A crisis is unfolding because of the deaths among people in the labour force. It is expected that business, government and labour address the problem of HIV and AIDS. An intervention such as, introduction of policies and strategies would help in the awareness of the epidemic to the society as a whole. This study looks at the effect of HIV on gender inequality and its implications in the labour sector. There are large social and economic gaps between women and men in Malawi, and these inequalities have played a central role in the spread of HIV; hence it is imperative to consider women when developing HIV workplace policies, because they seem to be hit harder with the epidemic than men. Empowering women to refrain from risky relationships and protecting themselves and asserting their rights would decrease the high HIV prevalence percentage for women. The study use annual Labour participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15+) and annual labour participation rate, male (% of male population ages 15+) data obtained from (www.tradingeconomics.com) and annual Prevalence of HIV, total (% of population ages 15-49) obtained from World Bank over the period of 1980 to 2009. Prior to doing the regression analysis, the time series data is tested for stationarity using correlograms and the Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) test on each data set. The results suggest that there is a negative relationship between HIV/AIDS and labour on both genders for this period and that there is a gap on the effect of AIDS on women and men in the labour sector. The time series data is found to be 1(2), intergrated of order 2. The HIV data is regressed onto the labour data, using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS). Following the regression line is the Engel-Granger method which is used to test for cointegration. Other tests include diagnostic tests and stability tests / Thesis (M.Sc.(Computer Science) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2011

This study focuses on the situational analysis of the informal sector in the three major cities in Malawi. An extensive literature study was undertaken to understand the origin of the informal sector and how it has grown in the business environment to which it is exposed in Malawi. This understanding was essential because it formed the basis for conducting the whole research. A sample of four respondent groups, namely government officials, industry representatives, the shop owners and the informal sector participants themselves was drawn, and personal interviews conducted. The purpose of the interviews of the first three respondent groups was to discover their perception of the informal sector in Malawi. This perception was vital for it was clear that these groups influenced government policies much more than the populace. The informal sector participants themselves were interviewed to learn how the informal sector operated, its scope and benefits, why it was growing and how successful it was in the three major cities of Malawi. The results show that there were mixed feelings among the people in each of the four respondent groups. Although many of the government officials were positive, mainly because the President of Malawi and other politicians promote the informal sector publicly, they still believe there is a need to control the sector's operations. The industries and shops that benefit from the informal sector are positive while the others are not. More than 80 percent of the informal sector participants are making a comfortable livelihood through their activities. The lack of employment and the desire to survive were found to be the two issues that enhance the growth of the informal sector in Malawi. The participants could further expand their activities if suitable loans were made available. A coordinating organization within this sector has emerged and is controlling the sector's activities. However, further research is required into the size and contribution of this sector to Malawi's economy. / Development Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies)

