BackgroundBy 2015, Malawi had not achieved Millennium Development Goal 4, reducing maternal mortality by about 35% from 675 to 439 deaths per 100,000 livebirths. Hypothesised reasons included low... Show moreBackgroundBy 2015, Malawi had not achieved Millennium Development Goal 4, reducing maternal mortality by about 35% from 675 to 439 deaths per 100,000 livebirths. Hypothesised reasons included low uptake of antenatal care (ANC), intrapartum care, and postnatal care. Involving community health workers (CHWs) in identification of pregnant women and linking them to perinatal services is a key strategy to reinforce uptake of perinatal care in Neno, Malawi. We evaluated changes in uptake after deployment of CHWs between March 2014 and June 2016.MethodsA CHW intervention was implemented in Neno District, Malawi in a designated catchment area of about 3100 women of childbearing age. The pre-intervention period was March 2014 to February 2015, and the post-intervention period was March 2015 to June 2016. A 5-day maternal health training package was delivered to 211 paid and supervised CHWs. CHWs were deployed to identify pregnant women and escort them to perinatal care visits. A synthetic control method, in which a "counterfactual site" was created from six available control facilities in Neno District, was used to evaluate the intervention. Outcomes of interest included uptake of first-time ANC, ANC within the first trimester, four or more ANC visits, intrapartum care, and postnatal care follow-up.ResultsWomen enrolled in ANC increased by 18% (95% Credible Interval (CrI): 8, 29%) from an average of 83 to 98 per month, the proportion of pregnant women starting ANC in the first trimester increased by 200% (95% CrI: 162, 234%) from 10 to 29% per month, the proportion of women completing four or more ANC visits increased by 37% (95% CrI: 31, 43%) from 28 to 39%, and monthly utilisation of intrapartum care increased by 20% (95% CrI: 13, 28%) from 85 to 102 women per month. There was little evidence that the CHW intervention changed utilisation of postnatal care (-37, 95% CrI: -224, 170%).ConclusionsIn a rural district in Malawi, uptake of ANC and intrapartum care increased considerably following an intervention using CHWs to identify pregnant women and link them to care. Show less
Wetlands provide many ecosystem goods and services which include fish production. The sustainability of small-scale fisheries (SSF) has received considerable attention in recent years because fish... Show moreWetlands provide many ecosystem goods and services which include fish production. The sustainability of small-scale fisheries (SSF) has received considerable attention in recent years because fish is one of the major sources of animal protein to a considerable fraction of the global population which is estimated to increase to about 9.5 billion by 2050. Most of this attention has evolved around the pressures to which SSF are increasingly subjected, emanating particularly from population growth, rural poverty, weak institutional mechanisms, market forces, climate change among others. This thesis focuses on designing a sustainable management institution for the Elephant Marsh Fishery in Southern Malawi. With fieldwork which started in May 2011 to June 2013, this PhD study uses empirical data to understand the socio-ecological system of the Elephant Marsh Fishery and propose an actor-based institutional design which would achieve long-term sustainability of the fishery. After the introductory chapter 1, the second part of this thesis (Chapter 2) brings into perspective a clear understanding of the socio-ecological and land use setting of the Elephant Marsh as well as the ecosystem-based development potentials that exist at the wetland. The second chapter also highlights the actors and local institutions pertaining to the management of the wetland. Just like many similar ecosystems across the globe, the Elephant Marsh has come under increasing pressure in recent years which threatens the future of the wetland. Currently, Malawi does not have either a national wetland policy or a climate change policy and wetland issues are only marginally present in the National Parks and Wildlife Policy of 2000 and National Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy of 2001. As a result, the country lacks a framework that could be strong enough to achieve balanced and sustainable wetland management for multiple resource users. Chapter 2 of this study reveals that there are significant ecosystem-based development potentials at Elephant Marsh mainly in fisheries, recession agriculture, conservation, tourism and biomass for energy. Chapter 2 further shows that if these ecosystem-based development potentials are to be efficiently and effectively exploited at the Elephant Marsh, there is a need to rise above the institutional design principles of Ostrom which are based on nested enterprises and move towards real participatory approaches such as