The United Nations ( UN ) says beneficiaries of Social Cash Transfer Programme find cash transfers insufficient to meet all their needs while those who exit the safety net programme struggle to maintain their standard of living.
The UNs Children Education Fund (Unicef ) Midline Evaluation of the Malawi Social Cash Transfer Programme indicates that the challenges impacting its effectiveness and sustainability are being compounded by discrimination and exclusion from other community programmes.
Reads the impact report in part: “Beneficiaries often find the cash transfers insufficient to meet all their needs and those who exit the programme struggle to maintain their standard of living, facing difficulties in feeding their families, affording school fees and sustaining agricultural productivity.”
The report further said social discrimination and exclusion f rom other community programmes further complicate their situation.
Unicef data show that at the end of 2024, the programme reached approximately 381 735 households and over 1.7 million individuals, including over 600 000 children.
Transfer values depend on household size, currently averaging K15 000 per household per month.
The data further show that in Malawi, recipient households have an average daily consumption of $0.32 (about K560.32) per person per day prior to the programme.
However, Unicef observes that even a tripling of this value as suggested by the
Malawi Social Cash Transfer Programme multiplier, would raise consumption to just under $1 (about K1 751)per day per person, which is above the national poverty line, but below the international poverty line of $3 (about K5 300) per day.
The data further show that poverty and ultra-poverty headcount rates decreased by 11 and nine percentage points, respectively, among households who continuously received social cash transfer support relative to households whose support was discontinued.
On the other hand, new social cash transfer programme households, the decline in poverty is five percentage points and seven percentage points in ultra-poverty.
Ironically, the programme is 94.5 percent dependent on donors, wih the Malawi Government contribution standing at 5.5 percent.
In a written response on Tuesday, Centre for Social Concern economic governance officer Agness Nyirongo said while financial dependence is the programme’s most visible vulnerability, the programme suffers from several design and
operational shortcomings that reduce its effectiveness.
She said: “Without structural reform and stronger domestic commitment, these gains will remain temporary and fragile.
“Malawi now stands at a crossroads. We can either allow the programme to remain a donor-funded stopgap, or we can transform it into a nationally-owned, sustainably-financed and well-integrated pillar of our social protection system.”
Already, African Development Bank data show that Malawi’s actual disbursements have fallen
short by 61.8 percent of the target in the 2024/25 financial year, following aid cut and US tariff impositions.
Treasury projected grants at K1.17 trillion in the 2024/25 National Budget, of which K1.1 trillion was expected from international organisations and K72.69 billion from foreign governments.
This means that at 67 percent, grants would have declined by about K800 billion.
Mi n i ster of Gender,
Community Development and Social Welfare Jean Sendeza was yet to respond to our questionnaire.
However, the ministry, which coordinates the implementation of programme hopes to increase the coverage to 15 percent between 2022 and 2027 as outlined in the strategic plan.
Implementation of the five-year plan will require both increased overall funding and an increased proportional contribution from government
