Ready to Respond to Freddy? Shock-Responsive Social Protection for Nutrition in Malawi

Abstract: The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and the increasing pace and intensity of climate-related shocks have driven the emergence of international interest around the role of national social protection systems for shock-responsiveness. An increasing number of already vulnerable people is in need of humanitarian assistance, risking to fall into poverty and malnutrition. In this context, predictable national social protection systems can have a role by leveraging their infrastructure and know-how to scale-up and adapt in response to shocks, reducing the need of ad-hoc humanitarian aid. Malawi is a shock-prone country, frequently hit by seasonal food scarcity and climatic shocks. In March 2023, Tropical Cyclone Freddy made landfall in the country, leaving more than a 1,000 people dead and over 500,000 displaced. Over one third of children under five in Malawi is stunted, meaning that they will never reach their full cognitive and physical development. Ever since the devastating effects of El Niño in 2016/17, the Government of Malawi has recognized shock-sensitive social protection as a national priority, necessary to break the cycle of poverty and vulnerability that is currently preventing the country from embarking on a sustainable economic development path. Through a descriptive qualitative case study, the thesis analyses the policy and programmes environment in Malawi in relation to shock-responsive social protection. Furthermore, it explores how different social protection programmes were scaled up in recent years to respond to shocks. Finally, it assesses to what extent are the social protection programmes designed in a nutrition- sensitive way, which refers to whether they are specifically targeted to the prevention and reduction of malnutrition, given the long-lasting effect that it has on the next generation of human capital of a country. The results from the case study of Malawi highlight the potential of using social protection for shock-responsiveness, while drawing attention on worrying gaps in nutrition-sensitive designs of social protection programmes.