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2015 / ENGLISH ABSTRACT : This study investigated the political role of the Weekend Nation newspaper in the democratisation of Malawi between 2002 and 2012 within the context of its foundational and ownership structures by a politician. Bearing in mind that the newspaper was founded by a politician belonging to the first democratically elected ruling party, the United Democratic Front (UDF), this research sought to examine the impact of media ownership on the political role of the Weekend Nation’s journalistic practices in Malawi’s democratisation. Between 2002 and 2012, Malawi was governed by three presidents – Bakili Muluzi of the UDF from 1994 to 2004, Bingu wa Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) from 2004 to 2012, and Joyce Banda of the People’s Party (PP) from 2012 to 2014 – all of whom were hostile to the Weekend Nation. Taking into cognisance the ownership of the Weekend Nation by a politician, the critical political economy theory of the media was deemed to be the most appropriate theoretical framework for this study. In media research, the critical political economy theory asserts that owners are able to regulate the output of the media institution either by intervening in the day-to-day operations, or by establishing general goals and understandings and appointing managerial and editorial staff to implement them within the constraints set by the overall allocation of resources. The study employed a qualitative research methodology, in particular in-depth interviews and qualitative content analysis. Research findings indicate that overall, the political ownership of the newspaper had no direct bearing on the journalists’ political role in the enhancement of democracy and good governance in Malawi. It established that despite the ownership of the Weekend Nation belonging to a prominent and influential politician, the editorial independence was not compromised. Contrary to general expectations, this study established that the Weekend Nation in Malawi, was critical to the political elite in an indiscriminate manner. Although it was not the focus of this study, the research also showed that market forces, in line with the stance taken by the critical political economy theory, had some impact on the Weekend Nation’s editorial independence. The quest for more advertising revenue, to an extent, undermined the struggle for complete editorial independence. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Hierdie studie het die politieke rol van die koerant die Weekend Nation in die demokratisering van Malawi tussen 2002 en 2012 vanuit die konteks van sy fundamentele rol en eienaarskap deur die politieke elite ondersoek. Met as vertrekpunt dat die koerant gestig is deur ’n politikus wat lid was van die eerste demokraties-verkose regerende party, die United Democratic Front (UDF), het hierdie navorsing die impak van media-eienaarskap op die politieke rol van die joernalistieke praktyke van die koerant in Malawi se demokratisering ondersoek. Tussen 2002 en 2012 is Malawi deur drie president regeer – Bakili Muluzi van die UDF van 1994 tot 2004, Bingu wa Mutharika van die Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) van 2004 tot 2012, en Joyce Banda van die People’s Party (PP) van 2012 tot 2014 – al drie was vyandiggesind teenoor die Weekend Nation. In ag genome dat die Weekend Nation aan ’n politikus behoort, is die kritiese politieke ekonomie van die media-teorie die mees toepaslike teoretiese vertrekpunt vir hierdie studie. In medianavorsing dui dié teorie daarop dat die eienaar die inhoud van die media-instelling bepaal deur hetsy inmenging in die dag tot dag uitvoering van pligte, of deur algemene doelwitte en veronderstellings wat gestel word, en deur bestuurders en joernaliste aan te stel wat dit sal uitvoer binne die bepalings van die toegewysde hulpbronne. Die studie het kwalitatiewe navorsingsmetodologie toegepas, spesifiek indiepte- onderhoude en kwalitatiewe inhoudsanalsie. Die bevindings dui daarop dat die eienaarskap van die koerant geen direkte invloed op die joernaliste se politieke rol in die versterking van demokrasie en goeie bestuur in Malawi gehad het nie. Dit het vasgestel dat, ondanks die eienaarskap van die Weekend Nation aan ’n prominente en invloedryke politikus, die redaksionele onafhanklikheid nie gekompromitteer is nie. In teenstelling met algemene verwagtings het die studie bevind dat die Weekend Nation in Malawi krities ingestel was teenoor die politieke elite sonder om enige onderskeid te tref. Hoewel dit nie ’n fokus van die studie was nie, het dit ook aangedui dat markkragte, in ooreenstemming met die kritiese politieke ekonomie-teorie, tog ’n impak op die Weekend Nation se redaksionele onafhanklikheid gehad het. Die stewe na groter advertensie-inkomste het tot ’n mate die stryd vir algehele redaksionele onafhanklikheid ondermyn.

<p>This study explored the problem of poor performance in science among students who are provided secondary school places on merit in Malawi. Existing studies of the problem are inconsistent suggesting that these studies may have shed light on some parts of a complex problem. Questionnaires, interviews and analysis of documents were used to obtain information concerning students&rsquo / conceptions of science, science learning and events that eventuated into the problem in the past. The population for this study was 89 government and governmentassisted secondary schools. From that population eighteen schools were randomly selected from each of the six education divisions in the country. One thousand five hundred secondary class 3 students drawn from randomly selected schools participated. The participating students completed a 31item learning beliefs and practices&nbsp / questionnaire with items drawn from the science education literature and adapted to the local situation and a selfefficacy and attribution of failure questionnaire. Forty students were interviewed about their concepts of science and science learning. Relevant documents found in the Malawi National Archives were analyzed to determine the origin of the problem.</p>

