Malawi Education Support Activity
Simeon Mawindo - Chief of Party, Malawi
Education in Malawi is in a dire state, primarily caused by the rapid and unchecked spread of HIV/AIDS that has caused the average life expectancy in Malawi to drop from 48 to 39 years since 1988. This means that greater effort is required to recruit and train teachers and that student drop out and repeat rates are increasing. The other contributing factor is the unforeseen consequence from the introduction of free primary education in 1994. Although it was a popular policy of the new government, it resulted in a massive increase in enrollment, further straining Malawi's under-resourced education system. More than 1.3 million additional children came to school following the declaration of Free Primary Education. There were not enough classrooms or teachers to effectively handle such an influx. Teachers were called back from retirement and others were brought on board who were not qualified. High repetition rates, low completion rates, and poor overall school quality characterize the crisis.
In response to the challenges facing the education sector in Malawi, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has developed an education strategy that provides assistance to government and non-governmental organizations to improve the quality and efficiency of basic education. AIR supports their efforts as the lead organization implementing the Malawi Education Support Activity (MESA) (http://www.equip123.net/equip1/mesa/default.htm) under the Education Quality Improvement Program (EQUIP) mechanism (http://www.equip123.net/).
Simeon Mawindo, AIR’s Chief of Party in Malawi, is responsible for the vision and direction of the project, guides field based implementation and administration of the project. Cassandra Jessee, a Research Scientist at AIR, is the Project Manager and is responsible for the technical and financial oversight of the project, ensures compliance with USAID regulations, and oversees the monitoring and evaluation of the project.
The ultimate focus of MESA is to improve the effectiveness of schools leading to greater pupil outcomes. More effective schools will lead to higher pupil persistence, lower repetition, fewer dropouts and increased pupil learning.
The process begins by improving teachers' professional skills - both in content knowledge and instructional practices. MESA also improves school effectiveness through the infusion of new resources including improving physical infrastructure of teacher education at Domasi College and Mzuzu University and facilitating the production and distribution of textbooks and other classroom resources. In addition, MESA focuses on community participation in the classroom, and making school management committees (SMCs) and parent-teacher associations (PTAs) more effective. It is through this process that MESA will address and mitigate critical social concerns, particularly HIV/AIDS, which impinge on access, persistency and quality of basic education.