The UNDP‐UNEP Poverty‐Environment Initiative (PEI) is a programme aimed at supporting Governments to integrate environmental sustainability as a core objective in development planning and implementation and to build capacity for mainstreaming environmental sustainability in development planning and implementation. The programme in Africa is being implemented in 7 countries: Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The programme is being introduced in Malawi, the first new country programme in the PEI scale‐up.
As in the other countries the PEI will help mainstream environmentally sustainable natural resources use into Malawi’s national & sectoral development processes so as to reduce environmental degradation, improve food security, reduce vulnerability to natural disasters, and reduce poverty.
In order to understand the dynamics of environmental and development issues in Malawi, detailed consultations were undertaken with all relevant stakeholders to help to identify priority needs and guide the scope of the PEI programme in Malawi. This report provides a detailed assessment of the structures and processes encompassing key government institutions and civil society organisations in the area of development, environment and natural resource management. It identifies their roles, mandates and policies. It also highlights their challenges and areas requiring support and action to address them. Based on this assessment, the report provides pointers to the areas for potential PEI support and is thus an important guide to the development of the PEI Malawi work plan.