New Alliance Policy Acceleration Support (NAPAS): Malawi Annual Work Plan [FY2016]

These reforms aim to improve the agriculture investment climate and enable increased commercialization of Malawi's agricultural sector. NAPAS: Malawi has three work components: provide effective technical support for policy formulation, engage in communication activities to inform debate on agriculture and food security policy issues, and ensure that gaps in expertise constraining agricultural policy reform are filled. The project is implemented by Michigan State University (MSU). The Associate Cooperative Agreement between USAID/Malawi and MSU was finalized on 28 November 2014 and will run through 30 September 2017. US$ 3.14 million has been budgeted for the activity. This is the work plan for the third year of NAPAS: Malawi corresponding to the 2017 fiscal year of the US government. The major expected outcomes in the coming work year, categorized by objective, will be technical support for policy formulation, policy communications, and capacity strengthening. Technical support for policy formulation involves analyzing five policy commitments, drafting two new policies or strategies based on input from stakeholder consultations, presenting one policy document or strategy for legislation, and facilitating the legislative approval of one policy on which NAPAS: Malawi has worked. Policy communications involve working with partner institutions in Malawi to expand the number of informed actors engaged in evidence-based deliberations on agriculture, food security, and nutrition policy issues. Capacity strengthening involves training journalists for improved reporting on agricultural policy issues, improving policy communication for agricultural policy analysts, and policy analysis techniques for agricultural policy analysts both in government and in other stakeholder organizations in Malawi's agricultural sector. The project will integrate its work with that of others working on the New Alliance initiative in Malawi or on strengthening agricultural policy processes. Regular communication and joint planning with these counterparts will remain an important element in project implementation. NAPAS: Malawi staff will work primarily with the Department of Agricultural Planning Services (DAPS) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Water Development (MoAIWD) of the government of Malawi, but also with other stakeholder institutions in agricultural development and in the New Alliance initiative in Malawi. The budget for the third and final year of the project is US$1,084,530, which will be spent on NAPAS: Malawi activities (Appendix A). The project's goal is to provide support to the government of Malawi so that it sustainably achieves the high-level commitments to policy reform made in the New Alliance Country Cooperation Framework for Malawi. These aim to improve the agriculture investment climate in Malawi and enable increased commercialization of Malawi's agricultural sector. The project is national in scope (Appendix E). NAPAS: Malawi has three principal components: policy formulation, policy communications, and capacity strengthening. The policy formulation component involves providing technical support for policy formulation, while the policy communications component involves engaging in communication activities to inform debate on agriculture and food security policy issues. The capacity strengthening component involves ensuring that gaps in expertise constraining agricultural policy reform are filled. The project will work with various stakeholders, including the Department of Agricultural Planning Services (DAPS), the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Water Development (MoAIWD), and other stakeholder institutions in agricultural development and in the New Alliance initiative in Malawi. Regular communication and joint planning with these counterparts will remain an important element in project implementation.