Sub-Saharan Africa is more affected by the HIV epidemic than any other region of the world. At the same time, malnutrition remains a major public health concern. HIV and malnutrition are interlinked, both epidemiologically and physiologically, contributing to high mortality and poor growth and development of children in sub-Saharan Africa. This thesis aims to explore the impact of HIV on the treatment and care of children with severe acute malnutrition in Malawi. The thesis will investigate mortality and nutritional recovery in HIV-infected and uninfected children with SAM; HIV infection and nutritional status in carers of children with SAM; and caregiver perspectives on quality of care for children with SAM. The study is based on a prospective cohort study of 454 children with SAM and meta-analysis of 17 relevant studies; a cross sectional study of 322 carer-child pairs; and a qualitative study using a grounded theory approach.

For monitoring the spread of HIV epidemic, both national population-based surveys and antenatal clinics (ANC) are used. However, in all cases, there are potential biases. Bias associated with ANC data includes whether the pregnant women who attend public ANC are representative of all pregnant women. Reduced fertility among HIV-infected women, selection for sexual activity and under-representation of smaller rural sites in surveillance systems are other factors that may be source of biases (Boerma et al. 2003 & Walker et al. 2003). So, the question arising is how women who attend ANC could be representative of the general female population. Evidently, not all women become pregnant and not all pregnant women attend ANC. This research project has been designed to address those biases especially in Rwanda and Malawi. It focused on investigating the significance of this bias by doing a comparative analysis of sero prevalence between both those using ANC and those who do not. This study, therefore, intends to test whether women attending ANC may be representative to the general female population of both Rwanda and Malawi using respectively 2004 MDHS and 2005 RDHS. Using statistical techniques with the aid of STATA software program, univariate, bivariate and logistic regression (bivariate and multivariate) were performed for 11321 women in Rwanda and 11698 in Malawi aged between 15 and 49. However, among them, those who had live birth in last five years prior to the surveys were the most interested on in this study; that is especially, 5390 in Rwanda and 7304 in Malawi. Besides, HIV status of respondents was an important variable. Considering both women who had live birth and those who did not have live birth, I find that women who had live birth in Rwanda are 0.62 times less likely to be HIV positive and 0.48 times less likely to be infected for those who had live birth in Malawi. When controlling for women who had live birth, I find that in both countries women who use ANC are less likely to be infected compared to those who do not (0.53 times less likely in Rwanda and 0.58 times less likely in Malawi). Based on these findings, relying only on data from ANC may lead to biases in HIV prevalence estimates; particularly referring to 2004 MDHS and 2005RDHS. Besides, considering the level of significance of the difference between HIV status between those who use ANC and those who do not, I find that this is not identical in Rwanda (5% level of significance) and in Malawi (10% level of significance). Thus, these results suggest, briefly, that not only the degree of ANC data representativeness is changing depending on various stages of HIV epidemic as Fylkesnes said (1998), but also is affected by the amount of women who had live birth and their respective HIV status. In fact, this difference may be based on the fact that in Malawi, HIV prevalence is high compared to Rwanda and those who had live birth were in high percentage comparing to Rwanda.

Implementation of the performance management policy for the Malawi has been held back by a number of factors. There have been indications that suggest that there were some problems resulting in differential implementation of the policy by government’s ministries and departments. In this study the purpose was to find out the factors contributing to this non-implementation of the policy. The research question was; what factors are contributing to the implementation or non-implementation of the performance management policy for the Malawi Civil Service? The study used a qualitative research methodology and questionnaire administered interviews to collect data. The main findings from the study was that implementation of the policy was being hampered because of the complex nature of the public service, absence of follow ups and management support, lack of consultations and motivation factors. The conclusion drawn from the study is that the factors identified are manageable. Therefore, the Department of Public Service and Management and other concerned stakeholders can reflect on the issues revealed by this study, consult widely and put in place necessary mechanism that could ensure successful implementation not only of the performance management but other future polices as well.

