MAFAP and IFPRI collaboration on analysis of agricultural public expenditure in Malawi

03 Feb 2014
The MAFAP team has started to build the first Public Expenditure (PE) database on agriculture and rural development in Malawi.

Such database will be used to monitor the level and composition of PE over time to provide evidence to policy-makers and development stakeholders on whether public resources are being allocated to priority areas, address investment needs, and are consistent with government policy objectives.
 
On the other hand, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) aims at analysing the budget process and the impacts of public expenditure on agriculture performance in Malawi. The collaboration between FAO and IFPRI aims at adopting a common approach to data collection and make the results comparable and complementary.

In the long term perspective, FAO and IFPRI aim at providing assistance to the Planning Department of the MoAFS and primarily to the Budget Unit. Discussions between FAO, IFPRI and the Unit are ongoing in order to identify and implement complementary activities to support the Planning Department. In this regard, one of the main objectives of the MAFAP initiative will be to strengthen capacities to monitor and analyse public expenditure to ensure country buy-in, ownership and sustainability of the monitoring system.