Malawi’s educational sector is in crisis.  The crisis has two primary causes.  The first is the rapid and unchecked spread of HIV/AIDS that has caused the average life expectancy in Malawi to drop from 48 to 39 years from 1998 to 2002. The second is the massive increase in primary enrollment due to the introduction of free primary education in 1994.  This means that there is a greater need to recruit and train teachers and that student dropout and repetition rates are increasing. The Education Sector Policy project is an integrated set of support activities to address key constraints to system improvement—policy, systems and strategies, and organizational capacity—as part of the Educational Quality Improvement Program 2 (EQUIP2).

The project is organized in three components: Improved Strategic Planning and Management for Policy and Investment Framework (PIF) Implementation, Strengthened Education Management Information Systems (EMIS), Developing Strategic Business Plans for Universities of Malawi and Mzuzu. While each of the project components has distinct objectives, the project will be implemented in an integrated fashion with common operational strategies to assure that all activities are mutually reinforcing.