The Malawi Priorities Project

Malawi Priorities was a project designed to help Malawi determine policy priorities so as to do more with each Kwacha that the country spends. The aim of the Malawi Priorities Project was to provide the government and its development partners with a systematic process to help prioritise the most effective policy solutions so as to maximize social and economic benefits of the investments. The project facilitated the prioritisation of policy options for the country based on cost-benefit analyses. The project also sought to identify interventions that enable the government to generate more financial resources to finance its development agenda. This was achieved through academic research, stakeholder engagement and a targeted outreach strategy to determine the best investments.

The Malawi Priorities approach worked with a range of stakeholders and partners to identify the most urgent issues and establish as many of the most promising solutions to optimal resource generation and utilisation. These solutions will range across many different policy areas, including agriculture commercialisation, industrialization, urbanization, energy and infrastructure development, education, health, governance, water, sanitation, environment. Representatives from across Malawi helped pick a select number of the most important solutions to be analysed. The project then brought together the best local, regional and international academic experts employed the cost-benefit analysis together with sector experts’ input, broad stakeholder engagement, and extensive policy outreach to

The Malawi National Planning Commission (NPC) reviewed Malawi’s long-term national development plan, Vision 2020, with a view to beginning the development of a successor vision, National Transformation (NT) 2063. The NPC carried out a mid-term review of the current medium-term national development strategy, the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) III. The Malawi Priorities informed the discourse around Malawi’s long-term aspirations and the development pathways that inform the development of the NT 2063. More importantly, the priorities to be defined at the sector level informed subsequent medium-term development plans that will operationalise the NT2063.

Publications:

The NPC with the technical support from the Copenhagen Consensus Centre (CCC) and AFIDEP submitted to the Malawi Presidential Taskforce on COVID a cost-benefit analysis report on COVID-19.

Technical report: Medium and long-term impacts of a moderate lockdown (social restrictions) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Malawi: A rapid cost-benefit analysis

The Malawi Priorities was supporting evidence-based planning and implementation of Malawi’s inclusive and sustainable socio-economic transformation agenda:

Technical report: Cost-benefit analysis of improving neonatal and maternal health outcomes in Malawi – Technical Report

Policy Brief: Cost benefit analysis of improving neonatal and maternal health outcomes in Malawi

Technical report: Cost-benefit Analysis of Expanding HIV Prevention and Treatment Services to Female Sex Workers in Malawi

Policy Brief: Cost-benefit Analysis of Providing HIV Prevention and Treatment Services to Female Sex Workers in Malawi

Technical report: Cost-benefit analysis of interventions to reduce the prevalence of stunting in Malawi – Technical report

Policy Brief: Cost-benefit analysis of interventions to reduce the incidence of stunting in Malawi

Technical report: Cost-benefit analysis of increasing contraceptive use through post-partum counseling and free, improved access to contraception in Malawi – Technical Report

Policy Brief: Cost-benefit analysis of increasing contraceptive use through post-partum counseling and free, improved access to contraception in Malawi

Technical report: Cost Benefit Analysis of Stimulating Farmer Uptake of Irrigation in Malawi – Techincal Report

Policy Brief: Cost Benefit Analysis of Stimulating Farmer Uptake of Irrigation in Malawi

Technical report: The costs and benefits of commodity exchange (COMEX) reform in Malawi – Technical Report

Policy Brief: The costs and benefits of interventions related to COMEX reforms in Malawi

Technical report: Cost-benefit analysis: Improving the quality of primary school education in Malawi – Technical Report

Policy Brief: A cost-benefit analysis: Improving the quality of primary school education in Malawi

Technical report: Cost-benefit analysis of interventions to encourage agricultural exports in Malawi – Technical Reports

Policy Brief: The costs and benefits of interventions to encourage agricultural exports in Malawi

Technical report: Cost-Benefit Analysis of Food and Nutrition Security in Malawi – Technical Report

Policy Brief: The Costs and Benefits of Food and Nutrition Security in Malawi

Technical report: Cost-Benefit Analysis of Power Sector Reform for Business Friendliness in Malawi – Technical Report

Policy Brief: The Costs and Benefits of Reforming the Power Sector for Business Friendliness in Malawi

Technical report: Cost-Benefit Analysis of Interventions to Boost Girls’ Secondary Education and Reduce Early Child Marriage in Malawi – Technical Report

Policy Brief: The Cost and Benefit of Interventions to Boost Girls’ Secondary Education and Reduce Early Child Marriage in Malawi

Technical report: Cost-Benefit Analysis of Expanding and Improving Early Childhood Education in Malawi – Technical Report

Policy Brief: The costs and benefits of expanding and improving early childhood education in Malawi

Technical report: A Cost-Benefit Note: Implementing the National Land Policy in Malawi – Technical Report

Policy Brief: A Cost-Benefit Note: Implementing the National Land Policy in Malawi

Technical report: The Cost-Benefit Analysis of Malaria Control Strategies in Malawi: A Scenario Comparison using the Spectrum-Malaria Impact Modelling Tool – Technical Report

Policy Brief: The costs and benefits of Malaria Control Strategies in Malawi: A Scenario Comparison using the Spectrum-Malaria Impact Modelling Tool

Technical report: A Cost-Benefit Analysis of National Resource Management in Malawi – Technical Report

Policy Brief: A Cost-Benefit Analysis of National Resource Management in Malawi

Technical report: Cost-Benefit Analysis of Upgrading Road Infrastructure for Tourism in Malawi – Technical Report

Policy Brief: A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Upgrading Road Infrastructure for Tourism in Malawi

Technical report: A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Industrialization and Youth Employment in Malawi – Technical Report

Policy Brief: A Cost-Benefit Analysis: Improving industrialisation and youth employment in Malawi

The project was coordinated by the National Planning Commission (NPC), with support from the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP). The academic research was coordinated by the Copenhagen Consensus Centre (CCC) who pioneered the methodology for economic analysis coupled with a cost-benefit analysis to produce comparable returns on investment of a range of interventions. The economic research was supported by economists at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and local eminent economists. The importance of having the project coordinated by NPC, supported by AFIDEP was to ensure its institutionalisation in government systems and relevance to the Malawi context so as to maximise the uptake of the findings.

The project built on experience and lessons with the priorities approach in other countries, including Haiti, Bangladesh, and India (with largely successful outcomes), and is currently ongoing in Ghana. Some outcomes from these and other experiences can be accessed on https://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/our-impact