Orphans and vulnerable children in the village
of Mwanganya, in the Karonga District
of northern Malawi, receive a meal of nutritious
porridge, provided by a Caritas partner agency
Lusubilo Orphans Care Centre.

Credits: Credit David Snyder/CRS

Countries across Africa are demonstrating that rapid and large-scale progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is possible when strong government leadership and good policies are combined with adequate financial and technical support from the international community. Recent examples include:

In one year Malawi’s voucher programme for fertilisers and seeds led to a doubling of agricultural productivity during the 2006/07 growing season.

Ghana is successfully implementing a national school feeding programme using locally produced foods.

Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and many other countries have abolished fees for primary schools resulting in dramatic increases in enrolment during the space of a few years.

In 2006 Zambia cancelled fees for basic rural health services and Burundi introduced free medical care for mothers and children.

With support from the Red Cross, Red Crescent, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the United States Centres for Disease Control, African countries such as Niger, Togo and Zambia have successfully launched national campaigns for measles vaccination and distribution of long-lasting insecticide-treated anti-malaria bed nets. These campaigns were rolled out nation-wide within a period of two weeks and led to at least a halving of malaria incidence.

In Niger, hundreds of thousands of people in rural communities greatly improved their livelihoods and reduced their vulnerability to droughts through large-scale reforestation driven by national policy reforms.

Senegal is on track to achieving the water and sanitation goals through a national investment programme financed with donor support.