Malawi receive K26.3 million Irish aid to finance household survey

Malawi and Ireland on Monday signed an agreement that would see Irish Aid providing financial assistance to the National Statistical Office (NSO) amounting to €120,000 (approximately K26.3 million).

Minister of Finance, Ken Kandodo (pictured) and Ambassador of Ireland to Malawi, Liam MacGabhann signed the Bilateral Aid Agreement on behalf of their respective Governments in Lilongwe.

The financial assistance will support the NSO in carrying out the Third Integrated Household Survey (IHS) 2009/11.

“On behalf of the Government of Malawi, I wish to thank the people of Ireland for this timely assistance. The Third IHS is very important to us as it will help Government and its various partners to appreciate the living and welfare conditions of Malawians in order to draw appropriate measures to improve people’s lives,” said Malawi’s Finance Minister.

“Furthermore, considering that the Survey is coming towards the end of the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) implementation period, the Survey will also demonstrate to us the impact the MGDS has had on poverty levels in the country while providing the much needed socio-economic data that is indispensable to planning, monitoring and evaluation of various development initiatives,” Kandodo added.

In his remarks, MacGabhann said Ireland government is delighted to support the Malawi in undertaking national survey.

“It will provide an excellent opportunity to document the changes, at household level, that have taken place since the last household survey.

Such information will be so valuable for both government and development partners in planning future programmes and in making assessments on the effectiveness of existing supports,” he said.

The IHS is a major socio-economic survey that collects and analyses a large number of economic and social variables, including income and expenditure data.

Malawi carried out the First IHS in 1997/98, which formed the basis for the first comprehensive analysis of poverty based on consumption in the country.

The Second IHS, conducted in 2004/05, was aimed at providing timely and reliable information on key welfare and socio-economic indicators. The data was used to come up with a comprehensive poverty profile (poverty incidence, poverty gap, severity of poverty, etc).

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