[{"bbox": [146, 153, 310, 178], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## Education Policy"}, {"bbox": [146, 190, 1084, 271], "category": "Text", "text": "Education has an important place in Malawi 2063 as part of the human capital development enabler and secondary education is considered crucial to provide youth, especially girls boys, women in all their diversity, people with disabilities and those from rural areas, with opportunities to develop skills."}, {"bbox": [146, 282, 1084, 522], "category": "Text", "text": "The National Education Sector Investment Plan (NESIP) 2020-30, the fifth sector plan, provides sub-sectoral and crosscutting strategies for the implementation of the Education Policy. It includes a 5-year costed implementation plan and provides the key focus for sector dialogue and planning, including for external partners. The NESIP also includes a results framework of indicators and targets, with baseline values for 2019 and targets for 2025 and 2030 used for annual reporting at the Joint Sector Review. Education Sector Performance Report and statistical reports are produced yearly, including with data from the Education Management Information System (EMIS) which is supported by external partners. The NESIP and broader policies on which it is based, coupled with the MoE / GoM implementation of its stated priorities over recent years, provide a credible basis for support to the sector."}, {"bbox": [146, 533, 1084, 667], "category": "Text", "text": "The critical challenge is the need for prioritisation and sequencing of reforms, which will otherwise be unaffordable challenging the absorption capacity of system actors at central and local levels. In this context, the stated prior sexual and reproductive health rity to foundational learning in basic education, including early childhood education, is appropriate given the overall performance of the sector. In addition, the MoE sees expanding secondary education opportunities as the second high level priority."}, {"bbox": [146, 679, 1084, 866], "category": "Text", "text": "A Secondary Education Expansion Strategy, being finalised, will ensure best use of available resources and focus the efforts of the MoE and partners in the coming years. Key elements of this strategy include (i) addressing inequity in secondary education financing, including with a revised school funding formula, (ii) continued focus on expanding school infrastructure, (iii) expanding the use of double shifts, (iv) improving the quality and efficiency of Open Secondary Schools (OSS), (v) investing in appropriate, evidence-based approaches to expanding the use of Open and Distance e-Learning, and (vi) selecting and testing public private partnerships for secondary education."}, {"bbox": [146, 877, 1084, 932], "category": "Text", "text": "With these elements in place, the EU will seek to keep a strong focus on ensuring expansion is appropriately resourced, and does not come at the expense of quality and equity."}, {"bbox": [146, 943, 1084, 1023], "category": "Text", "text": "In conclusion, the policy is sufficiently relevant and credible for budget support contract objectives to be largely achieved. Therefore the policy can be supported by the Commission with the proposed budget support contract."}, {"bbox": [146, 1035, 414, 1061], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.3.2 Macroeconomic Policy"}, {"bbox": [146, 1073, 1084, 1341], "category": "Text", "text": "In order to restore stable and sustainable macroeconomic position, the Government of Malawi has embarked on a wide-ranging macroeconomic and structural reform programme based on the Malawi 2063 blueprint. More specifically, the Government has been working with the IMF under a Staff-Monitored Programme with Executive Board involvement (PMB), agreed in November 2022, whose positive performance enabled to transition to the long-awaited Extended-Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement in November 2023. In the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies to be supported by the new programme the government has committed to pursue efforts geared to (i) restoring macroeconomic policy, (ii) enhancing fiscal discipline, (iii) maintaining price stability and financial soundness, (iv) rebuilding external buffers, (v) restoring debt sustainability and closing the financing gap and (vi) addressing weakness in governance."}, {"bbox": [146, 1351, 1084, 1590], "category": "Text", "text": "The ECF-arrangement provides much-needed breathing space for Malawi by unlocking not only IMF, but also the World Bank and African Development Bank \"on-budget\" funding. It is also expected that the arrangement should improve private sector and donor confidence and further catalyse much-needed concessional financing and capital inflows including trade credit. Key in the agreement were the significant devaluation of the national currency in November 2023 (by -44% compared to the USD), the receipt of the so-called financing assurances from bilateral creditors (China and India), which committed to restructure their debt within a debt sustainability framework, as well as the progress made to meet structural Benchmarks, Quantitative Performance Criteria and Indicative targets under the PMB. This demonstrated the authorities' commitment to restore stability and implement bold policies"}, {"bbox": [976, 1681, 1082, 1706], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 7 of 29"}]