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Malawi United Nations Development Programme Democratic governance Dianya Pu, Min Qiao Carmel High School According to the United States Department of State, “democracy is a means to achieve security, stability, and prosperity for the entire world.” However, even now countries such as Egypt, Rwanda, Nigeria, Algeria, Zimbabwe, and the Sudan are still classified as authoritarian states. Because of the lack of democratic governance in these countries, crisis such as the Darfur Genocide has arisen and continuous plagues Africa. Malawi believes that in order to alleviate and eradicate such human rights violations, democracies must be instituted in these countries. As a state with a multi-party democracy, Malawi can proudly proclaim that it has continued its pro-Western foreign policy, as established by former President Banda. In order to achieve African democracy, Malawi has strove to maintain strong diplomatic relations with other African countries. Malawi has also alleviated the internal crisis of follow democratic country Mozambique by accommodating more than a million of its refugees. Malawi is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the African Union, and the Southern African Development Committee, all of which promote democracy and cooperation. President Bingu wa Mutharika has committed himself on tackling corruption, strengthening the government, promoting economic growth and reducing Malawi’s poverty levels. Malawi understands that it recently fell short of holding an election in 2005, but it assures its Western brothers that this deficiency was due the onslaught of draught. The importance of providing for its citizen’s livelihood temporarily superseded the need for an election. It further guarantees that the 2008 election will be held without additional delay. The United Nations has aided the youthful democracy of Malawi by consolidating the democracy and delivering social services in the country. The solutions Malawi proposes to the ongoing problems include the continued promotion of African democracy through the African Union and Western initiatives. Within the country, Malawi is dedicated to developing better capacities to implement policies and plans as well as a plan to modify section 65 of the Malawian constitution to strengthen Malawi’s democracy. Malawi is prepared to offer assistance to any developing democracies in Africa as well as following in its Western brothers’ steps to prevent any humanitarian crisis from occurring in Malawi. Malawi United Nations Development Programme Poverty Dianya Pu, Min Qiao Carmel High School Like in much of the rest of Africa, poverty has remained a major challenge to Malawi. As a predominantly rural country in which the majority of the population is engaged in subsistence farming, it is susceptible to adverse weather conditions and climate change. In 1998, the Institute for Humane Studies revealed that 65.3 percent of the population in Malawi lives below the poverty line. Malawi continues to have health and education indicators that are among the worst in the world with its per capita GDP below $200. Distribution of incomes is very unequal, and poverty is widespread and severe. These indicators of poor living conditions persist despite the relatively high economic growth rates experienced by Malawi during the 1970s and 1980s. In order to reduce the poverty levels and poor living conditions of Malawians, the government of Malawi has launched the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy in 2006. This policy has served as the framework to reduce poverty through economic growth and empowerment of the poor and to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The United Nations’ initiative in eradicating poverty has also played a key role in improving the living conditions in Malawi. 2006 brought about a year of great contrasts in Malawi. The first few months of the year saw the UN contributing to a government-led, donor supported effort to provide food assistance to 40 percent of the population, and famine was averted. The UN has also commenced the millennium village project which instituted millennium villages in rural areas of African countries. This project includes investments for bed nets to fight malaria, for school lunch feeding programs and for improved safe water drinking points. The results of this project have been dramatic. The distribution of free, insecticide-treated bed nets in Villages has led to a decline in malaria by threefold and the project’s support of a school feeding program has allowed over three times the number of students to be fed at schools. All these actions by the UN have been crucial to the reduction of poverty in Malawi. Although Malawians continues to suffer from poverty, a report from the Resident Coordinator's Office states that the level of population living in extreme poverty has been reduced to only 22 percent. As stated by the Malawian president, Bingu wa Mutharika, “My government's strategic objective is to establish a sound foundation for sustainable economic growth and development.” For Malawi, the solution to reduce poverty is simple. Malawi will continue to pursue the policies set by the UN and cooperate with the UN in the movement towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. By raising productivity and promoting off-farm employment, incomes will raise in villages. Higher incomes will also raise household savings and thus accelerate economic diversification and household investments in human capital. The resulting economic growth in the villages will reduce income- and non-income poverty, and enable the communities to finance a growing share of investments to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.