Ephraim Chirwa

The Millennium Development Goals: a cross-sectoral analysis and principles for goal setting after 2015

Bringing together analysis across different sectors, we review the implementation and achievements of the MDGs to date to identify cross cutting strengths and weaknesses as a basis for considering how they might be developed or replaced after 2015. Working from this and a definition of development as a dynamic process involving sustainable and equitable access to improved wellbeing, five interwoven guiding principles are proposed for a post 2015 development project: holism, equity, sustainability, ownership, and global obligation. These principles and their possible implications in application are expanded and explored. The paper concludes with an illustrative discussion of how these principles might be applied in the health sector.

The Short-Term Impacts of a Schooling Conditional Cash Transfer Program on the Sexual Behavior of Young Women

Recent evidence suggests that conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs for schooling are effective in raising school enrollment and attendance. However, there is also reason to believe that such programs can affect other outcomes, such as the sexual behavior of their young beneficiaries. Zomba Cash Transfer Program is a randomized ongoing CCT intervention targeting young women in Malawi that provides incentives (in the form of school fees and cash transfers) to current schoolgirls and recent dropouts to stay in or return to school. An average offer of US

Adoption of fertiliser and hybrid seeds by smallholder maize farmers in Southern Malawi

10/month conditional on satisfactory school attendance - plus direct payment of secondary school fees - led to significant declines in early marriage, teenage pregnancy, and self-reported sexual activity among program beneficiaries after just one year of program implementation. For program beneficiaries who were out of school at baseline, the probability of getting married and becoming pregnant declined by more than 40 and 30%, respectively. In addition, the incidence of the onset of sexual activity was 38% lower among all program beneficiaries than the control group. Overall, these results suggest that CCT programs not only serve as useful tools for improving school attendance but may also reduce sexual activity, teen pregnancy, and early marriage.

Effects of gender on the performance of micro and small enterprises in Malawi

Despite decades of agricultural policies that promoted the adoption of fertiliser and hybrid seed technologies as ways of improving productivity in maize farming, smallholder farmers in Malawi have been relatively slow to adopt the new technology. Using bivariate probit analysis and controlling for technology acquisition through grants, we found that fertiliser adoption was positively associated with higher levels of education, larger plot sizes and higher non-farm incomes, but negatively associated with households headed by women and distance from input markets. The adoption of hybrid seeds is positively associated with market-based land tenure systems and fertile soils, but negatively associated with age of the farmer and distance from input markets.

Privatization and Technical Efficiency: Evidence from the Manufacturing Sector in Malawi

Women are increasingly venturing into ownership of micro and small enterprises, either on their own or in partnership with male entrepreneurs. Using national survey data from Malawi, this study compares the performance of enterprises owned by females with those owned by males. The results show that the relationship between gender and business performance is complex. While there are no significant differences in profit margins, female-owned enterprises tend to grow more rapidly in terms of employment than male-owned ones. Gender-based regression results also show that while there are common factors that affect the performance of both kinds of enterprise, there are also differential effects in which education is a critical factor for the success of female-owned enterprises.

Participation and Impact of Poverty-oriented Public Works Projects in Rural Malawi

This study evaluates the impact of privatization on the technical efficiency of six privatized enterprises, three state-owned enterprises and six private enterprises competing in three oligopolistic manufacturing industries in which privatization took place between 1984 and 1991 using panel data between 1970 and 1997. Technical efficiency scores are computed using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) based on the ‘intertemporal frontier’ approach for panel data. The results show that privatization in Malawi is associated with high mean technical efficiency in privatized enterprises and competing state-owned enterprises and private enterprises. If we account for other sources of technical efficiency, in the full sample we find evidence that the competitive process is more important than privatization in increasing the technical efficiency of all enterprises competing in the same industries. However, the results of the subsample of privatized enterprises show that privatization significantly increases the technical efficiency of privatized enterprises, although we cannot ignore the role of domestic competition, capital intensity, multinationality and structural adjustment programmes as sources of technical efficiency. Cette etude mesure a l’aide de donnees de panel de 1970 a 1997, l’incidence de la privatisation sur l’efficacite technique de six entreprises privatisees, trois entreprises publiques et six entreprises privees en concurrence, dans trois industries manufacturieres oligopolistiques ou la privatisation est intervenue entre 1984 et 1991. Les notes d’efficacite technique sont calculees au moyen de l’Analyse de donnees “envelopment”, en se basant sur l’approche “frontiere inter-temporelle” pour les donnees du panel. Les resultats montrent qu’au Malawi, la privatisation est liee a l’utilisation de grands moyens pour l’efficacite technique dans les entreprises privatisees et dans les entreprises publiques et privees en concurrence. Si l’on tient compte d’autres sources d’efficacite technique, dans l’echantillonnage complet, nous avons des elements qui montrent que le processus concurrentiel est un facteur plus important d’accroissement de l’efficacite technique que la privatisation, pour toutes les entreprises en concurrence dans les memes industries. En revanche, les resultats du sous-echantillonnage compose d’entreprises privatisees montrent que la privatisation accroit tres sensiblement l’efficacite technique des entreprises privatisees; toutefois, on ne saurait ignorer le role joue par la concurrence nationale, l’intensite du capital, le caractere multinational et les programmes d’ajustement structurel comme sources d’efficacite technique.

