Food, jobs top list of needs in Afrobarometer surveys

Food security, employment, the economy and the accountability of the political leadership have stood out as critical issues that Malawians want government to address to eradicate poverty, according to an Afrobarometer surveys.

Afrobarometer chief executive officer Joseph Asunka said in an interview in Lilongwe that through their surveys, the people feel they can sustainably exit from poverty, if the government worked on the stated factors.

He said: “In terms of the key policy priority areas, for many rounds of our surveys, people want their government to address the issue of unemployment, management of the economy, that is the common issue in all the countries.

“Governments may find our survey results both positive and negative, but if governments choose to agree or disagree with our results, that’s up to them. The data that we capture is the citizens’ voice and they must respect it regardless.”

Asunka made the remarks on the sidelines of a high-level visit by the Afrobarometer executive team for a meeting in Lilongwe to kickstart the Round 10 surveys with an initial strategic meeting on questionnaire development for 2023.

The strategic discussions will focus on previous questionnaires, topical trending issues and ensuring the questionnaire is unambiguous and unbiased, with the next steps to involve more extensive conversations with Afrobarometer’s four core partners and over 30 national partners.

Director of surveys for Afrobarometer in Malawi, Boniface Dulani, said the high-level meeting is key as it will dwell on topical issues to be tackled during the 2023 surveys.

He said: “In our context, the majority of Malawians do not want the government to provide for them, but all they want is employment to sustain their livelihoods.

The Afrobarometer questionnaires include standard questions democracy and governance, corruption, access to services and leadership, among others.