Social cash transfer plays a critical role is supporting vulnerable communities to overcome poverty and shocks in Malawi. Digital technologies are integrated in social cash transfer to improve operations and deliver value to citizens. This paper analysed the potential use of distributed ledger...

In 2015, Southern Africa experienced a drought that affected approximately 30 million people across seven countries. Using a nationally representative household panel survey dataset and a remotely sensed measure of drought intensity during the 2015/16 farming season, we rigorously estimate the...

In 2015, Southern Africa experienced a drought that affected approximately 30 million people across seven countries. Using a nationally representative household panel survey data set and a remotely sensed measure of drought intensity during the 2015-16 farming season, we rigorously estimate the...

Multiple Price Lists (MPLs) or Choice Lists (CLs) are widely used to elicit risk and time preferences, yet are prone to cognitive biases, particularly among respondents with limited numeracy skills. This paper compares three elicitation approaches; row-by-row from the top, from the bottom, and a...

We assess the reliability of measured farm sizes (ownership holdings) in the Living Standard Measurement Study - Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) in Ethiopia and Malawi based on three survey rounds (2012, 2014, 2016) in Ethiopia and four rounds (2010, 2013, 2016, 2019) in Malawi....

Digital transformation has attracted attention of Government of Malawi and development partners in supporting the development of inclusive digital economy and society. However, studies on the landscape of digital transformation to establish the level of maturity of Malawi are still lacking. This...

Background Poverty remains a key barrier to accessing essential maternal health services, particularly in low- and middle-income countries like Malawi. Despite the recognised importance of antenatal care (ANC) in ensuring healthy pregnancies as well as improving maternal and child health...

Malawi's economic recovery remains fragile due to the slow implementation of macroeconomic adjustment reforms and a series of recent shocks. Food insecurity remains a major concern due to weak harvests from 2022 to 2024 and the likelihood of a challenging 2024-25 season. Inflation is gradually...

Agroecology is gaining traction as a possible strategy for enhancing the sustainability and resilience of food systems, prompting increased support from some governments, donors, development organizations and civil society. However, the scope, design and impact of agroecology-related projects in...

In 2015, Southern Africa experienced a drought that affected approximately 30 million people across seven countries. Using a nationally representative household panel survey data set and a remotely sensed measure of drought intensity during the 2015-16 farming season, we rigorously estimate the...

This report discusses the findings and recommendations of a diagnostic assessment of the quality of public sector debt statistics (PSDS) of Malawi based on the IMF's Data Quality Assessment Framework for PSDS. The assessment was undertaken in February 2025 as part of a project to strengthen the...

In January/February 2025, an assessment was undertaken of the data quality of the public sector debt statistics (PSDS) of Malawi against the IMF's Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF) for PSDS. The mission was undertaken as part of a project to strengthen the quality of public sector debt in...

Malawi's economy is in a deep and protracted crisis marked by elevated inflation, declining living standards, and high rates of food insecurity. Since 2020, Malawi's economy has experienced a deep and protracted economic crisis. Economic growth rates have dropped from an average of 4.1 percent...

Biofortified crops have been identified as a vital remedy for hunger and micronutrient deficiencies among rural agro-based populations in developing countries. Nevertheless, the adoption of these crops remains limited due to farmers' lack of knowledge about their benefits. In Malawi,...

We assess the reliability of measured farm sizes (ownership holdings) in the Living Standard Measurement Study – Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) in Ethiopia and Malawi based on three survey rounds (2012, 2014, 2016) in Ethiopia and four rounds (2010, 2013, 2016, 2019) in Malawi....

The mission assisted the National Statistical Office of Malawi improve the quality of the published annual estimates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), progressed the use of Value Added Tax (VAT) data as a basis for developing quarterly series and supported development of current price estimates...

This paper investigates the relationship between the work of reproductive labor and the efficiency of gender-segmented farm production in Malawi. It starts by presenting quantitative estimates of the gender gap in agricultural productivity among small-scale petty commodity producers in Malawi,...

