Small by African standards, Malawi is a landlocked nation in southern Africa bordered by Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Lake Malawi. With an average per capita income of just $600, Malawi ranks among the world's poorest and least developed nations. The economy is mostly agricultural, driven by tobacco production. Malawi is mostly rural, with 85% of its people living outside of the two major cities of Lilongwe and Blantyre. It is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa.

The country faces many challenges, including massive debt, deep poverty, poor education, environmental problems, and the rapidly growing HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Water and Sanitation
Official government statistics relating to water and sanitation coverage (67% and 46%, respectively) in Malawi are considered by most to be overstated. There are insufficient resources available for measuring either population or coverage of these basic services. The urban water coverage estimate of 67% masks the situation in the unplanned peri-urban settlements that are not included in official statistics. The estimated rural water coverage figure of 62% may fail to account for the significant percentage of non-functioning facilities. As for sanitation, the usefulness of the figures depends on the definition of adequate sanitation. Almost all the facilities in Malawi are traditional pit latrines, the majority of which are merely holes in the ground and inadequate to prevent fecal-oral disease transmission. Most major agencies active in Malawi, including the government, estimate rural sanitation coverage in the country at 30% or less.

Water-related diseases, including cholera and typhoid fever, are common throughout the country. These conditions have been worsened by the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS, which has affected as much as 15% of the rural population and 30% of people in urban areas.

Water For People in Malawi
Water For People has been working in Malawi since 2000, helping to provide more than 150,000 people with safe drinking water and/or improved sanitation. Water For People–Malawi maintains an office in Blantyre with a full-time staff of four, including country coordinator Kate Harawa, who oversee projects on the ground. Water For People's approach has been to create partnerships with local nongovernmental organizations that have the cultural, and technical expertise to implement projects in the most efficient way. District governments are also valued partners that play an important role in water and sanitation development.

Typical water projects in Malawi include borehole wells, hand-dug shallow wells, Afridev hand pumps, rainwater catchment tanks, and community tap stands. These projects benefit 200 to 1,000 people each. Sanitation projects include simple pit latrines covered with sanitary platforms. Water For People–Malawi has also committed to develop sustainable solutions in unplanned peri-urban areas where populations are growing and basic services are unavailable.

In 2006, Water For People managed six projects that directly benefited 10,483 people. Much was accomplished towards building the organization’s infrastructure, and Water For People–Malawi is well positioned to increase its impact moving forward.

Over the next five years, Water For People–Malawi will concentrate most of its resources in three regions of the country: the Chikwawa District in the south, the peri-urban areas surrounding Blantyre, and the Rumphi District in the north. The long-term goal is to serve 40,000 people per year by 2011 with water, sanitation, and hygiene education.

Working closely with its in-country staff, Water For People-Malawi has developed an aggressive strategic plan to make a more meaningful impact in meeting the water and sanitation needs in Malawi between 2007-2011