Mainline and Evangelical Churches Engendering Politics of Malawi Sustainable Development Goals (MSDGs) in Democratic Malawi (1992–2023)

The church has contributed to national development in Malawi since 1861. Conversations on accelerating SDGs are mainly about the contribution of government and faith-based organizations (FBOs) and not on churches. The chapter focuses on the contribution of mainline and evangelical churches in engendering the politics of Malawi Sustainable Development Goals in democratic Malawi from 1992 to 2023. In Malawi, Sustainable Development Goals are traced to 1992 at the dawn of multiparty democracy. In 2004, the National Strategy for Sustainable Development (NSSD) was launched. This transitioned to the Malawi Sustainable Development Goals (MSDG). The chapter, thus, focuses on the contribution of the two evangelical churches (A and D) and two mainline churches (A and C) to the realization of goal 5 (Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women and Girls (GEWEG)) of the MSDGs. The chapter builds on interdisciplinary descriptive and qualitative methods of collecting data. The chapter is based on four mainline and four evangelical city congregations in Mzuzu and Zomba. The study found that both groups of churches have made significant contributions to GEWEG in Malawi and that these churches have approaches that can illuminate approaches used by the government and other agencies in implementing the goal of GEWEG in Malawi. Further, the study found that different polities, doctrines, teachings, and cultures of the churches bring out the reality that such a goal cannot be fulfilled by a ‘one fits all’ approach. The significance of this chapter is that it builds on a discussion of utilizing diverse approaches in the implementation of the goal. The basis of the discussion is that diverse approaches of the churches can provide a nuanced approach to implementing goal 5 of the MSDGs. This discussion contributes to theories that church hierarchy and solidification of fluid structures, engendering decision-making bodies and modelling, contribute towards building a just society.