[{"bbox": [147, 152, 1082, 205], "category": "Text", "text": "\"Human Development and Social Inclusion\", Specific Objective 1, \"Advancing quality education and skills\"."}, {"bbox": [147, 221, 1082, 304], "category": "Text", "text": "In addition, the Action contributes to the Team Europe Initiative \"Green Growth for Malawi\", exploring and piloting innovative approaches to job creation for the youth in an enhanced collaboration between Civil Society, the Private Sector and the Government."}, {"bbox": [147, 318, 1082, 428], "category": "Text", "text": "Further, the Action contributes to the Global Gateway Strategy and its priority area of sustainable growth and decent and green jobs and to the Country Level Implementation Plan of the Gender Action Plan III, the EU Youth Action Plan and the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)."}, {"bbox": [147, 444, 565, 473], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 1.3 Zone benefitting from the Action"}, {"bbox": [147, 488, 964, 514], "category": "Text", "text": "The Action shall be carried out in Malawi which is included in the list of ODA recipients."}, {"bbox": [147, 545, 382, 576], "category": "Section-header", "text": "# 2 RATIONALE"}, {"bbox": [147, 610, 293, 636], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.1 Context"}, {"bbox": [147, 655, 1082, 962], "category": "Text", "text": "Since COVID-19, Malawi's economy continues to face serious challenges. In addition to polio and cholera outbreaks, cyclone Freddy hit the south of the country early 2023, causing major loss of lives with 1,213 people killed, destroying harvests and livelihoods, and displacing 659,278 people. Malawi is extremely vulnerable to climate change. It has experienced more than 19 major flooding events and seven droughts over the past five decades and in 2015 it was affected by the worst floods in 50 years; the floods affected over 1 million people, displaced 230,000 people and killed 106 people, with another 172 people reported missing. The agriculture sector suffers the greatest losses as a result of climate change impacts. Most smallholder farmers in Malawi are resource poor with very limited capacity to contain shocks arising from climate change. Economic modelling has estimated the direct overall costs due to climate change impacts equivalent to losing at least 5% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) each year.⁴"}, {"bbox": [147, 976, 1082, 1143], "category": "Text", "text": "The food security outlook is further complicated by the inflationary effects of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, pushing food inflation to 40%. For the 2023-2024 lean season, the number of food insecure people is estimated at 4.4 million. The successive shocks exacerbate the structural weaknesses of Malawi's economy, further reducing already limited exports and availability of forex. This disrupts imports of fertiliser, fuel, pharmaceutics and equipment, slowing the economy to a mere 0.7% growth in 2023."}, {"bbox": [147, 1157, 1082, 1268], "category": "Text", "text": "Government's policy response has focused on restructuring its external debt, controlling public expenditure, expanding social protection, and intervening on the agricultural commodity market in an attempt to control prices and reduce unregistered exports. Government is also starting to develop the mining sector where several investment projects are emerging."}, {"bbox": [147, 1282, 1082, 1505], "category": "Text", "text": "The risks of low growth remain however substantial, referring to the very narrow fiscal space, pervasive corruption affecting all branches of government, an unappealing investment climate, lack of decent jobs for the vast majority of the youth and inappropriate management of natural resources, epitomised by the high rate of deforestation and soil depletion. In contrast, a crucial precondition for fostering economic growth is the effective and sustainable management of natural resources, ensuring their preservation for long-term prosperity. This underscores the imperative for comprehensive strategies that address both economic and environmental considerations to pave the way for sustainable development."}, {"bbox": [147, 1590, 317, 1613], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁴ NDC Malawi 2021"}, {"bbox": [977, 1682, 1081, 1706], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 4 of 16"}]