constitutionality (local people’s sense of ownership in bottom-up institution building). Certainly, as the present thesis suggests, there will be need to strike a balance between the local wetland management system, where pressure on the Elephant Marsh emanates mainly from poverty, and the national and international interests of biodiversity conservation as advocated by the Ramsar convention. Although enhanced production and maximum benefits from ecosystem good and services are central to any management system of the Elephant Marsh, it is important to realize that there are always limits to growth. Any management program for the Elephant Marsh should therefore strive towards sustainable exploitation of the opportunities that lie in the wetland’s goods and services. Globally, institutions that manage small-scale fisheries can be locally based, state controlled or of a mixed, cross-scale nature. The latter arrangement, widely known as co-management, is generally believed to be the preferred approach for fishery sustainability. In Africa, fisheries management faces many challenges due to unstable governance systems (weak states) whose role has evolved tremendously over the last century. The changes in the role of the state have mainly surfaced from a cautious realization that social actors (humans) respond to underlying incentives and are therefore central for any management system to work at all. With close reference to rich literature from across the globe, Chapter 3 of this thesis employs a crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis (csQCA) to examine cases of small-scale fisheries in several developing countries, in order to assess the degree of state involvement would be most relevant for designing a sustainable management for the Elephant Marsh Fishery. These degrees vary between: (a) strong top-down regulation irrespective of fishing community wishes, (b) a co-management mode of negotiation with fishing communities, (c) a merely supportive role of the state, or absence from the fishing scene. It was revealed that contrary to expectations, the sustainability of small-scale fisheries depended solely on the strength of collective social capital of the local communities at the resource scale. With weak local social capital, degrees of government involvement did not make any difference; the fisheries were unsustainable in all cases. The findings from this study have accentuated that the sustainability of SSF management in developing countries relies heavily on a strong collective social capital and a supportive government. Future practice and policy directions on fisheries management should understand the relevance of concrete community trust, networks, norms and values and strive to incorporate these in decision making and policy formulation. Governments, especially in developing countries, and their agents should realize the need to rise above the theoretical principles of “impose and control” and begin to take a more passive, non-conflictive position in designing working solutions for the sustainability of common pool resources such as small-scale fisheries. This can be done for example by encouraging civil engagement in transformative learning to reduce disadvantageous power differentials that exist in many fishing communities in developing countries. Chapter 4 uses the success and failure factors for SSF in developing countries which were identified in Chapter 3 to ascertain relevant factors for the sustainability of the Elephant Marsh Fishery. It is revealed that the Elephant Marsh Fishery sustainability depends on building strong local institutions with motivated leadership that can safeguard the interests of resource users. The present thesis therefore recommends that the government of Malawi should begin to take a more participatory position in designing locally crafted working institutions for the sustainability of common pool resources, such as small-scale fisheries at Elephant Marsh. In villages where fisheries fail due to weak local institutions or conflictive chiefs, the imposition of fishing rules is futile. The feasible government reaction then lies in (re)building collective social capital, especially the leadership of fisheries committees, and formally linking the established local institutions to the central government structure. In doing so an important inclusion would be the contextualization of key socio-causal dynamics of the management system at the Elephant Marsh. Cognizant of the importance of the socio-causal dynamics, Chapter 5 of this study used an actor-based framework (known as Action-in-Context) to unveil the issues that are crucial in devising a sustainable governance system for the Elephant Marsh Fishery. It was established that the key social variables for the designing a proposed three-pillared (locally based, weak and amorphous) resilient institution for sustainability of the Elephant Marsh Fishery are (i) the social reputation of the leaders of local fishery