The Malawi Experience:- with a focus on donor coordination

Paper presented at the PARIS21/SADC meeting on NSDS and RSDS in Maputo – October 14, 2013

by Charles Machinjili

Outline

• Strategic Planning for Statistics

• The NSS Structure

• The NSS Steering Committee

• The Donor Group on Statistics

• Funding Arrangements

"If you can't measure it, you can't manage it"

Strategic Planning for statistics

Strategic Planning:

National Statistical Office (NSO) has operated Strategic Plans since 1996.

In 2003 PARIS21 facilitated a meeting of all stakeholders in Malawi on Monitoring and Evaluation of the first PRSP. The NSS Strategic Plan was conceived at that meeting as a tool for providing the data for M&E of the PRSP and later the Malawi Growth & Development Strategy (MGDS).

NSS Strategic Plan came into being in 2007. Covers relevant line Ministries in addition to NSO. Sectoral budget plans incorporated in the NSS Strategic Plan.NSS Strategic Plan is used for mobilizing resources within the entire NSS.

"If you can't measure it, you can't manage it"

"If you can't measure it, you can't manage it"

The NSS Structure

• Composition: Comprises the NSO as the Central Agency and 12 line ministries.

• NSS National Coordinator: At the NSO there is an NSS Unit headed by a National Coordinator.

• Statistical Units: Within each of the line Ministries there is a Statistical Unit in the Planning Department.

• Sectoral Work Plans and Budgets: The Planning Departments prepare Sectoral budgets for the work plan of the Statistical Units

• Consolidated NSS Work Plan and Budget: The Sectoral work plans and budget are consolidated into one comprehensive NSS Work Plan and Budget.

"If you can't measure it, you can't manage it"

The NSS Steering Committee

• Composition: Comprises the 12 line Ministries, the Lead Donor and the NSO Commissioner as the Chair. In addition the Ministry of Finance and that of Economic Planning and Development are also members of the Committee.

• Mandate: Approves NSS Work Plan and assesses its implementation.

• Frequency of Meetings: Meets quarterly.

The Donor Group on Statistics

• Lead Donor: Norway is the lead donor. Coordinates all other donors in the Donor Group and represents them at the NSS Steering Committee Meetings.

• Donor Coordination Meetings: The National Coordinator, in collaboration with the Lead Donor, call for twice yearly Donor Coordination Meetings.

• The meetings assess progress on currently funded activities and identify resources for those activities not yet funded.

"If you can't measure it, you can't manage it"

The Donor Group on Statistics (Cont’d)

Common Procedures

NSO using a common approach in its dealings with the donors

Donors using a unified approach in their dealings with NSO

Availability of Information

The same information is available to the Donor Group at the same time.

Rationalisation of Activities

Duplication of activities is eliminated"If you can't measure it, you can't manage it"

Funding Arrangements

Types of Funding Arrangements Adopted:

• There has been a mixture of these arrangements. However the exact approach adopted has been arrived at through the Donor Coordination Meetings.

Pooled Funding: • (i) The 2008 Population and Housing Census. Donor funds channeled through UNFPA and

put into one account managed by NSO.

• (II) Support to the NSS: Norway and DFID have pooled their their funds to be managed by NSO.

Bilateral Funding: • The 2013 MDG Endline Survey: a number of Donors have funded various aspects of the

survey;

"If you can't measure it, you can't manage it"

THANK YOU / ZIKOMO / MERCI

"If you can't measure it, you can't manage it"