Thesis advisor: Paul Cichello / Initially launched as a pilot program in 1996 by the World Food Program (WFP) at the request of the Government of Malawi (GoM), the School Meals Program (SMP) reached approximately 642,000 primary school children by 2011. According to the WFP, the objectives of the SMP are: 1) reduce drop out rates; 2) promote regular attendance; 3) increase enrollment; and 4) improve children’s ability to concentrate and learn, through food provision (WFP, 2010). Given these aims, this paper aims to determine if Malawi’s SMP affects the primary enrollment rate or attendance as measured as an impact on temporary withdraws. By applying a propensity score matching (PSM) model to the Third Integrated Household Survey data from 2010-2011, the estimation of the impacts will aim to mitigate selection bias using historic enrollment and other covariates, which include WFP selection criteria and theory-based community and political characteristics. Using three different matching techniques, the model predicts that the SMP has no impact on primary enrollment and a statistically insignificant, but positive impact on attendance, here measured as a decrease in temporary withdraws. Explanations for these atypical results include the presence of exclusion errors, which were found in the pilot evaluation, model misspecification, and the lack of social desirability bias in my measures. Further research is needed to determine the extent to which previous results have been biased by Hawthorne effects or social desirability bias. Given the potential of the temporary withdraws for highlighting a positive impact of the program, further studies should include this measure as a potential outcome of any SMP program, especially in agrarian economies. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Economics.

The research explores the practice of mathematics teaching in Malawian primary schools – such as its relevance, teacher’s mathematical knowledge, assessment practices and teaching styles in massive classes – as well as the context in which it takes place – including languages used, attitudes towards gender, ideas of the purpose of education, massive class sizes but high dropout rates. It also draws together the policy documentation related to all these issues, such as government policies, the official curriculum and textbooks, and explores the extents to which policy influences practice, and practice determines policy. It concludes with a simple model suggesting that policy, properly conceived and implemented, might help overcome some of the constraints that presently overwhelm the system.

There were two main purposes to this study. The first was to determine the vitamin B-6 and pyridoxine β-glucoside content of selected foods commonly consumed in Malawi. The second was to examine the effect of preparation procedures of foods in Malawi on the content of vitamin B-6 and pyridoxine β- glucoside in foods. Seventeen plant foods commonly eaten in Malawi were determined for vitamin B-6 and pyridoxine β-glucoside using a microbiological assay. In addition, two commercial weaning foods, roasted maize-soy bean blend and extruded maize-soy bean blend, were also determined for vitamin B-6 and pyridoxine β-glucoside contents. Among all the foods analyzed, whole maize flour contained the highest amount of vitamin B-6 (0.66 mg/100 g), therefore, an excellent source of vitamin B-6 content in foods. Cooking decreased vitamin B-6 in pinto beans, kidney beans, sugar beans and cow peas by 34%, 45%, 14% and 48%, respectively. Roasting decreased vitamin B-6 in chick peas and soy beans by 59% and 38%, respectively. Soaking and fermentation reduced vitamin B-6 in soaked maize flour and cassava flour by 86% and 89 %, respectively. Therefore, these data suggest that some of the preparation procedures practiced in Malawi have a negative impact on the vitamin B-6 content of the processed foods. Cooked and roasted foods contained lower total amount of pyridoxine-glucoside than that of the raw food. The high pyridoxine β-glucoside content have adverse impact on the bioavailability of vitamin B-6 content. Based on typical diets for the urban and rural populations in Malawi, the rural diet contained less vitamin B-6 compared to that of urban diet. Therefore, the rural population may be at risk of inadequate vitamin B-6 intake compared to the urban population. / Graduation date: 2002