institutions and (ii) the power dynamics between traditional chiefs and these local fishery leaders. It is clearly evident from the present study that an actor-based multi-level analysis of rules and other mechanisms prevailing in a fishery can be instrumental in designing a cost-effective institution for the near future. For the design of longer-term institutional options, the assumptions underlying the actors-based method (Action-in-Context in our case) become weaker, e.g. because new types of actors may move in or because actor capacities and motivations may change or become more intertwined. This then necessitates a stronger reliance on both institutional theory and frameworks or (as has been my choice) the design of a flexible process of institutional development guided by an adaptive, learning organization. The last section of thesis (Chapter 6) synthesizes the main findings and proposes what needs to be done in designing a resilient management system for the Elephant Marsh Fishery. This PhD thesis ends by stimulating a style of thinking that may be fruitful for institutional science in general. Show less
For many Malawians the concept of home is strongly associated with the rural areas and one's (supposedly rural) place of birth. This 'grand narrative about home', though often reiterated, doesn't... Show moreFor many Malawians the concept of home is strongly associated with the rural areas and one's (supposedly rural) place of birth. This 'grand narrative about home', though often reiterated, doesn't necessarily depict lived reality. Malawi's history of movement and labor migration coupled with contemporary rapid urbanization makes that the amount of people whose lives do not fit this grand narrative, is increasing fast. In the current context of extreme poverty, destitution and devastation - the latter due to the flash floods of January 2015 - slum areas in Blantyre city are growing and so is the number of street children and youth. Some of them are taken in by organizations such as the Samaritan Trust; a street children shelter. This program aims at taking street youth home by 'reintegrating' them in their (rural) communities. When asked, the majority of (former) street youth adhere to the grand narrative and state their home to be in a rural village. Yet at the same time, this home is a place they intentionally left and do not wish to (currently) return to. Hence they are generally depicted as 'homeless'. I wondered: how do (former) street youth in Blantyre, Malawi, engage with 'the grand narrative about home' in trying to imagine their 'becoming at home' in the city? My thesis departs from the idea that (the search for) home is an integral part of the human condition. During eight months of ethnographic fieldwork in Blantyre, Malawi, I used qualitative methods - mainly interviews and participant observation - to come to an understanding of the meaning of home for (former) street youth. Some of them, the street girls, currently reside at Samaritan Trust and the former street youth are boys who formerly resided there. Their home-making practices in relation to a marginalized socio-economic position in an overall challenging economic context point towards more fluid and diverse constructions of home that exist alongside the grand narrative without rendering it obsolete. Under pressure, (former) street youth paradoxically attempt to solidify home - even though home remains fluid in practice. These attempts assist in coping with life in liquid modernity while they are at the same time fraught with contradictions, especially when these solidifications are themselves solidified in policies. These policies subsequently hamper (former) street youth's becoming at home in town by following the grand narrative and thus confining their homes to rural areas. I conclude that home can best be seen as a fluid field of tensions (re)created in the everyday, thus leaving space for both (former) street youth's roots and routes. An alternative way in which (former) street youth try to become at home in the city is by searching for a romantic partner to co-construct this (future) home. This book is based on Tanja D. Hendriks’ Master’s thesis ‘’Home is Always Home’: (Former) Street Youth in Blantyre, Malawi, and the Fluidity of Constructing Home’, winner of the African Studies Centre Leiden’s 2016 Africa Thesis Award. This annual award for Master’s students encourages student research and writing on Africa and promotes the study of African cultures and societies. Show less