Exposure to extreme weather events and other adverse shocks has led to an increasing number of humanitarian crises in developing countries in recent years. These events cause acute suffering and compromise future welfare by adversely impacting human capital formation among vulnerable...

Multiple Price Lists (MPLs) or Choice Lists (CLs) are widely used to elicit risk and time preferences, yet are prone to cognitive biases, particularly among respondents with limited numeracy skills. This paper compares three elicitation approaches; row-by-row from the top, from the bottom, and a...

The small-farm sector is home to many of the world's food-insecure and undernourished people. Strategies to make smallholder farming more nutrition-sensitive often focus on agricultural diversification. In addition, women's empowerment is widely considered useful to improve diets and nutrition....

In 2015, Southern Africa experienced a drought that affected approximately 30 million people across seven countries. Using a nationally representative household panel survey dataset and a remotely sensed measure of drought intensity during the 2015/16 farming season, we rigorously estimate the...

Free public Wi-Fi is perceived to be one of the solutions of addressing barriers of Internet adoption in Malawi. The Government of Malawi received funding from the World Bank to implement 32 hotspots of free public Wi-Fi across the country. This paper analysed the stakeholder’s opinions...

The small farm sector is home to many of the world's food insecure and undernourished people. Strategies to make smallholder farming more nutrition-sensitive often focus on agricultural diversification. In addition, women's empowerment is widely considered useful to improve diets and nutrition....

Existing measures of resilience focus on specific food system components, neglecting the complexity of the whole system. We propose a measure of resilience that encompasses three dimensions of a food system: economic profitability, environmental sustainability, and adequate nutrition. To...

Accurate poverty measurement relies on household consumption data, but such data are often inadequate, outdated or display inconsistencies over time in poorer countries. To address these data challenges, we employ survey-to-survey imputation to produce estimates for several poverty indicators...

The Tumbuka are normally described as patrilineal where inheritance of property including land, cattle and village headmanship is from father to son. There is evidence that initially the Tumbuka were matrilineal. In this society, village heads are normally men, and land and other property are...

We study risky inter-temporal choice in a large random student sample (n=721) and a large rural sample (n=835) in Malawi. All respondents were exposed to the same 20 Multiple Choice Lists with a rapid elicitation method that facilitated the identification of near-future Certainty Equivalents of...

Agriculture subsidy programs increase participation of rural households in food security and nutrition improvement in Malawi. Digital technologies e.g. mobile application (App) and biometrical identification, electronic database have been integrated in implementation of Affordable inputs program...

Accurate poverty measurement relies on household consumption data, but such data are often inadequate, outdated or display inconsistencies over time in poorer countries. To address these data challenges, we employ survey-to-survey imputation to produce estimates for several poverty indicators...

Child malnutrition and low-quality diets remain widespread public health problems in sub-Saharan Africa. Providing access to nutritious and healthy foods for all is key, but it is not at all clear how this can be achieved in various local contexts. Here, we analyze the role of markets and food...

Background There is sparse evidence on the joint effects of ill-health, health shocks and social protection on the intensive margin of labour supply, particularly in developing countries. We interact ill-health and health shocks with access to social protection and estimate their joint effects...

The impact of trade liberalization on Malawi's economy has been a hotly debated topic, To shed light on the subject, a study was conducted using the PEP-1-1 CGE model and the latest Malawi's Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) from 2019, The results were eye-opening, revealing the potential effects...

A stylized fact of African agriculture is that crop responses to inorganic fertilizer application derived from experimental studies are often substantially greater than those from observational studies (e.g. surveys and administrative data). Recent debates on relative costs and benefits of...

Seed purchasing enables farmers to respond to adverse events that may cause chronic and temporary seed insecurity by allowing them to exploit opportunities associated with accessing new seeds. However, as with other inputs, seed purchasing is complicated by pervasive market imperfections and...