APPP Policy Brief 6. Support to local problem-solving: Lessons from peri-urban Malawi

Abstract

Malawi currently faces severe economic and political constraints, placing additional pressure on town and city governments which, even in normal times, are incapable of providing public goods such as health and public security well or consistently. To obtain them at all, people rely on a variety of non-state actors, including ‘town chiefs’ (informal leaders), NGOs, churches and political parties as well as, to some extent, themselves. In this new policy brief, which draws on her related 2012 Research Report, APPP Local Governance research team leader Diana Cammack looks at the major bottlenecks that undermine the provision of public goods to people living in Malawi’s townships. She concludes that it’s time to build on what is working on the ground in Malawi and other parts of Africa