Malawi: Pioneering adaptive social protection through disaster risk finance

This case study explains how Malawi links pre-arranged disaster financing to its social protection system, automatically scaling up cash transfers to vulnerable households when drought triggers are reached. Backed by a contingency fund and a GSFF-funded insurance policy, the mechanism delivered early support to around 140,000 households during the 2023/24 drought, arriving before the lean season when food prices are lowest.

In designing the mechanism, the government assessed multiple risk models to determine an objective and transparent trigger for activating support and to define the thresholds for action. The scalability mechanism of the program operates on pre-agreed rules and pre-positioned financing, enabling early, predictable response

Key takeaways:

1. Timely, pre-arranged finance is critical for effective response.
2.  Linking financial and operational preparedness strengthens resilience.
3. Pre-agreed rules improve transparency and predictability. 
4. Government ownership and institutional capacity are essential. 
5.  A systems approach creates opportunities to scale.