Measuring Resilience in Malawi

With the increasing severity of weather related shocks threatening food security, there is demand for a comprehensive protocol to monitor and evaluate resilience in the context of development. Launched as a collaboration jointly conceptualized by the monitoring, evaluation and learning unit (MEAL) within the Southern African Regional Office (SARO) of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University, the goal of the Measurement Indicators for Resilience Analysis (MIRA) project was to conduct a proof of concept study for resilience measurement that would make progress toward meeting this need. The USAID-funded MIRA project was developed and implemented in the context of the United in Building and Advancing Life Expectations (UBALE) program, a program that serves three of the poorest and most disaster-prone districts in Malawi—Chikwawa, Nsanje, and Rural Blantyre. The project used machine learning algorithms to predict the future level of food stress through rich, timely data that offered a snapshot of the shocks and stresses experienced by UBALE beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries in these districts.