Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisation principal economist Johnfunny Mwale has said dynamism in the Malawi Social Registry (MSR) will enhance social programmes implementation, policy planning and decision-making.
He made the remarks in an interview yesterday during the Dynamism in MSR Kick-off Workshop held in Blantyre.
Mwale, who was the guest of honour, said the MSR is a vital tool for delivering social programmes, but acknowledged concerns surrounding it, including data variables which limit its effectiveness.
He said: “To address this, the Poverty Reduction and Social Protection Division conducted a thorough review of the system. Today, we step forward to transition the MSR from a static into a living, real-time, and dynamic database.
“This will improve targeting, data accuracy, responsiveness to household changes, adaptability during emergencies or crisis, support data-driven decision-making, and overall programme efficiency.”
Mwale said to achieve efficiency, dynamism in the MSR will use two approaches,
“There is on demand registration, which involves a voluntary self-initiated request to update household changes and data integration, which will link the MSR directly with existing functional management systems to allow data exchange,” he said.
Mwale also said the workshop was crucial as it will ensure the two piloting districts, Dowa and Balaka, deeply understand the intervention, the unique district-level implementation roles and set the pace for wider implementation.
He then thanked the World Bank and German Development Cooperation through GIZ for their financial and technical support towards the dynamic MSR.
Speaking earlier during the meeting, Massimo Sichinga, social protection specialist at the World Bank under the Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods Programme, expressed the bank’s commitment to continued support to the Malawi government to achieve a robust dynamic social registry that also incorporates new innovative technologies.
Dowa District Council planning officer Benjamin Moyo described a dynamic MSR as vital.
