On Wednesday 5^th June, 2025, the Adult Learning and Education (ALE) Thematic Group in Malawi met the private sector players in Lilongwe. The meeting aimed at enlightening the business sector on their role in supporting human capital development in education and other sectors.

The meeting also aimed at proposing how the private sector can support sustainable financing or resourcing for ALE.

The ALE sector in Malawi is mainly funded by Non-Governmental Organisations and Government. It is from this background that the ALE Thematic Group bought the private sector players to a round table to enlighten them the financial challenges that the ALE sector is facing and how the private sector can assist in promoting ALE.

The Chief Community Development Officer at the National Centre for Literacy Adult and Education (NACLAE), Samuel Ziba, said private sector is crucial for promotion of ALE in the country. He said for Malawi to successfully promote ALE, there is need to join hands hence the call to the private sector to be part of this push.

Ziba said the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare and its current stakeholders which include DVV International is also pushing for vocational skills development and training targeting people who did not undergo formal education. He added that that the major challenge is that people look at adult literacy as an issue for people who are no longer useful in the community.

He said: “People who fail to acquire certificates through formal education channels such as primary or secondary schools end up in the community without no empowerment in education.

“These are some of the people who need to be provided with some literacy to make meaningful contributions to the society.”

Link for Education Governance (LEG) Executive Director, Dr Limbani Nsapato, who attended the meeting said illiteracy fuels misinformation therefore there is need to eradicate it.

Nsapato called on the private sector to support government’s efforts towards achieving the 2020 National Adult Literacy goals.

Nsapato cited challenges such as poor enrolment, gender inequality and inadequate funding, which he said have also affected the successful implementation of the National Adult Learning and Education Strategy 2022-2027.

He said adult literacy gets less than one percent of the Ministry of Education’s annual budget.

“For instance, in the financial years 2021 to 2026, budgetary allocations to the Ministry of Education is K3, 692,823,435. The total estimate for adult literacy was K66, 214,326,403 while the actual allocated funds to the sub-sector are K685, 650,000, representing 0.02 percent of the total budget,” said Nsapato.

The companies from banking, hospitality and petroleum sectors attended the meeting. A similar meeting will be held in Blantyre.

According to the Malawi Integrated Household Survey of 2020 (IHS5), Illiteracy levels in Malawi are currently estimated at 24.5%, with 17% for men and 31.2% for women. The case is more pronounced for rural women. The rate is 35.2% compared to 19.4% for rural men. The situation is markedly better in urban areas, where the illiteracy level stands at 5.6% for men and 10.8% for women.