Structural Adjustment Programmes and Technical Efficiency in the Malawian Manufacturing Sector

This article reports on factors influencing participation in the poverty-oriented public works programme in rural Malawi and analyses the determinants of the revealed positive socio-economic impact among the participants. The programme targets poor households through self-selection by offering a wage below the official minimum for rural areas. The empirical results show that most participants are poor and with little education. Probability of particpation is higher for members of female-headed households and households with longer periods of food insecurity, excess supply of labour, few assets and reservation wages below the wage offered in the programme. Taking account of selectivity bias, the impact of the programme increases with the gender (female) of participants and the numbers per household participating.

Why we are still failing to measure the nutrition transition

This paper examines the efficiency of firms within the structural adjustment period in four sub-sectors in Malawian manufacturing industry: food processing, tea processing, clothing and footwear, and pharmaceuticals and soaps. We first estimate stochastic production frontiers for each sub-sector and predict firm level efficiencies using panel data between 1984 and 1988. Secondly, we attempt to associate predicted firm level efficiencies with firm-specific and industry characteristics using a censored Tobit regression analysis. Results reveal that the average annual technical efficiency ranges from 53 per cent in the pharmaceuticals and soaps sub-sector in 1984 to 83 per cent in the clothing and footwear sub-sector in 1984. Technical efficiencies decline over time in the food processing, tea processing, and clothing and footwear sub-sectors while those in the pharmaceuticals and soaps sub-sector increase over time. We also find that technical efficiency significantly declines with firm size, domestic monopoly power and tariffs, while it is a positive function of factor intensity and skills of workers. Cet article examine l’efficience des entreprises en periode d’ajustement structurel dans quatre sous-secteurs de l’industrie manufacturiere au Malawi: agroalimentaire, transformation du the, vetements et chaussures, produits pharmaceutiques et savons. Nous estimons d’abord pour chaque sous-secteur des frontieres stochastiques des possibilites de production et nous predisons le niveau d’efficience des entreprises sur la base des donnees recueillies au moyen d’un panel entre 1984 et 1988. En second lieu, nous tentons d’associer le niveau d’efficience predit a des caracteristiques propres a l’entreprise ou au metier en utilisant une analyse de regression censuree. Les resultats montrent que l’efficience technique varie en moyenne de 53% dans le sous-secteur des produits pharmaceutiques et savons en 1984 a 83% dans le sous-secteur des vetements et chaussures en 1984. L’efficience technique diminue avec le temps dans les sous-secteurs de l’agroalimentaire, de la transformation du the ainsi que des vetements et chaussures, tandis qu’elle s’ameliore dans celui des produits pharmaceutiques et savons. On constate egalement que l’efficience technique baisse sensiblement avec l’accroissement de la taille de l’entreprise, l’acquisition d’une position de monopole et la protection tarifaire, tandis qu’elle augmente avec l’intensite des facteurs et la qualification de la main-d’oeuvre.

Lean-Season Food Transfers Affect Children’s Diets and Household Food Security: Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment in Malawi

### Summary box Malnutrition in all its forms—both underweight and micronutrient deficiencies, as well as overweight, obesity and associated non-communicable disease—is a global health issue, with the majority of cases arising in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs).1 Much of this malnutrition, particularly shifts towards an increased prevalence of overweight and obesity, is driven by dietary changes described as the ‘nutrition transition’, whereby populations move from traditional diets high in fibre and micronutrients, to more highly processed diets high in sugar, fat, salt, low in fibre and less nutrient dense–with these dietary changes accompanied by changes in eating behaviours and physical activity patterns.2 Ultraprocessed food products have been defined by Monteiro et al as ‘not entirely or mostly made from foods, but from industrial ingredients and additives, and are highly profitable’.3 Distinctions are made between processed …

Donor Herding and Domestic Debt Crisis

Background: There is evidence that social transfers increase food consumption, improving the quantity and quality of food consumed by poor households. Questions remain on how to improve the effectiveness of social programs.Objective: The aim was to assess the impact of a lean-season food transfer on household food security, diet, and nutrition status of young children during the lean season in Malawi and to understand processes through which transfers operated.Methods: This was a longitudinal, quasi-experimental study based on 2 survey rounds in the Zomba district in Malawi. Data were collected from 60 communities randomly selected among food-insecure villages. Twenty households were randomly selected for interviews within each community. Study outcomes included household expenditures and food consumption (measured by using 7-d recall) and child-level dietary diversity (measured by using 24-h recall) and nutritional status (anthropometric measurements). We followed a mixed-methods approach involving child- and household-level assessments, as well as interviews with community stakeholders. We estimated program impact by combining propensity score matching and difference-in-difference methods.Results: The per capita effect of food transfers on food expenditure was estimated at 36 Malawian kwachas/d, corresponding to an increase of 19% from baseline. There was evidence of increased iron availability in household intake. Highly significant effects were found on childrens dietary diversity score, corresponding to an increase of 15%, as well as a positive effect on weight-for-height z scores (WHZs) of >0.25 SDs. Effects on food expenditure and dietary diversity were robust to alternative matching specifications, although the effect on WHZs was not. Examination of the targeting of the transfer showed evidence of large errors of inclusion and exclusion.Conclusion: During the lean season in food-insecure settings, where important declines in food insecurity, diet quality, and nutrition status are present, food transfers may have a protective effect on household food security and diets of young children.