According to the Cotonou Partnership Agreement of 23rd June, 2000 signed between the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states and European Commission, there is a requirement that each member state of the ACP must have a National Authorising Officer (NAO) to represent a particular state in all operations financed by the European Union (EU).
In Malawi, the NAO is the Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development (MoFEPD). He/She is designated and responsible for the effective and efficient cooperation between the EU and the Government of Malawi (GoM) towards the national agenda of poverty reduction. The aim of this cooperation is that the vulnerable people in Malawi are benefitting from the support the country is getting from the EU.
In 2003, The GoM established the National Authorising Officer’s Support Unit (NAO SU) to support the NAO to effectively and efficiently carry out his/her functions in the operations of all the EU funded interventions for the GoM. This Unit operates under the Debt and Aid Management Division (DAD) in the MoFEPD. The NAO SU is currently headed by the Deputy Director for DAD, Mr Nations Msowoya.
The NAO SU is mandated to execute on the EU portfolio to Malawi through enhancing and strengthening efficiently on the following areas; effective joint cooperation between the Government and the EU; effective project preparation, implementation and monitoring; effective partnership between the EU, the Government and the Non State Actors (NSAs); and contractual, administrative and financial management of the EU projects.
The Head of NAO SU is responsible for ensuring that all agreements or signing of any contractual documents for all the EU supported interventions are handled accordingly on behalf of the NAO for the GoM.
The Unit ensures that execution of various EU funded programmes and projects which include project preparation, implementation and monitoring are efficiently done in accordance with the National objective of poverty reduction. The Unit ensures that execution of various EU funded programmes and projects which include project preparation, implementation and monitoring are efficiently done in accordance with the National objective of poverty reduction. The NAO SU supports the NAO to efficiently deliver on various EU funded programmes and projects across different line ministries. Among others, the following are the beneficiary sectors to date; Sustainable Agriculture, Nutrition and Food Security, Health, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Social Support through Social Cash Transfer, Infrastructure, Forestry, Industry and Trade, Democratic Governance, Justice and Accountability, Secondary Education, Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) and Civic Education. Some of the EU funded programmes to date include; Rural Infrastructure Development Programme (RIDP), Agriculture Sector Wide Approach – Green Belt Initiative (ASWAp – GBI), Kutukula Ulimi m’Malawi (KULIMA), Land Governance, Farm Income Diversification Programme (FIDP I&II), Rural Road Improvement Programme (RRImP), Afikepo, Improving Secondary Education in Malawi (ISEM), Skills Training Education Programme (STEP), Malawi Enterprise Productivity Enhancement (MEPE), Democratic Governance Programme (DGP), Chilungamo (Justice and Accountability) Programme and Social Cash Transfer Programme among others. The Unit works together with several stakeholders which include; the line Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), NSAs, EU Delegation to Malawi (EUD), Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA), media and the targeted communities among others.