Facing donor missions with informed policy decisions: lessons from capacity strengthening for policy analysis in Malawi/ created by Suresh C. Babu

In recent years, there has been increasing conflict over development projects funded by international agencies between the recipient countries and the donors. Governments of developing countries often do not possess the necessary human and institutional capacity for policy analysis to define the priorities for implementing projects. Due to this deficiency, they depend on the analytical capacity of the donors. This has resulted in government officials having very little or no power in setting priorities among development projects during the process of donor-government negotiations. In order to strengthen the negotiating position of recipient governments, the policy analysis capacity of government agencies should be reinforced. The case of the World Bank-funded Agricultural Services Project in Malawi shows how joint analysis of policies and preparation of projects by donor-employed consultants and government agents can help strengthen the policy analysis capacity of government agencies. The use of already existing data generating mechanisms, such as the Food Security and Nutrition Monitoring System implemented by the Malawian Ministry of Agriculture, has been the basis for building the policy analysis capacity of the Malawian officials involved.