For many Malawians the concept of home is strongly associated with the rural areas and one's (supposedly rural) place of birth. This 'grand narrative about home', though often reiterated,... Show more For many Malawians the concept of home is strongly associated with the rural areas and one's (supposedly rural) place of birth. This 'grand narrative about home', though often reiterated, doesn't necessarily depict lived reality. Malawi's history of movement and labor migration coupled with contemporary rapid urbanization makes that the amount of people whose lives do not fit this grand narrative, is increasing fast. In the current context of extreme poverty, destitution and devastation - the latter due to the flash floods of January 2015 - slum areas in Blantyre city are growing and so is the number of street children and youth. Some of them are taken in by organizations such as the Samaritan Trust; a street children shelter. This program aims at taking street youth home by 'reintegrating' them in their (rural) communities. When asked, the majority of (former) street youth adhere to the grand narrative and state their home to be in a rural village. Yet at the same time, this home is a place they intentionally left and do not wish to (currently) return to. Hence they are generally depicted as 'homeless'. I wondered: how do (former) street youth in Blantyre, Malawi, engage with 'the grand narrative about home' in trying to imagine their 'becoming at home' in the city? My thesis departs from the idea that (the search for) home is an integral part of the human condition. During eight months of ethnographic fieldwork in Blantyre, Malawi, I used qualitative methods - mainly interviews and participant observation - to come to an understanding of the meaning of home for (former) street youth. Some of them, the street girls, currently reside at Samaritan Trust and the former street youth are boys who formerly resided there. Their home-making practices in relation to a marginalized socio-economic position in an overall challenging economic context point towards more fluid and diverse constructions of home that exist alongside the grand narrative without rendering it obsolete. Under pressure, (former) street youth paradoxically attempt to solidify home - even though home remains fluid in practice. These attempts assist in coping with life in liquid modernity while they are at the same time fraught with contradictions, especially when these solidifications are themselves solidified in policies. These policies subsequently hamper (former) street youth's becoming at home in town by following the grand narrative and thus confining their homes to rural areas. I conclude that home can best be seen as a fluid field of tensions (re)created in the everyday, thus leaving space for both (former) street youth's roots and routes. An alternative way in which (former) street youth try to become at home in the city is by searching for a romantic partner to co-construct this (future) home. Show less
Discussions about colonial chieftaincy in Africa have tended to focus upon the ways in which indirect rule structured and framed traditional authority; for the majority of contemporary historians... Show moreDiscussions about colonial chieftaincy in Africa have tended to focus upon the ways in which indirect rule structured and framed traditional authority; for the majority of contemporary historians of British colonialism the question has been to what extent Lord Lugard’s blueprint for effective native administration, The Dual Mandate, invented, shaped, and restructured political and social identity. Whilst acknowledging the importance of these neo-traditional perspectives which focus much on the ways in which colonial frameworks ethnicised and tribalised African society, this thesis argues that indirect rule was as much a spatialising process as it was a tribalising one. Colonial tools of territoriality mapped politics in geographically bounded ways and as a result associating power with place began to assume new importance in the ways African leadership was defined, and given authority. By further exploring the spatial context of traditional power in colonial Malawi through the example of a Tumbuka chief named Timothy Chawinga, this thesis reveals new conclusions about the nature of chieftainship in Northern Malawi. It also provokes new questions about how we understand the role of African traditional authorities more generally, in both the past and the present. Show less
This publication provides a set of guiding principles for constitutional reform on the basis of practical experiences of constitutional reform processes in selected countries: Bolivia, Ghana,... Show moreThis publication provides a set of guiding principles for constitutional reform on the basis of practical experiences of constitutional reform processes in selected countries: Bolivia, Ghana, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa. The focus is on the role of political parties in constitution-building processes. The publication shows that although country-specific reform processes may be unique in terms of objectives, context, popular involvement, and achievements, they go through similar phases: preparatory, consultative, drafting, and implementation. All cases illustrate the political nature of constitutional reform and the central role of political parties in the process. [ASC Leiden abstract] Show less
