Working Paper 24: Examining Perceptions of Food Assistance on Household Food Security and Resilience in Malawi

A critical issue in Malawi is determining how aid can be improved to ensure food security and nutrition of those who need it most, when they need it most. Humanitarian aid has played an important role in alleviating hunger during emergencies, such as the 2015 floods or the 2016 El Niño-related droughts. The Government of Malawi and development partners recognize that emergency responses are not a sustainable solution to address vulnerability. Rather, improving food security in the long term depends on strengthening the resilience of smallholder farmers that compose the majority of the population.

IFPRI Malawi's Working Paper 24 presents findings of an evaluation that collected both quantitative and qualitative data over four surveys of 1,199 households in Zomba District, Malawi. The study examined the characteristics of resilient households and perceived effects of programs to improve food security and resilience, purposefully taking a beneficiary-centered approach to explore socially-defined concepts of resilience, and the associated coping strategies, norms and political dynamics affecting programs such as the Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP) and the Social Cash Transfer Program (SCTP), among others.

More specifically, the study approach captured both individual and household strategies for coping with seasonal food insecurity, examining intra-household dynamics through interviews with women and men. In addition, traditional leaders were interviewed to better understand the impact community politics and norms have on food security and resilience. Thus, the study provides a unique opportunity to compare and contrast different aid programs from the perspectives of the populations they serve. These beneficiary insights can be used to improve the effectiveness of future social assistance programs developed and implemented in Malawi.