In April 2002, Government adopted the MPRS, whose overall goal is to achieve sustainable poverty reduction through social, economic and political empowerment of the poor, as an overarching development framework, which is now the basis for all future Government development activities and provides the guiding framework for development assistance to the country.

•  Sustainable pro-poor economic growth – economically empowering the poor by ensuring access to    credit and markets, skills development and employment generations;

•  Human capital development – ensuring the poor have the health status and education to lift    themselves out of poverty;

•  Improving the quality of life for the most vulnerable – providing sustainable safety nets for    those who are unable to benefit from the first two pillars;

•  Good governance, political will and mindset – ensuring that the public and civil society institutions    and systems protect and benefit the poor.

The underlying principle of MPRS is people's empowerment so that sustainable development can come from people taking an active role in the management of their development initiatives.

Government has decided to build on the experiences of MASAF I and II, with its focus on community empowerment and emphasis on participatory development processes, and use MASAF as an instrument for realizing the objectives of community empowerment and decentralized development management.

In its design, the MASAF embodies principles of CDD in which
(i) community empowerment;
(ii) empowering local governments;
(iii) re-aligning the center;
(iv) improving accountability; and
(v) building capacity are the major tenets.

Through a deliberate and comprehensive capacity enhancement program, MASAF will continue to support the communities, LAs and national level sectors to improve service and public accountability in line with the CDD principles.

The project also takes cognizance of the MDGs, to which Malawi is a signatory, which were agreed to at the Millennium Declaration and signed in September 2000 by 147 Heads of States. The MDGs include:   Eradicating poverty and hunger

• Achieving universal primary education
• Promoting gender equality and empowering women
• Reducing child mortality
• Improving maternal health
• Combating HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• Ensuring environmental sustainability and,
• Developing a global partnership for development

Financing of the MASAF Program is open to any funding agency; current sources are expected to include Government funds appropriated by Parliament, donor resources in the form of grants or loans, contributions by participating communities, CBOs and NGOs, and from any other source as directed by the MASAF Board.

•  The implementation plan for MASAF 3 will need to take a long-term perspective in order to    appropriately subscribe to the MPRS long-term goal of sustainable poverty reduction through the social,    economic and political empowerment of the poor, thereby ultimately contributing to the realization of the    MDGs.

•  It is anticipated that around 10 years will be needed for the LAs to develop adequate capacity to take    over implementation management of most activities that MASAF will have been supporting.

•  As this capacity is built, MASAF will undergo a progressive institutional transformation, corresponding to    attainment of certain management capacities by the LAs to assume, and effectively discharge, the    specific devolved sectoral functions and services to the communities in the district.

LAs will follow the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) in their planning and budgeting process, and projects submitted to MASAF for funding under the CDP will come from the District Development Plans that clearly reflect the recurrent expenditure commitments with respect to the proposed annual investment plans.

MASAF will work with the LAs to enhance their development management capacities and thereby strengthen the phased implementation of the Decentralisation Program.