Malawi

AFIDEP has implemented the following projects in Malawi:

• The demographic dividend
• African Research Collaboration on Sepsis (ARCS)
• The Malawi Parliamentary Support Initiative (M-PSI)
• The Malawi Parliament Strengthening Project (MPEP)
• Partnership for Increasing the Impact of Vector Control (PIIVeC)
• Drivers of Antimicrobial Resistance in Uganda and Malawi (DRUM)
• The International Multidisciplinary Programme to Address Lung Health and TB in Africa (IMPALA)
• Initiative for Learning and Evidence to Address Teen Pregnancy among School Girls in Malawi (I-LEARN)
• Strengthening Use of Research Evidence for Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health (enSURE Adolescent and Youth SRH)
• Enabling Evidence-Informed Development Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa (EVI4DEV)
• Strengthening Capacity for Evidence Use in Health Policy (SECURE Health)

Research Reports:

• Status of Evidence Use in Health Policy Formulation in Malawi: Results from Three Policy Analysis Case Studies
• Mid-Term Review of the Performance of the National Health Research Agenda
• Harnessing the Demographic Dividend to Accelerate Socio-economic Transformation and Economic Development in Malawi

Research Briefs: Making The Dividend Count Bridging Research And Africa’s Policy Processes Policy Briefs:

• Key Actions For Enhancing The Communication Of Demographic Dividend Research To Improve Policymaking In Africa
• Ending Child Marriage in Malawi: What the evidence tells us
• Creating Sustainable Financing for the Malawi Health Research System

Policy Documents:

• Malawi Growth Development Strategy (MGDS III) – 2017-2022
• Malawi Guidelines For Evidence Use In Decision-Making

Fact Sheets:Child Marriage in Malawi

1. We supported the Parliamentary Services Commission and the Legal Affairs Committee of the Malawi Parliament to develop a technical report that was adopted by the House to enhance Parliament’s administrative and legal autonomy in discharging its duties
2. Developed accountability system and tools to Improve women’s health; In Malawi, synthesis and translation of evidence and policy dialogue on child marriages led to a commitment by the government to end the practice by 2027. In addition, through our work with the parliamentary committee for health, Malawi Government created a budget line for family planning and increased budget for the health sector
3. AFIDEP supported parliaments and ministries of health in Malawi to develop EIDM guidelines for evidence use, which are widely used. The first Africa Evidence Leadership award holder, the Head of the Research Department in Malawi Parliament, was trained by AFIDEP. Former Member of Parliament, Malawi & Chair, Parliamentary Committee on Health, Malawi Parliament, Juliana Lunguzi remarks that:

« AFIDEP’s work has been valuable to Malawi Members of Parliament particularly in helping us organise evidence. Our role is to deliberate different development issues that we have, and without evidence it becomes a challenge. AFIDEP has come in and provided information especially on different issues that are affecting our nation. [For instance] right now the population is quite big in Malawi. So we have all these MPs who did not really understand about issues of population and understand the fact that our population is growing very fast. [MPs had] challenges putting into perspective the fact that most of the challenges we are facing in Malawi are due to our rapidly growing population. Therefore, the interaction with AFIDEP has been an eye-opener to the MPs. In addition, AFIDEP conducts its work with a sense of urgency and has also been very flexible while working with Parliamentarians who have several demands on their time… »

(More of this testimonial on AFIDEP’s 2016 Annual Report, pg. 23)