General Budget Support and Sector Program Assistance - Malawi Country Case Study
This study is part of the Evaluation Office’s field effort to analyze conditions needed for successful GBS. Field studies have been completed in Tanzania, Mozambique, and Nicaragua, where each country had some successes and some problems with GBS. This evaluation uses Malawi as a case study to identify conditions needed to make GBS successful and pitfalls and problems to avoid. This case study, based on a March 2004 field evaluation, broadens the analysis beyond GBS to examine the role of Sector Program Assistance (SPA) and Sector-Wide Approache (SWAps). Malawi had successful sector policy reform programs in the mid-1990s. But there have been serious problems with GBS and—to a lesser extent—with SPA in recent years.
This working paper looks at:
alternative assistance strategies and their strengths and weaknesses
country conditions in Malawi and how they affect donor assistance
USAID’s approach to SPA
management and financial issues that affect development in Malawi
PN-ADA-999
