Evaluation of the Food Insecurity Cash Transfer Programme (Malawi)

Malawi, typically a self-sufficient maize producer, has suffered poor crop performance this year due to a late and erratic start to the rainy season, followed by damage from severe flooding in the southern half of the country, and periods of prolonged dry spells across most of the country for the latter half of the season.

This left more than 2.8 million people in Malawi food insecure for a period of between 3 to 8 months between October 2015 to March 2016. An estimated 20 to 40 percent of Malawi’s population were in need of humanitarian assistance to help them cope with this acute food shortage.

A review was performed in order to capture the key learn lessons for future operations. The main objective was to assess (according to a common methodology) the appeals: relevance and appropriateness; efficiency; effectiveness; coverage; coordination; sustainability and connectedness.

This joint evaluation of the Malawi Drought operation identified the challenges, ways to overcome them, key recommendations and lessons learned.