A rural building installed with solar power.

Accelerating access to sustainable energy in Malawi

Energising Development (EnDev) Malawi

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  • Commissioning Party

    German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

  • Cofinancier

    Delegation of the European Union to Malawi, Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), Embassy of Iceland Lilongwe

  • Country
  • Lead executing agency

    More

  • Overall term

    2012 to 2025

  • Other Stakeholders

    Mangochi and Nkhotakota District Councils, Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), MAEVE Project, Stove Production Groups (SPGs), National Cookstove Steering Committee (NCSC), Off-Grid Solar Companies, Productive Use of Renewable Energy Companies, Renewable Energy Industries Association of Malawi (REIAMA), Welthungerhilfe (WHH), United Purpose (UP), Self Help Africa (SHA), Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust (MMCT), United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), Institutions of Higher Learning.

  • Products and expertise

    Sustainable infrastructure: water, energy, transport

A person cooks a large number of small fish.

Context

Malawi faces severe energy poverty with only 12.4 per cent of Malawians having access to electricity. Biomass energy meets most energy needs. Access to affordable clean cooking technologies remains low and limited to urban areas. Most of the rural population use three-stone fires which expose women and children to health risks. Farmers, last-mile health care facilities and educational institutions all struggle to access energy, which results in low productivity and quality of life.

The government of Malawi is implementing the Malawi 2063 vision and the Energy Policy (2018) to address these challenges.

A house with solar panels on the roof.

Objective

The access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy technologies has improved, contributing to socio-economic development and the achievement of climate targets.

Approach

The programme contributes towards achieving Malawi’s targets for clean and affordable energy and low carbon development pathways. It develops markets for improved cookstoves (ICS), off-grid solar (OGS) technologies, productive use of energy (PUE) products and services. The target groups are vulnerable households, peri urban and urban populations, farmers, and sector-wide micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The wide range of project-funded and supported activities include:

  • The funding of 4 large-scale pilot investments for PUE solutions in agriculture.
  • Financing demand-side subsidies (DSS) for improved cookstoves and solar products
  • Financial support for the solarisation of health institutions and deployment of solar-powered refrigerators for vaccine cooling.
  • The promotion of fuel-efficient fish processing stoves and installation of solar systems in health facilities and schools.

Members of the multi-donor partnership: The Netherlands Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS), the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

Co-financing partners: The European Union (EU), Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) and Icelandic Embassy in Malawi.

Last update: September 2023

A group of women prepare food on an improvised cooker with many hobs.

Additional information