Suresh Babu POLICY SEMINAR Strengthening policy research and analysis capacity: The role of institutional development programs JUL 21, 2022 - 9:00 TO 10:30AM EDT

1. Strengthening policy research and analysis
capacity: Malawi
Presented at the IFPRI policy seminar on ‘Strengthening policy
research and analysis capacity: The role of institutional
development programs’
July 21, 2022
Suresh Babu
Senior Research Fellow and Head of Capacity Strengthening
Program, IFPRI

2. Institutional capacity for policy research in Malawi
“I need 10 people like you
in our Ministry – that would
be a great contribution
before you leave”
Hon. M. Kangaude,
Dy.Minister for Agriculture

3. Capacity
Investments in
the Policy
System
 Center for Social Research
 Ministry of Economic Planning
 Ministry of Agriculture
 National Statistical Office
 University system - LUANAR
 Policy Platforms - COMPACT 2025
 Independent Think Tanks –
MWAPATA

4. Malawi
Beginning 1990s…..
 Cornell Food And Nutrition
Policy Program (MOA, EPD, CSR)
 Harvard Institute for
International Development
( LUANAR, EPD)
 Policy research and analysis
 Evidence-based policy advice
 Capacity development
 IFPRI, Rockefeller Foundation,
MSU and others……

5. Ministry of Agriculture
 Frequent droughts and disasters
 Evidence-based assessments of Food and
Nutrition Security
 Quantity approach – firefighting
 Monitoring system - Data analysis
capacity for decentralized interventions
 Analysis of markets and prices….
 NAPAS – MSU /IFPRI
 Policy Analysis capacity for national
agricultural strategies
 Internal and external brain drain
begins…….SADC, World Bank, UN, INGOs

6. University System: Bunda College becomes LUANAR
 Public policy education (MSc … PhD
programs)
 Policy research ( APRU, CARDS)
 Mid-career policy analysis training
(food and nutrition, natural resources,
and agricultural policies)
 USAID, World Bank, EU, Unicef
 Successful in the number of
individuals
 Opportunities for improvement in
quality
 AERC regional MSc programs
 Individual vs Institutional
Development in policy analysis and
research

7. National Statistical Office
Food security and nutrition assessments in
MOA with NSO collaboration
Capacity for Annual Surveys of Agriculture
Support for designing first national
household surveys (Todd Benson) – IHS-1
Connecting HIS to Population Census for
Poverty mapping – (Nick Minot) - IHS-5
World Bank – LSMS – continues to support
Capacity for designing, conducting, and
reporting National level surveys
The country has national-level data for
policy research and analysis

8. IFPRI Country Program - COMPACT 2025
 Independent high-quality
evidence-based policy advice
 Continued capacity support
to MOA, EPD, NSO, LUANAR,
NPC, and MWAPATA, and
other INGOs
 Price monitoring system
collaborating with the Ag.
Information system
 Independent Platform for
research-based policy
dialogue

9. Emergence of Local Think Tanks:
MWAPATA
• Emerging as a leading policy
think tank that is locally
governed
• High-level policy events
backed up by research
• Generating opportunities for
national-level policy
dialogues on key topics
• Supported by researchers
from MSU and IFPRI

10. Decentralized analytical capacity: Scaling Up
National Resilience Strategy
From policy to impact -
Implementation challenges?
How can local and contextual evidence
support intervention programs?
What lessons we can learn from integrated
interventions in a food system context?
How do we bring together multiple sectors
to work together? ( agriculture, Nutrition,
WASH, resilience, local governments)
Connecting policies to interventions: USAID-
funded Titukulane project leading to
strengthening national capacity for NRS
implementation

11. Lessons
oDevelopment stage of the country – global knowledge applied locally
o Long-term effort - but the strategy should change - local context and
conditions
oSystem-wide approach to strengthening the policy system – going
beyond the human capacity for policy research and analysis
oGovernance and accountability of local Institutional leaders are key for
sustaining and effective use of the capacity
oEvery research program should have capacity development goals and
outcomes – should leave capacity behind (One CGIAR Initiatives)
oNeed to invest until we reach a tipping point in both quality and
quantity – when external support is no longer needed

12. The way forward
“If there is still demand for your
work then your job in capacity
strengthening is not yet done”