Beltman, J.; Akker, T. van den; Lonkhuijzen, L. van; Schmidt, A.; Chidakwani, R.; Roosmalen, J. van 2011
In the mid-1970s, teenagers and secondary school and university students suddenly took to the streets of Malawi's main urban areas to proclaim a moral reordering of society based on Christian... Show moreIn the mid-1970s, teenagers and secondary school and university students suddenly took to the streets of Malawi's main urban areas to proclaim a moral reordering of society based on Christian fundamentalist notions. A whole array of Pentecostal groups emerged. The striking feature of this born-again charismatic Pentecostalism is its rigid insistence on a strict moral ideology and a denunciation of alcohol. The author investigates the rejection of alcohol in Malawi's Pentecostal moral order from two perspectives: first, against the backdrop of developments in Malawi's Independent Christianity movement, and, second, in relation to the modernist debate that this type of Pentecostalism represents. The author concludes that the rejection of the use of alcohol by the born-again preachers coincides with a deeper generational conflict. This has had ramifications since it emerged in the context of the Banda regime that relied on gerontocratic power structures. Against this background one can argue that the debate about alcohol was, and still is, a modernist one, a discourse that allows for the moral rejection of things and structures emerging from the impure and threatening 'past'. Includes bibliographical references. [ASC Leiden abstract] Show less
Ngoma, a southern African ritual of healing, dance, rhythm and rhyme, is at the heart of social effort to change the fortunes of individuals and communities so that well-being is restored. This... Show moreNgoma, a southern African ritual of healing, dance, rhythm and rhyme, is at the heart of social effort to change the fortunes of individuals and communities so that well-being is restored. This collective volume investigates ngoma in its many and culturally diverse manifestations. Contributions: Rijk van Dijk, Ria Reis and Marja Spierenburg (introduction); Henny Blokland (the use of drums in weddings in Unyamwezi, Tanzania, as the key to their use in healing cults and politics); Annette Drews (gender and ngoma among the Kunda of eastern Zambia); Ria Reis (therapeutic ngoma in Swaziland); Marja Spierenburg (the influence of healers' clientele in the Mhondoro territorial cult in Dande, Zimbabwe); Matthew Schoffeleers (rain cults as therapeutic ngoma in the Mbona cult of rural Malawi); Cor Jonker (the politics of therapeutic ngoma as exemplified in the Zionist churches in urban Zambia); Rijk van Dijk (ngoma and born-again fundamentalism in urban Malawi). In the afterword, John M. Janzen takes up critically the challenges to his own work (1992) presented by the contributions in this volume. Show less
This chapter explores the relationship between the father-metaphor, gerontocratic power, democratization and religion in the context of changing political culture in Malawi. It argues that... Show moreThis chapter explores the relationship between the father-metaphor, gerontocratic power, democratization and religion in the context of changing political culture in Malawi. It argues that democratization in Malawi signalled a change in the nature of the dominant gerontocratic power relations associated with Chewa political traditions, and gave the young an opportunity to escape from their tightly circumscribed sociopolitical space in what for thirty years had been a highly supervised society. It further argues that religion, in particular 'born-again' (often Pentecostal) Christianity, played a significant role in changing the meaning of the crucial root paradigm of gerontocracy in Malawian political culture. The chapter shows that the position adopted by religious youth groups in the 1990s was the outcome of a 'struggle for youth' that Malawian society had faced since colonial times and in which religion played a significant role. In so doing, it deconstructs the so-called 'conservative nature' of Christian fundamentalism-cum- Pentecostalism. Show less
In various parts of Africa, Pentecostalism underscores the necessity for its members to make a complete break with the past. Although Pentecostalism speaks a language of modernity in which there... Show moreIn various parts of Africa, Pentecostalism underscores the necessity for its members to make a complete break with the past. Although Pentecostalism speaks a language of modernity in which there is a past-inferior versus a present-superior dichotomy whereby the believer is prompted to sever all ties with former social relations in the search for new individuality, it would be a mistake to argue that Pentecostalism stops here. On the contrary, the author argues that because the moment of instant rebirth is seen as the power base from which new future orientations are constructed, Pentecostalism may swing in different modalities from a disembedding of the subject from past social relations to a re-embedding in relations with a different temporal orientation. This is illustrated by the case of the Pentecostalist movement of 'Abadwa Mwatsopano' (Born Again) in urban areas of Malawi, and most of all in the largest city, Blantyre. This movement rose against the official discourse in Malawi, which fetishes the remembrance of the country's cultural past. Conversion narratives of young fundamentalists remember the past only to deny it. For the Born Again movement, the truth lies with a Christian future, utopian in its emancipatory promise. Bibliogr., notes, ref Show less
