Malawian wins UN 2013 research grant
Malawian national Stern Kita, who works for the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA), is one of the six winners of the United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2013 Research and Innovation Grant Programme.
Kita will study effectiveness of cash transfers as a way of responding to large-scale food insecurity.
In a statement on Thursday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said the winners will receive small cash grants to support their research into a range of issues related to humanitarian innovation.
Kita, 30, was involved in the government’s response to the drought that hit Malawi in late 2012 and stretched into early 2013.
Food insecurity is not a new experience in Malawi and government embarked on a comparatively wide-scale distribution of cash. Almost 150 000 people received unconditional cash transfers compared to about 1.8 million who received more traditional food assistance.
“Cash had never been used at a large scale as a tool to respond to food insecurity in Malawi,” Kita is quoted as having said in the statement. “[I felt] it was important to assess how effective this innovative way of responding was.”
Kita observed that cash has many obvious benefits over the distribution of food as, among other things, cash is easier andcheaper to distribute.
The six winners are from a range of backgrounds.
