Former U.S. president Bill Clinton signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Friday with the Malawian government to mark the start of a rural development project to be implemented in the country over the coming years.

The project would be implemented on a pilot phase in two African countries of Malawi and Rwanda and it is part of the 100 million U.S. dollars development initiative called the Clinton- Hunter Development Initiative (CHDI) that the former U.S.

president and the Scottish philanthropist Sir Tom Hunter launched in September last year.

The initiative was set up with the aim of constructing a new model of poverty intervention in the world's poorest countries and enabling people to define the right approach for their geopolitical circumstances whilst building the capacity to support self-sustainability.

Speaking before signing the MOU, Clinton called for renewed approach to development initiatives in poor countries like Malawi and stressed the need to enable beneficiary communities to own the initiatives.

"Too often in the past, development aid initiatives had been disconnected from the participation and fundamental ownership of the people at grass root level who were the ones heavily affected by poverty," said Clinton, who was accompanied on his day-long visit by Sir Tom Hunter.

Clinton said they were in Malawi in hope of building a partnership that would enable people get out of poverty.

Malawi, whose 85 percent of its 11.6 million population live in the rural areas, is one of the world's poorest countries with an annual per capita income of about 160 dollars.

Clinton attributed the widespread poverty in Malawi and other African countries to the unequal distribution of investments, opportunities and functioning systems that would allow people to uplift their living standards.

He said the real test of the initiative, which is being piloted in Malawi's three districts, would be in the number of people whose lives have changed and not by how much money would be spent.

Clinton disclosed that the CHDI would be prepared to fund this project in Malawi for as long as a decade if necessary so that poor Malawians were provided the systems and opportunities to give people the future that they deserved.

"This is a private sector initiative by two individuals who are touched by poverty in Malawi and are committed to assist in alleviating it," Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika said at Friday's ceremony.

Tom Hunter, a Scottish philanthropist and retail magnate, is ranked by Forbes Magazine as the 548th richest person in the world.

Source: Xinhua