[{"bbox": [155, 151, 1082, 205], "category": "List-item", "text": "- Capacity and operational challenges affecting implementation, including limited human resources and persisting issues with core systems (e.g. e-MIS, UBR and Grievance Redress Mechanisms)."}, {"bbox": [146, 216, 1083, 473], "category": "Text", "text": "Malawi has also been the testing ground over the last 15 years for Cash+, which refers to activities aimed at complementing social assistance and specifically cash interventions in a logic of resilience building. The resilient livelihoods pillar of the MNSSP II focuses specifically on building resilient livelihoods, providing pathways to graduate from poverty, intra and inter-programme linkages and improved access to services that contribute to resilient livelihoods. After many years of implementation the government has initiated a process of harmonisation and standardisation of all of these experiences with the aim to gradually integrate them as regular complementary services of social assistance interventions, starting from the SCTP. Recently the Ultra-poor Graduation Strategy was adopted and the Pillar Working Group to coordinate the support to resilience building was reactivated."}, {"bbox": [146, 487, 1083, 630], "category": "Text", "text": "In line with global trends progress has been made in Malawi in the last decade in promoting gender equality and women's and girls' empowerment through social protection policies and programmes. In particular, the design of social protection has increasingly recognised that women and men, girls and boys face distinct patterns of poverty and vulnerability and are affected differently by shocks and crises, an experience that this action incorporates in its design."}, {"bbox": [146, 642, 1083, 871], "category": "Text", "text": "Despite advances in gender equality, Malawi still ranks 142nd on 162 on the Gender Inequality Index (GII), reflecting high levels of inequality in women's empowerment, economic activity, reproductive health and rights and gender-based violence. In particular, the prevalence of violence against women and girls (42% of girls under 18 face physical violence; 38% of women aged 15-49 experience intimate partner violence), the high rate of teenage pregnancy (29 percent of adolescent women age 15-19 are already mothers or pregnant with their first child) and the perpetuation of harmful practices (42% of girls married before age 18) are additional factors undermining girls' and women's empowerment and their participation in and contribution to developing the country."}, {"bbox": [146, 883, 1083, 1111], "category": "Text", "text": "In terms of livelihoods, women play a key role in agriculture, performing 50 to 70% of all agricultural tasks, including producing 70% of the food that is consumed locally. Despite their significant labour contribution though, women hold only 32% of agricultural land and rarely have access to the benefits of production including the ability to make investment decisions. Educational attainment is higher for men than women (5% of the men have never been to school, compared to 12% of the women as per Malawi Demographic and Health Survey, 2015-16). In addition, having achieved gender parity in primary school enrolment, the transition rate to secondary school in Malawi remains low and the drop-out rate high."}, {"bbox": [146, 1130, 401, 1161], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.2 Problem Analysis"}, {"bbox": [146, 1176, 1083, 1261], "category": "Text", "text": "Evidence shows that social protection can successfully reduce gender gaps in poverty rates, enhance women's income security and access to their own income, and promote poor women's welfare and well-being. As such, social protection has significant potential to address gendered risks across the lifecycle."}, {"bbox": [146, 1275, 1083, 1560], "category": "Text", "text": "Malawi is highly vulnerable to climate-related shocks, whose impacts are compounded by the high population density, depletion of natural resources and persistent poverty. As a result, recurrent floods, dry spells, droughts and landslides affecting highly populated urban and peri-urban areas in recent years have resulted in many Malawians living in a state of chronic food, nutrition and livelihoods insecurity, with negative impacts on longer-term human development and prospects for economic growth. These increased risks and vulnerability to natural (and health-related) hazards, often disproportionately affect women and girls and exacerbate existing inequalities and vulnerabilities. It is vital that national systems reduce the risks that populations face and increase resilience in the face of shocks. Malawi needs to move towards a more robust and comprehensive system of coherent but flexible social support and resilience interventions. The SCTP in recent years has been leveraged to respond to shocks both in"}, {"bbox": [976, 1680, 1082, 1706], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 5 of 24"}]