Tracking back to the start of the pandemic this study will identify and track a menu of government responses to the Covid pandemic in Malawi including health services, health information, WASH services, key worker protection, social distancing and social protection measures. It will analyse the governance of these services, including who is responsible for providing them and what decision-making, accountability and conflict-resolution arrangements prevail.
Findings will be linked to an analysis of the evolving political settlement in Malawi and enable a better understanding of how traditionally marginalised populations in informal settlements are incorporated or not within national political settlements and the impact this has on governance response.
By tracking and analysing these responses the study will also contribute to a body of knowledge that can help inform better collective action around global challenges, especially pandemic response and preparedness. By putting informal settlements at the heart of this study, it will ensure that traditionally marginalised populations are at the centre of the analysis, encouraging mutual learning and transformations in perspective, worldview and practice.