The author concentrates on virtuality, which he has come to regard as one of the key concepts for characterizing and understanding the forms of globalization in Africa. Chapters 1 and 2 define... Show moreThe author concentrates on virtuality, which he has come to regard as one of the key concepts for characterizing and understanding the forms of globalization in Africa. Chapters 1 and 2 define virtuality and globalization and provisionally indicate their theoretical relationship. The problematic heritage of an anthropological tradition obsessed with locality provides the analytical framework within which virtuality makes an inspiring topic, as argued in Ch. 3. Ch. 4 offers a transition from theory to empirical case studies by examining the problem of meaning in the African urban environment. Ch. 5 evokes an ethnographic situation (urban puberty rites in present-day Zambia) that illustrates particular forms of virtuality as part of the globalization process. Ch. 6 applies the emerging insights into virtuality and the virtual village to Ren‚ Devisch's notion of villagization as a major process of societal transformation in the Zairian capital, Kinshasa. Ch. 7 explores the applicability of the same concepts to recent patterns of witchcraft and healing as studied, at the national level in Cameroon and Malawi, by Peter Geschiere and Matthew Schoffeleers respectively. The author's own earlier work on the Kazanga festival as an instance of virtuality in the rural context of western central Zambia is summarized in Ch. 8, after which a conclusion rounds off the argument. Show less
This paper examines strategies used by rural households in Ntcheu District, Malawi, to cope with a decreasing fuelwood availability. Fieldwork was carried out in 1990 and 1991. With increasing... Show moreThis paper examines strategies used by rural households in Ntcheu District, Malawi, to cope with a decreasing fuelwood availability. Fieldwork was carried out in 1990 and 1991. With increasing distance to woodlands, households initially collected further away, spending more time on collection. But when distance to woodlands increased further, households returned to nearby places using less time for collection and switching to lower quality woods. Results indicate that distance to collection place and collection time are not reliable indicators of fuelwood shortages. Households within the same village differed in collection strategies particularly as regards collection distance and collection frequency. Households that tended to collect further away and more frequently were large in size with more female adults. These households also collected more wood, even per capita, compared to smaller households, suggesting that smaller households economized on fuelwood use. This paper supports the idea that level of fuelwood used is not only determined by fuelwood availability, but more by labour availability. Show less
Dit artikel onderzoekt de grenzen van de bruikbaarheid van het door Mary Douglas ontwikkelde 'grid-group' model aan de hand van het voorbeeld van de ontwikkeling van puriteinse (antihekserij)... Show moreDit artikel onderzoekt de grenzen van de bruikbaarheid van het door Mary Douglas ontwikkelde 'grid-group' model aan de hand van het voorbeeld van de ontwikkeling van puriteinse (antihekserij) bewegingen in Malawi. De auteur stelt, dat de rehabilitatie van het individu als actief, handelend en manipulatief subject, waarmee Douglas in de jaren tachtig haar model verfijnde, onvoldoende is om veranderingsprocessen te kunnen verklaren. Wat ontbreekt is een notie van macht zoals Michel Foucault die heeft ontwikkeld. De centrale vraag van het artikel is op welke wijze er, gegeven het bestaan van bepaalde sociale controle-mechanismen in de samenleving, veranderende percepties van bewegingsvrijheid c.q. disciplinering op gang kunnen komen, gericht op het individuele lid van de samenleving. De winst van de benaderingen van Douglas en Foucault wordt vergeleken voor een analyse van bewegingen zoals de Abadwa Mwatsopano (Wedergeborenen) in Malawi. Hoewel men vanwege de preoccupatie in dergelijke bewegingen met reiniging de bruikbaarheid van Douglas' theorie‰n zou verwachten, blijkt Foucault's concept van een 'technology of the self' meer verklaring te kunnen bieden. Bibliogr., noten Show less
