. There is a relatively low contraceptive prevalence rate of 31% (7) and a high maternal mortality rate of 1,110 per 100,000 live births (8).

The main ethnic groups are: Chewa, Nyanja, Tumbuka, Yao, Lomwe, Sena, Tonga, Ngoni and Ngonde (9). Main languages spoken in the country are Chichewa 57.2% (official), Chinyanja 12.8%, Chiyao 10.1%, Chitumbuka 9.5%, Chisena 2.7%, Chilomwe 2.4%, Chitonga 1.7%, other 3.6% (10). The main religions of Malawi are Christianity 79.9%, Muslims 12.8%, other 3%, with 4.3% (11) not belonging to any denomination.

Adult HIV prevalence rate in 2005 was estimated to be 14.2% (12) while the estimated number of deaths due to AIDS in 2005 was 78,000 (13). The estimated number of orphans aged 0 to 17 years in 2005 was 550,000 (14).

2.0 RESEARCH FINDINGS

Study findings have been presented in accordance to the six steps namely: the policy; government commitment; capacity to implement; impact of the policy; state obligations; and recommendations and action plans. The HeRWAI analysis takes a human-rights approach.

2.1 THE POLICY PROVISIONS

This section describes the gender policy and the rights contained there in.

1.1.1 The policy objectives and how they are operationalised

The overall goal of the National Gender Policy (NGP) is to mainstream gender in the national development process to enhance participation of men and women, boys and girls for sustainable and equitable development for poverty eradication. This goal is in line with the government's national development policy of poverty eradication.

Through the NGP, the government targets children, women and men, girls and boys. Reproductive health is one of the priority areas to improve the health, status of women, men, girls, boys and especially the disadvantaged and vulnerable majority in rural and peri-urban areas. Findings from the study indicate that the gender policy has not been adequately disseminated thus limiting information about the policy to government departments, a few NGOs and donors.

The NGP institutional structure comprises at the top, the main cabinet whose role is to approve and pass policies and legislation. The cabinet also provides direction on Gender Policy and programme implementation. Below the main cabinet is the Cabinet Committee on Gender, Youth and Persons with Disabilities. Its role is to examine and review the Gender Policy, issues and legislation before they are presented to Cabinet and Parliament. This Cabinet Committee is also responsible for lobbying for the adoption of the gender policy, resolutions, and Acts. Two Parliamentary Committees namely the Parliamentary Women's Caucus and Parliamentary Committee on Women and Children Affairs are linked to the Cabinet Committee on Gender. Their major role is to lobby and advocate for gender issues in Parliament.

Under the Cabinet Committee on Gender, is the Gender Advisory Committee (GAC) comprising all Principal Secretaries with the main role of advising Cabinet Committee on Gender, Youth and Persons with Disabilities on what each of the Sectoral Ministries is doing on gender and provides advisory services to the national Gender Machinery. According to the gender policy, below the National Machinery is the Gender Policy Implementation Committee (GPIC) which comprises all gender focal points in all sectoral Ministries, NGOs, parastatals and the private sector. The major roles of GPIC being the identification of priority gender issues, planning for relevant interventions, assessing and reviewing progress in implementation of the policy.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development, (a change from the Ministry of Gender, Youth and Community Services (MOGYCS)), through the Gender Services Department, is charged with the responsibility of spearheading and coordinating gender responsive development and in particular ensuring the improvement of women's status. A gender programme is established within the department for day to day management of the NGP.

The NGP recognizes the influence of the Decentralisation policy and makes use of existing institutions of District, Area and Village Assemblies. In addition, existing or newly established gender networks in NGOs, the Civil Service and the Private Sector are mandated to share information and forge strategies for mainstreaming gender concerns in their respective development programmes.

Besides sectoral ministries, the National Machinery collaborate closely with other key actors, such as NGO's, Community Based Organizations (CBO), the Private Sector and Local Authorities to implement and achieve the goals of the gender policy. Within these agencies, co-ordination of gender issues across sub-sectors are enhanced through establishment of Gender Focal points resourced by senior officers. The gender policy articulates that an Inter-agency Gender Technical Committee be established to oversee the mainstreaming of gender concerns within policies, plans, programmes and activities. The roles of other agencies include, but are not limited to: Co-ordination of gender activities within the sector; Mainstreaming gender in all sectoral policies, plans, projects, programmes and services; Assessing and building sectoral capacities to create awareness and understanding on gender concerns; Identifying and prioritizing gender concerns and issues within the sector and taking appropriate action; Advocating and providing guidance within the sector to develop and implement gender responsive programmes; Mobilizing resources for gender mainstreaming; Establishing a documentation centre within the sector; Instituting an information and management system that is gender sensitive; Linking and collaborating with other sectors and the National Machinery for mainstreaming and information sharing. (15)"

The gender policy's objectives include: to lobby for the provision of equal access and quality education to all school age children; promoting the reduction of dropout rates of girls and boys at all levels of education; to encourage the provision of formal and non-formal education to both girls and boys who are dropouts and illiterate.

The National Economic Council (NEC) as a professional and technical body supporting government and the public on economic and social policy, management and development, has a role of ensuring that gender issues are mainstreamed throughout all aspects of national development planning. These include equal targeting of women and men in all development programmes, building capacity of planners and policy analysts to enhance their gender analysis skills. NEC also ensures the disaggregation by gender of all data collected, analysed and disseminated by the National Statistics Office.

1.1.2 The policy and how it affects different rights

The gender policy affects different rights such as the right to food. The policy focuses on food and nutrition security to improve the nutritional status of the Malawian population particularly that of women and children to ensure good health. Food security is a major concern at household level in both rural and urban areas, as well as at national level.. The policy recognizes discriminatory laws in the Constitution as well as customary laws and legal practices that affect improvement of women's sexual and reproductive health services and calls for their amendment. Given that the Malawi Constitution provides clear and explicit protection from discriminatory practices for women, the gender policy therefore advocates for reform of customary laws and practices in line with the constitutional provisions.

The gender policy addresses the right to education, supporting the right to equal accessibility and availability of education to both girls and boys; expansion of enrolment and enhanced quality of education. The policy also addresses low retention and high dropout rates in schools, and supports non-formal education programmes for out of school youth and illiterate adults.

The Constitution of Malawi enshrines education as a basic human right; furthermore, education as a basic human right is well elaborated in the Global Platform of Action and the Beijing. Free Primary Education and Girls Attainment of Basic Literacy and Education (GABLE) programme influenced the change in policy to allow pregnant girls to go back to school. Other initiatives encourage girls and women to pursue science and technology courses; the role models' initiative highlights the successful...