In order to alleviate poverty and food insecurity in Malawi – one of the poorest countries in the world – in 2016 the Government of Malawi, the Mwanza District Council, and COMSIP Cooperative Union, with the support of the GIZ Social Protection Programme, designed and implemented the Economic Empowerment Pilot Project in the district of Mwanza. The programme targets ultra-poor and labour-constrained households in six randomly selected areas of the district.
In view of the forthcoming impact evaluation, this report provides the first evidence of the immediate effects of this programme. The objective was to verify how beneficiaries spend the lump-sum transfers, in which kind of micro-business activities they engage, and what is the potential role of training (with and without lump-sum) in coming up with new business ideas and generating stable savings groups. It builds on three rounds of qualitative interviews conducted between June and October 2016. Focus group discussions with members of the VSL groups, expert interviews and interviews with purposely selected households provided further useful information.