Malawi Shock-Responsive Social Protection (SRSP) Case Study

Shock-responsive social protection (SRSP) is increasingly being explored by a range of actors to link humanitarian assistance and longer-term development interventions and build the capacity of governments to manage the full spectrum of shocks that people face through integrated and aligned systems and programmes. To date, however, evidence of what has been tested and learned is limited. Malawi faces cyclical natural disasters including droughts, dry spells, flooding and pest infestations, with consistently high humanitarian caseloads including 6.7 million people affected by El Niño in 2015/16. Meanwhile, the government and development partners have made significant progress in developing social protection systems and programmes, and since 2015 have looked to tailor and align them to humanitarian processes to better manage and respond to climate shocks, through trialling a diverse range of SRSP activities. This paper provides an overview of the Malawi context as it relates to SRSP, the key efforts undertaken to date, and summarises the rich learning and reflections from policy to systems and programmes. By so doing, the paper aims to inform the future trajectory of SRSP in Malawi, as well as in other countries and contexts in Africa and beyond.