Malawi State House Support Programme

  • Status:
  • Completed
  • Funder:
  • FCDO
  • Partners:
  • Palladium
  • Years:
  • 2020-2023
  • Key Policy Areas:
  • Business EnvironmentClimate change and energyGovernanceJob creation and labour marketsMacroeconomic policyPrivate sector growthPublic service reform
  • Type of Support:
  • Direct Government Support

Kivu scoped, designed, and delivered a major programme of support for the State House team in Malawi. The support was focused principally on strengthening the policy and strategy functions in State House. Kivu worked closely with senior advisers to His Excellency Lazarus Chakwera, providing practical advice and support on key reform priorities.

As part of this programme the Kivu team helped deliver the Presidential Initiative on Job Creation, a major cross-cutting reform agenda, that entailed working with the State House team, the Secretary to the President and Cabinet (SPC), the Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU), and relevant line ministries.

Kivu had to adapt the programme to a series of challenges, including the cost of living and foreign exchange crisis triggered by the fall-out from Covid-19.

This work draws on the Kivu team’s extensive experience of working at the strategic centre of government and advising developed-world governments on effective public administration. The team included both Kivu Directors and Professor Nick Pearce, former Head of the UK No10 Policy Unit.

Key Impacts:
  • Trust-based relationships developed with key interlocutors, which allows for the provision of high-quality advice.
  • Strengthened the policy, strategy and delivery capacity of core team of advisers though an approach which focused on practical policy-problem solving.
  • Designed and implemented the Presidential Initiative on Job Creation, a major reform agenda in Malawi.
  • Advised the State House team on a wide range of economic and public sector reforms.
  • Strengthened the institutional set up at the Centre of Government.